Roving river

Today was to be the first roving session on the local river, the plan was to fish a stretch we hadn't fished before. Because we didn't know the area at all we decided to park up just before first light, unload the gear and then walk about half a mile to our starting point. The length of the stretch we fished was about three quarters of a mile with around 1.5 miles of walking in total so we needed to pack light. We each had 2 rods each, a few bank sticks, landing nets, a small bag with spare tackle and food for the day. Me and Mike fished 2 rods between us and took the first swim on the river with Bri about 150yds down stream. It was a beautiful morning, cool and still, small fish broke the surface of the water all around us and there was plenty small fry in the margins. We stuck it out for 40 mins or so with nothing to show so moved to the next few swims closer to Bri. When I say swims I mean places to fish, the motto of the day was if you can get a net to the water it was a swim and some of the best looking spots where the hardest to get to. We had the first run in the next swim up from Bri, the bobbin dropped and the fish started to take line, I waited a short while, wound into the fish and then struck, the fish was small, it came to the surface very quickly and then shed the hooks. Bonus, there were fish about regardless of the size so I hooked up another bait and cast it to the same spot. As time ticked by I tried a few other places around Bri, discovering good depths of water and future places to session fish, Bri had the next run, a scrappy little jack of around 6lb, this fish had clearly

been caught by an inexperienced angler before, its bottom jaw was broken and it had last quiet a few teeth on one side of its mouth, this is just another case of poor handling something the PAC are trying there hardest to promote with teaching sessions for those who care.
This area was now spent and with a lot of prospecting to do it was time to move on so we wrapped up and headed down stream. It was to be a good walk to the next fishable swims as most of the bank was unfishable due to the thick undergrowth. Mike and I dropped into the first available swims with Bri dropping in about 300yds down from us. As I was putting the banksticks in I noticed a swirl in the water under a overhanging tree where I was to put my left hand rod so this rod was first in followed by the right hand rod that we put by a very big overhanging willow tree. Mike and I sat back once the baits were in and had a coffee and a chin wag when the bite alarm on the left rod sounded, I hit the run and landed a small jack of around 5lb that was completely flawless, I put him back and re cast. We didn't stay here to long before moving further down stream passing Bri on the way, Bri was fishing a great looking swim opposite a swim I had caught a 17lber a month or so ago that looks so fishy from the opposite bank. We dropped in 150yds down from Bri in one of the widest available swims on the

 bank, we ha to fight to get to it through thick brambles and a barbed wire fence but once passed the fence it cleared up. Again we put the banksticks in first then baited up the rods. the left hand rod was to go in first again, has I was about to cast there was the usual Sunday rowers heading up stream followed by a petrol powered dingy that is the safety boat, The guy piloting the safety boat noticed that I was about to cast out and kindly stopped, I flicked the bait to an overhanging tree and thanked the guy for his patience. As I was putting the rod down I felt a slight tug but dismissed it as the live bait, as I was trying to clip the bait up the line went slack and Mike shouted its gone already, I tighten up to it and set the hooks, Mike soon got down to take over and after a brief scrap she was ours. Weighed, photo'd and returned to the water in a matter of minutes,  10lb 01oz  another double for Mike. Once the fish was safely returned I managed to get the rods back out and kick back for a brew and a bite to eat. We gave it 20 mins and decided to move on, with a fish already falling to the left hand rod I thought it best to bring in the rod on the right first and what a lucky decision that turned out to be, just as I unclipped the bobbin the other rod screamed off. I set the hooks and gave the rod to Mike, he played the fish hard and soon got her to the bank, While I was unhooking the fish Mike was getting the sling, scales and

camera ready, he's getting very efficient at this now, too efficient lol, Mike weighed her 10lb 01oz again so I took the scales for a second opinion and he was right. We took some photos and returned her to the water. Having caught another double from this swim it would have been foolish not to give it another 30 mins so while I casted the rod back out Mike checked the photos to make sure it wasn't the same fish, it wasn't to be.
After feeding our selves and the local robins with tracker bars we wrapped up and headed down stream calling in at a few more swims on the way to our final destination where we fished the rest of the day out in swims we usually session fish. No more fish were caught today but it was most enjoyable discovering new areas on what was to be the last pleasant day of 2013 and all of coarse in good company.

