Home Thoughts from Abroad

April's a tricky month, full of decisions. Do I continue pike fishing? Do I try for a spawny bream or two? Do I go for early season tench fishing? I usually split it between all three but this year I decided to stick with the pike and take the opportunity to fish a couple of waters in different countries - and neither of them England!

The Welsh lake I like to fish is one I've introduced to you before. A beautiful tranquil place with crystal clear water and the hardest fighting pike I've ever found. The fishing there is usually very good and the pike respond to all methods. I usually use livebaits and lures but this year I decided to try trolled deads instead of the lives. It was a poor choice I'm afraid, the trolled deadbaits failed to raise a single fish but in fairness the lures did little better. A handfull of small pike and a solitary double figure fish of 15lb 10oz was all I could manage. The fifteen was a lovely fish mind, fighting fit and still quite fat for so late in the season. It took a replicant in deep water.

I had been using a new replicant in perch pattern, my old one having been in the wars a bit but I have to say I was disappointed with it. The newer replicants are stiffer in the rubber than the old ones and have to be retrieved much faster in order to get the tail to waggle as it should. This means they are impossible to fish deep effectively. I chucked it around for a while with no response but eventually took it off and put the old, ragged one back on. The response was immediate, the pike taking it on the first cast.

This was an opportunity for me to try out my new echo sounder as well. It's an Eagle 642c with GPS - doesn't it look good? If you follow the track you might even be able to work out which water I was fishing.

Moving On...

The other water was in Scotland. It's a place I've fished before, many years ago, and fancied trying again so I treated myself to a three day session. I have to say that I didn't catch a lot of fish but I didn't mind that. This was an exploratory trip, searching out the water and its depths and filing away the information gleaned for future use. I wouldn't have minded if I had caught nothing at all but as it happens, in amongst the jacks there was a rather nice fish.

Livebaiting is illegal in Scotland so it was a combination of lures, static deads and trolled deads this time. Once again the trolled deads failed to score and while I did manage to catch a fish or two on static deads, the pike would only take them if they were suspended off the bottom.

It was a different story on lures with a fair bit of action. Most of the fish I hooked were small and a good few of them fell off on the way in. I watched a couple of them hit the lures and noticed that they were just nipping them with the end of their beaks.

One fish didn't nip though, it totally engulfed a purple Fox Raider and wasn't I glad it did. Completely spawned out, it went 23lbs 8oz!

Disastrous Start

Well the new pike fishing season has been under way for two weeks now and to be honest, I was rather hoping to catch something worthwhile before posting to the blog. Truth is though, I've had a succession of blanks followed by something even worse - read on!

First it was an experimental trip to a new water. This is a very big lake which I had had my eye on for a while. Formerly run by a trout fishing club, they have had to let it go and it's currently free fishing. Access is very poor for a variety of reasons but I did manage to get on for a few hours and fished with both baits and lures. To cut a long story short, I caught nothing and didn't even see a pike but it's early days yet. Lovely spot though and I'll definitely be back.

Next it was a trip to Oxford to fish a large reservoir with no track record. Twenty of the country's finest pike anglers were allowed on for two days to assess the potential. The result? Another blank - for everyone! Still, at least I blanked in very good company and at least we all know not to bother going back. It's not an attractive water, being just a concrete bowl and it's heavily stocked with trout, some of which I caught. The picture shows a series of buoys which mark barley straw bales, meant to keep blue-green algae down. They don't work, the place is full of the stuff.

A trip to record water Llandegfedd came next. I went with my old mate Grant Everson who appears in the picture. It was yet another blank after two days of very hard fishing. Only five pike were caught in total over the two days so it appears "deggy" is not up to its best just now. The company was good though and it helped me get my boat fishing gear straight for other trout water fishing that's just around the corner.

Last of all came a trip to, erm "a river", somewhere in Britain. At last I caught some fish, but really blew the chance of a biggie. The two I caught took a livebait and a bulldawg and both weighed around seven pounds. I had a take on a mackerel though that left me shaking rather. The fish picked up the legered bait and barely moved with it but I wound down and struck immediately. It was a very snaggy swim and I knew I would have to "hit and hold" if I had a chance of getting a fish out of it. The 3lbTC rod and heavy line made no impression on this fish however and despite heaving as hard as I dared I never gained an inch of line. Indeed the pike made the sanctuary of the snags and I knew I was in trouble. There were several minutes of see-sawing back and forth with the fish stuck in the snag but it was hopeless, it wasn't coming out and eventually, the 30lb trace snapped just above the top hook. I was gutted. It was a very big fish, that I knew and not only had I lost it, I had left hooks in it.

I HAVE to catch that fish now. I know where it lives, I know it's big and I need to remove that trace.

Mainland Tour

Six days pike fishing on three lakes in three different countries produced - well not a lot actually. Three doubles up to 15lbs 7oz and a few jacks in fact. A day at a Welsh water produced no fish for me or my boat partner, though we each had a hit on a lure which we didn't hook. I got a few pike up in the lakes but the best trip was away to a beautiful Scottish loch.

I had been promising myself a trip there for years but somehow something always got in the way. Not this time though, the forecast was good for a few days so off I went. It's a stunningly beautiful Loch and although I only caught jacks I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I set up camp on an island so my gear was safe while I went out fishing in the boat each day.

I did find the pike allright, but they weren't a bit interested in feeding. They were swirling and bow waving around in a shallow bay quite close to where I had camped. I did try for them but neither baits nor lures were of any use. Just one "take" on a deadbait turned out to be a line bite.

I'll make it back up there again sometime but it's going to have to be a once-a-year journey I think. £100 for diesel to get there and back and £27 to launch and fish made it an expensive trip.

Here are a few pictures of the loch.