Special trip

After the pb smashing last week, I have been planning how I can get back to the Lake district before 31 March. Unfortunately I don't think that is going to be possible, it would be much later in March and I think spawning would be well underway so best to leave them to it.

So that leaves the rivers.

Time and life has dictated that, I think my river season is done this year too. I was at the point of seeing where and what I can do, then I got a very surprising e mail.

I now have another very interesting  trip planned soon though that I hope you will all enjoy reading about.....

PB broken, twice!!!

This weekend saw me try something different. I decided to fish at Esthwaite Trout Fishery in the Lake District. There is pike fishing available until 31st March from bank and boat, with the added attraction of getting a guide.

I went all out, boat, motor and guide!!! For 7 hours it was me v's the Pike, my obvious target was setting a new pb, my hidden target was to finally get a twenty!!!


Two hours drive at first light was no problem, I arrived at Esthwaite Water a little before 9am. I met my guide Dave, we talked through tactics, bait and plans. The water looked amazing, "flat as a mill pool" would have more ripples on it than the water this morning. It was flat, FLAT, FLAT FLAT calm and looked "pikey" reed beds, bays and 280 acres of the wet stuff!!


Talking to Jim the owner, a 19lb 'er had come out to a bank angler and another boat had already had a pike first cast!!! No pressure.

We set out across the water, to say I was loving it , is just not emphasis enough. It was great!! We arrived at the first spot. An underwater mount that slopped from 10ft down to 25 plus. We were fishing the slope at about 15ft deep. The rods were baited and positioned around the boat, we were ready!
Unfortunately the pike had other ideas, they had clearly either eaten earlier or were still tucked up and not coming out! Not for mackerel, bluey, roach or bass!


Good conversation was had but time was not our friend. We reached lunchtime and the baits had not been nibbled at all. We had to change something. Dave decided we would move, we watched another boat slowly go past us on electric motors and head to where we were going! Thwarted. We had to move to plan c, but had failed to execute plan b.



Dave decided we would head into a bay just around the bottom of the water. Again the rods were set and we waited. Right in front of me the large yellow pike float was laying flat on the water, blink, gone!! " Dave, we are in" I calmly announced. The rod was handed to me and I set the hooks, I was told to keep the rod tip up, I was not used to boat fishing so the added dimension of straight below depth was confusing and the slight slack allowed the pike to roll on the line.  The line was only just wrapped on the fish so it came sideways. Dave quickly netted it so the crimped line would not break. Safe in the net, I saw her. Wow, she was magnificent. Within 2 mins, Dave had set the camera, removed the hooks, taken the pics and she was back in. 20lbs Dave said!! I was so happy, we did not need a number on her, her getting back in was important and Dave has seen so many, his eyes and arms are like scales.

A new pb. Time for more.

Dave cut away the crimped line and expertly re-tackled the rod. No idea how long later, but this time, I saw the float rise and slowly move. Again I wound down and set the hooks. I managed this one much easier, once at the boat, same again. Dave offering me 14 ish for that. Smaller, so I was still smiling from the twenty.

Finish time was 1630, it was ten past so we had time. Again the same rod as the second fish went, the line being taken. I did my business and when she surfaced, she looked amazing. Long and yet deep. Shaking, I brought her to the net. Part of this trip was to see how Dave handled the fish. Again, same procedure. Calm. Net away. Mat. Camera. Hooks. Hold. Picture. Angles. Light. Return. All in under two mins. This time she swam around the boat, I watched as she flashed her tail and was gone. A beautiful pike. 22lb Dave quoted. I was over the moon. Pb's broken twice.

To say the two hour drive home was good is an understatement, although my jaw hurts now. Seems grinning is not my pose! Now as I write, I look at the calendar and think how I can go again before March 31st!!

I must be getting good at this pike fishing, although I told you the venue, did I not mention the bait they were all caught on ...............????😉😉

Catching friends as well as fish?

As the New Year starts, I am starting to think about what my fishing will be in 2017, species, venues and making new friends.

