Category Archives: Pike

Some pike, but more…

20 Monday Oct 2014

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The tuesday swim tries to steer away from the ‘catch report’ style of blogging and keep close to the perimeter fence when it comes to writing about angling. On the outskirts I tend to find something to write about or photograph, rather than attempting to hit the mainstream.

Yesterday was a long over-due fishing trip with a very old friend from my Shoreditch days back in the early nineties. To be fishing with Tony again was as ever good fun, a chance to catch up and to talk endlessly on the subject of fishing. The last time we fished together was six years ago for salmon on the Alness in the North-East of Scotland.  Today we were in search of pike and the outcome was quite successful, in fact it was probably one of our most prolific trips ever. Yes we took some mug shots holding some of the better pike (we caught nine in total) but the real joy was spending time with an old friend on a wind swept autumnal day in Sussex. Tony even thought he might snare a pike using his fly rod, perhaps he thought we were back on the Alness. By five the light was dropping as was the wind, so I picked up my camera when the lake took on a new and quiet personality…

 

 

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Losing tackle.

03 Monday Feb 2014

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I appreciate vintage tackle and I am an angler, but sometimes combining the two together can cause some upsetting moments by the waterside.
On Sunday I decided on a quick hour of spinning for pike on the Lea despite all of the recent rain. My theory was thus, the water had been running fast for three weeks and now as the water was dropping an opportunist pike must be lying in wait in the slack water. Armed with a box of plugs and a bait-casting rod I headed down to the river to find it still running faster and higher than I had ever seen before, the colour was like tea made by a Frenchman, Liptons bag with too much milk.
The sun was appearing through the trees and it looked to be a pleasant day so I was quite happy trying out a few different plugs at varying depths, speeds and actions, trying to locate the slower water. After a while I decided to put a lovely old Heddon Go Deeper River Runt on and explore the deep, slower water. The Lea was up about a meter so I thought the lure should stay off the bottom. This lure has a fantastic action that vibrates the rod tip in such a distinctive manner that you always know the lure is fishing properly and not twisted or caught on the trace. On my fourth or fifth cast the the lure caught on something just near my feet about two foot out from the bank, dammit!
After much pulling from all directions I finally went for the ‘pull’ and the 25lb braid gave way, leaving no resistant, the lure had been lost. God dammit!!!!
Losing bits of tackle including vintage tackle is part of angling but losing this lure in the raging river Lea really pi**ed me off as I knew I was unlikely to get it back. After a another few casts I left for home.
Obsessive? me? No surely not!
I had one glimmer of hope though, the Lea was running high so I could return as the river dropped and hopefully find the obstruction that my River Runt had clung onto? The Lea is not really tidal anymore due to the Olympic Park but at low tide on the Thames the water flows out of the Lea more quickly and drops about 2-3 feet. Low tide was due at 9.50 am the following morning and with no rain for the previous 48 hours it should drop even further. But fearing another angler or dog walker would pass by and spot my lure I decided in a paranoid moment to make a quick visit before dark, so to look like I was not abandoning my duties as a father on a Sunday I took my daughter along in the pram. The river was falling but when I arrived at the crime scene the water had only dropped about a foot, my lure was nowhere to be seen.
Monday morning had arrived so I included a visit to the Lea while heading to work. At 9.30 am I arrived to find the river down about a meter and there in the torrent of water was a lone twig, Excalibur stood alone with my River Runt clinging on for dear life, swaying backwards and forwards in the fast current!
Now I had the simple task of cutting down a branch, creating a fork, stepping down into the silted mud in my trainers, pushing the lure off, knocking it upstream and flicking it onto the bank. As I said before, obsessive? me? No!
Well, it all went to plan and my Heddon lure now sits on my desk at work all safe and sound, while my trainers dry off below, leaving a faint smell of River Lea in flood…lovely!
Heddon River Runt vintage Plug

In search of another pike & the Epping forest ponds.

13 Monday Jan 2014

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I awoke Sunday morning to find a frost for the first time on the grass in the rear garden, the cars out the front of the house were frozen in a white cloak. It was 7.30 am and still dark so if I left fairly promptly I could be fishing in Epping forest by 8.30am. I only had three mackerel tails for bait in the freezer but I was eager to get out so I headed for Wake Valley Pond with my meagre bait supply. This Epping Pond is a water I have never fished but walked past many times before thinking it looked ‘fishey’.
In the end I was the only one there, no dog walkers, cylists or fishermen, it was a blissful cold and quiet morning and I was alone. Sometimes when the scene is this tranquil catching is not that high on the agenda so after an hour I left to look at some of the other Epping forest ponds. I drove around to Goldings but that pond was frozen over and clogged with weed so I headed home content but not before dropping in to look at Hollow Ponds which in hindsight was a mistake. The lake looked lifeless with its banks worn bare from the many visiting feet, not a place I shall try for a pike. Saying that, something suggested to me that lurking in this lake could be a forgotten soul, a lost thirty perhaps?