A change for the best



 As you have probably gathered we try our hardest to fish as a group but this has proved to be quite difficult on the river, there just isn't an area that has four swims next to each other, not only that four productive swims. This time out the plan was to split up and fish a premium swim each so to speak the way we come about selecting the swims was decided a few days before the trip by each selecting our three preferred swims and texting each other. If there was to be a clash of first choice swims then we had to draw straws on the morning of the trip, this wasn't going to be necessary as we had all some how managed to select different swims. The morning of the trip we had all arranged to meet at Bri's house around 5am, this didn't happen, Bri had to drop out this time so Bernie and I made our way straight to the river. Bernie opted to fish a swim he'd never fished before, I'd tried this swim a month or so ago in flooded conditions and managed an 8lb jack, its a popular swim with the carpers and situated on the outside of a big bend in the river.

Me and Mike also decided to fish an area we hadn't fished before, this time on a straight section of river with plenty of features to fish to. We arrived and set up in the dark, I like to have my baits in before first light, many of the fish we catch come at first light and even the odd one before light.I got a phone call just before 7am, it was still very dark, it was Bernie, he had just put back a very welcomed 14 lb 7oz pike, he explained how he had caught it and that it  had a very deep wound on its flank.
The fishing wasn't particularly good in the swims Mike and I were fishing, the only action was a dropped run on one of Mikes rods.

I put the lack of action down to the amount of water in the3 river, it was up but falling and the swim we were fishing was on a narrow and shallow section of the system. Bernie soon called again, he had caught another nice double this one was slightly smaller but still a respectable 13 lb 01oz, a very good looking fish in pristine condition. We give it another hour in our swim and decided to move, the fish were on the feed but not in this location so Mike and I wrapped up and headed to a double swim that's been good to me.
We arrived at our next swim around 10am, we soon had the baits in, Mike had never fished here before so I put him on the left hand side which has proven more fruitful, I've had a fair few fish on this side of the swim and today was more about Mike catching than me. I had the first run, a nice jack of 9 lb 4oz, this gave me confidence as most of the fish tend to come from the left so it was only a matter of time before Mike was going to get a run. We settled in and had a few brews and it wasn't long before Mike got his first run, there was plenty room in this swim so now was the time for Mike to net his first pike and what a good job he did of it, we unhooked the fish and weighed it, 9 lb 9oz, put her back in the water for a few minutes and then took her back out for a few trophy shots before Mike released her.

Mike is in a junior league run by the Pike Anglers Club of Great Britain and all the fish he catches are weighed and photographed and the information is then passed on to PAC and regional organiser Sean Ellis to update the league table on the PAC forum. Its more for the fun of it and its all about getting youngsters into our sport because at the end of the day its the youth of today that will be expected to pass on all the hard work, safe handling and good practice that has evolved from past and present pikes to the next generation of pike anglers.

We had plenty more runs that day but only connected to two other fish a 7 lb 11oz and another double of 10 lb 10oz both of which Mike caught. It was one of them days I suppose we caught 4 fish between us but lost just as many fish. Bernie had no other fish but lost a double close in, a good day was had by all and I'm looking forward to getting out again.

 Mike with a beautifully marked 7 lb 11oz pike

 

Mikes only double of the day 10 lb 10oz, he caught it as he was packing his gear away.

 



