Do You Have A Licence For That Minky

Today, Wednesday, was definitely colder then the other day, Monday. This was confirmed when I got to the gravel pit. It was completely iced over. I believe the technical term is lidded. It wasn't the thin cat ice of Monday either. A three ounce lead was not going to smash a hole in it. I ummed and ahed over the next stop. The clay pit has a couple of feeder streams where a clear area normally remains. The estate lake can also have clear areas. I decide to head to the estate lake as it was nearer. Sure enough there was a large ice free area. I was also informed by somebody that had just come form the clay pit that, although there were clear areas. it was heavily coloured from the rubbish washed in by the streams.

 

I set up at the far end of the lake. Another pike angler was fishing further round. One bait was dropped next to the ice and the other straight out in front. Apart from the edge of the ice there are no obvious features to cast to, so I just moved them about occasionally. Nat that the pike were bothered. Unlike the other angler I didn't even manage a drop run. The sun came out though and raised the temperature to -1C , along with the complete lack of wind it wasn't a bad day out really. I was entertained by a mink marking it's territory on one of the trees next to me and a rather noisy biplane doing acrobatics.

 

Next time I go fishing it'll be next year. Lets hope the pike are a bit more cooperative then. The rivers may even be at a fishable level. 

Ice, Ice Baby

With the local rivers high enough to flood pubs I headed to the gravel pit. As the temperature was struggling to get above freezing I wandered down to the pit from the parking spot All the club ponds and pits freeze rather easily especially if there is no wind, and today there wasn't  even a fart of a breeze. Another angler was already fishing and had had a jack around the 4-5lb mark. Part of the pit was frozen, but the swim opposite him looked clear, so I went back for the gear. As I empted the car I couldn't help noticing the bait bag hadn't found it's way in. I remember getting it out of the freezer, so what had I done with it. It's only 15 minutes home so back I went and there it was, on the drive. I must have put it down while nattering with the neighbour and not put it in the car before shutting the boot. Quite how I hadn't run it over I don't know. Back at the pond the angler I'd spoken to earlier was a bit puzzled until I explained.

I wandered round to the other side.  The swim wasn't as clear of ice as it appeared from the far bank. Thankfully it was very thin and after a bit of plumbing around had broken up. A float fished trout was dropped at the bottom of the ledge right and front. The other rod baited with a smelt was set so the bait was a few inches off the bottom and cast just over a ledge. Both spots have produced well in the past. I believe some of the pike patrol along these ledges as some days several can be caught from the same spot. 

These sort of conditions, when the temperature is hovering around freezing, I'd prefer mono rather than braid on the reels. As the braid tends to take on water and it freezes it does get rather stiff and awkward to manage. I recast every half hour to minimise the problem and stop any drifting ice sticking to the line. Around half eleven the smelt float bobbled about, disappeared then popped back up. I wound down and felt nothing, so gave the bait a twitch and left it. A few minutes later the trout float did the same thing, but this time I contacted with a something that gave a short but spirited fight, scattering ice about in the process. A rather portly pike of 9lb 14oz and 83cm. As the trout had come back intact I chucked it out again. I wound the smelt in, it showed no signs of pike attack. Injected with oil and it too went back out.

 

That was the only action of the day. A lure angler popped down but the was only one swim fishable. Later another dead bait angler popped in and went home fishless. After the sun disappeared and the light started to fade the temp drop a degree or two. This proved a bit a a problem when I went to pack up. The line was frozen to various bits of ice and took a bit of faffing to wind in. Not a bad day though. Any day's pike fishing and you catch a pike is not a bad day.

 

Don't know whether it was the cold, but the action cam wasn't keen on working. It kept shutting down without so much as a bleep. Now it's been in the house a while it appears OK.

