25/3/16 Bassing In Full Swing

I'd missed a couple of good days mid week ,weather wise, due to work commitments and with the  forecast today not looking that brilliant, I waited until after breakfast before deciding whether or not to venture out. The sea state didn't look too bad from the kitchen window, and the winds were set to drop around lunch time, so I took the plunge.
 On arriving at the marina , Martin called me over and invited me to join him and Neil on his boat so , as we were intending to fish the same mark anyway it made sense to jump on board. In addition, one less boat on the mark would attract less attention .
We started by dropping the pick on a piece of inshore 'ground' and concentrating on filling the live bait tank with whiting. It took some effort but,with twenty or so 'wrigglers' safely on board we headed to the reef just as the tide was topping out and sent out our float rigs.
Live baiting for bass with a float is a very exciting method as is pretty much any fishing from sharking to mulleting which involve watching a lump of brightly coloured balsa wood or plastic. 'Pleasing in disappearance' is the phrase that springs to mind and we didn't have to wait too long for our floats to disappear.
Neil opened the account with a splendid bass of about eight pounds and from then onwards we pretty much had a hook up on every drift- Martin skilfully positioning 'Blueprint' perfectly each time around.
At one point both Neil and myself had a double figure fish each in the boat at the same time which made for a terrific photograph and, along with the sizable bass, plenty of 'scrappers' hit our baits not always, it has to be said, successfully connecting.
We soon lost count of the fish caught but I'm pretty sure I personally approached double figures with, among others, a nice fish around 7-8lb and two doubles of 11lb 6oz and a new personal best at 12lb 9oz . In total four double figure bass came to the boat and we all had a share in the action.
Once again Clive and Kim on board their Orkney joined us on the mark, so I really was surrounded by bass ' superstars', and also had considerable success boating some very creditable fish indeed .
Thankfully, our two boats were left alone to enjoy the fishing for the rest of the day without encumbrance which is something of a rarity although, I suspect this situation will not endure. In a few days the commercial bass ban will be lifted and  soon enough, word will get out. Hopefully it won't be too long before the bass spread out , and become consistently catchable in other areas.
So, a fantastic day afloat with excellent company and a good start to the bass season. Let's hope it lasts.

11lb 6oz

 A brace of doubles (Mine a 12lb 9oz p.b)

 Martin's 'double'

 Double hook up.

21/3/16 The Bass Are Here

Although the coarse season has ended, this time of year is really the beginning of a new inshore boat fishing season and with it comes a sense of optimism. With the day's lengthening noticeably, and the clocks about to leap forward I always get a feeling of excitement thinking about what lies ahead in the coming months.
The sea boat has seen very little use over the winter due to the winds so it was great to finally be able to give her a run out especially as there would, likely as not, be some bass about.
I was up with the sparrow (almost) and headed out to the chosen reef- a mark that seems to be quite reliable at this time of year and one which tends to show the early arrivals. My intention was to spend time catching live baits but with birds working furiously over what was obviously a shoal of bass (confirmed by the sounder image) I decided to stick around a while and fish with lures for the remainder of the flood.
The Fiiish Minnow' was 'hit' on the first drop and from that point onwards I didn't look back. Most of the bass were small but changing to a bigger lure attracted a dozen or so decent fish in the five pound bracket culminating in a splendid specimen of exactly nine pounds.
Unfortunately, I'd neglected to charge the 'Go-Pro' so had to use the compact camera and the pictures are less than satisfactory.
The bites slowed as the flood ended so I tried, unsuccessfully, to drift around with some baited hokkai feathers in search of pouting. The only fish that took the bait was another small bass.!!
Surprisingly , the fishing was far less hectic on the ebb tide but, along with a brace of rather nice Pollack to six pounds, and some wrasse to just under four pounds, I ended the session with thirty five bass in total.
For most of the day I had the mark to myself  but was joined latterly by marina buddy , and fellow bass enthusiast Clive- a welcome sight who also got in on the action. Commercial bassing is banned until the end of the month so  we're making the most of the situation before they arrive and the bass are certainly around in good numbers.
The charter boys were out on a neighbouring mark and scoring well with some very creditable fish on live baits so for the time being, it's all looking pretty rosy out there.

 First of the season- a tiddler.

