How did you get on?

[rubio]

Had a fine 3 hours on local river. Good colour and flow, and dropping steadily.
Avon with Olivette and all bread on a size 12. Plenty of bites with a few hitting the pound.

I had one of those moments with last fish of the day.

Not the roach of my dreams after all.
Silver bream?

 

[Pete Shears]

Piking on the canal feeder reservoir today,strong gusty S/SE wind and the colour was less than on my last visit, 2nd January. Three deadbait rods set up, brolly as a windbreak,time for a sit down with a coffee to enjoy a fantastic sunrise.
Two ravens flew past 'kronking' with the wind making the alarms beep sporadically, two buzzards wheeling over the far side and a red kite flew over.
The r/h rod beeped and something had nicked the sprat off the single circle hook rig. With nothing to show for four hours,time for a move - within 10 minutes the sprat rod was away and managed to land a pike 6lb 8oz. A while later again something pinched the sprat off the hook when the l/h rod went off with a pike of 7lb responsible. Two great white egrets flew in - spectacular, pure white and with a very slow wing beat in the strong wind followed by two male goosander.

 

[john step]

The r/h rod beeped and something had nicked the sprat off the single circle hook rig. With nothing to show for four hours,time for a move - within 10 minutes the sprat rod was away and managed to land a pike 6lb 8oz. A while later again something pinched the sprat off the hook

Pete, like you I find the pike crafty/finnicky this cold time of year. Its only a guess but I believe they often hold the bait gently and do not take it down far enough to hook them especially with a tail hooked single.
In the Autumn when they gulp bait down a single hook does the job well. I sometimes even hair the bait through the tail if its a small bait.
The last few trips I have reverted to a two hook set up.
The upper a single large hook and the lower a double hook which I doctor from a treble by snipping off one prong and bending the barbed prong to 180 degrees. Seems to work for me while still retaining an easy extraction, no damage scene on things.

 

[Philip]

With the temperature rocketing up I thought there was a chance of a Barbel so I headed to a rock hard stretch of river were I always blank but something keeps pulling me back. The river was up into the fields but fining down with a good colour so I really had no excuses; however I kept up my 100% record there and blanked yet again. Still there are worse places to catch nothing and I lost count of the number of species of birds I saw & it was pleasant in the sunshine. I even got a touch of sun burn.

There is usually a 10 foot drop from were my rods are to river level in normal conditions...

 

[Rod McG]

Fished the Wey Navigation today, lovely warm weather but strongish wind.
Tried liquidised bread and bread punch for an hour, caught 3 small roach but struggled with the wind blowing straight into me.....not easy as I'm using a whip.
Moved up and across with the wind on my back, fished maggot and hemp, nothing for 3 hours then they appeared, more than 25 roach in around 2 hours on a 7m whip....absolutely amazing for me.
Near the end I caught 6 or 7 small silver fish, didn't know what they were, had a look when I got home, seems like they're bleak.
Lovely way to christen my new second hand seat box, felt like a pro as I've been using a cheap folding chair up to now.

 

[Wakou]

Discovered that the Butt-cap of my favourite quiver rod was missing. Not a huge issue, except I keep (kept) my best tips in there. And I blanked.

 

[mikench]

I came I saw I blanked. Somewhat surprisingly my Pike fishing foray was enjoyable even though I blanked. 3 other anglers shared the same fate and we all legered and float fished a deadbait.

There was a work party present cutting back rhododendrons and removing 2 large trees which had collapsed into the water. I moved a good way away from the sound of the chainsaws, expletives , grunts and water disturbance as men in waders did their best to remove the obstacles.

