It's Not Getting Any Better

Back on the pike hunt I headed to a stretch well above the city and one I've not fished for years. It's one of those stretches that contains some big pike, allegedly, but they rarely get caught.  Unless you talk to the match anglers, who claim to have lost every other fish to a huge pike. I spent 30-40 minutes in half a dozen swims in the morning for not a lot. The most excitement was when laziness in the last swim had me check the depth with out removing the trace. I'd cast straight into snags. Pulling the rig hoping to bend the hooks resulted in the swivel breaking. First failure have had in a swivel for a long time. I spent the afternoon in the same swim hoping to intercept a passing pike. This didn't work either.

Just after lunch I talked to a local who'd fished the stretch a dozen times this year for two small jack. He reckoned it was the worst he'd known it. He normally only blanked ever other session. previous years. At the car park at the end of the day two other pike anglers were there and had blanked as well and were equally baffled by the lack of pike.

MOT

I knew the MOT was coming up as a sidelight bulb had gone. Last year it was the offside, this time it was the nearside. Unless you've got fingers the size of chopsticks the entire light assembly has to be removed to change the bulb. This, though, was minor compared to the rest of the problems that materialised. A spring had broken and had to be replaced. The garage could one but wouldn't have time to fit it until next day. This meant the MOT would get pushed to the end of the week. While I was there I made enquiries about another problem I'd lived with for a while. The passenger door could only be opened for the outside. This was due to a broken cable from the lever to the latch. This was a known problem years ago and was generally repaired under warranty. My car is well out of warranty. It is also an MOT failure, as both front doors must open from the inside. There is, however, plenty of information on the Internet about it. The only problem was they couldn't get one for a week to ten days. I therefore decided I'd do something about it myself. 

I contacted the local dealer and they said the same thing. After a bit of trawling through the webs I found one I could get next day. Head office won't let the garage buy from Amazon or Ebay, only authorised suppliers. It duly arrived next day at teatime, so I had to wait until next day to fit it. This pushed the MOT even further away. I spent the evening studying a variety of videos to see how it was done. Basically it involves dismantling the door. May only worry was the dreaded phrase - to put it back together just reverse the procedure. This never works. Dismantling things is generally a doddle, but the reverse is rarely true.

As it was it turned out to be relatively straight forward, though, with out the videos finding some of the the screws and knowing which bits could be crowbarred off wouldn't have been easy. Three hours work interspersed with rewatching the videos and it was done. I did end up with an extra bit at the end, but it was only a bit of plastic that isn't vital to the operation of the door and thankfully I only had to remove the door handle to put it back. It's surprising how many cheap parts, that should be simple to replace, can cause an MOT failure.

Strike Three

Friday morning after a night of snow, sleet and freezing temperatures the car took some defrosting. I soon arrived at the fishing spot I intended to fish on Monday. This time I wasn't thwarted by a match, but I'd forgotten I'd be facing straight in to the sun for a large part of the day. The river was now only a couple of foot up, but it did rise a few inches during the session. The area I was fishing was classic territory, on the inside of a bend with over hanging trees creating nice slack areas.  It had also produced some good weights in the last couple of matches held there.

The usual tactics were employed, float-ledgered, paternoster, trotted and even ledgered out in the middle. Mackerel, lamprey, trout, sardine, and roach were used as baits. I fished four different swims. It wasn't until the last swim that I got my one and only run of the day. As I made my last cuppa of the day the float shot away. Before I could put the kettle and cup down the float had popped back up and all I ended up with was a chewed sardine.

If these pike don't start to frame themselves I think I might have to take up chub fishing.

And So It Continues

Today I decided to continue my piking on the tidal stretch, but on the opposite bank in the large slack below the lock complex. In these conditions it's deep, at high tide it was twenty four foot a similar distance out. Although there was only 1.7m of extra water above the weir, below was very full. The two picture below show the difference between normal levels and today's high tide.

I tried both float-ledgered baits, paternostered and trotted, using lamprey, mackerel, roach, and trout to no effect. The one other angler there managed a few rattles on the quiver tip but that was all. I think I'll leave this stretch alone until the water levels drop to somewhere more manageable.

The quest for the first fish of the year continues.

Start The Year Like You Mean To Go On, Or Maybe Not

My plan for today was to fish the opposite bank to last time. This was based on the water been a bit higher and knowing where a couple of large eddies form when it get to that height. Arriving at the car park I was surprised at the number of vehicles. A quick walk down to the river with out the tackle was called for as I suspected they may be a match on. I had checked the calender and assumed I must have read it wrong. Talking to the first angler I found confirmed the match, which apparently had been rescheduled. I also noticed that the river seemed somewhat higher than the 1.5m the gauge was showing. I decided to head down to the tidal stretch. It had been a long time since I'd pike fished the his stretch some of which good be very very good.