 Getting better

 Pollack

 Chunky ballan.

14/3/16 Season's End.

So, once again (it seems to arrive earlier as the years go by) the  coarse fishing season ends and with it, the finish of my river piking adventures for another year. I hope to be exploring future pike fishing opportunities in a few weeks but, more of that in later blog entries.
Dave and me finished the season rather quietly with a final trip on the river in a huge tide- in fact the biggest of the year so far.
This season has shown us that these extreme tidal conditions are just not conducive to successful pike fishing and, with some additional rain water in the river, unsurprisingly, we drew a blank. Frustratingly, just a couple of days into the closed season the river had returned to perfect order again.
But, I have no cause for complaint as what a season its been!
I've caught over fifty pike with nearly half of those fish of double figure weights or above, and three 'twenties'.  Statistics which, although unremarkable for keen pike anglers who fish 'going waters' are, by my very average standards ,  quite exceptional.
Much of this success must be attributed to the boat and the advantages , particularly regarding access, that it gives  on the river.
 Most of the locations  fished this season are relatively inaccessible from dry land and therefore contain pike that rarely, if ever see an angler's bait. Although the river most definitely has a low population density of pike, being afloat has made them less difficult (note I don't say 'easy') to locate- a key factor in successful piking.
Simply being able to move swims quickly has proved very useful and its not been unusual on some days to cover known locations over several miles of river although often, this has not been necessary. Many of this year's pike have been found in relatively large concentrations -some swims producing two or three big fish. It's hard to imagine pike lying up next to each other in small areas of river but they appear to do so, and quite regularly.
Its also been quite obvious that mild, low light level weather conditions have produced better results. Those 'classic' cold, frosty bright winter's days so often mentioned in piking literature, and revered by many regular pikers don't seem to work on our river. Many a time pike anglers have mentioned to me in the early part of the season that they don't think it's cold enough yet.
Personally, throughout the winter, it can stay as warm as it likes.  In fact I would go as far as to say that much of established piking 'lore' is , In my humble opinion, pure rubbish.
The  weather has actually been quite kind to us this winter and far fewer fishing days have been lost due to floods and coloured , high water conditions than in previous years.
One method that has undoubtedly proved its worth this season is the use of a live fish as bait-when they can be caught ,which is not always easy.
 Although fishing with dead baits is far more convenient and an excellent method on it's day, statistically live baits have outscored 'deads' for me this time around and, caught some big pike too, despite the fact that I've actually fished with dead baits far more often.
Its just a pity that, in this country we have such draconian rules surrounding their use-in most other 'piking ' countries  fish are treated exactly the same as any other 'live' bait.
The river boat will now be given a well earned rest for a few months until mid June when the coarse fishing season starts again but , in the meantime we've plans afoot. We're hoping to do some 'carbelling' in the summer and some closed season preparations will no doubt be undertaken involving selecting , and baiting swims but more of this later.
Speaking of carp fishing, I recently joined Dave for a short session on a small, secluded ,private lake which holds some rather attractive , if not huge, specimens and we managed to winkle a few out. Dave who, it must be said, is a far more accomplished general coarse angler than myself far out fished me , but I did eventually manage to tempt one with my grain of sweet corn-a fully scaled and very streamlined 'common' of a few pounds.

5-7/3/16 More Piking Ups and Downs

Once again the end of the season is drawing ever closer and with the river still in very good condition Dave and me decided to take full advantage of the situation and soak some dead baits.
Things began well on the first day with five pike in total including three doubles to my baits at 15lb 1oz, 16lb 8oz and 11lb 3oz all  from the same stretch of river just a few hundred yards in length.

15lb 1oz

16lb 8oz

11lb 3oz

The following day things slowed down considerably and we struggled to find just one small pike each although Dave's must rate as one of the cutest pike we've seen all season.

Finally on the third day I ventured out on my own and failed to even get a single bite which goes some way to show how fickle our river, and It's pike can be.

Dave' took this fantastic picture (no special effects) at the end of the second day .











1/3/16 An Epic Pike Trip.

As pike seasons go , the current one has already been my best by a long shot, producing many memorable days afloat on the river and today will definitely be added to that list.

