Pike elation tinged with some sadness..

Roving trip to Somerset Frome strictly fluff chuckers only this time with Red and I targeting initially the Chub and then the Pike. The Chub elusive as I tested some bread, maggot and traditional flies in the clear water. Not as easy as a dry fly session in the summer when the naturals are providing some encouragement. I felt a tub of liquidised bread would have gone well with my foam flies but it is not really cricket and I might just as well have moulded a piece of cheesy dough to the hook. Anyway no success in the absence of some nice smelly bait prompted a quick change to the predatory gear and a trace. As we explored the Frome we came across a dying fish pretty lifeless on one of the shallow runs. On closer inspection it was a Barbel of about 4lb pretty much intact save a number of puncture marks around the head and eyes. Such a shame the first Barbel in my hand on the Frome a dead or dying one. I held it in the flow to try and get some life into its limp body but to no avail. I concluded it had only recently been the target of bird attack - Heron, Goosander or Cormorant. 

A bit later on another large fish lay in a shallow run this time without a head, it was a small Pike. The culprit here was either another Pike or mammal (Otter or Mink). Back to the fishing and it was proving hard despite the river looking in good form with great clarity to work the fly. My first bit of action came as a good 1.5lb+ Perch chased the lure in to the bank. It stopped, I imparted two quick jerks, it swallowed the lure completely, I struck hit resistance but the hook pulled. A lesson learnt  - if you hit a snag and pull the hook free check the bend. I had been fishing with a hook had that had opened and it cost me a good fish. Incidentally this Perch was in exactly the same pool as a fine Perch I had netted back in the summer. My last stop saw a change in fly to a 8cm Brown and White Bass fly from eBay. I worked it down the edge of some sunken willows and suddenly struck resistance. A slow dogged fight saw a nice Pike in the net with a heavy stomach, probably my biggest so far on the fly at just under double figures I would estimate.