Eight Anglers, No Fish

I'd made plans for Thursday, beyond pike fishing, as I had no idea what state the rivers would be in after the heavy rain. As it was the rivers had come up at least a metre or more overnight and were still rising. I decided to head to the estate lake, despite the fact it had not fished well for pike in recent times. They're still in there, but just not been very cooperative. When I got there there was just one other angler, fishing waggler for whatever. I had a wander round with the lure rod, I had re-rigged several lure the night before so seemed a shame not to use them. This produced nothing. I settled in a swim by the island. As I set up an other couple of anglers arrived, one coarse fishing, one pike fishing. Having got the baits out I proceeded to gather up the litter from the undergrowth. Not a lot but still far too much.

 

One rod had a suspended roach on which I hoped would trundle about, but there was little on no wind initially so it sat remarkable still. The other had a popped up smelt on it. With an AA shot just below its head, hooked back to front. it looked like it was feeding sort of. This was eventually dropped into a gully near the island. Each year this gets harder as the branches grow further out. By now a lure angler had turned up along with another mag and wag man. I had brought with me some chunks of used baits soaked in winterised oil, so chucked a few of them about the general area. I'd also grabbed a small bag of frozen hemp, but this was still defrosting. It does take a log time to thaw does hemp. Mid morning a lure angler turned up and had a wander about. As I was partaking of elevenses, the sun had moved round enough to feel the a bit of heat. Also some baitfish scattered near the smelt. I gave the smelt a couple of twitches which resulted in nowt.

 

 

After elevenses I moved the smelt and allowed the roach to drift over the area a few times, as a breeze had got up.. before trying it sink and draw. This also resulted in nowt. The pike angler opposite, meanwhile, landed quite a sizeable branch, at least he'd had a bend in his rod. It later transpired he'd had a run, but the fish had come adrift when it had got under the sunken branch. By lunch the hemp had thawed, so I scattered some about in the hope of drawing in some bait fish. I also chucked a few more fish bits about. As the breeze was now quite strong I increased the depth so as to anchor the roach on the bottom on the bottom and put the popped up smelt back in the gully. Just after lunch the float above the roach bobbed away. Brief contact was made with something small which managed to steal the roach. I had a chuck round with the lure rod again with out so much as a follow. As that was my last roach I put on an eel section. and cast it to the same spot. Half an hour later the float trundled off again and again brief contact was made with something. I'm very reluctant to leave the strike two long. I hate dealing with deep hooked fish.

 

As one of the maggot drowners left with so much as a chewed maggot a another lure angler arrived for a short while before, like the previous one, leaving fishless. A carp swirled under the overhanging tree at the end of the island at which point a kingfisher turned up on the other side of the tree. It appeared to be the only one having any success as I watched it through the leafless branches. Three more time bait fish scattered above the gully and one time the float was knocked by a pikes tail. I tried, at various times, wobbled baits, sink and draw, and various lures, but nothing made any attempt to grab them. The pike were clearly taunting me. As the wind dropped again fish started to dimple the surface a round the lake. There's a good head of blood worm in here and there must have been a hatch of midge. Slowly everybody disappear as another pike angler set up stall. He too, like the rest of use would end the day fishless.

 

I had, at one point, considered going barbel/chub fishing, but as the gear and bait had been packed away I thought it would have taken too long to get ready and no doubt I'd have forgotten something vital. This may have been a mistake as the rivers started to drop after lunch and from reports one two barbel were taken in the afternoon. Oh well, you can't be everywhere. I just find it hard to believe how badly the estate lake is fishing. On the pike front only the very occasional jack is appearing. The roach which can provide some reasonable sport seem to have gone off the feed. Back to work until Christmas then a few days off. can the rain just stop and  the rivers settle to a reasonable level. I have unused grayling gear setup and ready.

Pike Anglers Nil - Perch Anglers Loads

Tuesday's fishing trip had been carefully planned Monday night. I was going to run an errand, call in the tackle shop, then meat a friend at a club lake I'd never fished before. The first two went off reasonably well. The tackle shop didn't have everything I wanted, despite which I still managed to spend a small fortune. Things then started to fall apart. I arrived at the lake, which required a key to get through the gate. I don't have one, but I'd arranged to give him a ring when I got there. I could see the car park and there was no sign of his car. I gave him a ring to see what was happening only to be informed he had to do a spot of babysitting, due to an emergency. He offered to pop down with the key, but I told him to deal with the family, I'd go elsewhere.  Thus I found my self on the Aire & Calder Navigation. The next, slight,  problem was of my own making. I'd brought lure rods for both pike and perch, but no lures! Somehow the lure boxes had failed to transport themselves from the garage to the back of my car. Oh well, I had the bait rods with me so all was not lost.

