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. It has now reached the stage, principally I must say, to a lack of suitable venues, that most of my pike fishing now takes place on these waters. And I love every minute of it. Most of them are enormous sheets of water and contain true leviathans, the fishing is hard, often bordering on impossible, but the rewards are undoubtedly there and this keeps my enthusiasm high even on the most dire of days. There has been a lot of crap written about this aspect of our sport, mostly by people who have never tried it and there are probably more misconceptions about catching trout water pike than any aspect of pike fishing. I have done many talks and slideshows which have featured some of the fish I have been fortunate enough to have caught or witnessed and have had many, many private mails and phone calls, some of which are asking for help or advice and some of which have been jealous numpties just spouting off. Hopefully these articles may go some way to putting the record straight. For the record I’ll put my thoughts into print by answering the questions I am most frequently asked and attempt to reply to the many comments I have received. Please feel free to add your own opinions, the forum is there to be used! “Trout water pike are easy” Yeah right!……try telling this to the guys (and there are plenty of them) who are still awaiting their first fish after dozens of trips. Trout water pike are well fed; as well as coarse fish they eat tame trout that have no fear. On most venues bait is restricted, sometimes only lures are allowed. Try catching a happy, well fed pike in February on a lump of wood or plastic… “Trout water pike are artificial”What utter nonsense. All that is happening is that a natural born predator, one which has become so successful and resourceful that it has had no cause to evolve further over millions of years, is taking advantage of an abundant food source that has suddenly manifested itself. We are not talking about stocking a water with pike then supplementing their diet by stocking trout to increase their growth rate, we are talking about an indigenous creature taking advantage of our interference with the lake’s natural stock. It’s an argument I use time and time again but I’ll repeat it here because I think it illustrates my point well. Is a fox that takes chickens from a farm considered unnatural, or a heron that supplements its diet with goldfish from suburban garden ponds considered a freak? Of course not, it’s merely nature doing what it does best by adapting to the circumstances put before it. The pike is no different. “Trout water piking is exclusive to well known anglers” Quite where this comes from is beyond me. The fact of the matter is that trout water piking is no different to any other aspect of specialist fishing in that those who are prepared to take a chances, and spend a few quid on the off chance of a result are the ones that ultimately reap the rewards. Meanwhile the vast majority of anglers continue fishing ‘safe’ venues whilst awaiting the news of big fish from somewhere. Bear in mind that in many, many cases the first time a trout water opens to pike anglers the organisers struggle to fill the all the spaces. The same core of hard working, dedicated pike anglers turn up religiously each time a new water opens, sometimes not just hoping that they will catch a biggie but sometimes just hoping that there are even pike IN the lake. If bugger-all is caught on a ‘new’ lake then it becomes just another trout water, available to all and sundry. However, should a few biggies come out the grapevine is soon buzzing and all those people who didn’t take that initial gamble want a piece of the action. The following year when the water opens for the second time, the organisers, quite rightly in my opinion, give first refusal to the guys who supported them the year before. Suddenly we have another ‘exclusive’ venue; it’s all so unfair guys isn’t it ? Yes, I sometimes get a phone call telling me a water is about to open but the call is usually from someone who I have done a slideshow for (always at no cost) or from someone returning a favour for some info I have previously given them. If you don’t put anything into your fishing, you won’t get anything out of it! “You’re just buying your fish” Well it’s true that I now spend a lot of money on trout water piking but there is no guarantee that it will produce you a fish. Just as buying a ticket for Wraysbury doesn’t guarantee a big carp. Some people will spend £ 40 for a round of golf (4 hours); some will spend £ 50 for a meal or a night out. A day’s fishing on a trout water will set you back anywhere between £ 20 and £ 40 which will include boat and engine hire (including fuel) as well as your day ticket…….. I know what I’d rather spend my hard earned on ! And so Autumn approaches. It’s time to dust off the echo sounder, check the knots on the anchor rope and sharpen the hooks on my lures. I applied for a total of 25 days on 6 different venues, I was lucky enough to secure a boat on 17 of these dates. However, due to date clashes and family commitments I was able only to accept a total of 11 days between now and early December. Through this period I will be fishing Rutland, Blithfield, Menteith, Ladybower and Chew Valley. Through this series of articles I will attempt to chronicle the highs (hopefully) and lows (undoubtedly) of an autumn campaign. Wish me luck…. |
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