We watched each other for a while, the mink’s pale snout clearly visible in the dark confines beneath the tree, and I have to admit that I was enthralled to see an apex predator up close. The clear water gave me a good view of the intruder, and I quickly realised that it was a mink, which I watched surface and swim to its home within the roots of a tree.
As I watched the rod tip, I noted a splash against the far bank, just a few yards distant, and watched a long dark shape slip by beneath the water. A change to a similar pattern lure in a different colour bought an instant bite, a handsome perch of around half a pound the culprit, and this continued with a number of fish banked. I know every nook and cranny and can tell you at any time of the year where fish are to be found, I’m that confident! The pink shad was twitched across the bottom, repeated several times, but without success. All clear, I fired the lure out and it went straight into a tree which had a single branch hanging down! With 6lb braid and 5lb fluorocarbon, snatching it back in isn’t an option, so by the time I’d gently pulled the branch towards me, I’d made far too much noise to have any chance of a fish from the tiny swim, so scrabbled back up the bank to try the next glide.Ī classic small river swim, with fast water running into a widening, deep pool, it’s one of two spots here that are ‘guaranteed’. I prepared my first cast, carefully checking that my braid wasn’t looped around the end of the rod, my bale arm was open, that the backcast was clear of obstructions, and that the spot I wanted to cast to was accessible. The river contains chub, trout, pike and perch, so it’s a real ‘lucky dip’ which is part of the reason I enjoy it so much. I’d seen a fish rise whilst approaching, so was confident of a hit on the lure. I’d changed the dropshot set up for a 3g jighead, loaded it with a pink Spro lure, and slid into the cramped swim beneath the trees. I moved off to a tiny local river, determined to bank something worthy of a photograph. My baits had perhaps been landing in the silt which spread some distance from the focus of the weed, but at least I could confirm that the obstruction was there noted for future sessions! What I thought was perhaps a thin sheen of silkweed turned out to be substantial growth and a good depth of silt beneath. It was vegetation, but I was surprised just how far off the lake bed it rose. I picked out a known snag with ease (pesky thing) and marked it on the GPS, then continued to retrieve over the potential weed patch. I waited for the picture to clear, and slowly wound in, pausing every few seconds to let the Deeper hover over areas of interest. I’d be lying if I said I could it to the maximum stated range of one hundred metres, (although I have used it to map river swims as it trots downstream) but then I don’t tend to fish deadbaits at that range either, so knew I’d have my spots covered. My Deeper is attached to 50lb braid and it was quickly hurled out as far as I could cast it. Camera tripod locked in place, remote control in hand, I set about getting the requisite amount of shots for social media and marketing, including screen shots of actual use, and after an hour of repositioning, deleting, retaking, and viewing of images, was happy I’d got enough to work with it was time to map some spots.
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