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.

Putting On Weight

 My cunning plan for Thursday was to spend an hour or so in each swim and work my way round the gravel pit. Providing no other anglers got in the way there was enough daylight to fish every swim.  I started in he first swim with the usual sort of setup. A small smelt was dropped near the tree roots and a lamprey tossed out next to the dying weed bed in the middle. After moving the baits a couple of times I moved on to the next swim. A cup of tea and lunch had been consumed as I got ready to move to the far side of the pit.

 With everything ready to move a few fish scattered over to my right. It looked like the only swim I could reach the spot from was the first one I was in. As I stood there more fish scattered. A quick move back to the first swim and out with the bait. Because of the height of the water, it had gone down a couple of inches since last week, you are a lot closer to the tree branches above. This can make casting to certain spots a tad awkward, but kneeling down I managed to get the bait within a couple of yards of the spot. The smelt which was now a bit raggedly was replaced with a small roach and swung out to the tree roots. A robin had a wander along one of the rods, no doubt hoping to be fed. Three quarters of an hour later some fish scattered just to my right in a small bay. I quickly moved the roach there and a few minutes later the float slid away. After a rather hectic fight a decent pike was in the net. 93cm and 12lb 4oz it looked somewhat familiar. A scan through the phone showed it to last week's fish which had gained 9oz.

 

Just after I released the pike there was quite a splash to my left but all I could see was a twig in the middle of the ripples. I then what I at first thought was a rat swimming to the bank as It shot up a tree I realised it was a rather soggy squirrel that clearly picked the wrong branch to wander about on. There was then another scattering of fish to the right of the float out in the middle, so I decided to stop put. I put a pop up ball on the lamprey, which was still oozing blood, and recast it. Another small roach was dropped back in the bay. After this there was no more fish scattering or anything. As usual I waited into dark before packing up.

 

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.

First Gravel Pit Pike Session Of The Year

 In my attempt to catch my first pike of the year I headed down to the local gravel pit with the intention of fishing the opposite side to the one i have been fishing. Another chap beat me by a minute to the swim I intended to fish so I dropped in the one next to him. Despite the weather forecast claiming it would merely be a dreary overcast sort of day it started drizzling as we setup and we would have the odd bit through out the day.

A small roach was dropped next to the tree roots to my left and a smelt was placed at the bottom of the drop off to my right. Another angler joined us on the far bank but didn't stay long. Just after I'd finished a cuppa I had a run on the roach which was dropped as I wasn't taking enough notice as i was waffling at the other chap. Nowt else happened until I'd got my pot noodle ready when the right hand float moved away slowly. This time I connected with a small pike of 75cm. A very tidy and well marked little beast. 

Mid-afternoon I had another run on the roach but again I failed to contact with anything. The other chap, who'd caught nowt moved to the other side of the pit. I fished on until dark. Just before the floats became invisible I had another run on the smelt but only contacted with an alder branch.

 

I'm thankful I was beaten to the swim I intended to fish as I now broken my run of blanks. Next week the weather is supposed to turn cold. I don't know whether this will help the pike fishing or not, but at least it looks like the end of the rain for a while so hopefully we may be able to actually get to the rivers.

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.

First Pike Session Of 2024

 I was in undecided where to fish for the first session of the year. Return to the estate lake to seek revenge for yesterday's blank, a trip to the gravel pit. As the gravel pit was on the way to the estate lake I stopped there first for a look-see. The recent rains had finally filled the pit up. It was some eighteen inches up on it's summer level. The only problem I could see was that the wind and rain had knocked a lot of twigs off the alder trees so there was a quite bit of debris over the surface. This rendered some swims nearly unfishable. Alder twigs with the cones still on them are quite incredible. They only have to touch fishing line and you end up with a right tangle. One swim, a corner one, was clear though.

There are plenty of feature in this corner. A little bay, tree roots, drop off, a large sunken branch, etc. I started with a slightly manky 7-8" trout that had hidden itself at the bottom of the fridge and was possibly three years old. This went out next to the sunken branch. As I turned round to get the second rod ready the float moved off. I lifted into nothing. I didn't even get my bait back. A headless sardine was tossed out to the same spot. A match the hatch 4" roach was suspended about 6" above the bottom and allowed to drift about the bay. Slowly the debris from the centre of the lake made it's way into the corner, but wasn't much of a problem.

As I thought about moving to the far side another anger turned up and opted for the best swim  on that side. Just after lunch a large log drifted into the swim but slowly continued on into the shallows. A couple of lure anglers then turned up. I moved the baits about to the different feature. Changed the sardine for a smelt as it was starting to fall apart. Added oils to the baits but nothing seemed to be hungry.

In the end none of has anything. We suspect that the pike had overdone it over Christmas and New Year and weren't really interested. The new year starting like the old one finished was not what I was hoping for. Oh well. This year is one day longer than usual so maybe that extra day will benefit the angling.