Penultimate River Pike Session

My pike season on the rivers, like many other up here, hasn't been great at all. The constant floods have made life awkward with some especially slippy banks when the water has dropped. In the hope of picking things up a bit I headed for a well known hotspot. The river had been up about a metre following Sunday's rain but was dropping so things wouldn't be too bad I thought. Following a later than intended start due to finger trouble I arrived at the pot after a rather laborious trudge through muddy files and slippy paths. I was surprised to find nobody else there on either bank.

A float fished roach was dropped into a nice slack in thirteen foot of water and a large smelt was ledgered in twenty three foot of water. I moved the baits about as best I could in the slacks. A couple of other anglers arrived and setup in another larger slack that I intended to move to later if nothing was happening. Both baits were given a dose of oil after an hour or so. The slowly dropping river meant the slack changed shape necessitating changing the position of the baits. The drizzle and chill wind wasn't making life pleasant. Part way through the morning one of the other anglers landed a pike. A high single by the look of it.

While investigating a couple of other swims, now the rain had stopped, I spotted a Tansy Beetle loitering on some nettles. I don't know if the eat nettles when there's no tansy about. These things are rather rare. The Yorkshire Ouse and somewhere in Cambridgeshire are it's only remaining populations in the UK. After lunch I moved to another swim upstream that has produced pike in the past. The float now sporting a piece of lamprey had to be set a twenty two foot and was tossed in at the upstream end of the slack. The edger was dropped in at the downstream end with a small headless mackerel. The same angler that caught earlier had another. His friend, like me, ended up with  a stick. I must admit the stick I caught gave a very convincing impression of a pike run.

The trudge back up the hill was damned hard work with the sticky mud trying to rip my wellies off. Not the day I was hoping for but one more session to go and a my be able to pick things up, or not.

New Rod Curse

 Thursday the river level looked about right at 3.3m up. This meant it would be near the top of the bank giving a flat surface to fish from rather than having to slither down the bank. It also meant there would be some large areas of slack water between the overhanging trees for the baitfish and thus the pike to lounge about in.  This was the theory anyway.

I had two rods set up. One with the usual float-ledger rig and one plain ledger rig. The ledger rig would be cast out to the crease where one would normally fish for barbel, etc. It took an 8oz lead to hold bottom in twenty foot of water, but by casting upstream it did settle just down stream of me. The float rig was cast into the slack water which was around ten to twelve foot deep. Staring baits where smelt and lamprey.

 

 

I'd recently obtained a couple of more powerful pike rods for the rivers as throwing big leads and baits was really too much for the Purist Apex Predators. I'm still using them on small still waters and rivers, but for the heavier work I now have a couple of Agitator BR-S. While classed as long range rods they do bend well down to the butt as pike rod should. They had no problem throwing the heavy lead and a large bait about. Unfortunately they weren't tested on a fish. I alternated between four swims but failed to get as much as a dropped run.

I set up one of the older rods to drift  small roach about n the slacks but this didn't attract anything either. I even flung a bait out into the middle of the river in the fastest of the current.  I would of fished more swims but it was hard work trudging about in the alluvial mud that had been deposited by the floods. I'm just going to blame the curse of the new rods.

 

Hopefully I'll be able to test them against a fish when if the rivers drop a bit.

Tail End Of Jocelyn

 With the rivers still at ridiculous levels on Friday I headed to the gravel pit despite the fact we still seemed to have the tail end of storm Jocelyn around. This last storm was named after Dame Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell DBE FRS FRSE FRAS FInstP. A physicist who was educated nearby. I'm not sure if I'd want a storm named after me. The previous few days wind had brought a fair few branches down, but luckily the corner I wanted to fish was reasonably clear of debris. The water level was well up, though, the highest I've seen it for three or four years.

Tactics were the usual. A small roach was float fished to the left in the little bay and float fished headless joey mackerel to my right under the overhanging tree. The wind, despite being a south westerly was rather chilly. As I poured hot water into my cup the float above the roach bobbed and moved slowly out of the bay. A strike produced a vicious tug then nothing. The little roach bait was still on the hook and showed no signs of damage. Strange. The joey was then sent out to the middle of the pit. Despite moving the baits about. Injecting the with oil. Doing a bit of dead bait wobbling. Nothing else happened until I started to make my afternoon cuppa. Again it was the small roach something had taken a fancy to. I struck into something powerful that headed straight towards the sunken branches. Leaning heavily into it there was a big swirl then I was hit in the face by the float.