 By the time I got to a swim and had got set up it was time for elevenses. I put a dead trout out just over an inside ledge. I thought the trout might be something they hadn't seen before. A sardine went out about a third of the way across on what was the pole line for maggot drowners, hoping the bait fish may be used to food been there and be swimming up and down looking for it. The first angler I spoke to was a pike angler who'd had nowt. As we had both seen, there appeared to be a bit of pike activity with them swirling at the surface. With increased activity near the boats I moved the sardine into a gap between them. Moving it a metre closer to me every twenty minutes or so. I had a go at wobbling a roach. Drifted a bait in the tow at various depths, but the pike rally didn't want to know. In the mean time the three perch anglers were having quite a good day of it, once they found them. I tried a variety of baits for not even a dropped run.

 

 Despite the obvious pike activity the perch anglers and me were never bothered by pike at all. Don't know if I'd have caught a pike even if I'd had my lure with me, but I could have entertained myself with some perch. Even though I had very little to do I only took two photos. I don't know why, but the less I have to do while fishing the less photos I take. I don't even have anything from the action cam either, as I appear to have corrupted the memory card. Things are not brilliant on the pike front, I'm currently averaging less the one pike per trip. This is actually quite normal for me over a season though. The good news, though, is that my friends family emergency ended with everybody being well.

Return To The Gravel Pit

With the rivers still playing silly beggars, up and down like yo-yos I decide to return to the gravel pit. I opted for a swim on the sunny side of the pit as the breeze was lowering the temperature to unpleasant. Again I choose a corner swim. Normally I'd only fish this swim when the water level is a bit higher as the inside spot seems to only produce then. The spot directly in front has proved to be good in the past, though dropped runs can be a problem as there are times when there only seems to be small jacks in the area.

A smelt was thrown out to the shelf in front and a roach dropped in the little hole on the inside. Just after eleven, as I was cleaning my clip-ons I lost sight of the float in the sunshine only to see it trundling along to my right by the time I struck the fish had dropped it. Losing sight of my float wasn't helped by the fact that there was another pike float drifting about. We did try to retrieve it, but it never got close enough to the shore and casting around it there didn't seem to be any line trailing from it. It was interesting to watch this weighted pencil float drift about as it didn't go where you'd expect it to. It wasn't until the gloaming and after a short natter with River Foss Fishing that I got my next run. Much to my surprise it was on the inside rod. After a brief thrash about a nice pike of 9¾lb and 87cm was landed. That was it. I would have stayed a little bit longer, but the floats had become invisible in the dark.

Given the amount of pike activity during the day I would have expect more runs, but I didn't blank and it was a nice day so I'm quite happy. The action cam isn't too clever in low light so they video is not great, even after a bit of twiddling with the brightness and contrast, and for some reason there's a bit of a glitch in the middle as if a bit of video is missing.

Another Kicking From The Derwent

As the weather forecast for Friday early morning was for rain, I decided against an early start as I really hate setting up in the rain.This proved to be a good move as it was still heavy drizzle as I had breakfast. The rain had stopped by the time I got the car loaded, so off I went to the Derwent. The river was a lot more coloured than I expected. It's only really this century that the river has coloured up like this with only a small rise in level. It used to be an excellent winter venue because, unlike the Ouse system, it didn't really turn brown except when it was at a high level for a long period. A wander round with the lure rod showed there to be some nice slacks even if the pike weren't chasing lures.

