pike@blog

Small water, small pike...

2011-06-01T21:09:00.001+01:00

I caught this jack about half-an-hour before Martin took his near double (see below post) - I used a thirty year old jointed wooden lure that I had modified to work the surface.
The pike in this water are in great condition :)

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Revisiting old haunts...

2011-06-01T20:55:00.001+01:00

We decided to have a short session at a small water we haven't fished for years.
Martin persisted in a swim where I had a hit from a decent fish and he reeped the rewards for his patience, a lovely fish just shy of double figures.

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More winter sessions...

2011-02-13T23:13:00.005Z

We have had a few outings to a local stillwater that we know is not heavily pressured on the pike fishing front.

Myself and Martin had a great day at the end of January with Martin taking four fish to 9lbs and myself just a small jack - all to deadbaits.

Martin caught a fish of around 3lb with a very unusual eye abnormality - I have never seen anything like this on a pike before:

My friend Dave had a cracking session last week taking four nice pike and our first double from the water weighing in at 12lb 4oz although we were both convinced it would go more like 14-15lb, it had a very large head (and belly) for a fish of this weight!

Earlier in the day Dave was playing in a small pike and, as I was lowering the landing net to help land the fish, a double-figure pike entered the scene which sent the the smaller fish diving for cover.

The following picture shows the result of the attack on the hapless fish, the gash on the upper left was from a previous attack as it had started to heal, the one towards the tail had just happened as Dave was landing the fish:

My only run came via a small jack which was promptly assaulted by a much bigger pike causing my baitrunner drag to scream as the jack dived for the cover of the reed beds. The jack had not had a chance to properly take my bait so the hooks came flying out moments after the event.

So it looks like there could be some sizable pike in this water, there are certainly some very hungry ones at least. All we need now are some jack-pike deadbaits!!

Anyway, although I blanked on this session I still got to enjoy the local cuisine :)

Winter sessions...

2011-02-13T22:47:00.006Z

We managed to get just one winter session on the River Severn and it was New Years Day 2011.

The river was fining down after the meltwater from 2010's big freeze and conditions looked good although things were a bit slow going.

After an hour or so a decent fish grabbed Martin's roach deadbait just feet from the bank as he was retrieving it to re-cast. After a spirited tussle the fish came to the net and came in just shy of the 13lb mark.

Shortly after this Martin went off to investigate another swim so I was left in charge of the rods, and it was his legered sandeel that was taken with a confident run and another great fighting river pike of around 8lbs.

2010-11-16T23:14:00.001Z

A frosty start on a private Cheshire mere produced a run within minutes to my legered smelt but it was only a small jack of around 2.5lbs.

The morning progressed with more fish and by the end of the afternoon I had banked four and lost two with the biggest being only 3.5lbs.

There are plenty of pike here but they need to get bigger...

Skinny little fella!

First session of the season...

2010-09-02T22:03:00.000+01:00

This coming Saturday will be the first 'proper' session of the 2010 season (even though it's only September) and we will be fishing a Cheshire stillwater that we know holds pike into the high twenties.

It'll just be a morning session but a 5.30am start means we will have a good few hours of fishing.

Hopefully I'll be updating the blog shortly with some actual pictures of pike... :o)

Autumn is near...

2010-08-29T20:15:00.001+01:00

Well for once I thought I'd get organised in time for the coming pike season so I made up a bunch of traces and sorted out the tackle box - I even cleaned my rods and baitrunners...rock and roll :o)

Productive short session...

2010-04-03T17:06:00.003+01:00

click on image to enlarge

I managed to get a short session in on a new still water today and it proved to be reasonably productive.

Having fished the water only once before taking an 8lb pike I thought I'd give it another go as I had a few hours to spare.

I started fishing in a small bay that produced a couple of hits on the lure the previous visit. I float-legered a small dead bait just a few feet out on the edge of some reeds and proceeded to have a go with the lure gear.

After about 30 minutes the float went and I pulled into a small jack of around 2lb. Maybe not the monster I was after but my first fish from this water on dead bait tactics so I was encouraged.

Having had no action on the lure rod I decided to set up another dead bait rod and placed a bait in a swim to my left, again, just a few feet out by the edge of some reeds.

After 10 minutes the newly placed bait was away stripping line off the free-spool, alarm bleeping away. The float was moving fairly rapidly away from the bank so without hesitation I hit into the fish which this time felt a little more substantial.

After a few short runs I chinned out a lovely fish of around the 8lb mark - admittedly it does look bigger in the picture but it felt around that weight.

The final fish of the short session came to one of my new lures, the Savage Gear 4Play 'Jack' which was hit by a small but lively fish of around 3lbs.

I tried a few more swims with the lure gear then headed off home.

The Savage Gear 4play Jack lure (no longer in service - lost to a snag!)

This is turning out to be a fairly productive new water with the potential for some bigger fish, it's just a shame I didn't get chance to fish it over the winter months.

A fish at last!