I'm not usually that much of an 'early riser' but this morning, without the assistance of an alarm, I was up and about 'before the lark' and actually arrived at the boat mooring just after five a.m with the intention of taking advantage of the flooding tide to head up river.

Although Dave and me have both gained considerable geographical knowledge of the river and its associated hazards, navigating in complete darkness is still something of a challenge and my journey upstream was carried out at a 'snail's pace'.

By the time I'd arrived at the chosen area it was still too dark to see a pike float so I settled down with a cuppa and waited.

Eventually I could just see at a rod's length and just after six a.m, the first bait was sent out. Literally within minutes, the roach was taken, and the first pike of the day was boated-a fine fish of exactly 18lb.An excellent start.

18lb

As an be seen from the murky picture, it was raining quite heavily but this didn't seem to bother the pike and within the hour, a second pike of 15lb had shown up from the same swim-again on a roach bait.

15lb

Naturally I decided to stick around a while longer but nothing more materialised so I  headed up to an area known as the 'Silent Pool'. By this time the wind had really picked up and brought with it some driving rain. The 'Pool ' lacked any real shelter so I elected not to stay too long before moving downstream to a reedy bend with some big trees on the windward bank which would offer some protection and prevent the boat being blown off its anchorage.

Placing a bait tight to a sunken tree did the trick and the third double of the day soon came out at 15lb 14oz-the photo was a complete 'washout' so I've not bothered to include it.!

Just after lunch time the rain finally stopped, and things got a bit more comfortable, so I moved swims a 100 yards or so downstream. Once again a roach bait did the trick with the final fish of the day weighing in at 14lb.







.I like mild weather  for river pike fishing as they seem to be quite willing to feed in these conditions as has been seen so regularly this season. What's been baffling however, is the distinct lack of small pike that we're seeing and statistically, we're catching just as many double figure pike , as jacks, if not more.
Not that I'm complaining you understand.

17, 21,22, 28 /2/16 More Pike Trials and Dave Get's a 'Twenty'

It'll be interesting to see, at the end of the coarse fishing season, just how much  the river boat has been used because it certainly feels like we've both been fishing from her quite regularly.
On the 17th I ventured downstream and caught a small pike from a swim under a tree that is lower down the river than any other  previously caught pike.
On the 21st Dave joined me and we headed upstream to an area close to an old , disused canal intersection where we'd caught pike several years before in Dave's 'tinny'- an aluminium boat. The fishing was slow but my boat partner managed to christen a new bit of 'cane' with a single figure fish whilst I had a double of 11lb 12oz so the area shows some promise.
I returned to the river the following day but succeeded in blanking completely so , it would appear, that we've lost track of the pike.....for the time being.

 A week later and we were both to return for a trip that saw us searching twenty miles of river, for a bite. We started by heading much lower downstream  than we've ever ventured before to areas that we are certain contain fish, that have yet to show themselves. We do know of anglers who have succeeded in this somewhat 'hostile' environment and that's what stops us losing faith and keep trying. One day we will score down there and even a small pike will feel like an achievement. Success in fishing , isn't always measured on how many, and how big.

As the tide flooded we followed it back up river and literally within minutes of Dave dropping his dead bait in our swim of choice, it was taken by this very fine pike indeed of 20lb 4oz. A splendid end to hard day afloat.

 

16/2/16 Mixed Fortunes.

Finally, the strong winds that have been a major feature of this winter season abated and gave us  a chance to get out to sea in the boat.
 Brian was to join me , and the 'plan' was to take advantage of the small tides and head off to the sand banks in search of blonde ray but unfortunately, my main engine completely failed to start.
No matter how much I tried to coax it into firing, It would have none of it and it appeared to be 'flooding ' quite badly.
Luckily marina neighbour Alan was heading out on his own so , rather than lose a day's fishing, I suggested that Brian jump on with him, whilst I stayed behind to try and source my engine problem.
A fresh set of plugs ,  a bit of patience, and eventually the motor 'staggered' into life but Ideally I needed to give her a good run out to sea to regain my confidence in her.
Brian and Alan were on a nearby mark so after waiting for the tide to flood I decided to join them thinking that, if I needed a tow home, they'd be close at hand.
 I anchored up at the 'half way' and send down a big cuttle bait on one rod, and a squid strip baited 'live bait' rig on another. I only had a couple of hours to fish.
In short , bites were few but I did catch a rather nice conger and also a half decent undulate ray on the live bait rig-in fact it was a new personal best for the specie at 19lb 8oz!! The picture isn't up to much but alongside the boat's fuel tanks, at least It give a bit of perspective to the ray.
We do seem to do very well for undulates in our area and it has produced several fish over the 'official' British record which were all returned to the sea.
 The engine behaved impeccably and has since restarted every time 'on the button' even on the coldest of mornings so it appears that the problem has simply, 'gone away'.

