Well in case you hadn’t noticed, the long hot days of summer (both of them) are drawing to a close, and as the days get shorter, thoughts begin to turn to salmon fishing and the activities of the bigger pike of our larger Lake District waters. I had a look down the Derwent on the last spate and was lucky enough to drop on this bright eight pound fish on the smallest of black shrimp patters. One of those feisty fish that thinks it is far bigger that it is, really put my trusty Guideline LPXE through its paces and hopeful a fore runner of things to come. At the time of writing lots of rain is forecast and I hear rumours of plenty of salmon down in the tideway so we are quietly optimistic about the next couple of months. On the lakes, the perch fishing has not been as quite as good as previous years but even so we have managed a good number of fish with a few three pounders off both Bassenthwaite and Derwentwater. Pike fishing should begin to pick up shortly as the fish switch into their pre-winter feeding mode and I am looking forward to the serious business of dealing with more of the famed Windermere monsters. Before that though I’m heading north again for a prospecting look at one of the pike fisheries in the west highlands which has a reputation for throwing some big fish. As always, I’ll let you know how I get on.

Tarra

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