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Pike Fishing tackle used to catch my first ever pike

Posted by admin on November 29th, 2009 Comments Off

I started fishing for pike when I was at boarding school, more than thirty five years ago. My pike fishing equipment included a nine foot hollow fibre glass ABU spinning rod coupled with an Intrepid Black Prince spinning reel. I couldn’t afford pike fishing lures or plugs in those days and so had a tackle box full of metal blade spinners.

I used to hike down to Scarborough Mere each Sunday and make cast after cast, never catching anything and always returning back to school ready for Sunday tea to report a blank to my friends.

One visit, I found an old wooden jointed pike plug on the side of the bank. Its hooks had rusted away but the rest of it was fine. Finds like this were always pocketed for remedial work back at school. In this case I had to repaint the body using my friend’s plane modeling gear, and buy two new treble hooks.

Tackled up with my first pike plug I headed for a weedy shallow end of the Mere that I had previously been unable to fish using my heavy spinners. I cast across the pool and soon could see my plug jerking across the surface. I was taking care not to reel in too quickly and snag the leaf strewn bottom.

Suddenly everything went solid, my rod bent and I realized there was something on the end of my line. However, the fight was short and a minute later I was proudly holding up about five pounds of prime pike! I cursed the fact that I did not have a friend with me or a camera to record the event. I knew that nobody would believe me when I told them back at school. But that doesn’t matter now, years later, as I can still remember the feeling of elation when I caught my first ever fish when fishing for pike!

Posted in Angler's diary

Pike Fishing using Fly Gear

Posted by admin on October 26th, 2009 Comments Off

I have spent a lot of my angling career fly fishing for trout.  This has been very enjoyable but is a pass time I now only do occasionally, perhaps when I go on holiday to Scotland or I very rarely if I fancy a morning by the lakeside.  The latter is now very infrequent as the local fishery where I used to whet the odd fly line Raker Lakes has now closed its put and take trout fishery and all its ponds are taken up as coarse fisheries.  I think that the problem was that the lakes were not suitable for the needs of the trout, but were fine for carp and other coarse fish whose requirements for highly oxygenated and cooler water were not so great.

So now if I fancy a bit of fly fishing on a summer evening I have to think of alternative venues.  I still would like to walk, cycle or at worst only have a quick five minute drive to a local venue to grab a couple of hours on a balmy evening.  So if I target pike in my local River Derwent which is just down the road I can still achieve this!

The type of sport fishing tackle I use for pike fishing not so very different to that used for trout fishing.  I use a heavier rod and line – in fact the one I hardly ever used that was intended for sea trout and grilse fishing.  It is an AFTM 8/9 setup with some strong backing on the reel.  I make the traces up with a 12 inch length of fine steel wire neatly whipped onto a small snap link at one end and fixed to 10 feet of 15 lb strain monofilant at the other.  This seems to work with the pike flies that I tie up myself.

The flies are not as big as some would use but a whole lot bigger than a typical trout lure.  The size does affect the casting even on the stronger gear.  However, because I am fishing the river my casting is usually restricted to about 10-15 yards using a stalking technique.

A typical pike fly with long tail

A typical pike fly with long tail

The takes can be quite spectacular and it is very satisfying catching even modest jacks.  Fish in the 5 to 12 pound bracket can provide huge entertainment!  Now that I have returned to pike fishing I will make sure that this method of catching pike is at the top of my list of things to do.

Posted in Pike fishing tackle

Pike Fishing hots spots

Posted by admin on October 24th, 2009 Comments Off

1. Trout Resevoirs

Today I bought my first copy of Angling Times for about 8 years!  Coincidentally the front page featured article was on pike fishing in reservoirs  normally only open to trout fishing.  There seems to be awesome potential for record breaking predators in a venue that is unfished (for pike at least) and well stocked with a prime food source.

The standard of pike fishing in large open waters is understandably much better than in small slow flowing drains and ponds.  The abundance of high quality food and expansive area to roam ensures top quality fully muscled fighting fish.  I always found it upsetting when fishing some of my local ponds how unhealthy the fish stock always seemed.  For my sins, the first 10 years of my working life was spent as a fish farmer and I am only too well acquainted with the sort of fish health and quality resulting from poor waters.

Naturally the pike fishing tackle required for large reservoirs is at the top end of the scale in terms of strength and, well I suppose size.  A long rod of at least 12 foot and strong enough backbone to long cast at least 8 ounces or more will be needed, with line strength and reel capacity to match.  Fishing at 100 plus yards and aiming for 30 to 40 pound (and more) specimens means that you m ust be well prepared with your pike fishing tackle – it would be a sin leaving your end tackle in their mouths and many yards of line trailing behind these magnificent pike.

These trout waters are usually more prolific than other prime venues such as Loch Awe and other Scottish pike fishing hot spots.  This is as a result of the amount of food available which will always support a strong head of pike.  It is a shame that very often the trout fishery owners will cull large numbers of pike from their wayer in an effort to stop them eating the valuable trout which need to be stocked regularly.  The more forward thinking fishery manager will see that the pike will act as top of the food chain predators ensuring that the trout population is at its prime – the loss of some trout can be offset by opening the water to pike fishermen at certain times and in any case the loss is insignificant compared to that from cormorants and other fish eating birds!

I would see no harm in anglers being instructed to cull any injured or sick pike that they encounter.

Posted in Angler's diary, Pike fishing venues
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