19lb 8oz Undulate Ray

February 2016. Blanking!

The river is flooded so pike fishing has come to a temporary halt and, in the meantime, other venues are being sought to go fishing.
At the beginning of the month Dave and me tried our club lake at Shillinglee for not a sniff of a fish between us.
A few days later and I visited the River Test at Timsbury with Alex for a spot of pike lure fishing. I've not fished here for several years but sadly, in that time, the venue has changed considerably. The banks are now fully 'groomed', probably to satisfy  the needs of the 'fluff chucking' fraternity, and the place has lost much of its charm.
The session began in a promising fashion with a follow from a reasonable pike almost immediately but, that was the only slice of action that either of us experienced all day. To make matters worse, a character on the opposite bank, which I assume is a different fishery, told us that he'd removed most of the pike, and those that he hadn't 'taken' , he'd moved along the river. He proceeded to inform us that once a pike had been moved, it wouldn't return.What a  pillock!
Two days later, in harsh weather conditions, Dave and me returned to Alfold lakes in search of perch and once again, we failed, miserably. Finally, back on the river, a run in the boat upstream to an area that has produced so well this season resulted in the final blank of the 'series' . Fishing at this time of year can be 'challenging ' to say the least.

21/1/16 Super Piking

Following on from the successful river pike trip of two days ago, I spent yesterday at sea on board Brian's Orkney Fastliner in search of cod.

The skipper hadn't been able use his boat for a while so there were some minor mechanical issues that needed sorting before we could set off, but eventually we arrived at our chosen location. Unfortunately, the target specie didn't materialise ,despite us both fishing a suitably big bait, complimented by a live bait rig on a second rod each. A procession of pouting, whiting with the odd dogfish thrown in for good measure did show along with a welcome thornback ray but in general, the fishing was difficult.

Of course, this didn't matter in the slightest as a day out with Brian on his boat is always entertainingand when we catch a few fish, which we normally do, its something of a bonus.

Today Dave and me returned to the river, which we found to be in excellent shape and ,assisted by a small tide , we followed the flood upstream.

First stop was at a swim which , according to Brian, who has fished the river pretty much since the day he was born, is known as 'The Silent Pool'. With little wind to speak of, we anchored the boat 'mid river' and fished two baits each towards opposing banks on float paternoster rigs.

I've recently purchased a new pike 'stick' in the shape of a 10ft, 3.5lb test curve 'Loch Tamer' custom built by Dave Lumb. This formidable weapon is more than capable of lobbing out a large whole mackerel bait complete with 3oz lead whilst my 11ft 2.5lb P-2 rods, also from Dave, remain in use for standard piking duties.

It didn't take long for the first run of the day to materialise to my new rod in the shape of this lean, one eyed pike of 12lb 8oz which was in otherwise, excellent shape.

The 'pool' produced no more action, so a move downstream to a reed lined bay was undertaken. This time it was the sardine that got 'snaffled' by another lean pike weighing in at 16lb 4oz. Not a bad start at all!!

Following another short jaunt, we arrived close to an area that's been very productive of late and, as Dave had first choice of swim, decided to place his mackerel bait tight to the bank in a spot of slack water .
Sure enough pike were present, and it didn't take long before the float slid across the surface and glide away to the depths resulting in Dave being connected to an above average fish.
When the scales swept round to 22lb 3oz, I'm not sure which one of us was more pleased. A splendid fish indeed and very satisfying to even up the share of the action.
If we'd stopped fishing at this point, it would have been considered an excellent day's river piking but there was more to follow.

Dave picked up the next fish- an eight pounder just yards down stream from the 'twenty's' lair before a flurry of action came to my baits.

Firstly, another lean fish of 16lbs on the nose took my sardine......................................