DeJa Vu

After last weekend's bumper catch I thought it was best to change location, we never fish the same swim consecutively any way. Back in work on Monday and the weather was poor, it rained all morning and we had a gutter job to do, far from ideal weather. Me and Bernie had a look at the job to see what bits we might need then set of on a reccy. We first called in on a stretch canal near Dunham, as we walked up the path to the canal we was greeted by a Kingfisher directly opposite us on the other bank, he stayed there confidently for a short while before heading of, I think we spoiled his swim. The canal looked promising and we will return there in the near future to try our luck. The next stop was a small river that I've looked at a few times, I've told Bernie about it many times and we had the chance to call in and pay it another visit, This river as most certainly got potential with good fish known to have come out not to far up or down stream from where we were, the only think that has swayed me from trying it out was that each time I've been I have only ever seen a small shoal of fry and not one single fish break surface. I will spare a morning in the near future, just one rod, a net and a few necessities  and see what's hiding beneath the surface! We later had a look at the Manchester ship canal, its a massive body of water and I am sure it has plenty pike in it but where do you start, we don't even know if you can fish it but we have a few places in mind and one day, well we'll see. Its not all about fishing for me, I spend a lot of time looking for new venues, and swims on current venues, I occasionally prowl the internet looking at forums in particular match related forums, many match anglers hate pike and I can understand why, they spend a fortune on fresh bait, spend hours and hours building up a swim then bam, Mrs Lucius comes along and spoils it all, if you ever want to find out if there's pike in a venue just ask the match men. Another fantastic tool is Google earth, if I am going to fish somewhere I've never fished before the first thing I do is check it out on Google, there is a great little tool bar a the top of the page that lets you measure things like how far it is to the island in the middle of the lake or even how far you will have to walk to a favoured swim, the quality is that good you can even see shallow areas but one of the best features as got to be street view, this only works on certain roads and not public foot paths, its a 360 degree view that you can zoom in on, so if the venue you want to check out is by a road have a better look at it on street view. I got a little side tracked the, we called in on a few more rivers we fish on the way home, looking at new areas. Having found a few swims on one of the rivers I then began to plan my attack for the forth coming weekend. The swim I wanted to fish was very tight with tall reeds 100yds to the left and right of me on the outside of a bend, it was an old swim with a tired old concrete platform, defiantly an old match swim. I grabbed hold of a striaghtish tree branch about 5' long and dipped it in in front of the platform, wow, there was only 2" of wood sticking out the water, this was the swim for me, I thought this swim might just have a good depth of water in front of it. The day before we planned to fish this area for the first time I called Bri up and asked him if he wanted a trip out to see these new areas, you don't need to persuade Bri, he was out like a shot. I took the bait boat and echo sounder to see what the bottom was like, just as I'd expected it was deep, I had 6' tight to the reeds either side of me and a steady drop of to 17' just 20yds in front of me, I was happy with that so we moved on to the swims Mike and Bri were going to fish, they to had good water in front of them so we headed back home to dream about the day ahead.

 

We arrived at Bri's house at 05.30, the plan was to get there an hour before first light and we did, we all got settled in long before the sun came out, as dawn broke confidence was very high, the river had dropped 4" or so and had cleared slightly from the previous day the only thing that bothered me was the amount of debris flowing down, constantly gathering on my line. I put the kettle on and made myself a brew and sat there relishing the moment, beep, beep from up the bank, then a shout "Keith", I grabbed the sling, scales and camera, as I got up the bank Bri and Mike were stood over a good fish on the mat, Bri said "it's a seventeen" I asked how he new, he said "its the same fish you had last week". Sure enough it was, this fish is a stunning fish and the only real defect it has is a boil on its lower jaw. Mike had caught the fish, I zeroed the scale and handed them to him, he struggled to keep them still so I helped out, 17lb 04oz, the very same she weighed for me a week before "Deja vu" 

 

Our Mikes having a real good first season so far, this was to be his biggest English pike and biggest river pike, he's had loads of jacks, 2 doubles and a twenty all in the space of a few months, well done m8 keep them coming. I got back to my swim absolutely buzzing, Mike soon come over to look at the photos then I had a run on my down stream rod, the fish looked to be around 9lbs, it was top lip hooked in the upper jaw with just one of the three hooks, I didn't fancy getting the flying hook caught up in the net and the fish wrapping its self up in it so I thought I'd chin it, as I took hold of the trace the fish flared its mouth open and shed the hooks, saved me the job but I would have liked a photo for the records. Happy days, I too had had some action, Bri's turn next but we waited until 2pm before he had a run and put another double in the net to add to this seasons tally. The only other action after Bri's 10 was a lost fish to Bri, he played the fish to the surface but she shook her head and sent his trace back to him, an upper double, once again the pike gods let you down Bri, better luck next time m8.