An opportunity for a Boxing day pike.

30 Monday Dec 2013

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For the traditionalist angler a pike on Boxing day is a nice way to end the years fishing. This year I was in Sutton Coldfield so a good choice of venue for a pike was the rather sinister sounding water of Blackroot set in the grounds of Sutton Park. The lake is actually quite beautiful but as I was to find, quite a busy place on a Boxing day morning.

I fished from the dam end wall where just one other angler was fishing for carp and pike. The morning was very foggy but by the time I had arrived it was lifting which was a shame as the sun soon followed making my chance of a pike a little less likely. Behind my swim was the concrete footprint of the old changing rooms that would have accommodated the brave swimmers that took the cold Boxing day water in the past.

With just a few hours to fish esox did not pay a visit but it was worth the effort to get out in the crisp still air.

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An opportunity for a pike.

15 Sunday Dec 2013

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This last Saturday afternoon I found myself passing a fishmongers on the Lower Clapton Road, on a whim I popped in and bought twelve sprats for a pound.

Today I put aside a couple of hours in Epping forest armed with my sprats and a rod. Autumn is still present in the forest, the leaves although fallen still lay golden orange on the ground. And after an hour a 7-8lber came my way from a suspended sprat under a Gazette float. Angling can be simple…sometimes.

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In search of local knowledge.

11 Wednesday Dec 2013

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Two weeks ago I spent a few days with friends and family in Stiffkey, North Norfolk, about half a mile from the coast. We wanted to see off the last days of Autumn and escape London for the weekend. The thought of an unfamiliar place excites any anglers with the prospect of a new fishing opportunity. To me, Norfolk suggests one thing…pike, and with a little research I was sure I would be able to find some fishing close to Stiffkey on one of the numerous local rivers.

Pike fishing in Norfolk

My first port of call was the internet which took me around in circles and ended up (in the case of pike) at venues such as Blickling Hall, this was all fine but too far for me to travel, I wanted something local. Then I put a post up on a fishing forum, my quest for local knowledge must surely be answered? Well not really although I did receive a few helpful private messages but again all located too far away.

Finally I phoned some tackle shops in Norfolk and again the same few venues were mentioned, surely North Norfolk has a network of drains and small rivers with a head of pike? One tackle shop owner was surprised I didn’t want to try for the carp on one of the local commercials.

On my arrival in Norfolk (with some tackle in the boot of the car) I did make some enquiries at the local fishmongers who guided me towards a couple of promising spots and put onto a lad who worked in the greengrocer who was a keen piker and knew all about the local area. With haste to my stride I crossed the High Street to the greengrocer and asked for “Mark”, only to discover he was on holiday in Romania hunting wild boar!

What is the moral of this tale? Local knowledge still reigns supreme whenever you want to un-cover the unusual, the surprising or discover the un-publishable. The internet has a habit of regurgitating the same information time and time again but written from slightly different perspectives. If you require ‘local knowledge’ make sure he hasn’t buggered off to Romania for the weeks holiday!

I shall return though, for one it is a beautiful part of Britain and I have since heard of a story about some pike on a certain small river in North Norfolk, quite remote and the pike are mainly un-fished for. Now that is exciting and for now a secret.

Boredom, boys & pike!

30 Wednesday Oct 2013

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The theme of pike in October continues although with all of this mild weather I personally don’t consider the pike season has really started for 2013. There’s a pile of seasoned logs awaiting the first cold snap but mother natures seems to be un-hurried this year. I tend to have the date of November 5th as a traditional starting point for me, it is a time when I often go down to Sussex for Bonfire night and grab a few hours for pike before the fireworks begin.

A recent visit to Spitalfields Antique market found me rifling through some old copies of BOP (Boys Own Paper) and the copy below which caught my eye for obvious reasons…pike! BOP really conjures up the past from my childhood although I think the BOP stopped being published by the time I was looking for advice on fishing, camping, astronomy, which first motorbike to buy or improving your slot car performance!

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Inside BOP is a picture of a monster pike that would inspire boys to dream of large pike and their potential capture. In reality a capture very rarely happened because these creatures are quite scarce. And secondly, pike tackle in the 1960’s and 70’s was generally fairly crude and an added expense to a young boys fishing armoury, so short cuts were made. If such a pike was hooked it was inevitably never landed. This led way to many boy’s pike stories that ended in lost giants due to snapped lines, un-twisted traces, jamming reels, broken rods, straightened trebles or landing nets that were simply too small.