..............................................shortly followed by this beauty of 21lb 4oz again, to a sardine.......... 

.......................and finally, this 14lb 1oz fish munched on my whole mackerel. 

 Quite an amazing run of fish complimented by some excellent photography on Dave's part.

The 'twenty' although caught in fairly close proximity to both my previous fish of a similar weight, is a different pike which is terrific news. Quite why so many good pike are congregating in this area is , of course, something of a mystery, but its quite possible that they are assembling prior to spawning which, because of the relatively high temperatures we've experienced this season, may be taking place a little earlier than usual.

One thing is for sure, this little 'hot spot' won't last. We've discovered gatherings similar to this in the past on the river and they are usually short lived. River pike are a 'wandering' breed.

 The superb 'sladle' in action.

19/1/16 Return To The River

We've experienced a prolonged spell of wet weather with some very heavy rainfall for several weeks now ,rendering the river virtually unfishable for pike, and forcing me to visit the club lakes in search of perch.
Unfortunately, this has proved almost completely unproductive as , after three sessions, all I've managed to catch is one small roach-less than ideal.
Regular visits to check, and pump out, the river boat have meant that I've been able to keep a close watch on the state of the river but Its also been very useful to monitor the E.A water level website and compare results.
On some occasions the tide has had very little effect on the river level-it's stayed high constantly, and continued to flow in one direction.....seawards.
Last week-end things were improving and, crossing the upper river to visit the club lake, levels looked almost back to normal but I decided to leave it a couple more days to fine down before venturing out in the boat again after pike.
The tides were small so it was convenient to head upstream to fish but first, with a heavy overnight frost and sub zero temperatures, I had to thaw out the boat lock...by boiling a kettle.
Once underway it was 'plain sailing' but still pretty damned cold, but the water looked to be in fairly reasonable shape with decent enough clarity.
My first and second 'stops' produced nothing whatsoever and I was beginning to wonder if the low temperatures had put the pike 'down' but, by late morning I'd reached my third swim of choice and sure enough, pike were present.
I had three takes resulting in fish of 14lb 10oz and 11lb 3oz being boated, and another definite double slipping the hooks before , as the light began to fade, the air temperature dropped considerably and I decided to head for home-probably a good move as by the time I arrived at the mooring, the 'sladle' and landing net were almost frozen solid!
Good to be back

 14lb 10oz

 11lb 3oz

6/1/16 Brian's Record Cod

This winter has been all about snatching brief opportunities in the weather to get afloat and today was no different.
Brian joined for another trip out to the half way mark and almost from the 'off' , we were into some very good sport with mid range congers. Brian's big cuttle baits conclusively out fished my lesser morsels although we also both employed live bait rigs and the  whiting/pouting bait captures also resulted in some good eels.
By the end of the session we'd amassed a bag of fourteen 'snakes'  , a small codling,and a thornback but highlight of the day came in the shape of a new boat record cod of 19lb 10oz (weighed back at the pontoon so it was likely a 'twenty' at capture) for my crew mate-a fish that is also a new P.B. Nice.

21/12/15 Wild River Piking.

Strong winds and driving rain didn't make for easy pike fishing today but I am determined to take advantage of the good river conditions while they last especially as the pike seem to be in feeding mode.
Not wanting to waste too much time travelling, I ventured to an area just a mile or so from the mooring where bank side reeds help to shelter the boat when at anchor. Because I almost always fish  float paternoster rigs, whether using live or dead baits, It's not strictly necessary to keep the boat absolutely still. The line from rod tips to floats doesn't have to be kept tight which allows for a certain amount of boat movement without affecting bait presentation.
The floats I use are sliders, but fixed bottom end only 'waggler' fashion-an unusual style of pike float but very effective. By fishing over depth, though not excessively so, the current tensions the rig to the float and the slightest movement of the bait is difficult to miss. I've been using these floats for several years now and can highly recommend them.You'll find them here;
http://www.eddieturner.co.uk/pike-tackle/Floats/Hi-viz-Floats-17.html
Today those floats were taking a beating from the wind but it didn't effect their sensitivity nor the pikes' willingness to feed.
 I'd fished about four different spots before the first take came to a sardine bait tucked close to the opposite bank. A scraper double came to the net and, in truth, I was very pleased with it considering the weather conditions which, as you can see, didn't help the photography.
My only other take came from a swim where I'd parked the boat deep in the mouth of a rife in an attempt to keep out of the wind - a small pike that dropped the bait (quite a sizable roach) but it was a spot noted for future reference. After that I decided to call it a day finishing earlier than usual about mid afternoon.
A day or two later , the rain has entered the river, causing high levels, and plenty of colour in the water but then again, the tides are also increasing in size which doesn't help matters. Timing is everything with tidal river piking.