 

Bri landing his fish

 

Give me back my hooks

10lb 2oz, another double for Bri

 



 

The next day I was due to work on a roof but with a good frost forecast over night I thought I'd leave some tackle in the van and if all was frozen on Monday morning I'll have a few hours out on the bank while the roof defrosts (Safety first). Well I was surprised to see that all the cars were frozen when I got up (an hour early) for work so of I went. I'm not going to go into to much detail other than it was bloody cold on Monday morning -3 on the way there but I managed one fish, I caught it on a live rudd close to the bank at around 9am, she weighed 12lb 2oz and was well worth missing work for. See the video below

 



 

 

http://youtu.be/QN_ntTbwH7A 

 

November Rain

Well what can I say other than Novembers been a bit of a wash out. We had fully intended to concentrate our efforts on the local rivers but with all the rain we've had they've been up and coloured, this got me thinking, we was in need of a local back up water or two. Me and Sefo got are heads together and decided it was time to re new our membership with a water thats been kind to me, Bernie also come up with a small water we've fished before that is a day ticket venue with fish to over 25lbs.

I managed a very short session at the beginning of the month on a local river to try my hand at a swim I'd been looking at but never fished. Due to other commitments later that day I planned a dawn raid, there are two swims very close to each other and my plan was to fish the downstream swim first then move up to the next. The first swim was barely wide enough for two rods, I first dropped a paternoster live bait under a over hanging tree to the left and then one to the right. The bait on the right seemed to be working well but my other bait was motionless.  I decided to check the bait, it was snagged, I ended up straightening one of the top trebles.  I put a fresh trace and bait on and cast it slightly further out, same again, it happened three times in total so I thought thats it, enoughs enough so I moved on to the next swim. Again I had a nice over hanging tree to my right so I put a bait there, no more than 5' from the bank and one to the left. After a short wait the bobbin dropped on the right hand rod and after a very breif fight she was in the net, a scrappy little 8lber, I took a few self pics and put her back, mission accomplished, I've learned a lot today and I will be visiting these swims again when the river is more settled.

 

The next day we planned to fish one of the waters controlled by the club we had just joined,  Sefo couldn't make it which was a pitty because he'd just forked out for the permit so it was just me our Mike and Bernie. Although we set of early to make first light we didnt get there as intended,  bloody roadworks and diversions sent us on a right merry go round. When we eventually arrived we got out the van to find that the reservoir was not yet full, even after all the rain we'd had, it was about 6' down which gave me the opportunity to fish and area I hadn't before.  Not long after casting in I had a run on my right hand rod, a jack of around 7lb. The other rod went soon after, another jack no more the 1.5lbs, bigger baits were in order so out they went.
Bernie was the next one to get a run bit the fish pulled out, he was disappointed but that was short lived with another run soon after that resulted in a double, Bernie's first fish from this venue, well done m8.

 All the action came and went with nothing till late afternoon, our Mike was getting very restless, Bernie and I had both caught and he hadn't surely he was next. His billy backbiter dropped on his left hand rod, he ran to his rod and struck,  fish on, he played the fish for a short while but let his rod down and the line went slack, the fish came free, he was utterly devastated. He put another bait out and sat by his rod, I've never seen him concentrate so much in my life. Mike asked if I could set the hooks on the next run if he got one,  I told him not to worry too much about losing his last fish, it's all a learning curve and that even the pros get it wrong sometimes. He finally got another run, I set the hooks and he played the fish to the net, a small jack but it made his day. I think he's started to realise that he's had a very good season so far and the fish sometimes beat us.

 

The rivers were still high the following weekend so it was back to the reservoir this time all of us. This time the reservoir was full. We chose to fish an area I'd not fished and to be honest I didn't fancy it when we got to the swims, the water was up and bank space was at a premium.  We all cramped in, pitched tents as we were expecting rain and put our baits out. Sefo had the first run, a small jack followed by another. The morning was soon over, all quite so I decided to send the bait boat out on a reccy to discover the depths, 46' deep in some areas and shelved of pretty quick. This was in my opinion a swim for the colder months but I was here and was going to try and make the most of it. Fred the weather man forecast strong westerlies to 40+mph so I took a drift float rod set up, he couldn't of got it more wrong, the wind was coming from the north, I ended up sending the drift float out with the bait boat to find the wind but had to bring it back in ever 30mins or so to prevent it crossing Bernies lines.  Our Mike managed a few jacks but me and Bernie ended up blanking, maybe next time.

