Plan A - The Brick Ponds

 I'd been informed the muddy colour had dropped out of the overfull Brick Ponds so decided to give it a go. My intention of arriving at first light was cocked-up by my inability to set an alarm. On arriving at the car park I thought it best to have wander down to  the ponds to see what state they were in before carting the tackle down. The colour had dropped out but it was far from clear and it really was high. With 18" of extra water in it one of my favourite swims was inaccessible and the bankside path to the other half of the pond(s) was underwater in places.

Two float rigs were readied, one with a herring with a rather bad case of freezer burn, and the other with a small headless mackerel. The herring was placed to the left bay an overhanging tree and the mackerel over the dead/dying lilly bed. As I tucked in to a biscuit to go with my cuppa the herring float bobbed and moved away. Contact was made with a very fast fish which shot about all-over the place. It obviously wasn't heavy but did put up a great scrap for it's size. Only 64cm but fun none the less. A smelt was attached to the rig and dropped in the same place.

I'd moved the mackerel about a couple of times and found the old lily bed still had plenty of green stuff protruding above the bottom so had been shallowing up hoping the bait would just settle on top of it. As I wound the smelt in to reposition it I saw something swirl under the water as I lifted it out. I drop the bait in some three foot from the bank just over the shelf. Having finished my lunch I popped for a quick piss. As I turned came back the float by the bank shot way towards the other float. By the time I'd grabbed the rod the other float was moving away as well. Not content with this the little beastie decided to down somersaults and tangle things even more. A presentable little thing of 55cm.

 

Unclipping the traces I found things weren't as bad as they first appear and was soon back in action. The mackerel went a bit further out this time and  another smelt was dropped under the tree to my right. Around 3:45 I was thinking of packing in as I didn't  fancy the very muddy walk back in dark.As I lifted the smelt from the water the other float moved slowly across the surface. I wasn't quite sure what I'd contacted with. It felt like a dead weight that occasionally wriggled a bit. By the time I'd got whatever it was to the bank all I had was a pile of semi-dead lily bits. I fished on until I could no longer see the floats but nothing else happened. The walk back was a bit nasty in the dark but I made it out intact. Despite being small the two jacks maintained my average of two pike per trip.

Time for Plan B

 Having acquired the code for the lock to the estate lake it was tome to put Wednesday's Plan B into action. Arriving around first light I initially contemplated fishing near the island, but there was a good breeze blowing down the lake from the far end which meant I could drift a float over a large section of the lake. The only problem was the lake being 150m long and I hadn't brought a reel with that amount of line on. Mine only had around 75m as most of my piking is done quite close, rarely more than 20m. I'd be able to cover quite a bit of the lake even so.

A vane topped float with a roach deadbait was soon drifting slowly down the lake. I managed half a dozen drifts down the lake on different lines before the wind died. Not only did it die but when there was a bit of a breeze it had changed direction and was now blowing across the lake right to left. This would still allow me to cover  a fair area though. Another angler turned up and went into the swim I originally thought of going in. Then a huge gaggle of Canada's finest crashed on to the lake making a right racket.

I got the other rod set up with my last small mackerel on and dropped that into the bed of the stream that used to be there before it was dammed. The roach was very slowly drifting towards the trees to my left. Just as I made a cuppa the mackerel bait was on the move. No contact, no sign  of any teeth marks. Back out it went. A couple of minutes later it was away again. A rather lethargic and very skinny, almost eel like, jack of 74cm had taken it. The drifting roach then started bobbing about. A very small but much more athletic little jack was soon at the platform. As I grabbed the leader it shook it's head and came adrift. 'Leader touch' so it still counts.

Another roach was swung out having increased the depth slightly. On the other rod went a small trout as I'd run out of mackerel having forgotten to top the bait bag up. Thankfully I'd put the lid on my mug as there was bit's of alder on it which I don't think would have added to the flavour. As I finished my tea while watching the crows and buzzards engaged in a bit of aerial combat the trout was away. I'd clearly missed the initial take as the float was a good 10m further out in the like. Thankfully I struck and was in contact with some thing lively. Another slightly skinny jack of 75cm was soon chinned.

Another little trout was dropped in the stream bed. and the roach recast.  As I was preparing my Hoisin Duck Noodles for lunch a sparrow hawk shot low over the rods, dodged the fence and some how whipped through the trees. No sooner had I finished lunch than the trout rod was away again. This time it was some more substantial. A chubby 8lb 7oz 80cm pike was eventually chinned after a couple of runs. A nice healthy looking fish, unlike the others. Another frozen trout was dropped in the stream bed and no sooner had the float settle then it was away. A rather tatty 70cm jack was quickly wound in and released. It was while having my mid-afternoon cuppa that I got my next two runs, one on each rod. I both cases I never felt anything and both baits were undamaged.

