Blue Saturday

Off up Cyanide Straight with a pack of blueys once the rain had blown over. One of my  favourite baits the bluey, they come on varying sizes, are quite firm and quite oily too. Pike seem to like them as well.  

Checked out the roach swims on the way up to the bend, we need some good hard frosts to wilt off the vegetation before I venture forth for my roaching campaign.

I'd still got one trace with a dead bait lifter on and  that mostly managed to keep the bait of the debris and weed. Just after the second recast the left hand float, which was just about above the surface popped up a nads, dipped again then started to run back up to the bend. A decent scrap in the clear water and it was quite a relief to get it in the onion bag. It felt heavier than it had looked in the water and was a solid fish. I didn't press the digital scales into service but it was a good start to this season's piking. And first blood too, my claret was everywhere. You can tell a piker by their hands.

I'd have stayed a bit longer but the blood was reluctant to stop and I really wanted to hear England finish off Australia in the T20. I think the Ashes will be tough but it was certainly good to hear just how wretched they were.

It will be dark before 5 tomorrow. Still, the nights will imperceptibly at first start to pull out again after Christmas, though it's the lighter mornings you sort of notice first.