| TROUT WATER PIKING |
| A couple of years ago I wrote a series of articles for FISHINGmagic entitled ‘Lured into Lure Fishing’. Although principally concerned with my sortie into the world of artificials it also coincided with my love affair with trout water piking. An affair that has gotten stronger with each passing season. These are my diaries of this season’s trout water piking. |
Saturday 25th October BLITHFIELD RESERVOIR – STAFFORDSHIRE Our last trip on Blithfield was an absolute grueller and we didn’t expect the next two days to be any different. The forecast was for hard overnight frosts and although this wouldn’t exactly get the pike chasing lures like there was no tomorrow, it did (hopefully) mean that the algae problem may subside slightly. We arrived late, due to a number of reasons but basically we were in no rush. Eric and I spent a bit of time getting the boat set up whilst most of the other anglers raced out into the pitch dark…don’t ask me why. We poured a piping hot drink from our flask and assessed the situation, bottom line was we didn’t know what, if anything, would produce so we decided to cover as much water as possible hoping to come across a fish or two or find an area where other anglers had been successful. Trolling deep water Eric had a couple of raps which we assumed were trout. We then covered a medium depth of water before putting on shallow divers and covering the margins. Moving across to the North lake we began to cast bucktails and smaller spoons thinking the cold snap had turned the fish lethargic but nothing worked for us, or for anyone else for that matter. As afternoon turned into evening the boats slowly made their way back to the yard and it became apparent that the vast majority of anglers had suffered a similar fate.
Thankfully all was not lost as we were booking into a local pub for the night and eleven battle weary anglers were in dire need of some sustenance and boy did we take some in. At times like this it’s important to get something out of the day and over more than few beers I was kindly told of some great spots to try for zander, areas where I can launch my boat and a great deal of equally useful information. A pretty bad day suddenly turned into a really good night! Total number days fishing: 5 Total day ticket money spent: £ 172.50 Sunday 26th October BLITHFIELD RESERVOIR – STAFFORDSHIRE I’m ashamed to say we didn’t hit the water until gone 10.00am, truth is we just knew it wasn’t going to happen today. A frost so hard had fallen overnight that anglers stopping at the pub were unable to open their car doors, the soaking we had taken last night had spread into the seals of the cars and the hard frost had done the rest. One guy literally had to climb in through the tailgate to get inside. Just what chance do lures have in these conditions? All this, coupled with the fact that the last glass of ‘Jamesons’ had been knocked back around 2.00am a 6 O’clock start was totally out of the question and Eric and I enjoyed at hearty breakfast before making our way down to the lake. Instantly noticeable was that half a dozen boats were still in the moorings meaning that several anglers had decided not to fish today. Probably (and understandably) heading home early to gain a few brownie points ready for the next time they would be staying away from home. I know it works for me. After just five minutes of fishing I took a jack of around 3lb on a spoon, the fish had been heavily mauled some time earlier. If only his assailant had taken the spoon instead of him. Still, if nothing else it meant I was beating Eric 1-0, a fact that I would remind him of throughout the course of the day. Again we tried every trick we know but to no avail. Several times we pulled our boats adjacent to other anglers for a chat, there was little else to do. Rumour of a huge 37lb fish suddenly spread round the lake but when we passed the angler in question and he told us he’d had a 37 and a 34 at 7.15 while we were still in bed we realised it was a wind up aimed at Eric and I for having a lie in this morning. As if we’d make a wrong decision! By the time dusk arrived we were one of only a handful of boats still on the lake and once again a lot of solemn looking anglers loaded up their cars before heading home. We were due back on Blithfield in early November, but I also had a boat booked on Ravensthorpe Reservoir which clashed but I had not yet cancelled. Now we really did need to make a tough decision…… Total number days fishing: 6 Total day ticket money spent: £ 215.50 |
