stevetheangler

Monday  November 4th I set off at 0700 bound for Pike Water 14 on my first pike session of the year…

I was the first arrival – two other arrived later – and thus had an unlimited selection of swims but there was only going to be one choice for the day – a swim that usually provides the goods and is sheltered from the cold breezes of this time of the year.

I decided on this session that I’d be dead baiting with one float rod close in and one leger rod further out …

So, tackle used and set ups:

1. Float rod – 2.5lb TC carp rod, 5000 size reel loaded with 30lb braid terminated in a 20” 30lb wire trace attached to one size 1/0 long shank de-barbed hook (Aberdeen). A sliding 9” pencil float supported the smelt bait and also provided indication of bites. Bait was mainly attached hooked through the back under the dorsal fin to present the bait horizontally but I did switch to hooking to present vertically a couple of times. A quick change lead (Grey’s Prowler) provided weight to set the float to cock. Fox Rage also do similar quick change leads but I much prefer the Grey’s attachment method.
2. Leger rod – 2.75lb TC, 80’s homebuilt rod built around a North Western blank. Actually, it has no ‘handle’ as the butt diameter was perfect as it was and I just attached a Fuji reel seat with insulation tape with a few wraps of insulation under the seat’s feet to act as protection for the blank. Coupled with a 5000 reel loaded with 40lb braid and terminated with a 20” trace with twin (de-barbed) trebles (standard snap tackle). A 3oz lead on a sliding 6” link of 10lb mono provided the required weight. The bait was sardine which, by addition of poly balls attached, was set to fish ‘popped up’ with the height of pop-up determined by a pair of 3SSG shot added on the trace between bait and mainline.

On arrival at the water, as usual, I mixed up a bucket of ‘groundbait/ruby dubby’ which basically consisted of a filler of normal groundbait to which was added scraps of old pike baits, tinned sardine, cod roe, mashed prawn… anything ‘fishy’ I could find really … and this was put out into my intended fishing areas. Then the sorting out of ancillaries ensued… and finally the rods tackled up.

0815 – first casts were made, both baits in use having been injected with my emulsion of fish oils..

[Pure oils float in water and to my mind a lot of their effectiveness is lost as the escaping oils from the bait simply rise as a column to the surface and spread out there doing little good. So I emulsify my oils using glycerine or lecithin which causes them to be more water phillic and spread out in a ball around the bait and to be carried on underwater currents and the attraction range increases. ALSO to make 100ml of the emulsion only uses 10ml of oil – which due to the effect as noted is more effective AND also cuts the cost of using oil by 90% … win win??]

0900 …  the float bobs and dips and starts travelling along the surface … and I pull into a reasonable fish … about 5lb I reckon, and that gives the game away I suppose … at the net the hook pulls free and the pike has gone… bum!!

0920 … the float bobs and dips and starts travelling along the surface … and I pull into a reasonable fish … a tail walker of about 5lb I reckon, and that gives the game away AGAIN … as AGAIN the fish is lost at the net, despite actually having been in the net at one point…

AND NOW I INTRODUCE YOU TO THE VILLAINS OF THE DAY… a Korum Snapper Pike Spoon Net and a Gardner Specialist Extending Landing Net Handle … both heavy pieces of equipment and hard to manhandle single handedly especially as I seem no longer to have the arm strength! And that was basically the sole reason I lost those two pike…. I’m now in the process of putting at least the net on eBay – good net but too heavy for me to manoeuvre these days it seems and now being replaced by a new one.

So that was the last of the action of the day for me. Despite alterations of settings on both rods, recasts, re-oilings, etc throughout the day – nowt.

I packed up at 1300 and headed home.

PLANS

Hoping Monday next week to go lure fishing with Liz on a club length of the Shropshire Union…