It was my day off from the shop and I had decided to go fishing for a few hours on the river Wey at Wisley. I set up by the new road bridge and started taking some nice roach and a few skimmers. After a short time I noticed that there was a pike swimming around the keepnet, it was not long before the pike had a go at a roach that I was bringing in. I managed to save the roach but I still had the problem of the pike.
I looked into my rod bag and pulled out an 11m pole that I use for carp fishing. one of the top sections had a heavy 14 elastic fitted and to be honest Dicky Carr set it up for me one day in the shop because I lost all the carp that I hooked at Whitney Park two weeks earlier due to not having a heavy set up. I had never used it so I thought, ‘this must be the time to see if it will do the business.’
I put the pole up and attached 6 to 7ft of 8lb Maxima line then a 12in spin trace and a spinner. I moved to the right of my swim and dropped the spinner in the middle of the river and moved it towards were I was originally fishing. As I moved the spinner back and forth about three or four times and started to go back towards the middle again the first pike lunged onto my spinner. I couldn’t contain a yelp of yesssss – gotcha!
I don’t think the pike, a small jack of about 5lb, realised that he was hooked as he came back to the keepnet with the spinner. As I put a bit more pressure on him he decided to run and went under the bridge, so I laid the pole low and brought him back out again and straight into my landing net. Then I walked him down stream and let him go.
I got back to my fishing proper and, can you believe it, the very first fish is snatched by another pike. I was beside myself with rage and immediately shot the pole out. This pike turned out to be the biggest of the day at about 9lbs. As I was playing this pike I tried to see if I could make him tail-walk. I pushed out the pole over the pike’s head and lifted it up, the pike shot off down the river but as it came to the end of its run and the elastic began to win him back the pike came out of the water like a Polaris missile. As I was removing the spinner he regurgitated a small roach.
I then started to enjoy spinning for pike on the pole and walked up and down the river searching the far and near bank for more pike. I managed a few more small ones but also lost my spinners to underwater obstructions.
Now if you want to have a go at this method of pike fishing then please remember, if you get the spinner snagged, to run the elastic under the instep of your boot and as an added safety feature lay your rod bag over it as well. When I pulled for the break on one of the spinners that had fouled the bottom it came back like a bullet. So be warned. But it’s great fun!
Ray can be found at Banksidefishing