I always tend to fish alone. None of my long standing friends are anglers and do not live near me. My dad was always my fishing partner but he lives a long way away now, so we try to meet a couple of times a year for a proper fishing trip. Last year was on the Wye and although we blanked, we suggested making it an annual trip.

I have a friend I have met in the last few years who I do fish with, but not regularly, we both have family commitments at times and cannot always go at the same time. He also part shares a boat so goes fishing with that partner and sadly there is no room for me. He may plan a trip at the last minute or for only an hour and sadly my geography does not mean I can be sat waiting in the passenger seat within 60 seconds.

The other people I have "met" through on line forums and social media have often suggested meeting up, but it is always hard to arrange or people want to keep swims secret!

I read many anglers blogs and have started my own, whilst doing this, I was always hoping this may lead to finding other local people to fish with.

I am a member of 3 clubs, and aside from the matches, there is no emphasis on meeting new people from the clubs. I know of clubs that have good licensed club houses open for drinks in the evening, but sadly I do not live near those to take it up maybe that is another aspect of angling culture to look at; the distance angler’s travel to fish.

I regularly drive 60 miles plus to my chosen venue as there is not the type of fishing I do where I live. It seems quite normal for people to travel to fishing venues, so the partner needs to be local to where you live or local to the venue or indeed willing to travel. It is the norm now that us anglers are happy to add the miles to the car to be able to fish.

I think the secrecy in pike fishing is valid and everyone is entitled to their own opinion, however I want to find the social aspect of angling and be able to meet someone I have never met before, go for a day’s fishing together, maybe catch some fish and maybe then find a new friend for life, to fish with or until they never want to drive!!

Equipment list aka Tackle!

As my mum would tell you, as a boy, I would very often get all my fishing stuff out of the shed, garage or wherever it was being stored at the time and carry it all into the house, lay it out on the floor and "sort it". The anglers amongst you will understand but for the rest, sorting basically entailed going through all my tackle; throwing out old casters you find in the corners of boxes or aprons, chucking out that small plastic bag or box that you have kept for several years " just incase a small item fits in it" and generally being proud of all the tackle you own! I often hear people say the tackle in tackle shops are just about catching anglers as they are about catching fish!

Unfortunately I still do this now!!

It was during a sort out that I realised I did not actually know all the rods and reels I have gathered over the years and an inventory would be useful. If for no other reason than a) it would be fun and I was not on the bank and b) there is always that rod, that would be perfect for the situation that you find yourself in when you did not know you had it, so it was left at home. I usually am sure what my fishing trips will be for, so I only take what I think I will use. I would hate to have stick float set up with maggots on the river while a big pike was swimming around my silvers, leaving me no chance of trying for her.  Most of my fishing is for pike now but strangely enough I still have tools for the stick float, maybe one day I will find the will to try it, watch this space.......

Rods
Korum 12ft 2lb tc Barbel rod
CK Armaplate 12ft 2.75lb tc Carp rod
Mitchell 12ft 2.5lb tc Carp rod
Leeda Blue Diamond 13ft 1.25 lb tc Specimen float rod
Daiwa 12ft 1.25lb tc Specialist Avon
Chevron 10ft float rod
Keenly 12ft ledger rod
13ft super lights float rod
Drennan Graduate pole
NGT 9ft travel rod cw 20-50g
March series 7ft Lure rod cw 5-21g

Reels
Mitchell excellence 60 special
Shimano 6010 Baitrunner
Abu Garcia 1044 closed face
DAM Camaro LSB 235
Shimano Exage 2500FD
HTO Ventura Baitcaster
Comoran BX LN 30

The carp rods are what I use for my deadbait pike fishing, the other rods more suited to chub, barbel on rivers and occasional closed season forays to carp waters. My first fishing trips were on heavily stocked, easy carp waters where I used the Keenly rod. My old faithful rod, more about those trips later.
The newest edition, the korum is still a virgin as it was used on the Wye. I will maybe venture on the river soon and see if it can tame a Swale chub.
The Baitcaster is pure too, have only cast a few times with it, but thinking of using it this weekend with the travel rod on a lake I have been targeting for pike.

I don't claim to have fancy or up to date tackle but I care for it and love using it as often as I can.

Wye did we blank??

