New insights in spinning fishing

The  previous Saturday went fishing in the local reservoir/dam; arrived at the water at around 8 am and began to test different types of lures. The water was clear, the weather calm and sunny. As I've had the intention to 'test' some pike lures I've took an Fenwick fishing rod, one for Salmon & Steelhead, my 'school bag' full of lures, but forgot to.. bring with me enough wire leaders.

There were few anglers, but most of them were fishing at float and some of them on the bottom, for carp. There were 1 or two other anglers who were fishing with lures, but they were using spoons and spinners. I've fished, mainly, with woblers and, in secondary, with spoons.

As I've grew tired due to the tackle and luggage weight, I've decided to 'walk' up and down the dam banks and so I've 'tested' around 10-15 meters of water length.

Took a Vagabond inject lure - I have 2 in my tackle box and I can say that I LOVE their action and that's because, to me, they are pretty good.. even though they are the most expensive lures that I own

and began to try to 'memorize' their retrieving action. Sometimes, especially on clear water and when I'm in the studying mood, I like to try to understand the lure's action and see how I can play it.

At some time, while I was retrieving the lure in a really slow manner,with small twitches I've saw a bird fishing. Had some stray thougths in mind and I've auto ironised myself - why be afraid of a bird, it's not like you're hiting it, look, she's up in the sky! What you've heard from other anglers, that they've caught bats, snakes and some birds while fishing won't happen to you.. you fool!

...and... life has a way to make you humble- the unexpected happend:

That bird clearlly attacked my lure. I've could see it focusing on it and 'throwing' itself at it. The hook hooked her superficially and I was happy that the bird didn't fly away with a lure attached to it. It was a really light bird, with a weak pinching peak.. If there's something that I regret regarding it is that I've held it a bit rash, though, no tendons or bones were broken, stretched more than it could stand; at least, that's what I think.

Sometime after that or before the bird was caught, didn't bother to memorize the succesion of evens, had two fish attacks. I've got bored and kinda tired and wanted to have some fish attacks so I've began to use some spinners. In the end, I've kept using a Mepps 3 Comet of a bright green. The first perch unhooked itself while the second one was released by me from inside the water.

What was interesting was that this one attacked while the water level was fluctuating. As it can be seen in this video:

the weeds were going 'upstream'. I don't know if that was caused because the dam was open or because it was closed. The attack came from under some 'weed' covers. That's what surprised me. I'm not sure if the perch shoal was 'chasing' the weeds cover or that's where they were hunting and the weeds were just 'en passant'.  This is a theory that I'll try to test in the future, to see if the predators are taking advantage of the covers and they are using them for their own gain. The attack came at a pretty hour, around 10-11 am.

The next day went float fishing.. in the same spot. Wanted to catch some crucian carps for a acquintance of mine to populate his pound. Had no success regarding that. Fished from ~8 am until 7 PM and caught some dace, some gudgeon, 3 small perch and 1 nice roach. The surprise came from the roach as I've didn't expect to catch it. I've got bored and when I get bored while float fishing, well, I target he dace - I bait them really often and I use a light tackle - thin line, ~0.10 mm or even thinner, small hooks -smaller than 16 (I kinda like Maver Katana) and 1 maggot that I hook from the hard part. The 'catch' is that the maggot has to be alive and moving; pretty often, small fish bite it and it's end stretched/pressed and it dies. The predators were frequenting my swim - could see small fishing jumping all around, caught the perch that I've mentioned before, 2 on maggots and one on a maggot and worm on hook. When the water level was fluctuating, the fish shoal (dace) was disturbed and distracted - the baits were rare and had few hooking chances. Though, it's also posible that some big fish arrived and I've didn't know how to hook them. I often tend to be too impatient and either try to hook them too soon or 'chase' the bites and fish for small fish. I need to correct that aproach. Also, another mistake that I do while float fishing is to feed the swim in a too wide circle  - that's a fault of mine caused by me trying to fish too far and/or mistaking the bait density. Another thing that I tend to forget if I don't float fishing for a while is that I should place the hook somewhere at the margins of the feeded place, especially if there are underwater currents. Though, I should test more that idea as I have to take into consideration the water flow, the water depth, the bait's density and so on.
I also tend to postpone too often to change the lightness of the float. Sometimes, you need a heavier float, to put the bait at the right depth and fast enough.

This saturday went fishing again. I've took my pike tackle, tried floating/surface lures but caught nothing. At some point, some birds of the same species as the one that I've caught the previous saturday were targeting my lure - again, the same Vagabond lure. Though, some were eyeing another surface lure that I've tried to use - forgot which one was it exactelly.

At some point, another angler arrived. He had no attacks and, as I was kinda tired, continued to test the same place, again and again. I think that I've fished in the same 10-15 meters for 30 minutes or for 1 hour or so. Had no attacks. In the end, I've recalled that someone, once, used a  Rapala lure, similar to the one from my tackle box and so I've decided to test it. At less than two meters to the bank had a aggresive attack. A small jack attacked it.

The attack came from my right side, it was aggresive nad the jack swallowed the lure. It was around 11-12 am, the weather was clear and sunny, with really small waves. The sun was somewhere on my right going to my back. The are around had really few covers and so that makes me think that the pike was hanging around the banks and/or close to the fallen weeds.

What I plan to do in the future: CATCH a decent size pike on surface lures! I really WANT to see some surface attacks from pike. I'm hesitating between going for jacks with perch tackle or with a more universal rod - both are from Xesta. From what I've saw, the dam/reservoir holds some perch. From other anglers, I've learned that some nice ones were caught. One told me that 3-4 days ago he caught ~2 killos of perch, the biggest one was around half killo - the attack came at worm and that he caught, this winter(?) few that were around 1 killo - I think that he was using small fish.

Decisions, decisions.. Hm. Time will show which are right and which are.. unanswered.

Forgot to add... the dam holds some nice pikes. Last year, I've heard that someone caught one around 10 killos on crucian carp at float. Other lure anglers told me that they've lost big pike due to them cutting the wire leader of 'cause they were unprepared or because they've attacked while float fishing for 'peacefull' fish.

Tight lines!