More of the same

November means Blithfield for Joe and I. This is a regular feature of our fishing every winter and probably the only time we can both be sure that we'll be fishing together.

Blith is ready to produce a very big pike again, of that I'm sure. Last season saw four thirties come out (or was it five?) and while the biggest was only a little over 32lbs it means that the crop of twenty pounders is starting to thin out and the big fish are finally coming through.

We've had three cool wet summers in a row now and that bodes well for the pike, though the summer of 2009 was warmer than I would have liked and the autumn was very very dry. As a result the reservoir was down by around eight feet. It doesn't fish well when it's low. The known marks are high and dry and it means we all have to get out and about finding fish in unfamiliar territory.

We started off at one of our usual autumn spots - one that's produced some big fish for us in the past but it was slow going. Here we rely on the fish holding up against some overhanging gabions in shallow water but of course the gabions were well away from the water's edge and so the attraction was not there for the pike. Recent rains had coloured the water considerably too so visibility was poor.

Joe started off with his old faithful burt while I tried various lures to no avail but ringing the changes with regard to the turbid water I decided to put on a spinnerbait. First cast with this produced a hard fighting 18lb 2oz fish which made an almighty mess in the net, spinning like a top once on board. This meant I had to cut the hooks just to free them from the ball of netting and get at the fish and so the spinnerbait was useless since one of the hooks I had cut was integral to the lure.

Guess what, no more spinnerbaits in the box! We fished on for just one more pike that day (to Joe) and then spent day two deep trolling soft plastics. It's a form of fishing I abhor, dragging a lump of rubber around on the bottom, since it seems there is so much luck and so little interest involved. We picked up two more small fish on day two and that was it.

Hopefully the next session will be a little more interesting - bring on the rain!

Risk

To be successful at this pike fishing lark you've basically got to fish where the fish are. That's easy enough to do, after all I do know where I can catch pike, but it's not really enough for me. From time to time I prefer to go pioneering, fishing new places in an attempt to discover pike that no-one else is targeting. This can pay off big-time on occasions. Neglected pike are both easy to catch and potentially big and I've had some good fish in the past by getting off the beaten track. It's a risky strategy however, most of the time an area can be devoid of pike anglers for a very good reason - the fishing's no good!

All of the piking I've been doing has been on rivers. We're having an unusually dry autumn and it's meant that the rivers have remained low and clear - just the kind of conditions I like. I've caught plenty of fish but so far the risk I've taken hasn't paid off - they've all been small.
Big fish aren't the be-all and end-all of pike fishing of course. I've really enjoyed finding these new places and some of them have been breathtakingly beautiful. What's more I've been catching on a wide range of methods with lures, livebaits and deadbaits all taking fish.

The baits have been mostly fished under a planerfloat and there is always a real sense of satisfaction in catching a pike on that method. Indeed I've had several fish on deadbaits fished that way - as opposed to the livebaits I usually use and this will give me the confidence to do that more in the future. Overall though I've caught more fish on lures than baits - and that's been on all four of the rivers I've fished.

Fishing lures on rivers is a risk in itself. Rivers are always full of snags - mostly branches brought down on a flood and losing lures in such places is an occupational hazard. I could, of course choose light lures which don't get down so deep or fish them on a quick retrieve to try and keep them out of the snags but that defeats the object really. Snags hold fish and if you want to catch consistently it's better to fish close to the snags - or right in them!

In order to keep my lures but still fish in amongst the snags I've been using a new trick that's proved very successful. I've replaced all the split rings on the hooks of my jerkbaits with Pro Rigger 50lb bs split rings. This means that every time I get snagged, a steady pull with 100lb Power Pro will break the split ring and leave the hook in the snag. It's working a treat, I've been snagged up lots of times but haven't lost a lure on a snag all season so far.

It's Nearly Time

The long hot days of summer are finally over and autumn is here. Well actually the summer wasn't so much long and hot as long and wet. We've had higher than average temperatures alright but it's been 40% wetter than the average summer. That's not such a bad thing since it means the waterways and reservoirs are pretty full up and that is good for the pike.

I haven't fished much at all over the summer. Mrs Edwards has had me slaving in the garden cutting down trees, concreting, fixing fences and the like but I have to say, the urge to fish has been pretty weak anyway.

More recently I've dusted off the pike rods and been out and about on various stretches of river. The pike have been easy enough to catch on livebaits and lures but there's been nothing of any great size as yet. The biggest fish so far was a fourteen pounder which took a dace fished under my new Mk III planer float. I've taken a bit more care than usual making this float and it works very well, as well as being very sexy.

Things will change in a week or two. Come October 1st the stretches of river that I really want to fish will be open to pike fishing and I'll hit it hard if I get the chance. It's nearly time.

Running In, Please Pass

Not much fishing for me this month. Mrs Edwards is on holiday and I'm spending some time with her mostly but I did have a couple of opportunities to get out - and just for a change she came with me.