Starting at one end of the length I intend to give each of the slacks about an hour. For bait I started with a large chunk of lamprey on one rod and a large smelt on the other. The smelt was fished just off the bottom and allowed to drift about the slack.  Not a great deal happened in the first couple of swims and it was soon lunch. After a bite to eat I replaced the lamprey with a large sardine, injected some oil into the smelt and moved to the third swim. Twenty minutes after casting the baits in, and as I was taking a photo,  the float on the sardine rod  popped upright and bobbled about. A strike resulted in nothing but a slightly chewed sardine. Out it went again, this time with added oil. The drifted smelt stopped in its tracks, but this was just some debris on the line. That was the sum total of action for the day, with the next two swims producing nothing but the odd twig.

For most of the day the hawthorns opposite wee rather noisy with small birds feasting on the berries. Due to the misty nature of the day I wasn't able to identify any other than the occasional black bird. just before I started to pack up the drizzle started again which was rather annoying. Boxes and bags a currently drying out in the garage. I think I may have to resort to still waters as there is more rain promised and the rivers are currently rising again.

Finally Oused A Pike

Wednesday I decided to return to The Ouse, as it had dropped 1m since my last visit on Monday. This time, though, I decided to fish the opposite bank. I'd forgotten to get a new gas cannister on Tuesday, while out and about, so delayed my start in order to acquire said item.  Unfortunately this meant I was passing the public schools as the sprogs were been dropped off. Their mothers, still drunk form last night's Prosecco, didn't seem to know where the entrance o the school was or what the pretty yellow lines mean. After that the rest of the journey was plain sailing, except for the final section along pot holed single tack roads and muddy tracks. A couple of water filled pot holes resulted in nasty scrapping noises under the car.

A quick wander about with the lure rod, while it didn't result in any fish, showed there to be plenty of slack water behind the trees. My plan was to fish a few for an hour each. A plan that failed to produce anything other than a lot of sliding about on alluvial mud. While the sun never managed to poke through it wasn't cold. Certainly didn't need the big coat. There was, in the misty morning, a spot of very very light drizzle, or as my Grandad described such weather - feels like the fog's leaking. Moving swims was not an easy undertaking. Getting back up out of some swims needed two or three trips as there was simply no way of getting up fully laden with tackle. One step up, slide two back seemed to be the order of the day.

 

It wasn't until the penultimate swim of the day that I got my first run. Not so much a run as the float bobbing about. I assumed it was a little jack, faffing.  Lifting in to the fish it was clearly something a bit bigger.  The fight lasted longer than it should as I'd not extended the landing net and getting any closer to the river would probably have seen me sliding in. A tidy fish of 8lb 3oz and 83cm, saved me from a fourth blank and a third on The Ouse. As the sardine was still reasonably intact I tossed it back in again, having injected a spot more oil. When I went to release the rest pike it swam round and in to the bank, were it sat with it's back out of the water. I've seen this behaviour before and have no idea why they do it. I assume they maybe a bit disorientated or something. I gave it a prod and it slowly sunk away, so assume it's OK. If it had been wholly submerged I'd have left it.

After another thirty minutes I moved to the final swim of the day, which failed to produce. With the lack of dusk, and the fact I'd left the headtorch in the car, I started to pack up in daylight after moving everything to the top of the bank. Mist was starting to form in the fields. By the time and packed up and walked as far as the electric fence it was dark. I propped the damp metal landing net against the fence while I wrestled with the gate. It was only when I grabbed to rubber handle of the landing net I realised what I'd done. I lifted the net over carefully as I had no desire to find out if the fence was live. The trip back along the pot holed road was taken very slowly to avoid any more scrapes to the underside of the car. When I arrived at the main road I was astonished at the lack of traffic. This had me wondering if there'd been an accident on it and people were avoiding. A noisy at Google maps showed no problem apart from the usual at this time of day. Quite why there was so little traffic I don't know, but it was a straight forward run home.

With the rivers up and down, The Ouse had risen 6" while I was there, it's all pot luck at the moment. Think I'll give The Ouse a rest and try somewhere else on Friday.