I checked the hook which definitely still sharp, so I pinned on another small roach and popped it back in the bay. The mackerel got another shot of oil and a pop up ball was added. An hour later interest was shown in the roach again. Again contact was made with something powerful that head straight for the sunken branches, but this time the fish stayed pinned to the hook and after a bit of a hectic battle around the tree roots a rather chubby pike was on the unhooking mat. A nice big beastie of 93cm and 11lb 11oz.

 

I fished on until dark but nowt else happened.  What surprised me was that I was the only angler there all day. I'd have thought with the rivers so high I would have seen more. Maybe the threat of the strong winds put them off. The wind though cold wasn't really a problem as it was filtered out by the trees that nearly surround the pit.

Flinging Dead Fish Into The Blue Waters Of A Clay Pit

As some of the rivers were now a reasonable levels I spent a bit of time having a look at spots I'd like to pike fish. While the water levels were OK, the precipitous banks were not. Even where you could get down safely the flat areas you'd be fishing from soon puddled up into a dodgy slippy mess that put you in grave danger of ending up in the river. I decided stillwater fishing would probably be safer and easier. So it was down to one of the clay pits.

I was the only one there when I arrived, and all day. I don't know it more weed suppressing blue dye had been added but the water was very blue. My intention had been to wander round with a lure rod to start with then settle into a couple of swims dead baiting. While I'd brought a lure rod I'd failed to put a lure box in the car. Deadbaiting it was then. I'm working my way clockwise round this pit so started in the next swim along from my last visit on Boxing Day. A small smelt was dropped under the tree to my right at the top of the shelf and a headless joey mackerel to my right at the bottom of the shelf. I moved the baits about but after a couple of hours wasn't really feeling it and felt a move was needed.

Having moved I went to get a tea bag, etc. out of the car and found a shiny new Westin Swim glide bait. It had been bought at the sales and fallen out of the bag. I put the baits out and had a cuppa before winding in and wandering around the pit for a while flinging the lure about. This was as effective as the deadbaits. While having lunch, some Thai chilli noodles, I flicked a few noodles out for the Robin that had been following me about. They seemed to be welcome. After lunch I moved to a third swim. I changed baits to a small roach and a piece of lamprey. While I lefty the roach next to the overhanging tree the lamprey was cast about the place. All to no avail. I had another wander with the lure rod as it was starting to get dark but nothing cooperated. I'd seen no sign of fish all day. Oh well, there's always next time.

Second Pike Session Of 2024

 After it had chucked it down all day Tuesday there was an awful lot of closed roads around the area. I therefore decided to stay local for Wednesday's session and headed to the estate lake. There were a few cars in the car park when I arrived. A couple of anglers fishing the end of the island had two pike while I had a quick natter with them, so things looked hopeful. I opted to fish the far side of the island.

I started with a small roach on the inside and a headless joey mackerel over to the island. Things were quiet through the morning with nobody else catching as for as I could tell. As I had my lunch I contemplated moving but was dissuaded when a few fish scattered close to the island. This happened a couple more times under an overhanging tree but the closest I could get my bait, now a headless sardine was about six foot away. By mid-afternoon there was also fish topping to my right so I moved the small roach over there. Oils had been added to both baits but this didn't make much difference.

Another pike was taken on the far side of the island giving the pair three pike around the 4-5lb mark and a couple of dropped runs. They were the only one with any action at all as far as I could see. I didn't have so much as  sniff. That makes it three blanks in a row. Like many I blame the unsettled weather and hope that the upcoming settled spell may make life easier.

Some More Gravel Pit Piking

 Wednesday I had a trip down to the gravel pit. It had now turned to winter weather wise. A cold day but with a bit of sunshine. With the ground frozen I felt it was safe to drive into the field up to the swim. I did keep checking the ground to ensure it hadn't defrosted and turned to slippy slidy mud making it hard work to get the car back out.

I started with a small roach under the trees to my left and a joey mackerel out to the area where the weed beds had died back. The sun, while providing a bit of warmth, made it awkward to see the far float at times. Mid morning I moved the small roach to the right after seeing some bait fish scatter. The float failed to settle properly so I wound down but it was only a leaf that had snagged the hook. As I lifted it from the water a small jack swirled just below the surface. Removing the leaf I dropped the bait back in. Less than minute later the float headed towards me. I failed to contact with anything. The roach had a couple of teeth marks near the tail. Out it went again. The little jack grabbed it just after it hit the water. Winding down I could see it had hold of the tail again. It quickly turned ripping the bait from the hook and disappeared. Out went a fresh bait to the same spot along with some liquidised bread. Some more went under the tree and some on the bank for the robin.

