New rod success!

The weather, as we all know, has been pretty rubbish for fishing of late but ive been itching to try out my new  lure rod and today i decided to do just that .  I was more interested in just having a cast around to see how the rod behaved with different lures than catching but if a fish came along of course i wasnt going to complain!
I tried a good few swims and i was thoroughly impressed ,  the rods 3-18gram casting weight is ideal for fishing small shads and worms and very sensitive, i could feel every bump and tap as the lure bounced along the bottom. After a couple of hours fishing a deep and slow stretch with no action  i decided to head to another area where the water was predominantly fast and shallow. My thinking was that the fish might be more concentrated into smaller areas and the increased flow would be forcing them to move about a bit more.
Third swim into the new stretch and i had a hit on my first cast. A solid thump on the rod tip and a big swirl just below the surface saw my first hookup of the day. It didnt stay on for long though and within seconds my lure was spat back at me. A couple of casts to the same area later and i hooked up again for a repeat performance, it was most probably the same fish. No more action followed that so i moved on .
On my second cast in the next swim a small jack went for the shad as i got it under the rod tip. The fish missed first time and i left the lure hanging for split second which was all it took for the Pike to spin around and engulf it. I set the hook solidly this time and after a bit of fumbling with my collapsable net i soon had it on the bank. The light rod had tamed it admirably and i was well chuffed to have christened it in tough conditions. I fished on for another hour or so but the weather closed in and it began to rain so i headed for the pub instead.

Small but very welcome!

 The winning lure, a 2.5in Kopyto shad on a 7g jig head