Last week saw me and Davey, you should know who that is by now, visit the River Wye in Herefordshire.

We had prepared with pike gear and barbel gear to spend a day fishing for each. We had been informed by a local guide that conditions were not great. The river was low and clear and fishing poorly.

Unfortunately like most of us, the days we pick to go fishing are the only days we can go. There is no waking up on any particular day and just deciding to fish and no chance to have a quick look at the river and decide to go the next day instead. We were committed so off we went.

I had obtained a guide for the first day so we could get to see the area and have some tips. I don't think guides are cheap, however we had never been there before and thought the expert help would be invaluable. The second day we were to fish on our own. The guide however felt that the conditions were so poor that he could not guide us properly, we were to go it alone!

We met him however, and he took us to the river so we at least knew where to park, where the beat started and ended, all important things that I don't think are always clear from maps, websites etc.

The beat we fished was Goodrich court and actually the info we did have from the Wye and Usk foundation website was good. http://www.wyeuskfoundation.org/fishing/obs/beat_details.php?beat=goodrich
Armed with our pike gear we walked upstream to fish every slack we came across. The river really was low, we could see our bait in most swims which just added to the anticipation of seeing a pike swim in to investigate.  There were many slacks and we were able to sit in most of them together with sardine on one rod and joey mackerel on the other. Before we left our guide passed on some info that I will use in future, cast once, leave for 20 mins, cast again, that second cast may just get the pikes attention, leave for 10 mins, if no takes move on. Never have three casts.

Sadly there was no action in any slacks and by late afternoon it was time to pack up and find our accommodation. After a long drive around as I had put the wrong post code in the sat nav we finally arrived at out Inn, which was a couple of miles from where we had been fishing!!!!

A few pints and food later and it was ready for bed as the morning would bring barbel fishing.

The river had risen about three foot over night and was heavily coloured, every swim on the new beat Lower hill court, http://www.wyeuskfoundation.org/fishing/obs/beat_details.php?beat=lhc looked perfect for barbel, although Davey was still thinking about fishing the slacks for pike!!!

Again we walked the length of the beat and looked for a double swim where we could set the chairs up and get the feeders out. We found a nice looking swim, although a little slippy underfoot, just for Daveys boots though, and we were ready to set up.

Feeders, hair rigs, pellets and stinky paste all made an appearance and we were soon sat behind our rods waiting. I had bought new feeders for this trip and left the larger 3 and 4 oz ones at home as the river was so low and clear. However, this increase in water meant our 2oz feeders were often washed towards the edges.

My half of the swim looked perfect, over hanging trees which contained a previous anglers feeder, so I knew I was in the right place.

The day passed with little action unless you count Davey casting, letting go off his rod, it nearly going in the river and then him nearly falling in to retrieve it!!!!

We both enjoyed our two days on the Wye. A double of double blanks but we vowed to try and make it an annual trip and who knows, next time we won't be asking Wye we blanked!

Pike 1, Angler 1 – A draw

My first “winter pike” session was sat 1^st October. I arrived at the water at 6.20am in the pitch black, as the sun just started to rise. The water was steaming as the mist cleared and plenty of fish were topping, I assumed being chased by pike. I had been informed that this particular water was best fished early morning, so here I was, ready.

The water was very weedy, so I had beefy tackle. Heavy 40 lb plus braid, wire trace, two trebles and a large section of lamprey. I cast it in the perfect spot and waited. 20 mins past with no interest, so I decided to re position the float. As I wound in, I realised I was snagged on the weeds, this had happened on previous trips and I always pulled the gear free. As I pulled gently, I felt a grating and then the line broke, I must have been rubbing on an underwater obstacle because I had not pulled that hard. Immediately I felt awful, a baited trace is a dead pike, rattled around my head. Just then my Float popped up to the surface, now I had a target. I quickly tied on a paddle toad lure and began to cast at the float. I caught it several times and pulled it closer and then it would fall back in the water and go further out. 30 mins had past and I continued to cast at the float. Eventually I caught it with the hook and I had a firm hold.I started to pull the tackle in. Just then it went rigid and started to move. A fish had grabbed the lamprey and was swimming off. I was now playing a pike on a line that I had hooked by the float on a lure attached to a different line!! The pike swam away and I managed to hold on, loosening the drag so I could play it lightly as the light hook hold on the float began to slip. I played it for about 10 mins then the hook slipped off the float and I watched it sail away. Again I was devastated, not for the loss to me, but to the pike. Then my float bobbed back to the surface about twice the distance out. I had to recover the trace!