Still Not Ousing With Pike

I spent the weekend looking at the levels of the steadily rising rivers and was quite pleased that the Ouse didn't seem to be rising that quickly and seemed to top out at just over 2m. This was a reasonable level for the area I intended to fish for pike. Monday morning I arrived at the river to find the path flooded. This was odd given the height on the gauge. Another look at the phone and the truth of the matter jumped out at me. I'd been looking at the wrong gauge. I'd had one further downstream set on a shortcut and had not noticed despite the number of times I'd looked at it. Still, I was here and there should be enough slacks to fish in. After all the bait fish move into the slacks and the pike follow.

The first thing I did was have a wander about with the lure rod. It was obvious which swims had been fished over the weekend by the muddy patch at the top of the bank. These were also the swims with nice slacks in them. Some swims that appear to have nice slacks need to be seen at low water to see why they weren't fished. One superb looking slack I know to be above drowned brambles, nettles and shrubs. A great place for bait fish to take shelter, but extracting a pike from it would be hell's own job. After an hour of throwing lure with not even a flow I set up the dead bait rods in one of the larger slacks. This nice thing with the river at this level is that you can sit at the top of the bank on level ground instead of having to descend down a steep slippy bank.

Basically the day went like this. I would occasional move the baits to different areas of the slack. Inject them with oils. Swap them for different baits. Allow one to drift about. Have a wander with a lure rod or dead bait rod. What didn't happen was for any fish to show. Not even a dropped run.I was beginning to think Ouse pike don't feed on Mondays, after last weeks blank as well. I did have a couple of dropped runs last time though. As the sun was beginning to disappear from view I had one last go with the lure rod. On the first cast as I was about to lift the lure out of the water a little jack made a lunge for it, grabbing it's tail and missing the hooks. Despite several more attempts, giving it a rest and try different lures there was no more sign of it. A few chucks elsewhere failed to produce anything despite my hopes it was feeding time. By now the first signs of darkness were showing and as I had no desire to battle flooded paths and slippery steps in the dark I packed up.

 

One thing I have noticed is that my phone doesn't seem to be able to focus when I zoom in. I'm currently assuming I'm doing something wrong and it's not a fault with the phone, but we shall see.

Monday's Venue On Wednesday

Today, Wednesday, i made another attempt at going to the Ure, my intended destination on Monday until an accident on the road put pay to it. I'd only got four miles when the traffic came to a halt. After then minutes I decided there must have been another accident. As I below the brow of a hill there was no way I was going to attempt a U-turn. This was reinforced when a car behind my attempt one and was nearly hit by a lorry. In fact I think he was lucky it was a lorry as the high cab would have given the driver an earlier view over the brow. Twenty minutes later we started to move, weaving through scarred cars on either side of the road. eventually I arrived at my destination.  I'd decided to do one of those walking to the riverside shots with the action cam, but it wouldn't switch on. A quick noisy into the battery compartment  showed it to be seriously lacking in battery. I assumed they must be still in the chargers at home. Oh well, one less thing to faff with.

 

Having got to the river I headed down to one of the two spots I had in mind, chucking a lure about as I went. Nothing showed until I got to the furthest of the two swims I was going to try. Previously the only pike action I've seen here is when the attacked my swimfeeders as I wound them in. Second cast something hit the lure, which resulted in a couple of scars near the tail. A couple of casts later a reasonable pike followed the lure right to the bank. Despite trying a few more cast and different lures there was no more sign of pike, but at least I knew they were about. By now it looked and felt decidedly wintery.  I set up the dead baits rods. Dropping a sardine in over the nearside shelf and a roach, upstream on the top shelf behind an over hanging tree. Mid morning as I was enjoying a cuppa the sun popped out and it started to rain with the wind getting up. As the rain stopped the wind dropped. In the meantime the dead baits had attracted nothing.