19/12/15 Another 'Twenty'

22lb 6oz

Three long years since I've caught a tidal twenty pound pike and what happens ......I catch two within a month. Fishing is indeed an unpredictable pastime.
My favourite small tides have come around once again so I was able to return to the general area of our( mine and Dave's) recent success.
 The river was in reasonable condition, far better in fact than last week when the combination of a big tide, plus the presence of some recent rain water, made piking almost a waste of time.However, the strong winds haven't abated and finding some shelter that would enable me to keep the boat relatively still was actually quite difficult today.
The bites  were slow in coming but, after a few moves downstream eventually, at about midday, my roach bait was attacked by a small pike which quite quickly let go.
 The bait remained in 'fishable' condition so I dropped it back in place and waited. The were obviously pike about.
It took a while and the next take, when it came, was delicate in the extreme. The  float twitched a little and slowly, very slowly , glided a few inches across the surface. Hardly a 'run'.
Not wanting to leave it too long and thinking that my diminutive friend was coming back for another go, I tightened up.
 At first the fish didn't feel that big, as I was easily able to 'lead' it towards the boat but suddenly, the pike woke up, and tore off like a 'mad thing'. Usually this isn't a problem but, in a boat, with ten feet of water all around the fish have far more room to 'play'. Pike don't usually 'fight' in the true sense of the word but, this one obviously didn't know that.
It dived deep, bending the rod double, stealing line , swam straight under the boat and I could feel that awful 'grating' sensation as the braid made contact with the rear anchor rope.
To make matters worse it managed to  swim around the rope , surface again on the other side of the boat and then had the audacity to 'tail walk'- the first time I've ever seen a pike this big do that-an impressive sight.
I'd managed to lift the anchor while all this was going on and , by now,had no control of the fish on the rod at all , it being left on a 'tight line' connected to the anchor rope. Thankfully, there was  enough slack so, grabbing the braid I just managed to 'hand line' the pike into the net before it decided to perform any more acrobatics.
Glancing in the mesh, I could see the trace in the pike's mouth, but no connection to the braid. It must have parted right at the last moment. It was my lucky day.
At first I thought it may be the same fish as my last ' twenty' ,which was caught nearby but , checking the markings, it is indeed a different pike .
Two new pieces of equipment have been added to the boat inventory of late both of which were used for the first time today on this pike and both performing faultlessly.
 Firstly, a 'Savage Gear Predator' landing net with a rubberised mesh and folding frame is literally a revelation in boat nets for pike, and secondly, an Eddie Turner's 'Sladle' which takes pike welfare when afloat to a new level. I would highly recommend checking both items out.
With all the disturbance caused by the capture its hardly surprising that very little happened in the swim afterwards so I decided to head upstream to a 'bay' where Dave and me had previously scored with pike in his 'tinny' (An aluminium boat)
Almost Immediately a pike of about 7lb snatched  one of my baits, but the wind made fishing very uncomfortable so I decided to abort, and return to a sheltered area known as the 'jungle,' and tuck the boat in amongst some thick trees , continuing to fish, unsuccessfully, until well after dark before returning to the mooring.

17/12/15 Perch

When the winds are blowing and the rivers are flooding something needs to be fished for and, In mine and Dave's case, It's perch.
We did have, until last year, a rather pleasant little lake on our club ticket which provided both of us with some modest specimens but unfortunately ownership changed and the fishing rights were lost.
Thankfully the club secured an alternative venue that has something of a reputation with big perch and Dave proved that they were still there by teasing out a monster last season.
Today was our first attempt of the winter season and bites were few and far between. Dave managed a very pretty fully scaled carp of around 5lb whilst I did actually hit our target specie with this plump 'stripey' of about a pound.
It's a start.