I set up a Pike rod, baitrunner with a fully relaxed clutch and a joey as bait. I used a single circle hook trace, a fox stemmed lead thingamebob and a pop up attachement. I enjoyed casting around . This rod was set on a pod with a bite alarm and a drop off bite indicator. It registered a few line bites. I then set up a Harrison Tryptich rod with my new Ultegra Reel fitted with ice washers. I set the drag to almost freespool which could be locked up by half a turn. I am very impressed with this reel and it will get lots of use. I had spooled it with Shimano Technium Black mono . I cast a sprat all over the place just to try out the reel and the rod combo. I used a float but again no joy. I enjoyed messing about though. A chat with the other far more experienced pikers revealed nobody had had even a touch. It was very muddy underfoot which I hate and the pool is a spooky place. I even met the Ghost of S********* Pool who used to live in a hut within the wood which surrounds it and wandered around frightening the life out of legitimate anglers and those less so.

I failed miserably but left as the rain fell rather upbeat and feeling at least I knew what I was doing ;well a bit.

 

[Pete Shears]

Pete, like you I find the pike crafty/finnicky this cold time of year. Its only a guess but I believe they often hold the bait gently and do not take it down far enough to hook them especially with a tail hooked single.
In the Autumn when they gulp bait down a single hook does the job well. I sometimes even hair the bait through the tail if its a small bait.
The last few trips I have reverted to a two hook set up.
The upper a single large hook and the lower a double hook which I doctor from a treble by snipping off one prong and bending the barbed prong to 180 degrees. Seems to work for me while still retaining an easy extraction, no damage scene on things.

John - it is the first pike season I have used single circle hooks and found them to be very good but I think yesterday jacks were just tugging the baits so they fall off the hooks but as you say in the autumn they just gulp it down.

 

[john step]

John - it is the first pike season I have used single circle hooks and found them to be very good but I think yesterday jacks were just tugging the baits so they fall off the hooks but as you say in the autumn they just gulp it down.

I have formed the opinion that I need to change hooking set ups depending on time of year/temperature/pressured fish. Maybe a bit anal but I feel thats right.

 

[Steve King]

Discovered that the Butt-cap of my favourite quiver rod was missing. Not a huge issue, except I keep (kept) my best tips in there. And I blanked.

I gave up storing tips in the butt section after breaking a couple of tips when the cap came loose in transit. I now use a section of electrical conduit to transport tips in.

 

[Andy1990]

Very short session on my small river today in what was positively tropical weather for the time of year and very pleasant. Conditions were perfect and proved so on the first cast, resulting in a very aggressive pull on the 1oz tip I opted for. The river was low with just a smidge of colour and I went for link ledgered maggot with 1 SSG more than suffice, trickling a few up stream every few minutes. 3 fish, all really good condition with the best being below - apologies it really isn’t a good picture; I swore I’d taken another one with it lying still but it mustn’t have taken as I’d thought. Hoping the weather stays fair in the run in to the end of season before thoughts will slowly turn to tench...

Cheers,
Andy.

 

[rubio]

Had another very pleasant late afternoon session on the river. Lots of good roach needing the net, especially as they fought hard in the current. This was strongest down the near edge requiring line to be held high to allow the crowquill to pause along the crease, then lift or hold back with bites coming as the bait dropped back down.
I fed and caught on both maggot and caster but had better fish on bread. Biggest wouldn't have been a pound today but no disappointment on a fine warm evening. Bites right into darkness even with the attentions of a substantial pike that took to lurking in the reeds at my feet.

 

[S-Kippy]

I was going piking on Tuesday until I saw the forecast which was bright sun and 30 mph winds. Today's forecast was much better....overcast and light winds so off I went. Nowhere did it say rain but it rained....off and on ( mostly on) from about 0930 until 1430.

Simon joined me mid morning and we sat together in the swim known as the " Big Double" which was my first move having spent 2 hours in the spot the baillif recomended without a sniff. 2 hours in the BD without a touch and I was up for another move...just one swim down to "The Beach" . Simon had already scuttled off down there so I moved all my gear on the barrer,returning for the rods. As I bent down to pick them up the indicator on the RH rod dropped. That's odd I thought looking for a grebe before it dawned on me that it was a run. I lifted into the fish and played it in but my net was in the swin next door...I yelled for Simon but he didn't hear me so I had to chin the fish out. Fortunately it was only lightly hooked and the hooks dropped out so I slipped it straight back as I had no mat or scales to hand and thought it best to get it back in pronto. I guesstimated it at around 13lb...maybe a bit more and I was more than happy with that.