 

 

The next weekend I took Mike out, just him fishing,  I'd been on a 40th birthday bash at a casino in Liverpool,  great night, even won some money. I was in no rush to get him out fishing the following day, I got up about 07.30, lounged around for an hour then we set of to do a bit of fishing on several local venues. We first arrived at a park lake thats full of jacks but didnt stay too long, the place was still heavily overgrown with weed, we wrapped up and set of to the next lake just a few hundred metres away. There was 5 lure anglers thrashing the water so we didn't bother getting the rods out. Next stop was the local canal, it was totally unfishable,  very coloured, we got back in the van and set of to a bigger lake. When we got there I was surprised to see Keith fishing there, he's a truck driver and only fishes at the weekend but not here, he's a member of a syndicate that has exclusive rights to a country estate lake with some very good fish in. We set up next to Keith so I could have the crack Mike asked Keith if he could have a go with his lure rod and we chit chatted the rest of the morning away. Keith had a jack about 8lb, Mike blanked but he's getting good with them multipliers now.

Over nighter
 

After a hectic week in work and the river levels finally dropping of we opted to do an over night session, Saturday afternoon till Sunday evening to be more exact. Myself and Bernie had things on on Saturday morning and the intention was to meet up eventually during the course of the day. Me and Bri arrived first, we picked swims we'd both fished in before and had caught.  I was im no rush, I was not for one minute goimg to be governed by time, I was here to relax and hopefully catch a few fish. I had the first run mid afternoon a jack of 8lbs, it took a paternostered live bait, I shouted Bri over but he was busy unhooking a low double so I put my fish back and took my camera over to Bri to photograph his catch.

 

Not a bad start, I eventually got the other rods out, 2 on lives and one ledgered dead bait. I took about 3kgs of course and sea dead's to pre bait, I'd put them in a bucket frozen and half filled the bucket with luke warm water, by the time I'd got settled most of the bait had defrosted. I chopped it all up into chunks about 1.5" and left it to soak in all the fishy juice, I then systematically fed my swim up over the next 24hrs and in my opinion it was worth while.
Bernie arrived after dark, by this time I'd had another 8lb jack, we helped Bernie to his swim, later we had a few cans and watched England in the rugby league world cup then retired for the night. There wasn't much action through the night other than a missed run for Berny so at first light after a coffee I recast all my rods, the dead bait was well snagged, I ended up snapping the 30lb trace so I reset the rod and put it in a slightly different spot. I'd caught fish on dead baits in the same place earlier on in the year but you can't guarantee a snag free area on a river, they change with every flood that passes leaving snags in areas that were once snag free.
After resetting the traps I put the kettle on and started to make fresh traces and one of the live bait rods went again, I unhooked the fish, zeroed the scales and weighed the fish, 8lb 12oz, another 8, three in a row. While I was weighing my fish Bernie had shouted over and asked if I could come over to weigh his fish, he had a low double in his net, 10lb 12oz took some photos and he put her back, the photos I took were pretty rubbish,  the lens had fogged up, sorry B!

 

I got back to my swim wondering if it was going to be one of them sessions, the last thing I wanted to see on my mat was another 8lber, I'd be happy with a 2 or a 12 just not another 8. I though it was time to check the dead bait again, I was worried that it may be snagged, I picked the rod up and it was solid again, this time I managed to pull free but bent the hooks on the trace. Sod this, I set it up on the paternoster and fished the same area. I kept a steady flow of pre bait going in and re cast my right hand rod,  this time into open water and it paid of, a run shortly after clipping it up, as I struck I thought please don't be another 8 lber, it wasn't,  it was only a little one of about 6lb. At this point I was pleased,  no doubles but 4 fish but what pleased me even more though was a phone call from Bernie who had cooked up some sausage butties on his new Coleman petrol stove, he's well impressed with it, he even managed to melt the handle on his frying pan.

