Mr Lucky blanks!

We've been up North for a few days visiting R kid, friends, family and of course the cheap and excellent local curry house! The girls agreed to let us have the day fishing on Sunday. The chosen venue was the Rufford Canal out towards Southport. R kid has been trying ;-)) to catch a pike on here for a few weeks, so would some of Mr Lucky's recent good fortune rub off?? Read on to find out...

Small... yes... but what a beautiful fish!

The canal was really a slow moving drain and we started off on the tree covered stretche near ye olde Rufford Hall. Below freezing overnight, there was still a thin veneer of ice here and there as we walked to the first likely looking spot.

I had a bite after about 30 minutes but messed up the strike. R kid moved into the spot....had a run and missed it! As the outside world woke up, boats and dog walkers on the tow path became a bit of a nuisance so we moved on to a quieter stretch a mile or so north. Despite lots of tree roots, reeds and mats of weed we couldn't manage a bite.

Moving again past a club match, we found a stretch that looked very promising and eventually R kid managed the little beauty you see here. Mr Lucky failed to catch!  On the way back the match guys were packing up...despite barrow loads of gear, several had fished five hours without a bite and R kid would have probably won the match with Jack! Chatting as we drove back we realised (apart from Jack) we hadn't seen a single fish all day.....no bait fish no pike.