Thursday, 9th January 2020, I set off at 0800 on a pike fishing trip to Pike Water 5 – a local pool to home.
The plan was to fish for an hour or so with maggot on the float rod to catch a few livebaits and then the rest of the day would be given over to the pike fishing… but the best laid plans of mice and men….
I arrived in my swim – not the one I would have chosen at this time of the year I hasten to add although at the start of the pike season it is a good peg. By this time of the year the bait fish, and pike too, are generally shoaling ready to spawn over on the far side BUT due to the lack of a usable barrow to cart my equipment over – and it took 3 trips to and fro the car to get the tackle to the chosen swim and again in reverse when packing up – I chose this swim.
So, float rod was set up, depths plumbed, free fed maggots fired out and the first cast made around 0930 … but by 1030 I still had not had the merest tremble on the float despite changing depth of fishing, etc. Didn’t look too good for the rest of the day really BUT at one point a large swirl did appear to my left – and I hoped it was a pike in the swim (although it could have been a carp) as (a) might explain reluctance of silvers to feed and (b) well, yeah, a pike in the swim would be good!
So 1030 I tackled down the livebait catching rod and set up my two float fishing pike rods and fished these with deadbaits that I’d taken along with me as a backup plan if needed…
One rod had 2 sprats as bait, the other a bait (Birmingham Fish Market sourced last winter, can’t remember the name of them) that looked like a cross between a small pikelet and a smelt…. and I fished these at varying distances out, at varying depths until 1430 when, not having had the merest hint of any interest whatsoever from Messrs E. Lucius and family, I decide to call it a day as I needed to return home to sort out and dry wet tackle, put baits back in the freezer and then wash and brush up before going to collect Liz from work at 1730…
So, 2020, isn’t being kind to me yet, awarding me 2 successive blanks – but I’m hoping for ‘third time lucky’ tomorrow (Friday 11th) when I’m heading down to the local canal (Staffs-Worcs) with the mini-jigs and various lures to see if I can tempt any perch, chub or pike there. I’m having to go on the bus though as Liz needs the car for an early start at work so I’m intending to leave the house around 0800, then its two buses to my start point (to Wolves City Centre and then out to destination). I’ll then fish along the canal to the far end of the stretch where I can catch a bus on a different route back to the city centre and finally my city to home bus. Takes about an hour from leaving home to get to destination and about same to get back so its not too bad. And travelling light with just a shoulder bag with flask, lures, scales, camera plus a plastic carrier bag that holds the landing net and pole, unhooking mat and a 3-legged stool to sit on whilst having a coffee… and then just the ready tackled up rod.
Still waiting for the new wheels I’ve ordered for my barrow – should arrive today according to ETA. Hope so, as I do really need to have a usable barrow by Monday otherwise options will be very limited.
I took my thermometer with me and started graphing the temperature trends – but with only one set of data so far not really not much info to be gained…. but here are the starting graphs anyway … now recording MIN and MAX temps for both air and water this time round…
TEMPS:
WATER: MIN: 6.3’C MAX: 6.6’C
AIR: MIN: 7.5’C MAX: 12.6’C
stevetheangler 
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