13/12/15 Cod n' Conger.

The winds forecasted for today were just light enough, though still double figure knots at times, to poke my nose out to sea for a spot of cod fishing.
A mere handful of other local boats had the same idea and it was extremely pleasing to see our charter fleet finally get out and earn some money-they've had a hard time of it of late.
After a bumpy ride out I settled on the 'half way' mark just as the flood tide was coming to an end and with these conditions, for convenience more than anything else, it was going to be a 'one mark' day.
I opted to fish whole baby cuttle on one rod, with a lug stuffed squid on the other -big baits to try and avoid the 'fodder' fish.
A couple of dogs, pin whiting and pout managed to hook themselves on the 6/0 pennels before the boat swung round with the ebb and into the breeze. Wind over tide made it quite 'lumpy' and some heavy swells were also pushing through but it was all very manageable.
A small conger of about 10lb came to the 'cuttle' rod and, seeing as I was also getting quite a bit of small stuff nipping at the baits I chose to switch the second rod to a live bait rig-a 1/0 hook directly below an 8/0 with just the small hook baited with a morsel of squid tipped lug.
The idea is that a small fish, whiting or pouting, hooks itself on the small hook and then prese3nts itself as a live bait.
In short,  it worked and, quite well.
A better fish hit the live bait rig and began to put up quite a fight in the increasing flow. Nearing the surface I could see that it was a conger well into double figures and just at that moment, the second rod bent over an almost leaped out of boat.
With a rod in each hand I was completely 'scuppered' but knowing that the first take was an eel, I opted to slacken the drag ,place that rod in a holder, and deal with the second take.
This turned out to be a very wise decision as what came up was a nice cod of 14lb-target hit.
No more cod showed but It would appear that I was sitting on a conger 'nest' because, three more eels showed up, all on the live bait rigs, one of them being a decent fish of about 35-40lb-excellent sport indeed.
One culprit even had the audacity to spit out the fat pout it had Intended to eat as it reached the surface. I doubt very much whether that eel had even been properly hooked.
Another that I'd brought on board for unhooking decided that it would go into reverse gear, and slither behind my fuel tanks in an attempt to hide-entertaining characters indeed.
Half a mile or so to the South of me Clive and Kim were also experiencing something of an 'eel fest' taking eleven conger in total along with a couple of cod.
We've experieced this situation with conger before, at this time of year, when it seems that they leave their lairs and hunt on open ground.
Listening to the radio it would appear that most boats managed to pick up a cod or two which was pleasing and some sizable fish to 20lb were taken on the 'skate marks' which is very encouraging indeed.
 Marina buddy Tony was also fishing my chosen mark and he'd managed to score a trio of cod including a new P.B of 13plus pounds-well done that man.
All in all, an excellent session afloat, and great to be able to finally get out to sea again.

11/12/15 Winter Roach

I had a couple of small jobs to carry out on the river boat this afternoon and managed to get them finished just as the light was fading so decided that a spot of fishing was in order.
With, a good bit of cloud cover, the tide ebbing nicely and wind dropping off , I opted to head a short distance downstream to an area that had produced some rather nice roach back in the summer to see if they were still about ,and to try a spot of night fishing- a classic time for winter roach.
 Approaching the swim as quietly as possible by cutting the engine and letting the boat drift before dropping the mud weights , I managed to anchor in the perfect position on the first attempt (more by luck than judgement it has to be said) at the head of the swim and just a rod length out from the bank.
Method of choice was  flake on the hook, a size 10, with liquidised bread squeezed on a frame feeder- typical mullet tactics actually. A 'starlight' chemical light stick was attached to the quiver tip and baiting up was carried out with the use of a red headlight to minimise disturbance. Everything inside the boat was as carefully organised as possible to make life easier.
 Fishing in about ten feet of water, all that was required was a gentle lob of a couple of rod lengths to get the bait in place directly down stream of the boat.
Very little happened until complete darkness and then a few tentative bites materialised which I assumed to be small fish pecking at the flake. Eventually I connected and a rather nice roach of about 12oz came to the net.
A few more 'pecks' followed until a very gentle bite connected with another nice fish-this time a pristine scale perfect roach of 1lb 1oz. Granted , hardly a specimen but,  a tidy fish nonetheless. If I could get one of double that weight from the river , I'd be a very happy man indeed though I suspect it might take some time,effort and a little luck.
Unfortunately I only had a couple of hours before having to leave for home as I was on 'dog' duty but, it was a pleasing start to my winter roach campaign and a successful first attempt at fishing from the boat in complete darkness.
The following day, flushed with our recent success, Dave and me attempted some more pike fishing , again afloat, but unfortunately suffered a 'biteless' day.
 I don't think the big 5.8m tide helped, nor the fact that the river was carrying quite a bit of rainwater and was therefore relatively coloured. It was however, quite interesting at high tide to be able to clearly see over the top of the flood banks and into the neighbouring fields and wetlands for the first time, and to be able to easily step off the boat back at the mooring rather than carry out our more usual , and sometimes precarious 'Spiderman' impersonations scaling the pontoon ladder.