 At mid-day I moved to the other swim I'd had my eye on, a long slow eddy in which I drifted a roach about,. The other rod, which I'd now armed with a piece of lamprey, was cast a third of the way across the river. This was done for no good reason than a hunch I had. By the time I'd finished lunch the sun was back out, but the wind had got up again taking a heat out of the sunshine. The mid river rod was first away. For a short while I had a fish on, but it came adrift with only a couple of scars on the bait. Next away was the roach. This time I didn't contact with anything and there were no marks on the bait. The roach rod went again just after a dredging barge had gone past. this time I had a slightly long battle with something before it managed to steal the bait and eject the hooks. I had another chuck about with the lures to no effect.

 As it headed towards darkness I started to pack up. A dog walker asked how I'd done. Having told I had nowt he informed me that his lad had had half a dozen pike out on Monday. Not the sort of thing i wanted to hear but still we can't always be in the right place at the right time. One thing I'd forgotten was the end of lock down. The traffic home was heavy and slow.

Not Ousing With Pike

One thing I do before setting off  fishing is have a look at Google Maps for any traffic problems. Unusually for this year there was. I decided to have another look after some breakfast. By then the tailback was even longer and according to the local newspaper they were cutting somebody out of a car, so it wasn't going to clear very quickly. There were a couple of other, rather convoluted, routes there but I took the decision to to go elsewhere. The weather forecast was for a cloudy start with occasional sunshine later. Despite this it rained all the way to the venue, only stopping as I wandered down to the river. I had a couple of spots in mind, both large eddies. First, though, I had a wander about with the lure rod. This proved fruitless with not even a follow.

I picked one of the swims I'd chosen with the intention of moving to the other if nothing had happened by lunch time. By the time I'd got set up a chill breeze had sprung up, so it was back on with the big coat. Considering it was the last day of December and we hadn't really had any really cold days it still wasn't bad. The tactics were to be a sardine on the heavy float rig anchored near the upstream tree and a sprat on the light rig set so it just touched bottom. This would allow it to drift slowly around the eddy. Around elevenses the the sun pooped out from behind the clouds. Despite their size pike floats become very hard to see in bright sun light. I'd left the clip-ons in the car. I should really get another pair and have them in the tackle bag as low winter sun really can be a nuisance. The sun had a bit of heat to it so it was off with the big coat.

 

I opted for an early lunch with the intention of moving afterwards. As I was enjoying my Chip Shop Style Curried Rice, some roach scattered near the downstream tree. I moved the sardine to there and allowed the sprat to drift nearer the upstream tree. As it got closer to the tree I lost sight of it is the sun popped out from behind the clouds again. I then spotted it in the among the branches. Winding down it soon became apparent that it was now snagged. One advantage of 45lb braid and 30lb wire is you can generally pull free from a snag even if it does mean bending the hooks, as was the case this time. I tried running lures around the tree, before changing to a sink and draw roach rig. Nether produced anything, but clearly there was something feeding. This was confirmed by another scattering of bait fish. I decided to remain in this swim. Again there was a scattering of fish and this time a large swirl near the upstream tree. I dropped the sardine in and not long after the float shot across the surface. A trike resulted in something solid, very solid. Snagged again. Getting upstream of it I managed to snap the sunken branch off.

There were another three pike attacks on the bait fish throughout the afternoon, but no interest in my baits or lures. By now the light was fading and the sun was no longer providing any heat. Just as I considered packing up the heavens opened. Heavy enough to require the brolly. I hate packing up in the rain. Thankfully it was short lived. As I was packing up the swan family, which had suddenly taken off upstream earlier, came drifting downstream with three other youngsters ahead of them. The slightly older male decided that siting near me might protect it from the slightly aggressive cob. The two younger ones, still in juvenile plumage took refuge in the nest swim down, hiding under the overhanging branches. It surprising how aggressive swans can get against youngsters that land in their territory, but this ended peacefully with the family heading back upstream and the other youngsters beating a hasty retreat downstream. By the time I got packed up it was dark. Picking my way down the other side of the slippy flood bank was fun, but I made it to the car intact.

Pike, like all fish, can be really annoying. Especially when there's clear signs of them feeding, but they just ignore everything you throw at them. Equally their ability to transfer hooks from their mouth to a snag is just as frustrating. Still it was a nice day out and far better than been at work.