It was mid morning and the left hand rod took a hit, this was a better fish, the fish came to the surface a few times while I played it and I could see that there wasn't a lot of trace showing, I netted the fish and placed it down on the unhooking mat, opened its mouth and all I could see was the tail of the bait. By this time Bri had come over to help out, I unclipped the trace so I could get a good look and make things easier.  That was the 5th fish in a row that had come on the left rod in 2 sessions that resulted in a deep hooked fish. I honestly don't understand why, all the runs get hit straight away, the previous 4 fish deep hooked with the bottom hook and were easily delt with and returned unharmed but this fish was  hooked well and truly down its throat. I eased the trace but it didn't give, so I clamped the forceps on the tail of the bait and slowly pulled, it came out quite easy along with the top treble. I had no chance with the  bottom hooks so I cut the wire as close to the hook as possible and put her in the water for a breather. We weighed her and took a few quick photos and sent her back home. I was gutted, thats only ever happened to me twice while I've been pike fishing and I cant help thinking its all my fault regardless of hitting the run immediately, I sincerely hope she's ok.

Bernie had another fish of about 4 lb shortly after that he wrapped up so it was just me and Bri, it was around 1pm when Bri had a screamer, I ran over with the camera hoping to take some action shots but all I found was a gutted old piker who had just lost a very good fish, unlucky m8, maybe next time Bri. Has I got to my swim the middle rod had a run, I hit it before it pulled the bobbin off, it was 11lb 6oz, I had to chin it because my landing net got stuck in the water on a tree root and there was a flying treble, didn't want to chance it.

4 jacks and 2 doubles but it doesn't end there, I had a take on my middle rod, a small fish of about 4 lbs, has I was landing it my right hand rod took of like a train,  I chinned the jack out the water, all but threw it at Bri and struck into my other rod. This was a good fish, Bri unhooked the jack and returned it to the water then started to photograph me playing the fish. At first I thought it was a thirteen but when we got it in the net and on the mat I thought bigger, Bri said upper double and maybe a new river pb, it turned out to be 17lb 04oz not only a river pb but beat my previous by 3oz. I was made up, what a great session I'd had, in fact all of us, we all managed fish into double figures.

 

Seconds later the rod in the foreground went

 

 

Its mine

 

 

My PB 17lb 04oz, stunning fish

 

Local drain

Today I got the opportunity to try my hand on a local drain, this came about because the rugby team my daughter plays for were doing a sponsored walk to raise vital funds to buy new kit for the coming season. Before this morning I had no intentions of going fishing, I was merely the designated taxi driver for the day, I decided minutes before we were due to leave that I'd grab a bit of kit on the off chance that I'd find somewhere to wet a line. I dropped Jade and her friend Chloé off at the start of their 14 mile walk knowing that I had a good 4hrs to kill.

I had fished in this area once before but didn't stay long as the drain was in flood and very coloured.  On the way to my first choice venue all I could think about was the amount of rain that came down yesterday evening, as I drove over the bridge over the drain thinks looked promising,  I parked the van close by and headed over to the drain to get a proper look.  The water level and clarity looked good but there was quite a bit of weed coming down stream, this can be expected this time of the year with winter on its way, all the water greenery klinging on knowing that any time soon the first of the expected harsh weather will come and take it all away.
As I was looking for somewhere to start I bumped into a young man who had been lure fishing from early morning, we had a brief chat and explained that a few fish had come out up stream the day before but he'd had no such luck. I grabbed a few rods and a small bag of tackle and set of up stream, I found a nice looking spot by a derelict bridge and set about putting a couple of baits out, one rod to the left and the other to the right of the old bridge.  The water is very shallow and doesn't go much over 4' in this swim, I was using live bait paternostered so I had to keep everything short. I put the left hand rod in first about 25yds downstream,  the right hand rod I put 20yds or so up stream very close to the bank I was fishing from. I clipped it up and returned to my where my tackle bag was to get my radio out, has I turned on the radio the bobbin dropped on the rod I had just put out (ant music by adam and the ants must have triggered the take lol) I picked up the rod to make sure the fish was running, tightened up to it and set the hooks. As soon as I'd set the hooks I could tell it was a small fish but this didn't matter, it was a fish all the same, I soon had the jack in the net, a tatty little fish with an unusually green right eye, it was well hooked with both sets of trebles in its mouth, I unhooked it took a few pics of its eye and put him back before re baiting my rod and casting it a little further up stream.y