As usual I stayed until I could barely see the floats but nowt else happened. Not a bad day. Eight takes five fish that seemed to rather like trout. Maybe they've not seen it before.  So that's four trips for an average of two fish per trip. Don't think I'll keep that up. One can but try. One thing I keep forgetting is a container for water to wet the unhooking mat. On a trip round GoOutdoors the previous day I found a 5l collapsible bucket for £3. It takes up very little space tin the tackle bag and saved me from having to chuck the mat in the lake each time I caught a fish.

Plans A to C

 My original plan was to fish the Brick Ponds, but I'd been told they were still rather coloured from the run-off . Plan B was to fish the Estate Lake , but I don't have the combination for the lock yet. I'm sure there's somebody I could get in touch with while I await my card, but there was nobody at the pit as I drove past so I opted for Plan C.

 

As I unloaded the car I was greeted by a robin. As the liquidised bread was handy  I sprinkled a some about for it. That would be the last I saw of it. I headed round to the far side and set up the rods. A trout to the right by an overhanging tree and a small half mackerel to the left under an overhanging tree.

Just as I got a cuppa made the left hand float trundled away. I lively little jack was contacted with that decided to show off it's acrobatic skills under the rod tip. I didn't want to net it as one of the hooks was flapping about. Strangely it was hooked on the upper hook that was in the tail of the bait. A tidy little fish of 66cm.

The mackerel was replaced with half a small herring and the head part chopped up and chucked around the swim. I spent the rest of the day moving the baits about the swim or being showered with birch twigs being blown down in the wind. Staying until dark didn't bring any more runs. A couple of maggot drowners popped down for a short while but didn't appear to catch.

Mid afternoon there had been a might crack somewhere over to my right. This turned out to be a dead tree about 9" in diameter which had fallen over the path. The phone camera decided an arty shot was needed. Not sure what went wrong as the flash fired. I managed to move the tree out of the way easy enough. Four out of four so far this season. I'll have to go elsewhere for my next session as I don't want to push my luck at the pit.

Three Out Of Three Thanks To A Friend

New Year's day and I was heading towards the pit half expecting it to be busy. If it was I had an alternative. To my surprise there was nobody there. No anglers, no ice, and most surprising of all no robins. I had half a mind to fish the far side, but lacking conviction I opted for my favourite corner swim. A small spotty in the tiny bay and half a small mackerel under the overhanging branch. A bit of liquidised bread around each float and a bit on the bank for the robins that still hadn't appeared.

I moved the baits every half hour or so as you have a large area available to you from this spot when it's not iced over. Just before lunch I gave the baits a bit of a stab with the knife and moved them back to their original positions while I had my lunch.

With no bites forthcoming I contemplated moving to the other side. By the time I'd finished contemplating another pike angler had materialised on the far side. I decided to stop put and just cast a bait further out towards the middle and keep one in the shallows near me. Half past three and the robins turned up and stated feeding on the breadcrumbs. Don't know what had kept them, perhaps they'd taken my advice and got a decent job. As I tried to get a picture of the paler one the float out in the middle slowly moved away. After quite a hectic fight I had what looked to be a familiar fish in the net. It was the same fish as last Tuesday but now five ounces heavier. Oh well, a blank saver at least.

A sardine replaced the missing mackerel and I fished into dark but nothing more was forth coming.  Three out of three but two different fish. The other pike angler didn't appear to catch anything.

Back T' Pit

 Another trip to the gravel pit as I suspect the brick pond would be still frozen, and the rivers are rising and or falling. Again I was the only one there, apart from the robin. I was surprised to see a large area of ice still floating about. The wind was blowing it into the corner I wanted to fish so I opted to fish the corner I blanked in last time. There was, however, a larger area of water to go at. The other problem was that the branches thrown at the ice and leaf debris kept drifting backwards and forwards throughout the day dragging the line and rigs about.

Baits were the same as last time. The sardine was placed near the tree roots in two and a half foot of water and left there as the pike are known to patrol along there. The trout would be cast about the area and be moved every 45 minutes or so in the hope of landing it in front of a pike. Apart form being pestered by two robins, one having a more orange chest than the other, nothing much happened except a visit from the bailiff. Another angler had set up on the far bank maggot drowning. I didn't see him catch anything. Three lads also turned up deadbaiting but didn't catch either. The sun also turned up which meant I had to be careful where I cast the floats, as pike floats go invisible in winter sunshine no matter how big they are.

