Last Session and Blank of 2018

Last day of the year and what better way to spend it than sat on a muddy river back. With the river back down to a level that I 'm comfortable with, a day at Beningbrough seemed like a good idea. It started off pleasant enough until I moved to the second swim of the day and decided a cuppa was in order. I'd left the tea bags at home - hot water just doesn't really cut it. Not long after the sun disappeared behind the clouds and a chill wind got up.











Pike were the target for the day. One bait was fished over the shelf to the middle of the river. The other trotted along the top of the shelf or under a bankside tree. Baits used were sardine, sprat, lamprey or smelt. Four different swims were fished and at no point did a predator show the slightest interest. The other four anglers I encountered appeared to gave no more luck than me.

 








Not the best way to end the year, but it does mean neat year can't be any worse. Happy New year and tight lines to everybody.

Penultimate Session of the Year

'Twas a far nicer day today than it was yesterday, the sun even managed the occasional appearance. I was back to the old estate lake for another spot of piking. I headed for a swim in the top corner where the dammed stream that created the lake originally feed it. The old stream bed can still be found for a short distance after the old inlet, about six inches lower than the surroundings, but it tends to be and all or nothing area. The other productive area is in front of you just beyond a two to three inch drop. This also happens to be the line often fished with waggler/pole for the silvers. The margins look inviting, but as I found you tend to spend a lot of time dredging twigs and branches out.

 








A headless herring was dropped in the old stream bed, where sadly it remained untouched for the six hours I was there. Even after I'd injected it with a bit of winterised oil. The head I'd chopped up and tossed out along the stream bed. The second rod was baited with a sprat as there's a lot of small roach around that size in the lake. This was fished in front just beyond the drop and a few small balls of groundbait tossed around the area.

 








It was three and a half hours before the first, and only, sign of action. Just as I was making a cuppa the float shot off at a great rate of knots and I lifted into a lunatic little pike that careered  all over the place. The lively little beast was equally uncooperative on the bank. At 76cm and 6lb 8oz it had fought well above it's weight.

There had been three anglers on the lake. One had three little jacks to lure, One, fishing for silvers had had a few bits and another pike angler blanked. One thing we all noticed was the number of small fish rising all over the lake at different times. I was assumed there may well have been a few hatches of midges.

Fishing On The Set Of A Hammer Horror

To save you the bother of reading the rest of this, I didn't land anything, one tiny little jack kept hold of a sprat for a short while.

 








Basically I sat, in the fog, on the bank of an old brick pond watching pike floats do very little while the trees constantly dripped on me. There was a lot more water in the pond compared to my last visit, although the the clarity left a lot to be desired. The only distractions were a natter with Adam and the aforementioned little jack grabbing a sprat presented under a tree, but avoiding the hook.

Even in winter it can be quite nice down here, but not today. I suppose if you're not on the bank you're not going to catch.

Oh Fook (X 4)

It's probably some sort of portent when the first thing you do when you get to the swim is slip on the wooden platform and nearly end up in the drink.

 















The tactics for the day were to be the usual. A sprat under the trees left and right, and half a herring at the bottom of the nearside ledge. A couple of small balls of groundbait were chucked around the floats in the hope of attracting some silvers, along with small bits of fish from the chopped up herring head. Occasionally the sun popped through the clouds making the drab surroundings look almost pleasant.

 








It was getting  on for fours hours when I got the first run from the right-hand tree. All I felt as I lifted into the run was the bait being ripped from the hook. How they manage to grab a little sprat with a hook in the middle of it and fail to hook I don't know. I rebaited and dropped the bait under the tree to the left. An hour or so later the herring float moved off. I was met with a good sold run then everything went slack. The trace had gone missing! The teardrop loop it was attached to was still there, so the wire most have snapped/unravelled . It didn't feel like it had unravelled though. New trace and new bait were soon back out. No point dwelling on it as this was the first failure I'd had for three years.

The next run was to the left-hand rod and again it came adrift. I can't blame the hook as poking it in my finger showed it to be good and sharp  Besides I've had days like this before, were pike just don't seem to stick. The last run of the day came to the herring rod just as I was starting to lose sight of the float in the failing light. This time the hook stuck till it was in the net. A spirited fish of 7lb 3oz and 81cm. It was a relief to actually land something and save the blank.

 I'm wondering if I over annealed the wire before twisting it and that weakened it. I've given the rest of the traces a good looking at and another good pull, I give them a good pull when I make them so as to bed everything in. I can't see any problems with any of them. Just one of those things I suppose, although there's a pike swimming round with a trace in it's mouth. Hopefully as the are semi barbless doubles it should be able to lose it. Having said that I've caught more than a few pike with traces in their mouths and no apparent sign of ill health.

Piking In The Rain

Fished a small estate lake today, the big house it belonged to being long gone. Well not that long, it was the remains were finally demolished in the sixties. My intended tactic of a couple of hours in a swim then move was abandoned when the wind and rain started. The pike were clearly active. While I set up the rods I'd put a couple of baits in the landing net in the lake to defrost. Having got the first rod sorted with a float rig I noticed the net heading into the lake. A small pike was clearly hungry and had grabbed one of the baits through the net. I very nearly landed it as it appeared to have got it's teeth snagged in the netting. I had a go with a wobbled bait on the other rod, but nothing occurred.

 








A sprat was fished to a near bank feature and a sardine to a far bank feature. It was nearly mid day before the first run happened and, after a brief fight, a lively little 70cm fish was landed. I had a second run on the sprat around two hours later, but after a couple of head shakes what felt like a small jack came adrift. This one coming from the pole/float line. The next fish came from the bottom of the ledge near the far bank. Taken on a sardine it came in like a wet sack. At 82cm and 6lb 10oz it was a rather hollow and tatty fish. I gave it a little time into dark to no avail and as it had finished raining I packed up. I hate packing up in the rain.

 








Nowt big, but not a blank made up for sitting in the wind and rain. One thing I did discover was that winterised sardine oil doesn't taste like sardine. Not when you get it an your sandwiches any way.

A Nice Day In The Countryside

Had a lovely day on the side of a local pit listening to the noises of the countryside. Crows cackling, tractors rattling down the lane, jets roaring overhead.

I'd been informed that the jacks were active earlier in the week, pestering a couple of friends fishing for silvers. They certainly weren't today. I fished six swims from dawn till dusk with all the usual dead bait methods and baits and never had a thing, not a run, nowt. A lure angler that popped down for a couple of hours had a similar experience.

 








I think the problem here is the low water levels, causing the pike to change their patrol routes or even the direction they patrol. My friends had noted that they were having to fish a couple of metres further out then usual to get bites, even though there is little or no change in depth.