2010-03-31T17:23:00.005+01:00

Ok, so it's not huge but very welcome after a hard day's piking in horrible windy and wet weather.

Fishing with my mate Dave today we started off on a new water, a very clear and deep sand quarry local to us. The only hint of a pike was a totally disinterested 3lber that didn't even sniff as I ran my lure past it's nose several times.

After 4 hours of no action we decided on a tactical move to another new water which was just down the road.

This time we dumped the bait rods and just went round the lake with the lure gear.

After about half-an-hour I latched into this solid little pike of around 7-8lbs - very welcome!

The wind was really picking up by now and after a couple more hits to my 'wild-eye-pike' lure we decided to call it a day.

From what I gather there are some pretty decent sized pike in this water so I will definitely be giving it another go in the near future...

Quite a solid fish, was broad across the back

Brand new braid for FREE!!

2010-03-21T15:00:00.001Z

If you are using braid for your lure fishing (highly recomended) then you will find after a year or so that it starts to lose it's original colour and quality. Most manufacturers recomend replacing braid every couple of years but at £30+ a spool it's a lot of money.

A little tip to get brand new braid without actually buying it is to wind it off your existing real onto another spool/reel. As you are doing so you will notice that after 50 yards or so (usual casting range) you are getting down to brand new, unused braid!

After winding onto the spare spool you will have the new braid on the outside which means you'll need to wind it onto another spare spool. It sounds a bit faffy but it only takes a few minutes.

What you should end up with it the worn/used braid on the outside (this is how it was before you started) which you can then wind back on to your original reel leaving nice new braid on the outside ready to use.

I found that I had around 130-150 yards of braid altogether and that I general don't cast more than around 50 yards so this has left me with up to 100 yards of brand new braid ready to use.

That should do you for another year or so...

2010-03-16T23:11:00.000Z

Beautifully marked river double

My gear

2010-01-30T17:01:00.014Z

As I'm not catching many fish at the moment (any in fact..) I thought I would post a quick run down of the gear I use for my piking.

Rods:

My main rods are a pair of Wychwood 'Rogue pike' 12ft 3lb test curve items which have probably been the best item of tackle I have bought since taking up the sport.

They cost me £50 each around 5 years ago and have been 100% reliable from the word go. They are hardly state of the art being composite carbon blanks and own-brand rings and real seat but they are just so strong and for the price have a great action and can be used for close range or ditance fishing.

I paid £100 for a Grey's specimen rod which would have bent rings after every fishing trip - the Wychwoods just take all manner of abuse and are still going strong after five years.

I really like the short, straight-through handle and the very heavy duty line rings - for the money they really are very good rods.

Whychwood Rogue Pike rod

Reels:

What can I say...? It has to be Shimano baitrunners - I've been through a few models but ended up on these as I prefer the classic look - they are the GTE-C versions with five ball bearings plus one roller bearing. The reel includes 2 forged aluminium spools as well.

I'm currently using Shimano's Tribal camo line as well (15lb) which is proving very good. It has 40% less stretch than standard mono.

Shimano Baitrunner GTE-C

Bite indication:

I'm a bit old-school with this one as my fishing buddy Martin bought me a pair of Efgeeco Super XL's when I first got into piking and to be honest I have never needed anything else. Personally I can't see the benefit in spending hundreds of pounds on bite alarms when they all essentially do the same thing. Mine have never missed a run and, even though they only have tone and volume controlls you can change the sensitivity by replacing the internal light sensor rotor with a different one (which is kept in the alarm body).

Sure, not the prettiest alarms on the market but they do the job!

Old-School Super XL optonic

Landing net:

I went for a Wychwood net having been pleased with their rods. It's a perfectly functional landing net (42") but it's a bit on the heavy side even though it was advertised as a full carbon handle and frame - I'm not convinced, I recon it must be composite because I have held a high-end full carbon net and it is a lot lighter than mine.

All the same it's perfectly fine for my fishing and I'm not too bothered about the weight - us pike anglers are real men you know, not like these jessy carp guy's... :o)

Wychwood specemin net (42")

Float rig:

Here's my basic float/leger rig that I use for most of my pike fishing. It's a great rig because it's very adaptable - you can nail a bait to the bottom or fish under depth and trot a bait down a stretch of river.

I prefer the 'stubby slider' floats as they seem to resist flow to some extent when you are bottom fishing on a river but they are also quite boyant which helps when trotting a bait.

I use Fox carbo-flex 30lb wire and Fox size 6 trebles - In my experience carbo flex lasts about five times longer than regular wire trace.

Float/leger rig (Fox stubby slider)

Please feel free to leave any comments about all this - I'd be interested to hear what gear/rigs you are using...

Dave

Images taken with Sony Ericsson W995 8.1 megapixel

2010-01-30T16:01:00.001Z

Evidence that my mate martin can actually catch decent fish ;o) A 17 pounder in the company of Mick Brown.

2010-01-30T15:46:00.002Z

My first outing to Tatton Mere in Cheshire proved reasonably succsesful with 5 runs and 3 fish banked.