I've invested in a new outboard motor. The old 25hp Mariner two stroke was rather unwell and it was a choice between spending a lot of money to get it fixed and spending a lot more to replace it altogether. I've long lusted after a four stroke engine so I opted for the latter, trading in the Mariner and a small engine that I never use and buying a 20hp Tohatsu. Engine weight is quite important to me for a variety of reasons and that's why I've downsized slightly. Four stroke engines are heavier than two strokes and a 25hp four stroke would be quite a bit heavier than the old engine.

From time to time I take the outboard off and leave it behind because some of the places I fish will only allow an electric outboard. Manhandling engines is only going to get harder as I get older so a heavy engine would be a nuisance. The light engine is better for the transom when I'm towing too, so hopefully the boat will last a while longer.

The new engine had to be run in so I invited Mrs Edwards up to the big lake for a day's trolling. It was a nice enough day but after trolling for an hour or two it was clear that I was never going to run the engine in at that pace so we reeled the rods in and spent the day cruising around and looking at the sights. No fish were caught but then that wasn't really the object of the exercise. I was surprised to see several boats out - obviously pike fishing. This was midweek during the summer, not a time I would expect to see people out but there you go. The pressure the lake is under never relents nowadays and it's certainly showing in the catch returns.

Next time out she came along with me again. This was a different kind of trip as it was to a local river and with the engine run in now I was happy to spend the entire day trolling. I set Mrs Edwards up with a light spinning rod and attached a tiny crankbait, not much more than an inch long to it. The plan was that she would catch some perch and maybe some chub while I concentrated on the pike with larger lures. Well that was the plan!

Clare took the first fish of the day and it was a bit of a surprise as it was a flounder! She quickly followed that up with a perch and then it was my turn as I latched into a pike of six pounds or so. Shortly afterwards, as we trolled alongside a clump of bushes that hung into the river, Clare's rod pulled round hard. It was a pike of course and after a cracking fight on the light rod I netted the fish for her, a nice fish of nine pounds or so.

I followed with a couple more pike but none were as big as Clare's so she was top rod for the day!

Summertime, and the Living is Easy

I'm making a blog entry just for the sake of it really this time. A month since my last entry and summer has kicked in big style. I don't fish much in the summer as I've said before so I'll roll a few reports up into one.

I managed another trip to Scotland in early July but I'm afraid I caught very little. It wasn't too surprising really as the weather was blisteringly hot and the surface temperature of the loch was 22 degrees. I had a few half-hearted takes from small pike on topwaters fished in the weeds but I only hooked three and landed just one, a seven pounder.

The only other fishing I've done is barbel fishing. There have been three trips in all, and I've been determined to fish new stretches rather than return to my old haunts. This didn't start well as i only managed a solitary eel on my first visit to the new stretch I had chosen but it gave me the opportunity to find out about the stretch and I laid plans for the next trip.

The next trip hit another snag. I turned up armed with all the tackle and bait only to find the swims I was interested in occupied by three anglers. Oh well, back to the drawing board. I didn't waste the day, but went instead to my favourite old stretch and had a good day, taking thirteen barbel and a chub. Sadly, none were of any great size with the biggest just going around seven pounds.

Trip number three was to be with my son, Joe and we made an early start at the new stretch to make sure we got the swims we wanted. We got them alright but i was soon wishing we hadn't as the spot I was in was terribly cramped with just a tiny ledge to sit on and a steep climb behind me.

I sat on that ledge for sixteen hours all though the heat of the day and got quite badly burnt by the sun, as did Joe. The forecast was for cloud and rain but guess what, they got it wrong again. We didn't get many fish, just two barbel and a chub for me and one barbel and a chub for Joe. My biggest went exactly nine pounds while Joe's barbel was 9lbs 6oz and his chub 5lbs 4oz.

A slow day but good-sized fish. We're planning the next trip already!

Long Time Comin'

I was quite pleased with my bream success. I had decided on a target of a 12 pounder this year and of course I had met my target on the first fish. A twelve pound bream may not be big by national standards but it's a good fish for here in the NorthWest these days.

My tench target was more ambitious. I wanted a NorthWest 'nine' again and while I knew it would be difficult, it certainly is possible as I've proved in the past. As it turned out though, it was going to be a lot more difficult than I expected. May ended with no tench at all to show for my efforts and I was already lowering my sights. "An eight will do" I told myself.

Why the tench wouldn't come out to play was a mystery but I took comfort in the fact that most other people were struggling to catch them too. Indeed I never even saw a tench on the bank right through May and early June though they could be seen rolling in several places. The weed was one of the big problems. It's grown up much thicker and faster than usual this year and it isn't hard to spot the reason why. This lake usually has upward of a hundred coots living on it but this year I've never seen more than a dozen. The tufted duck are thin on the water too and with so few birds eating the weed it has grown out of control.

Where are all the birds then? Well that's another mystery but I'm guessing that the very cold winter has seen a lot of them off. With the water frozen for several weeks they will have struggled to find food and I expect a lot of them died.

