Spinning FAQs - Spinning Rod Questions and answers

Q. Hi, I normally float fish, however I recently purchased an 8ft viper precision spinning rod from Yorkshire Game Anglers and I took it down to my local canal yesterday for the first time to give it a try. The canal is very weedy indeed and has a lot of boat traffic up and down it, however I managed to find a good spot across from a weed bed with some large lilly pads sitting on the surface of the water. I was using a small 00 Mepps Agila which I casted just in front of the weeds and retreived it back horizontally across the canal at varying speeds. A lot of fish (mainly perch and jack pike) were following the spinner, however all but one small perch which I managed to catch, were all turning away disinterested in my spinner. So with this in mind, I wonder if you could give me any tips or possibly tell me where I was going wrong, or is it simply that you occasionally just get days like this where the fish just seem disinterested? I have considered using a 0.8g micro jig head inserted through a 1" kopyto Shad instead of using a mepps, and as a complete newcomer to spin fishing I would really value your advice about the best tactics to employ in search of the perch and jack pike in my local canal.

A. I would look at what colour lures you are using . Pike and the like normally like brighter colours - your tiger stripes,m yellows, reds and pinks, ironically often the colour lures i'd never buy because I like the more fishy looking finishes. But as I just said the cruder the better in my experience. Fish are stupid they're not that clever - just keep trying!