Following on from my 2014 overview I thought I would scribble down a few bits and bobs about my start to 2015. Well, I would like to say I set the angling world alight with hundreds of catches of earth shattering fish, but in reality is was a bit of a wash out. I had planned to return to the river where I had the 3lb 10oz perch in November, but unfortunately every time I went back down there, the rain had turned the water the colour of chocolate and made it pretty much useless for the lure fishing. In hindsight I should have maybe opted for a chopped worm feeder approach, but my lure hat was firmly stuck on my head and I was too blinkered to remove it.
I did however have a few more successful trips to my pike lake, and although I didn’t catch any proper lumps, the best being an old warrior of spot on 18lb on the last day of the month, I did manage to get a couple more good hauls in on the deadbaits, bringing my running total to 91 for the 2014/2015 pike season, and hopefully by the end of the season I will have managed to find those last 9 to take my total to the magical 100 pike.
What was interesting with regard to the pike though, when bait fishing I have noticed (along with just about every pike angler I have spoken to this winter), is that all the bites have been so tentative, in fact as far as I can remember, not a single fish has even pulled the line out of the clip on the drop off. Thankfully using a combination of the zero stretch of the Gardner Kinetic braid and the super sensitive TLB alarms, I have been able to detect the tiniest of twitches and strike nice and early to avoid deep hooking.
Gardner Kinetic braid and the super sensitive TLB alarms, I have been able to detect the tiniest of twitches and strike nice and early to avoid deep hooking.” alt=”Thankfully using a combination of the zero stretch of the Another interesting thing, is that this winter I managed to get hold of some baby pike deadbaits and have been trying them alongside my standard herrings. Even with herrings on two rods and the baby pike on just the one, the pike baits have far out-fished the herrings, probably at a ratio of about 8 to 2, and on many occasions, speaking to the other anglers on the lake, where they have had no takes at all, I am sometimes still getting two or three pick ups on the pike, I just hope I can get hold of some more for next winter. The other thing is the timings, we have discovered there are three distinctive feeding times for the pike on there, just as dawn is breaking, between 10:30 and 11am, and about an hour or so after dusk, meaning nice early starts and late finishes were the order of the day, mind you with the stunning sunrises and sunsets this time of year, it’s never a bad time to be on the bank, even if the fish didn’t feed.
Well, that pretty much sums up my January, as I said, hopefully next month will see me nobbling those last few pike, though to be honest my free time in February will be very limited, not only with it being a short month, but I have a few prearranged social trips etc. that will probably distract me. That said, I will be even more eager to get out at every possible opportunity, and with the nights drawing out, it makes it easier to nip out for the odd quick mid week evening session, you never know I might even get a chance if the rivers are ok to get back to my perch spot.
Until next time though, tight lines everyone.
91 pike is pretty impressive even for the likes of you Mr L! The small pike baits is not something I’ve come across around my neck of the woods? Could be quite interesting as the Herring baits have been less responsive this season. Last year you couldn’t go wrong with a herring on the hook on the Wye and as you know, I did quite well on them in just a few trips. This year has been very different though with seemingly less fish about or certainly less bites. Many of the takes have also been quite tentative as you say??? Strange stuff! Anyway, here’s hoping to a good end to the season for us all and I hope you manage the 100 bro. Tight lines K
Some interesting points there Mike. Not had time for much piking this season, but strangely enough the couple of times I did, I had both my takes about 11am, which fits in nicely with those feeding times you noticed, even though I was on totally different waters.
Can’t say they were tentative bites though, as both pulled line out the clip and were away!