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Smaller asp on the other hand tend to be
pack hunters. Find one and you could be
in for a bit more regular action, which
we were later to find was a very
accurate piece of advice.
The thing about asp is that while they
are potentially big fish with big mouths,
unlike predators such as pike which
have enormous mouths, they require
much smaller lures, particularly for the
smaller pack fish.
A further problem is that they like their
lures cranked back in at almost break
Pavel Pavnov with our first and biggest Asp neck speed, which, unless the lure is
carrying a fair bit of weight, is going to
bring it up quite high in the water column, which if it's deep, or if say it's carrying a bit of colour after
heavy rain, can present problems getting small lures down deep enough while coming in fast enough to
be in with a shot.
With that in mind, Henk Simonsz has put together a range of asp specific lures in different body weights
and colours, which I must admit I had not seen before, but which I dare say I will be using again for
other small to average fish, both in freshwater and at sea. They were absolutely excellent, and amongst
the best and most innovative lures I have used in a very long time.
With the sun now fully up in the sky, we stopped off at the first fast water stretch we came across where
we all started pitching in our lures at long range, the reward for which was a very early bit of success
in the form of what would turn out to be our best asp at around three pounds to Pavel's rod.
He described the hit as hard and sudden. A fish with plenty of power, and no easy push-over to get in
to the landing net. But unfortunately, despite being suddenly enthused by Pav's fish, for the next hour
or so we drew a complete blank, unless you count a couple of spirited but abortive hits by small pike
just as the lure was about to be lifted from the water.
It was at this point that Andrey wandered back a couple of hundred yards upstream to where a fallen
tree was somehow being held out across the water flow. Here he started trying a few risky throws with
the lure in an attempt to get as close to the log as possible without actually getting hung up, which
unfortunately did eventually claim a few lures over the day, though the payback for the gamble proved
to be more than worth it.
Protruding branches from the log eventually took lures from all three of us. But it also gave us at least
one asp each. Granted, they were all small fish, which fits in very neatly with the juvenile shoaling
instinct we were told about, but still none the less they were asp.
That probably isn't the only reason why we took a total of four asp from the area of its influence. As it
was protruding above the water line, the log clearly also had a lot of water flowing underneath it too,
as evidenced by the swirls being thrown upon on the downstream side. Just the kind of stuff asp love.
But again, that may not have been all, because those parts of the tree submerged nearest to the bank
where the water was both quieter and shallower would also provide a nice stretch of sheltered haven for
any small prey fish in the area. And as these asp were probably only just at or into the start of their fish
feeding phase, if that were so, then it could only be a good thing.
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