2010-01-30T15:43:00.002Z

Here's my first pike from my local river, the Weaver in Cheshire. Although not a big fish it was very solid and fought very well. Notice the mini-pike soft lure that fooled it...

2010-01-24T19:42:00.002Z

Waiting....A cold January morning on a Cheshire stillwater.

2009-10-23T12:56:00.000+01:00

A couple more images of my 22lber from the Severn...

2009-10-22T13:03:00.003+01:00

We were checking out a new stretch of the Severn when we spotted a chap on the oposite bank using some very ancient looking tackle. My friend asked if he had caught anything and the guy responded in a well spoken tone "No, just had some chub nibbling at my bait" - it was none other than Mr.Chris Yates! (click on image to enlarge)

I came down this stretch the following week and landed a mid-double pike (see previous post). I'll be coming back very soon...

2009-10-22T12:53:00.001+01:00

My friend Martin with a 15lb fish from a local stillwater, caught at close range on a popped-up sand eel.

2009-10-05T08:26:00.000+01:00

A mid-double from a new swim on the Severn - caught on float fished sprat

2009-10-05T08:25:00.000+01:00

A mid-double from Esthwaite Water in Cumbria caught on a micro demon lure

2009-10-05T08:24:00.000+01:00

Fishing with Mick Brown last year - it was quite windy!

Another big Severn perch

2007-09-14T08:49:00.000+01:00

A beautifully marked perch of around 2lb 8oz

Big River Pike...

2007-03-20T23:28:00.000Z

Here's a picture of my 22lb pike from the Severn - caught Feburay '06.

Little Jack...

2007-03-06T21:27:00.000Z

Little pike caught on a jointed plug that I found on the river bank!!

9lb Barbel...

2007-02-13T23:48:00.000Z

Personal best 9lb barbel caught on double maggot and a size 16 barbless hook whilst fishing for dace and roach - very pleased!!

Jiggin' Stick

2007-01-24T21:01:00.000Z

I've just purchased a new lure rod - the Fox 'Mick Brown Signature Series' Jiggin' Stick! I used one of these for a couple of hours during my time fishing with Mick Brown and I absolutely loved it.
This is my first proper lure rod and is rated for lures from 15 - 50 grams
It is very short at 6'6" and incredibly light but has some serious back bone and is a dream to use - it's a revalation after using a 12ft 2lb test rod and baitrunner for lure fishing!!
The Jiggin' Stick is a one piece construction so it's handy just set-up all the time as it's the same length as the broken-down bait rods.
I used it for the first time at my local pool and banked a whopping 8oz micro-pike!!
I'm hoping to spend a bit more time lure fishing now I have the proper gear - this will hopefully put a few more fish on the bank....

Fishing with Mick Brown:

2007-01-14T20:35:00.000Z

Just a few days ago I was fortunate enough to spend the day fishing with piking legend Mick Brown. I'm sure those of you with satalite TV will have seen him alongside Matt Hayes in 'the Great Rod Race' and 'Record Breaking Fish' TV series.
He has authored the highly regarded book 'Pike Fishing - the Practise and the Passion' and has regular articles in the angling press.
It was a great day and we fished a couple of fantastic venues taking around 12 pike in all, my friend Martin caught the biggest at 17lb 10oz. A fantastic day to be remembered - Mick is a top bloke :o)
Check out Mick's website here.

(Click image to enlarge)

History:

2007-01-14T19:45:00.000Z

I have been fishing since the age of six up until I was about 18, I then had a gap of about 14 years before taking up the sport again. My friend Martin was to blame, telling me tales of huge pike he had caught from a secret lake in deepest Kent. His stories were backed up by many photo's of these huge fish.
I got quite interested in pike when I was about 13. I had never deliberately fished for them but had encountered them whilst fishing for other species.
My grandparents lived on a road that ran alongside the river Severn in Shrewsbury. They lived on the opposite side of the road to the actual river itself but were friendly with some neighbours who had a huge house next to the river bank.
I was privileged to be allowed to fish from their garden and there was a purpose made ramp cut out from the 8 foot high, steep bank leading down to the waters edge.
I was fishing one side of an island that split the river just upstream. The head of this island was, and still is a famous barbel hot-spot and to this day you can have fantastic fishing there at the beginning of the season. My fishing though, was exclusive as you could only fish this particular swim from the private garden.
Most of my fishing was legering or swim-feeder and I caught no end of quality chub, roach, perch and dace with the occasional barbel to boot. A barbel was quite rare though as they preferred the faster water at the head of the island.
The fish were amazing quality and I never failed to catch, the river was stuffed with them!
One afternoon I was feeder fishing to the far bank. As I reeled in after a bite-less 15 minutes a pike of about 15 lb's darted out from some streamer weed in the middle of the river and grabbed my feeder!
After shaking it's head a few times it spat it out and submerged back into the weed. From that day on I was fascinated with pike.