Fridays River Session

It was always gonna be good! I had a cracking day, the weather held up and for the most part it was relatively clear. I didn't see another Piker and the fish god was kind to me.
I opted to float fish both rods and used a trusty small mackeral. I started off with both baits hard on the bottom but this didn't raise any interest from the fish at all. I wound in both rods and shortened the stop knot. I cast both baits back out and as I was buggering about sorting a place to sit my bum, I saw the right hand float dip down. Initially I thought that the bait had got snagged up on some weed but, then it did it again. The float then sailed away towards the opposite bank. I lifted the rod and wound down, as I increased the pressure to set the hooks, the fish roared off and almost took me with it due to the uneven foothold on the sloping and overgrown bankside!. Here we go I thought, another twenty for the boy wonder. Well not quite, I didn't weigh her but she was a good 15lb maybe a bit more, and boy wasn't she angry! She would not open her mouth to un tangle the mesh of my landing net!. Finally I un hooked her and took her into the shallow water where I held her until the powerful tail kicked back and off she surged back into the oily depths. I allowed myself to punch the air in celebration, not bad my man, not bad.
I tried the same tactics as I lept from swim to swim but the water level was dropping rapidly, my confidence was also dropping and so I made my decision to head off to my banker swim. I don't believe anyone ever fishes this particular swim as basically it involves a good long walk and the first visit of the year entails chopping down copius amounts of stinger nettles which grow unchecked for the main part of the year. I have had more fish from this part of the river that any other part. It is a good holding area for the massive shoals of Bream and is also teeming with bite sized Roach, so it doesn't take a genius to work it all out!. So, I set about chopping down the stingers and cast both rods out mid river. Within minutes the left hand rod was away again, I just love to see that big old float bobbing before it slips beneath the surface. And so I again went through the process of winding down and increasing the pressure on the fish. This one was also very lively and gave a good account before I slipped the net under her belly. Again I didn't weigh her but estimated a weight of about 12lb. I was happy and after admiring that primevil beast, I returned her to the water. I gazed around me for a while taking in all that had occurred today and felt a warm satisfied glow from within. I had accomplished what I had set out to do and so it was time to wander back to the car.
I'm already thinking hard about my next attempt and rather feel that the banker swim could see some serious attention...................................