Final fling

Yesterday was my final pike session until autumn, we decided to head west to a large glacial lake for the day. Mick picked me up at 04:00 and after nearly knocking himself out on my garage door we were on our way shortly afterwards.

We arrived just after 06:00 and I had my first cast shortly after. There had been a hard frost over night and it seemed to get worse as the morning went by. Eventually the sun came out and it turned into a nice morning, probably a bit too nice, bright sun and a flat calm aren't usually the best conditions when targeting these clear water pike.

We were using the bait boat and sounder to find the drop offs and to place the baits in these deeper areas, however we weren't having much luck. The morning past quickly and despite trying various baits and presentations we hadn't had any interest.

Early afternoon I placed a semi buoyant perch into 7ft of water, shortly after the backbiter sounded. Initially line was taken, but quickly stopped, I wound down and struck anyway, nothing. A quick check of the bait found a few marks nothing major, so the same bait was ferried out to the same point. Thirty minutes later the backbiter went again, the same thing happened. After bringing the bait in I checked the rig over and found that I'd left a braid stop on the line, a foot or so above the run ring. I think the run ring was bumping over the stop and the pike were rejecting the bait because of this.

After a quick re-rig and a change of bait (sprat with a couple of chopped sprats in the boat hopper) I found the 7ft of water again. Thirty minutes later I had another take on the same rod, far more positive this time around. I struck and was into a pike, the fight was fairly unspectacular but was lengthly due to the distance being fished.

The pike was short but plump and looked to weigh about 8lb, it felt a bit bigger when I lifted it so I quickly weighted it.

Short and fat, just shy of being a double - 9lb 13oz

We carried on until dusk, without any further takes. A difficult last outing which will probably be remembered more for the surroundings rather than the fishing itself, but still it was good to end my pike season with a fish.

A quick breakdown of my 2014/15 pike season -

Number of pike caught - 28
Number of doubles - 8   (15lb14oz, 14lb 6oz, 12lb 10oz, 12lb 4oz, 12lb 1oz, 11lb 6oz, 11lb 3oz, 10lb 6oz)
Largest pike caught - 15lb 14oz

Pike caught on baits - 26
Pike caught on lures - 2

Last season I only managed 14 pike (with 1 double) so I'm pleased with how my season has gone, especially as the rivers fished poorly for most of the winter.

That's my piking finished until autumn I'm looking forward to targeting some tench and eels before the rivers open, hopefully I can also increase a few p.b's over the warmer months.

Long range piking

With a free day I decided on a pike session and crossed the Pennines to fish one of the large lakes. After a very early start I was at the lake side for around half six and I had baits in the water by 7. The lake is reasonably shallow with very few underwater features so I decided to use the bait boat to find a drop off, after a lot of searching I found an area which went from the usual 6ft to 11/12ft, this area was around 150 + yards from the bank so the day involved a lot of time ferrying baits out.

After 40 minutes I had a take on a lamprey section, I felt the fish kick but then the line went slack, I checked the trebles and there was large scales on each of the trebles. The lamprey was taken out to the drop off again and before I could bring the bait boat ashore I had a take. I leant into the fish and it felt reasonably heavy, the pike put up a very spirited fight and tail walked twice in the last 50 or so yards.

First pike went 11lb 6oz

Thirty minutes later I had a take on another lamprey section, which had been cast around 40 yards
into 6 foot of water, this pike was a jack of around 4 or 5 lb's.

I had a couple more takes on the long distance rod, but these were either lost on the retrieve or missed. I had another fish from the drop off which went to around 8lb, again this was taken on a large section of lamprey.

The 3rd of the day

All 3 fish were caught before midday and by 1230hrs the weather had changed for the worse, the wind had picked up and the lake was becoming extremely choppy. Controlling the bait boat became difficult and locating the drop off became virtually impossible.

Drop off - larger pike were caught in this area

Fighting the waves and wind with the bait boat took its toll on the battery and it eventually gave in. I carried on for another couple of hours, recasting the dead baits when the wind allowed, but I didn't catch any further pike. I had 9 takes in total missed 3, lost 3 and landed 3. The session was hard work but thoroughly enjoyable, I am hoping to return to the water in the coming months and I will definitely be visiting it next winter.

Long overdue update

I've had a hectic 6 months or so (car crash, job loss, family bereavement etc....) and haven't really had the time to get out and do much fishing. Things are finally starting to settle down now so hopefully I will be able to get out more now.

On the odd occasion I have been able to get out over the last few months I haven't really had much success !


1st time Pike fishing in the Lake District

Home for the 2nd day

A two day stint on one of the smaller waters in the Lake District frustratingly ended in a blank. Conditions on the 1st day seemed perfect but after 10 hours and one missed take I decided to move to the other side of the lake for the second day. The weather turned on the second day making casting any distance virtually impossible, I had to rely on the bait boat but as the weather became worse it became obvious I was going to lose the boat so I had to call it a day. A very disappointing blank but it was a good break and I'm looking forward to my next trip in the coming season.  

Next up was a water in the Yorkshire Dales that I had been wanting to fish for a while, I didn't really know a lot about the water (and still don't !), but after some research online I decided to give it a try. After about an hours drive I approached the water which is set in a very picturesque valley in the Yorkshire Dales, within 20 minutes of getting there the wind picked up and before long it was blowing a gale. Other than a follow on the lure rod I haven't got a lot to report. I will definitely be going back when the weather cools


Starting to blow.....

At least the dog had a decent time !

Other than the 2 mentioned sessions I only managed 1 or 2 quick lure sessions on the local river before the season ended.

Lure caught pike - Only fish of 2012/13 season !

 These quick sessions resulted in a solitary jack pike, the only pike of my season - a very disappointing season !

Since the end of the season I have had a couple of short sessions fly fishing the small streams of the North Yorkshire moors without a lot of success. More recently I have started going back to my fishing roots, match style fishing. I have had a few decent sessions on a local commercial complex with hauls pushing the 100lb barrier on a couple of occasions.

Pellet caught - 11lb 8 oz

14lb 4 oz Common caught in the margin

Pellet waggler caught common - 9lb 4oz

Hopefully over the next few months I'll be able to continue getting out every week or so and I'm also hoping to fit in a few night sessions for the eels before the summer ends.