I was now stood right on the water’s edge, slowly slipping into the water as I cast repeatedly at the float. Again I managed to hook it and slowly pull it towards me. Minutes ticked away. I was able to walk up the bank and grab the float by hand to hand line the pike. Sadly and gladly the pike had let go of the trace and was no longer hooked. I managed to pull in the braid, the float, the trace still with the lamprey attached. By now a couple of hours had passed and I had missed the optimum feeding time. I bundled the line into my bag and sat down for a coffee. I thought about missing the chance to catch a pike and the fact that I had potentially saved a pike form dying at the hands of my lost trace. I was happy. I felt I had made the right decision and we both had won.

I continued to fish for an hour, with no further interest. I packed up and drove home. Glad that the pike lived to face another day, I will be back next week.

First to Best

I have told you the story of my first ever fish so will jump forward 10 years to my best. August 2000 River Yare, Norfolk Broads.

Although I could now drive myself, pay for myself and certainly make my own lunch, my dad was again with me for this trip, he did pay and drive too actually!!

We were on a two day Pike Safari with The Predator People.
predator-people.

We had Pike fished once before on Bewl water from a boat in the winter. The weather was awful, we were not very experienced  but we thoroughly enjoyed it. By the end of the day my dad had managed to fluke a small Pike and lose his new water proof gloves.



We decided to go with a guide as we knew Pike fishing was specialist, Pike need to be treated with respect and with great care as we did not want to hurt ourselves and more importantly the fish, if we caught any.


Our guide was Allan, he had more knowledge in his little finger than we had in both our bodies, more importantly he had Pike fished for many years and still had both his little fingers.

After meeting our guide and getting all the kit we set off on the boat to a secret location. In truth its not secret, back then I never kept notes so I have no idea where it was. We moored mid river and fished off each side of the boat to what I can remember was a featureless area on the broads. I say this because all my other broad trips were full of me declaring every reed clad bend on the water to be " definitely Pikey" and yet I had never caught a Pike.

Rods set up, we cast into the spots and waited. The advice was, on seeing your float move, to reel down to disengage the bait runner, reel till line was taught and then strike. Failure to do the first could lead you to flying off the back of the boat as you strike and with no resistance with the bait runner, not even a 30lb pike would stop an early bath.


It was not long before my float moved, twitched, bobbed and sailed away. I was in! Omg. Was so excited, followed the above advice perfect, you thought I was going to fall in! I was latched on to leviathan.
I played it easily on the strong tackle in open water and suddenly it surfaced. My dad and I looked at each other and simultaneously said "Croc." The Pike was an awesome sight, so long, strong with a huge head. We had no idea of weight but having never caught before, it was my Pb.
We landed, unhooked and weighed the stunning fish. It was exactly 15lb. I was so chuffed. Allan said it would be a 20 in the winter as it had a large hollow belly. Did I wish it was a 20? Of course I did, I still do over 15 years later as it is still my Pb, but it does not stop me trying to better it. I was no less happy though and if a twenty graces my net now, my grin will resemble my 20 year old one below, plus the ever greying beard!

15Lb Pb Pike

The trip continued, my dad caught a 14lb 11oz and I caught 3 12lb fish and several smaller Pike, including some in the middle of the night, woken by the bleep of a run on the bite alarm. " Its your rod dad, go" only to be told " you get it son, I am sleeping"

Yeah he sleeps a lot, but he was happier seeing me catch than himself. A quality he tries to remember when he landed the pike in my previous post.

This pic was to show the size of Pike you can catch on a largeish lure!

I would recommend going on an organised Pike trip first of all, or with someone who can handle the Pike safely.
Now, I was armed with this knowledge and hunger to better my Pb, I set off to become a Pike fisherman.