The lake's been very busy too. The controlling club have stocked a lot of carp and the no-hopers who can't catch in a natural water have flocked to it. Every swim is now occupied every weekend - am I glad I work shifts and can fish midweek!

I've fished a different swim every trip, partly to try and find some feeding tench and partly to find an area where I could present some bait without it becoming buried in the weed. I nearly had a success last week when, after fishing hard and feeding maggots for eight hours I fanally got a bite - only for the hook length to part inexplicably in the middle. I was getting desperate and lowered my sights still further, first to a seven pounder and then to a tench - any tench!

Today, at long last I put a couple on the bank. I fished a deeper area - again to try and avoid the weed and as a result I expected to catch bream. I wasn't disappointed there, taking two bream in the night topped by a big-framed male fish. Both of the bream took mini boilies which pleased me rather since I've switched to a new, fruity flavour and this was the first time I've tried them. I was getting quite a few line bites early in the night and picked the two bream up both before midnight so I thought I might be on for a big hit. The clear sky and nearly full moon put paid to that though, all activity drying up once the white face was on show.

In the morning I started to get line bites to the maggot rods at around ten. This went on for some time until at mid-day the first rod was away and I pulled in a plump five pounder. I've never been so pleased to catch such a modest tench but there was better to come. An hour later I struck into a better fish and after a very hard scrap slid the net under a 7lb 14oz female.

I caught two pike too, one of them a double so it was a nice mixed bag.

Things That go Beep in the Night

It's that time of year when I pack away the pike rods and try for something else and as usual, my choice was going to be between tench and bream. It's been a cool, wet spring so far and coming after a particularly cold winter that made me decide to go for the bream first. Tench are certainly catchable just now but I really prefer to do my tenchfishing in warmer weather when I think they are much more on the feed.

It was to be a two-night session this one, monday and tuesday nights to be precise. The carpers that occupy this lake 24/7 seem to favour wednesday onwards so I expected to have my choice of swims and I wasn't disappointed. There were two other anglers set up when I arrived but it's a big lake with room enough for thirty or more so I got the swim I wanted and it was well away from the others. I did get some company as I was setting up though. A family of swans arrived with the cygnets riding shotgun on their mother's back, it was comical to see them hopping on and off as if they were getting the bus home.

The tackle was in a bit of a state to be honest. I hadn't had time to sort it out beforehand and I decided to do it on the bank after the usual rigmorole of plumbing, putting out a marker, clipping up, spodding (for two hours) and setting up the bivvy etc. etc. By the time I'd got everything done I was quite surprised to find that it was after eight in the evening, no wonder I was feeling hungry! Creamy chicken and mash for tea, that was lovely and with the rods out I could settle in for a peaceful evening.

Noises in the Dark

I was fishing three rods, one with maggot and the other two with mini-boilies and corn fished on helicopter rigs. All three were set up with tight lines and heavy bobbins. This makes for quiet fishing since line bites are often not detected this way but it had another advantage. Tench and bream give quite different bites when you're fishing this way. The strong, bold tench always scream off, stripping line from the baitrunner and making the alarm scream but the bream give drop-back bites and often take no line at all.

Sure enough, at around two in the morning the indicator on the middle rod fell slowly to the ground. I pulled into the fish and knew at once that this was a big bream.

12lb 5oz and my biggest from this particular lake, I was well pleased. It had taken two mini boilies hair rigged on a size 12. I put that one back and immediately had a take on the other rod. Sadly though it didn't stay connected when I pulled into it.

The rest of the night passed uneventfully and the day dawned cold and windy. It's normal to pick up a tench or two in the morning when bream fishing this lake but for once this didn't happen and the indicators held motionless for hour after hour. I was pleased really, because as the day wore on it got wetter and wetter. The showers turned to steady, heavy rain and by mid afternoon thunder and lightening paid a visit too. I managed to dart out in between the lengthy showers to bait up, recast and tidy up the general swim but it was never long before another burst of the wet stuff had me running for cover. It was awful, I felt like a prisoner.

The only bright moment of the day was when a green woodpecker came down and started foraging in the undergrowth nearby. These birds are very shy and hard to spot but I even got a picture of this one - albeit a poor one.

Disappointing Conclusion

The rain stopped shortly before dark and the sky cleared which meant that the temperature plummetted. It was a cold night alright and I had to stay wrapped up in the bag all through it. Just one indication, almost certainly a bream since it was a drop-back but by the time I got to the rod it had stopped. I reeled in to try and find out why - it was obvious, the hook was blunt. I must have turned it on a stone whilst reeling in and not spotted it. Attention to detail Eric, that's what catches fish!

I suppose it could be the combination of lots of cold water entering the lake and a cold night that put the fish off. I rather think though that it was just the old bream enigma that did me. No-one has ever really got to grips with this species, though some may claim they have. Does heavy baiting work? Who knows, it didn't this time.

No tench again on the final morning. That's very unusual for this lake but at least it means I made the right decision in going for bream in the first place. I ended up with a good fish, albeit just the one, and that's better than a blank.