I arrived around high tide, and was it high the weir had nearly disappeared. The usual tactics were to be employed. One float ledgered bait, one paternostered bait, and a variety of baits. In the first swim I got to watch a kestrel hovering then stoop. It wasn't until the fourth swim that the float did anything interesting when it started to move along the eddy. I contacted with nothing. There was a little bit of damage on the bait, but it didn't look like pike damage. There was, however, a lot of debris wrapped round the lead. I suspect it was that which caused the float to move. By now the river had dropped a good three foot so I had to be careful which swims I fished as getting near the water was a bit tricky with the mud covered banks.

Several times a large raptor flow along the far bank. I don't know if it was the same bird or not. Nor do I know if it was a buzzard or kite as I can't really tell them apart at distance. I fished several more swims with out success giving each thirty minutes. Despite the wind it had been quite a pleasant day out and certainly not January like. I decided to pack up early so as to get down the track in daylight. There are some big potholes in it, real sump-guard territory which I didn't fancy negotiating in the dark.

I could have gone somewhere more sensible I suppose, but if you don't try places in different conditions then you'll just never know their potential.

 

Last Session Of 2021

Instead of fishing upstream of the city, as previously, I decided to try downstream, provided the river hadn't risen too much. It was falling Wednesday evening, but expected to rise again Thursday. I didn't expect it to rise much though. As it was the river dropped a couple of inches overnight then rose four inches during the day before dropping again.

After battling the combination lock on the car park gate I was at the first swim. This section is a lot shallower than the previous sections with no discernable shelf in some swims. I dropped a paternostered sardine about a third of the way across with the intention of moving it closer every fifteen minutes or so. A length of lamprey was dropped near the bank under an over-hanging tree. After forty minutes with out a run I swapped the rigs around. I replaced the sardine with a roach as it was falling apart and tossed the bits under the tree. I suspect this was one of the older baits in the bait bag and it had probably defrosted at some point. Not long after the float above the roach jagged away and I was into I nice little 70cm jack that stayed on the hooks. In fact it had engulfed the bait, a six inch roach.

By now it had turned into a rather warm day and layers had been removed. I gave the swim another half hour before moving downstream. Same tactics as before. One bait to a feature and one out a quarter to a third they way across. Giving them thirty to forty minutes before swapping them around. It wasn't until the fourth swim of the day that I got my next run, which I missed. Upon retrieving the lamprey I found a small area of damage in the middle of the bait that looked like it had been made by an eel. The nice day had now turned to drizzle and darkness would soon be on us so packed up. It was nice to end the year with a fish.

Despite the number of dog walkers I'd had no problem with nosey dogs. The only one to cause a little bit of grief was a very excitable spaniel puppy on only her second walk out. Though on a lead she'd managed to grab my towel hanging on a branch. After a bit of an amusing wrestle it was retrieved and returned. As it's owner said - it's a good job the wag their tails all the time, can you imagine how much more energy they'd have if the didn't.

Substitute Bank Holiday For Christmas Day Pike Expedition

The river had started to rise on Christmas Day and slowly continued through Boxing Day and into the Substitute Bank Holiday For Christmas Day before levelling off. It had only come up a couple of feet since I was last there on Christmas Eve. I'd gone to the same stretch, but started further down and intended to head back towards the car. Same tactic as previous. Float ledgered lamprey and a paternoster rig, but I started with a small rainbow trout.

The fog was quite thick bay the river, I could hear the trains behind me but couldn't see them. The first swim was rather deep, a full three fathoms. over the drop off in the crease of a slack. The paternoster rig was dropped on the top of the shelf behind and over hanging tree. After half an hour the rigs were swapped round, but no runs were forthcoming. This was the pattern for the first five swims, apart from the injection of a bit of oil in the baits.

The final swim was also the final swim on the previous outing. Just as I was going to swap the rigs round the paternostered trout produced a rather iffy run which produced nothing. I checked the hooks with the 'does it draw blood when the point is poked in the thumb method' and all seemed OK so I swung out the same chewed trout back in to the same spot. A couple of minutes later I was in and like the previous outing a small jack spat the bait out when it got to the surface. The same very chewed trout was swung back in and just before it got too dark to see the floats properly the float was away again and again I failed to contact.

I sometimes wonder why I bother pike fishing. Sitting on a damp, misty, muddy river bank just for the pike to drop off the hooks does seem to be a rather silly pastime. It only takes a decent double to get my enthusiasm back up.