6/12/15 More Decent Pike

  18lb 12oz

Another session afloat and, once again,  those dull , mild conditions were present that 'our' pike seem to relish................... a lot.

 Three nice doubles today- the 'eighteen' above for me- a rather scruffy old girl with a huge head that would suggest that, in her prime, she would probably have been at least a mid 'twenty'..........and two for Dave a 'fourteen' and a  'sixteen'. An upper single each finished off the catch nicely.

My fish both came on a huge whole mackerel bait- a method I've not tried before but one I'll pursue inn the future particularly if the water clarity is poor.

 

 Big head

  Dave's 'Sixteen'

Dave's 'Fourteen'

Clive, one of my blog readers has informed me that he has finally been able to leave a 'comment'- something he's not been able to do for some time.

 I've not made any alterations to the settings on here so I've really no idea why he's suddenly been able to do this but, if any other readers feel like doing the same, go ahead. You don't need to have anything in particular to say, just a friendly 'hello' will do. At least then 'I'll know that there's someone other that Clive reading all this .

2-4/12/15 'Red Letter' Piking.

Very, very occasionally, particularly so with my own fishing, an angler will experience a 'red letter' day when everything seems to fall into place and a good, if not spectacular catch is made. Compared to other waters, and other anglers' results, my catch today could hardly be called 'spectacular' but, as I've already mentioned in previous entries, my local river doesn't give up its pike without considerable effort so, what would elsewhere probably be considered an 'above average' catch, was today, something a bit special.

To begin with, the tide was very small, which makes everything so much easier from anchoring the boat to setting the floats. Also, In my opinion, the weather conditions were absolutely perfect with mild temperatures, a cloud covered sky resulting in low light levels, and a slightly rising barometer.

I'm afraid I wholeheartedly disagree with the traditional train of thought that pike don't feed until it's 'cold enough' . It's an excuse I hear quite often and I think it's a load of old 'tosh'.

To cut a long story short, I fished in about four locations over the course of the day along a stretch of about half a mile and each 'spot' produced at least a couple of pike making eleven fish in total.

 Just two of the 'offenders' were 'jacks', six more fish were in the upper single figure range (7-9lb) two nice lower doubles but the crowning glory was a 21lb 4oz pike-my first 'twenty' from the river for almost exactly three years.

Bites  came very quickly in all the swims that I tried and,at one point I had a take whilst I still had a  fish recovering in the landing net ready to be returned. Luckily I managed to unhook the culprit at the side of the boat but things did get a bit hectic at times.

Pike fishing with baits can be a very slow sport sometimes but when its like this, you barely even have enough time to make a cuppa-very exciting stuff indeed.

By way of a contrast the two days either side of this session produced startlingly different results. The first day, although being a very short session produced just one small pike however, it was taken from a swim lower down the river than I've ever caught pike  before so has given me a bit of confidence to explore those areas more in the future.

The third day, although naturally returning to the general area of my success again produced just the one pike- a nine pounder to save an otherwise bite less session. The reason for this lack of action?? Well, I'm putting it down to clear skies and bright sunlight because, this sole fish turned up late in the  afternoon, and just as some extensive cloud cover had occurred.

Whatever the case I'm sure these tidal pike will continue to prove a challenge and test our patience to the full.

 

An upper single.

A 'twenty' -my first for three years.

Another nice double.