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Boredom would get boys out on their bikes in the middle of winter in search of their dreams sparked by publication such as the BOP, with a collection of botched together pike gear, some hope and a sprinkling of patience.

October & Pike

01 Tuesday Oct 2013

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Pike headNon-anglers probably don’t realise that certain months of the year are affiliated with some species of fish. October has the pike and the first day of the month is the start of the traditional pike fishing season. In truth this is something that fisherman have invented over time as a pike needs to feed all year round, but as the water temperature drops in autumn the pike will feed more often and the chance of large fat esox is more likely…one hopes.

Finding Loch Ascog.

20 Monday Feb 2012

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Surprisingly, travelling to the Isle of Bute in February brought a taste of spring, double figure temperatures greeted us, with no wind and no rain. The visit was more to meet extended family but I did manage to post two old fibreglass carp rods up to Bute on the previous week. They would now stay in the house near Port Bannatyne for future pike and sea exploits.

Monday morning saw me picking the rods up from the Post Office in Rothesay, the main town on Bute.  I then ventured down to Bute Angling Centre for a ticket to fish Loch Ascog and get some sound local advice. The town of Rothesay has a sense of past grandeur that still remains in its heavy stone granite architecture and gothic detailing, but in more recent times, Rothesay has taken on a run down charm, left over from the ice cream parlours of the 1950’s.

Loaded with some local knowledge, a landing net and a few frozen smelts, lunch was next on the agenda, so a ten minute drive took us to Ettrick  Bay on the west coast of Bute, where after a game of football on the beach we ventured into the lowly and isolated beach-side cafe. For such a remote cafe on a Monday lunchtime this place was busy and for good reason, the menu was quite extensive, and the food was well made. I soon understood why it was so popular, my prawn cocktail salad was almost as big as the views that were framed at each table setting.

After a fine lunch I managed to persuade two from the eleven to venture forth to Loch Ascog in search of a Argyll pike, just a short drive away from Ettrick Bay.

The loch lay in a soft valley with some managed forest and fenced fields of winter crops, the banks gently sloping into to the peaty, dark waters. With one of my fellow piscators being ten years old I knew our time was limited, spinning with Toby’s and dead-baiting brought us no rewards, our first attempt for a pike here on Bute was a little half-hearted and unsuccessful, but we shall return with a little more knowledge, hopefully more time and bucket loads of enthusiasm!

The next two days were spent eating, drinking, sleeping while the rooks engaged in their gothic squawks and dog walking on the beaches.

Venturing out for pike in January !

04 Wednesday Jan 2012

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It’s the start of January, work is back on the agenda, rain is lashing sideways on my window, even a kestrel has landed on my window sill to shelter from the driving rain and lost opportunities in search of pike over Christmas play on my mind.

Only now the unemployed, unemployable, retired or just plain fortunate can benefit from a short mid-week session in search of  Esox. At weekends with limited time the challenge is to leave the comfort of your own home or the lure of the local for a pint of brown and an open fire. January is a fine month for short sessions in the pub, while others take themselves  jogging around the park, detoxing and  stretching muscles they thought they never had, the January pub is a quiet place for the guiltless few to be enjoyed before the joggers return in a month or two…dissapointed, as predictable as the returning swifts!

But a far more rewarding day can be had venturing out for pike! Armed with gimp wire, a small bag of basics, a few sprats and some plugs, one can be lost in a darkened grey scene with only the orange or yellow of a bung to focus on. So my next excursion will be on the Regents Canal where my friends narrow boat is moored for the winter months. It’s a spot that holds pike, only a few months ago I watched a  young eastern  european lad  (wearing a jaunty placed grey/silver Trilby) spin for pike and although not connecting with one, managed to lure two away from their lair, only at the last-minute the pike veered off, maybe the pike saw that silvery hat!

So without Trilby I shall be on the Regents and The Hertford Union Canal around Victoria Park in E3 in the month of January and February in search of Esox with the added bonus of a wood burner and hot tea to make the experience a little more comfortable.

For those who don’t make it out this winter for pike may instead want to read ‘On Nature’ the second compilation by the Caught by the River crowd. Part of that crowd is John Andrews who has written (with a lot more skill than I can ever hope to) a piece titled ‘Winter Pike Fishing’, this short, sums up the pike and the pike angler perfectly for me. Other writers include Chris Yates, Dexter Petley, Luke Jennings, Bill Drummond and Charles Rangeley-Wilson.

Just as I write this an email has come in from John Andrews also supporting the  January social scene with a gathering at The Stag in Hampstead on the 24th January with the first Caught by the River event of 2012. See you there?