Neither of us had another touch and we packed about 4pm. As I said earlier I'm no pike angler so I was chuffed to go down and actually get one......and its local too so I wasn't breaking any rules. First time I've been out since about November and I was all over the place....you'd think I'd never been fishing before in my life,couldn't find anything, batteries in alarms flat etc etc. Rubbish performance...I should have been subbed.

 

[tommos16]

Well today was the day sports fans! Tom's Great British Blankathon 2021 came to an end, with the humble Roach playing ball.

Dead maggots fished over very fine Boilie crumb (didn't have any Groundbait) on three baited spots on the canal did the damage in the end. Nothing life changing size wise, but good consistent catching that was absolutely hugely appreciated after a hard couple of months.

"Match" tactics of little and often feeding, size 18 hooks and a single maggot tripped up Roach, Rudd, Skimmers and Perch in the end. I'm back on the horse!

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

 

[john step]

I had a hard slog pushing my barrow across some waterlogged ground for a local pond today. Due to the mire and remoteness I doubt anyone else has fished it lately if at all this year.
Unfortunately I discovered the tyre on the barrow has ruptured. I wondered why the going was so tough.

The fish must have enjoyed the rest as they certainly obliged on bread/dead 'uns and worm.
A bite every 10 minutes or so for the full day.
Lots of roach, rudd, small perch and 15 carp. All about mid singles.

A barn owl flew right behind me at dusk.

Not everyone's idea of a good days fishing with all those carp but I am just grateful to have local fisheries in this lockdown as its a pleasure to be out.
I didn't see a soul all day. Great!

 

[rubio]

I popped out to see a mate going after chub. Ended up getting there before him, as did quite a few others.
None reported any action at all despite conditions looking spot on once again. We both had a go and he even had a bite!
I had no interest shown at all trying for roach. All this 10 minutes from my recent successes. Gave up; but once in the car I couldn't resist going back to catch something. Barely 40 minutes of light left yet still a dozen roach by time I went home. Seems to be the only spot showing any just now.

 

[Rod McG]

Back on the Wey Navigation Sunday.
Lobbed in a ball of liquidised bread and started catching immediately.
Must have got 20 to 25 roach in an hour and a half or so, could probably have got out more if I was more proficient with the whip.
Unhooking and baiting up with 4mm bread punch and size 20 hooks seemed to take forever.
Bites dried up and I balled in again but wasnt the same, fish seemed to have spread upstream and downstream of where I threw the bread in.
Maggots in the afternoon and caught 6 or 7 roach and one gudgeon on a single red over a few hours, didn't seem to take off like with the bread.
Lovely weekend for me all in all.

 

[john step]

Back on the Wey Navigation Sunday.
Lobbed in a ball of liquidised bread and started catching immediately.
Must have got 20 to 25 roach in an hour and a half or so, could probably have got out more if I was more proficient with the whip.
Unhooking and baiting up with 4mm bread punch and size 20 hooks seemed to take forever.
Bites dried up and I balled in again but wasnt the same, fish seemed to have spread upstream and downstream of where I threw the bread in.
Maggots in the afternoon and caught 6 or 7 roach and one gudgeon on a single red over a few hours, didn't seem to take off like with the bread.
Lovely weekend for me all in all.

A pike moved in?

 

[barbelboi]

The weather was fine and dry but the wind was something else as I took a stroll over the fields for a couple of hours stream fishing. The strength of the gusts was so strong I decided to leave the sticks at home and tackled up with something that would hold bottom without getting blown out of the water. Ledgered ‘home flavoured’ luncheon meat and halibut pellets was the bait and it managed to entice five smallish chub and a hungry jack to the net. Fished from 1-3.30pm.................

 

[mikench]

I would have been happy with a jack like that Jerry It's been very windy hereabouts enough to physically move a full and heavy green wheely bin.