After Lunch I moved the roach back under the tree as there had been no more action to the right. The mackerel was injected with a bit of oil and launched back to the dead weed bed in the middle. Three o'clock, cup of tea in hand, the float over the weed bed fell over and stayed there. Winding down I found there was nowt there. I retrieved a chewed mackerel which I launched back from where it came.

Five minutes later the float moved away to the right and this time i contacted with something fierce. After the initial run, which felt like a good fish, it just kitted left and right and felt a lot lighter as I wound it in. A rather plump little beast of 70cm.

 

I chucked out another joey to the same spot for the last hour or so But nothing more was forthcoming by the time it got dark.

There seems to be a lot of activity from the little jacks in the last couple of months I'm hoping the cold weather may slow them down a bit and that the big 'uns will start to fatten themselves up.

Clay Pit Success

 For some barmy reason I decided I'd have a go at one of the clay pits today (Friday). My success when pike fish clay pits is not good and I don't know why. The three I fish all have a good head of pike which are happy enough to grab your rudd when fishing in summer or autumn but seem to disappear come winter. They all have nice pikey features as well. Reed lined swims, dead and dying lily beds, drop-offs and deep holes fallen trees. They're all there, but where the pike are I just don't know. So far this season I've fished three clay pits and extracted two little jacks out of one of them. Perhaps it's the desire not to be defeated that brought me back to this one.

The swim I originally intended to start in had a couple of problems. Despite been a well built wooden platform it was slippy as hell and I nearly ended up in the drink when I stepped on it. It also happened to be facing straight into the lovely sunshine, so I'd probably have a problem seeing the floats. The swim I choose had chicken mesh nailed to it which solved the slippy problem and also the sun behind me. A mini mackerel was dropped into the deep hole next to the dying lilies in front of me. A small four inch roach was dropped to my left under a tree and next to bankside reeds. The tiny roach were part of my cunning plan as there was a lot of little rudd and roach that size in the pit.

Halfway through the morning I changed the roach to the right hand side, next to the bankside reeds and the remains of a lily bed. Another pike angler came past having failed on the other side he thought he try this side. He wasn't a great fan of this pit for the same reasons I'm not. Some fish scattered  further down the bank so he headed for that swim. He caught nothing and left by lunch time. The float to my right started to bob and move away. I wound down to some thing but a strike failed to contact. Out went another roach to the same spot. Again the same thing. With the hook through the eye sockets of the deadbait I didn't want to leave it too long. I put another roach out to the same spot but this time hooked at the dorsal fin. Again the float moved away and I left it a little longer. This time I felt something when I struck but the bait was gone and I contacted with nothing. Everything was quiet after that.

 

After lunch there was more fish scattering down the bank so I switched to that swim. Again the small roach went to the right in the middle of a dying lily bed. The mini mackerel, now headless and injected with a little oil went to the right where there'd been a gap in the lilies and it was a little deeper. This was the first float away, trundling across the surface. Again I failed to contact with anything. There were no sign of teeth marks on the bait either. The cuppa trick then appeared to work as the mini roach float disappeared and this time contact was made. A very strong and athletic fish which put on a splendid display of tail-walking was eventually netted. A nice healthy beast of 93cm and 11lb. It's belly wasn't full either. Another mini roach was dropped back in roughly the same spot and not long after I was in action again. Another strong a lively fish though somewhat smaller at 72cm was soon in the net. Just after I released it the mackerel float rose and fell flat. I strike again contacted with nothing and again there were no teeth marks on the bait.

That was it for the day. Two blanks then two nice fish in one session. Have I cracked the code. I doubt it. What had nicked my baits earlier I doubt know but I suspect carp were responsible for the two bits of activity on the mackerel rod.

After Ciarán

Ciarán had been on gone by Friday. Apart from the persistent rain on Thursday, filling the rivers, we didn't really get much of it.  I decided on a return to the gravel pit. I was surprised nobody else was there given the state of the rivers. Attempting to turn left as I entered the parking area had the car understeering dramatically. I should have known after all that rain the ground would be very soft and slippy. I carefully reversed back out on the road and parked on a harder surface further down. Being lazy and arriving late I opted for the first swim I came to. All of them produce pike so it really doesn't matter that much.

A small smelt was dropped into the small bay to my left and a small headless mackerel cast to the bottom of the shelf. After twenty minutes the float in the bay shot left to right at great speed for a couple of yards. No sign of damage to the bait. I suspect these sort of very fast runs are the result of carp snagging the line the panicking when they feel the resistance of the float and/or shot. Around eleven thirty, with out the aid of a cuppa or pot noodle, the same float bobbed about then moved away very slowly. Tightening down induced a bit of panic in the fish as it then shot away causing the check on the 'pin to clatter a bit. A brief but hectic battle then ensued before the fish was chinned. Somehow I managed to cut my left thumb with one of the hook points as I unhooked it. At first i thought it was the same fish I caught last time I was here, but I was slightly longer and heavier at 10lb 6oz and 93cm.