I sat down happy that I'd caught a fish and began to pen this blog why it was still fresh in my mind when my left hand rod went off. I quickly got to the rod and could see this fish was taking line, I picked up rhe rod and struck,  the line went slack and at first I thought I'd lost it but then realised the fish was running up stream, this too was a small fish around 8lb. I decided it was time to try out the remote release i'd recently bought for the digital SLR camera my wife and kids got me for my 40th birthday this year. The camera im now using is a Nikon D5100 DSLR and it takes amazing shots in the right hands, the down side is the cost, there around £450 with a standard lens which is more that good enough for taking pictures of your prized catch. One of the key features that steered me to choosing this camera was the flip screen display, this paired with a bankstick mount and a remote release purchased of ebay for a few quid each makes taking self portaits effortless.  I took a few photos of the little pike and returned it to the water, 2 fish in half an hour :)

A short while later the bobbin once again hit the bankstick on the right hand rod, I picked yhe rod to feel for the fish but nothing was there so a put the rod back down to clip it up. As I was clipping it up the tip of the rod pulled slightly,  this wasn't the bait so I struck and reeled in the smallest pike I've caught this season so far, 8oz at the most.

Lives or deads

Thirteen days into the traditional pike season and I was yet to wet a pike bait. Most of the fishing we do is of a weekend and with family commitments most of the sessions tend to be very short, maybe just a few hours. This Sunday was to be a rare dawn till dusk, day long session on a local water that we've been visiting from time to time over the last 18 months or so. The venue is very big and much unexplored by our motley crew, usually this time of the year we would prefer to experiment and try out new swims but with a full day available we decided to fish a spot we had recently discovered that had produced good numbers of fish into the low doubles. Our little fishing club comprises of just four members, Brian Sephton (Sefo), Bernie Brennan (B), Myself Keith and our newest and youngest member Michael Ward AKA golden balls (my 13 year old son). I had a good feeling about this session until my alarm had gone off, to many beers and a very late night before a fishing trip equates to lack of effort when it matters.  We met up at Sefo's house at around 6am, packed the van and headed off. I finally started to wake when we got to our venue, I opened the van door to a light but chilly north easterly breeze, all the gear was unloaded and we headed off. Me and Mikes swim was the closes to the van, about 500 yards with Bernie and Sefo  60 yds or so further along the bank, it was still dark when we got to our swims and the forecast was light rain from 7am so we put the brollies up first and then set about putting the rods together. This was to be a good call, as soon as the last peg went in it started to rain, all the gear got thrown under the brolly and I began to help get Mikes 2 rods set up, baited and in the water. I finally got round to putting my rods out, our plan was to each fish one rod on live bait and one rod on dead bait, my livey went out first with the dead bait to follow. I opted to use a mackerel tail section and fish it close over chopped up mackerel and herring, all to be delivered to my chosen location by the bait boat. I controlled the boat Mike had the rod, Mike said "Dad, what would you do if we got a run now why your putting your bait out" I didn't have time to answer, Mikes live bait rod went off, I quickly put the handset down hit the run and asked Mike to put the other rod down so I could give him his rod back. By the time I'd got the landing net Mike already had the fish to the bank, I put the landing net in the water but the net wasn't fully opened and the fish that Mike had hooked had a flying treble which inevitably got caught in the net, that was the only thing in the net as well. I managed to get the fish up the bank on the waters edge and as I put the fish and net down the remaining hook came free from the fish, I quickly chinned the fish to take it to the unhooking mat for weighing and photos, as I got over the mat the fish decided it didn't want me holding it and lashed out, I felt one of its big teeth stick deep into my left thumb, I think the bone stopped it from going any deeper, I let out a big girly scream as the fish landed on the unhooking mat. It didn't end there, my mat placement wasn't the best in the world, right next to a ditch, I'll give you three guesses where the pike went next, you guessed it down the ditch, I got the pike back on the mat, Mike put the fish in the recovery sling and took it to the water for a minute why I tended to my new battle scar. We finally weighed the fish, 8lb 5oz took photos and put it back. While all this was going on I had a text from Bernie, he had just had a 7lb pike on a live bait, his run came straight away why he was putting his second rod out.