Around one the float on the trout started to bobble about in the manner associated with small pike. I had the fish on for about thirty seconds before it came adrift along with my last trout deadbait. It didn't feel very big at all. The next bait out of the freezer bag was half a small herring. This hadn't been in the water very long before the float trundled away. This time I was in contact with something heavier That put up a rather lacklustre fight. A rather long and skinny fish of 86cm and 7lb soon graced the net. 2cm shorter and 4lb lighter than Tuesday's fish it had a big lump out of it's tail fin that looked like an otter bite. That was it for the day. Again I fished until I couldn't see the floats.

First Proper Pike Session of the Season

 With the weather being somewhat variable, by variable I mean drizzle, light rain, heavy rain, I decided to stay close to home so popped down to the local gravel pit. I was rather surprised when I got there to see nobody else about. I wasn't early arriving just after nine. I( was even more surprised to see it hadn't filled up since summer, being about two foot down. The final surprise was the ice. I'd not expected any ice at all as it hadn't been particularly cold for a while. A couple of swims were not fully frozen and one had a couple of good spots free of ice. The other only having the one. The more open swim was one of my favourites so I opted for that.

The ice wasn't that thick at all close in so shouldn't prove to be much of a problem. I was soon joined by a robin as is usual here. I had brought some liquidised bread so sprinkled a bit on the ground. The robin didn't look impressed I think they prefer maggots. never the less it tucked into the bread popping back through out the day.

I bit of plumbing about showed both spots to about three and a half foot deep. One in a little bay and the other near an over hanging tree. The float were set so the bottom shot just touched bottom. I'd not looked to see what baits I had in the freezer bags. first out was a slightly freezer burnt headless sardine which went in to the bay. next out was a small rainbow trout which went out under the over hanging branches. I tossed out some of the liquidised bread as well in the hope it would attract some bait fish.

 

After half an hour the float in the bay bobbed and shot away a couple of foot before popping back up. I contacted with nothing as expected. I'm convinced bites like that are either liners or tiny jacks. On this occasion I think it was a liner as there were no marks on the sardine at all. A couple of hours, just after the rain had started, later the trout bait was away. I didn't really strike as the fish was moving away from me. After  a brief but hectic tussle in the shallow water I had a nice looking tubby pike in the net. It was in near perfect nick. This surprised me as the pike in here get some hammer and some end up quite tatty. At 88cm and 11lb 1oz it was a good start and very welcome.

There was no more action until three when the rain stopped. I'd decided to move to the other swims there was now quite a large clear area in front of it. I wound in the sardine and dropped it in the margin. As I wound the trout in I saw the tip of the other rod whip over. I grabbed the rod and felt  some thing small on the end. A tiny little jack had firm hold of the end of the sardine but had missed the hook. The sardine came adrift and the jack shot away with it's prize.

I fished the other corner swim until I could no longer see the floats but failed to elicit any action. Still a double was I nice start to my pike campaign proper.

The Angler That Went Out In The Cold

 As I didn't want to travel far, given the current weather conditions, chub fishing seemed the best idea. I made up a batch of liquidised bread and got a couple of balls of cheese paste from the freezer the night before. Unfortunately I left the paste in the garage where it proceeded to not thaw out. A quick wave of the old micros soon sorted that problem though. The car thermometer said -4 is I set off and -3 when I arrived at the river.

I had a wander about on arrival to see what swims would be accessible. A couple could be got in and out of safely so I opted for one of these. It also happens to be a swim that produces the odd very large chub, and I could get the rod rest in.  Things didn't get off to a great start when I found my two piece feeder rod was now a three piece. Thankfully the barbel rod I'd also brought was intact. Not ideal as even with the softer top it wouldn't be as sensitive as the feeder rod.

The intention was to alternate between flake and cheese paste with liquidised bread in the feeder.  After a few casts I had my first bite, a real three foot twitch. Something felt heavy on the end of the line before it all went slack. I don't know what managed to shed a size four hook, but it had. A couple of casts later a small pike shot from under the bank and took a lunge at the feeder. Somehow I managed to foul hook it somewhere amidships. It managed to shake itself free while I was reaching for the badly placed landing net. The final piece of action of the morning occurred not long after when the rod tip started to tremble. Thinking it was debris on the line I wound in to find a small, 6oz, chublet on the hook. Annoyingly it managed to flip itself off the hook as I went to lift it from the water.

After a Pot Noodle I tried a swim upstream of the one I was fishing. Fifteen minutes on flake, fifteen on paste then back to the original swim to do the same. While I was in one swim I left a little pile of liquidised bread in the other for the robins to feed on. This caused a bit of commotion at times when two or three would fly in, but never when I had the camera pointed at the bread.

By three the temperature was starting to drop. With nothing to show for my efforts I packed up at half past as it was now cold enough for gloves. Besides I didn't want to be on an icy river bank when it got dark.