The sun then popped out from behind the trees and clouds making it a rather hard to see the floats. I had to move them to different spots in order to see them. I would have tried these spots anyway as all of them have a bit of a feature. A cast out to the shelf saw the mackerel escape so I replaced it with a large smelt. Several more anglers started to arrive after lunch. All but one parking on the soft ground. I didn't see any catch while I was there. Despite moving the baits around I didn't have another run.

 

As there is no dusk now. I decided to back up slightly earlier than intended. Also I wanted to be away before the others packed up as I suspect one or more was going to need help to get back out on the road. i really dislike extricating vehicles from slippy mud. Despite only catching the one fish it was my first double of the season so I was quite pleased.

A Tad Nippy

For the first time since spring I had to scrape ice off the car window. I even packed the big coat, though I ended up not needing it. Arriving at the car park I found two other cars there and a couple of carp anglers. By the time I'd got set up in a swim near the island the sun had poked through and it was looking like a nice autumn day.

The usual float rigs were to be used. A small trout was dropped a rod length or so out where the pike tend to patrol. A large smelt was dropped in a deeper hole near the end of the island that had produced pike in the past. The was quite a green tinge to the water still and it got more intense to my right which was down wind. The first run came after an hour to the smelt. A little scrapper of a jack at 74cm. I also got my bait back which is a plus, so out it went again.

Another hour passed before the float on the inside moved away. As I stuck the other float moved off. I grabbed that rod and struck and felt a bit of resistance then nothing. Dropping that rod I retrieved the little jack of 68cm on the other.  I didn't have any more large smelt so put out a small mackerel instead. Another little trout was dropped on the inside.

Another hour passed before I got another run. Again it was the inside float that moved away, but this time I failed to contact with anything. There appeared to be no teeth marks on the bait either. As I had lunch the was a sudden influx of anglers. The number triple in half an hour. I've not seen that many on here for a long long time. It did mean, though, that the swim I was going to move to after lunch was now taken, so I stopped put. Mid afternoon the float near the island moved towards me. I wound down to the fish and struck into what felt like another small fish. As I got it near the bank it woke up and set of with a fast run straight into the other rig. This made quite a mess but I managed to chin it with out too much fuss. A fish of 80cm, around 7-8lb I reckoned.

As I went to return it gave a final thrash and drew blood. This made untangling the rigs a bit problematic, but I managed. I didn't realise how much blood had oozed out but the braid was well soaked in it. Whether this would attract the pike I didn't know. It may have repelled them as I didn't have another run. Still three fish out of a possible five isn't so bad.

Penultimate Day Of The Season

The river had risen a lot higher than expected when I looked at the gauge this morning. It was at the height I expected in the afternoon and didn't look like it was going to ease off. My mate was just setting off when I rang him. As he said "It's easier to give up than get started." Despite misplacing himself he still arrived at the same time as me. Our first thought when we saw the river was that we should have brought worms and not dead-baits. Still there were plenty of slacks in evidence so we picked the first two and got underway.

I'd just finished plumbing the depth when my mate shouted frantically. I whipped down to his swim to find him trying to keep a decent jack out of the semi-submerged tree and get his snagged landing net out of the tree roots and brambles. I untangled the net and soon a feisty 5-6lb jack was on the bank. Apparently it had taken the roach on the drop. This gave us some hope.

We gave each swim about 45 minutes before leap frogging along the swims. As I walked past him in his second swim the float shot away and this time it was a lot smaller fish about half the size that had taken a smelt. Like me he was using up whatever he had in the freezer. Buoyed up we continued along the bank but had had no more as it came up to lunch time. We were now both in front of a couple of large slacks/eddies and get two rods out. We stayed here a bit longer while we had lunch. Wind had got stronger and gustier so you had to make sure everything was nailed down.

The only other anglers we saw all day arrived on the opposite bank just after lunch. One of them was obviously well sheltered as he managed to get a brolly up, something we couldn't do. It would have been nice as the periods of rain were getting longer and heavier. We slowly worked our way back fishing the swims the other had fished on the way down. By the time we got back to the top of the section the river had risen a metre and showed no sign of slowing.

Two fish to my mate and nowt to me was not what I really wanted but under the circumstances was better than we'd thought possible at the start of the day. What to do for the final day I don't know. I'm thinking a spot of barbeling may be on the cards, but I'll wait until the morning to make a descension.