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