We finally managed to settle down, confidence was high, we'd only been fishing for half an hour and 2 fish had graced to net, Mike's backbiter once again broke the silence, this time a very small pike of just over 3 lb, it took a 7" live bait, both hooks firmly set in the greedy little buggers mouth. He re baited and cast to the same spot, clipped his bobbin up and sat down only for his bait to be taken again, the fish was taking plenty line so Mike wound down and struck, he missed it, gutted, he put a fresh bait on and cast back out. The bait was only in the water for a few minutes when he got another run, this time a better fish than the last one but no double, a scrappy little jack of 7lb. Once things finally settled I had a quick walk over to Bernie and Sefo, all was quite on the pike rods, they told me that a few fish had struck in their swim. Sefo had the tip rod out and was catching plenty baiters, some good sized roach, perch and skimmers, I wished them good luck and headed back to my swim for a bite to eat. Mike then headed over to Bernie and Sefo to tell them of his 3 fish, it wasn't long before he came back, "dad, get the camera, Sefo's got a double" he said. I headed over and sure enough there it was 13lb 1oz, Sefo's first double of the new season, I took some photos and back she went, I congratulated him and headed back to Mike.

It wasn't too long before I was back with Bernie and Sefo again, Sefo had bagged another double, 10lb 3 oz, I took some more photos and set off to my swim wondering when I would be on the other side of the camera. It was now mid day and I was the only one not to have caught, I decided to do two things, firstly change my dead bait for a live bait, Sefo had caught loads by now so there was no need to ration them out, all the fish that had been caught that morning came to live baits, secondly I opted to fish in the deeper water further out. This move paid off, I had a run on my left hand rod, no monster but a very welcome 7lb jack. I've had it lucky, I started my pike fishing campaign in early September, I had done five sessions and managed to catch on all of them, make that 6 out of 6 now. 

As the afternoon drew in things slowed, Sefo had a small jack but kept himself busy on the tip rod, I had a good run on me left hand rod again, I hit the run and it felt solid, then a kick, I only had the fish on for a few seconds it gave a good pull then the hooks came free. I quickly grabbed another bait as I thought it could have been a good fish and maybe stood another change of hooking it, It was then I noticed one of the hooks on the lower treble had been straightened. I quickly made a new trace with bigger and stronger hooks on it with the intention of putting out the biggest live bait I could lay my hands on. I hooked up an 8" rudd and flicked it to the same spot as the last run, clipped it up and turned my alarm on. The bobbin came off, at first I thought it was the bait so I re clipped up but set the tension on the line clip a little firmer sat down and watched the bait working away. The tip of the rod jolted round and then I got a drop back, the bait had certainly been taken so I reeled up tight and struck, talk about gutted, this pike wasn't a gram over 2lb. All the excitement ended by a tiny pike but hey hoe it was another fished on the bank. I managed another few jacks bringing my tally for the day to 4, I sat down and fell asleep dreaming of catching a big fish but was rudely awakened by an erratic Bernie Brennan running towards my shouting "I've done it, I've done it" I said done what, he said "I've got a twenty, grab your camera and scales". We quickly run back to look at the catch of the day and sure enough it was a big fish, a really big fish. Sefo had unhooked the fish why Bernie was getting me but in all the excitement Bernie forgot to ask me to bring the weigh sling so Sefo put the fish in the net and returned it to the water for a breather, I returned with the sling and fish was transferred over, Bernie took the scales but couldn't hold them still enough to take an accurate reading, Bernie was shaking with excitement so Sefo took the honour of weighing Bernies new PB and first twenty plus pike of 22lb 3oz



We both shook Bernies hand and congratulated him, he gave a big shout out (a bit like Gordy) and then posed for the camera before taking his prize catch the water, he stood there for a few moments relishing the moment and admiring his catch before finally releasing her to her watery home. We still had a few hours fishing left but nothing came of it, we finally wrapped up and headed back to our vehicles in the dark, put our gear away and headed home for a well deserved drink before bed.

More memories were made today, fishing in good company and a clunker of a fish, what more could you possibly ask for.