‘For the next hour I sat watching motionless rods, no runs, no interest at all. The only thing to alleviate the monotony was a pair of kingfishers flashing their swift way up and down the river.’
Well, here I am after an eventfull year, ready to start my Winters Piking Sessions.I have been watching the river levels rise and fall like a brides nighty for the past two weeks, the rivers have been flowing bank high and above, and carrying lots of colour and suspended debris, I have been waiting for a cold snap, and the rivers to drop back to a reasonable level. Frustration is setting in. At last, no rain for a few days the levels have dropped and I can start planning.
It is now late November, and I am raring to go,I have a nice Yorkshire river in my sights, and it is known to hold a good head of apex predators, Esox Lucius, a worthy adversary and one that over the years I have developed a soft spot for, toothy, aggressive, but also quite fragile and needs careful handling. The Pike.
I had retired to bed early, at about 10.00pm, knowing I had an early start the next morn, my plan was to be on the riverbank for first light, and to prebait and fish probably 3 swims, I had mackerel, caught by myself this summer, and also a few whiting, which I had caught only two days ago , plenty of bait for a two rod roaming session on the river.
The alarm did not have a chance to sound, I was up and about at 4.30 am, it was pitch black outside, the foggy morning promised by the Met office had not appeared, and looking into the field across the road I could just vaguely see the outlines of a small group of Shetland Ponies owned by the local farmer . I quickly threw on some thermal clothing and went downstairs, setting to and preparing toast and tea, I sat pondering on the coming day. Where should I start , the end swim and work back fishing pre-baited swims as I approached the car, should I instead fish each swim blind and hope that a predator was at home? Questions, Questions.
Turning things over in my mind, I washed the pots (A brand new dishwasher had seen fit to pack up only days after purchase and I was not used to such domestic duties). After doing the housework, I then collected my gear together , prepared the night before , my bait in a cool bag with ice packs, my now filled flask and breakfast packup, coat and hat and headed out to the car.
As I drove down the road there was the slightest hint of rain on the windscreen, not forecast, but not bad, the car thermometer was showing a frosty 2 degrees Cent, and it was supposed to be overcast all day, it sounded perfect.
The 43 mile journey was uneventful apart from the usual backlog of traffic on the M62 Motorway, eventually at 6.40 I arrived, and turning off the village green headed down a farm track.It was still dark, and the track seemed to vanish into the distance, the hedges either side clothing the rutted track like a well tailored suit.
A rutted farm track
Arriving at the car park, I put on my headlight, the new batteries giving it a healthy beam. I quickly gathered my things together and made a decision, to head to the furthest swim of the day, pre-baiting a few others along the way as I went I was intending to spend probably an hour at each swim, and if there was no interest in my baits a move to the next would perhaps pay dividends as the pre-baited mackerel chunks would hopefully have attracted my target fish into the swims.
Walking along the edge of the field, with the river on my left, dawn began to break, pausing at each swim and deciding which ones to fish was a delight, I looked for swims with a deeper shelf close to the bank, I knew the river and its features, so it was a half done decision already making the choices. The swims would be even better if they were either between features, such as overhanging bushes or alternatively downstream of an obstruction that would divert the rivers flow and create a holding area.
It was also good to see that the river was now losing any colour it may have had from its recent floods.I scattered a few mackerel offerings in the rivers edge swims here and there as I trudged along the field edge, hoping they would be appreciated by the rivers fishy inhabitants.
One swim had neither feature nor crease, but I knew it had produced good sized pike in the past, so it was always going to be a banker for me, called the ‘beach’ swim it had a gravel bank which slowly sank away under the water and out of sight, to a depth of about five or six feet ,quite why this swim had always produced I did not know. There did not appear to be anything at all that would attract a predator, no cover, nothing that would attract a prey fish, but it never the less had a reputation for holding pike, and in fact I had caught a small jack pike here myself a couple of years ago , on a piece of static spam would you believe. Also, last January I had seen a 14 lb pike caught there (see TPR&F issue V, another tale of blanking).
The beach swim
I scattered in a few pieces of chopped mackerel and carried on downstream, eventually reaching my first chosen spot, a classic swim, overhanging bushes either side, a deepish drop off close to the bank, and very little current but a nice crease on the outside extremities of the bushes. It looked good. Plenty of cover for prey fish and pike alike.
I slipped and slid down the steep bank to the small ledge above the water, and there, I threw in a bit of bait before I put the rods together, a pair of Mk 1V carp rods, plenty beefy enough for anything this river could throw at them. One rod was married to a Mitchell 300, the second to a Gypsy D’Dor centrepin, both had 18lb BS mono loaded.
To the rod with the Mitchell 300 I clipped on a standard home made 18 inch steel trace with a pair of size 6 trebles with the barbs squashed down, a large swan shot was already squeezed onto the trace, I quickly attached a Joey mackerel to the trebles, one hook in the tail root, the second in the shoulder, I cast this rod upstream and allowed it to settle just behind the overhanging bush and on the inside of the crease, setting it in the rod rest I fitted a piece of plasticine to the line to act as a bite indicator, made sure the anti reverse was ‘off’ and then happy that the rod was set up and fishing, I turned to the second, an identical Mk 1V.
This rod was equipped with a float setup, a traditional ‘Fishing Gazette’ cork pike float with a slit in the body and a hole for a central peg. I had slightly adapted it by putting a tube in the central hole converting it from a fixed to a sliding float, I had had it for many years and it had seen battles with a few pike in that time, I was hoping that today would do it justice again.
Another wire trace with trebles that had squashed barbs was attached to the business end and then another Joey mackerel was securely attached the rig was cast in just downstream only a matter of 8 feet or so from the bank, this time upstream of the overhanging bushes. Both rods were now fishing , and with rods placed in the rests I sat back, ever watchful.
Dawn was now breaking and a few birds had started to move about in the trees, it was cold but not unbearably so, a hot cup of coffee from the flask warmed the inner man , as I was sat drinking it I was startled by a crashing from behind the bushes on the opposite bank, in the gathering light looking across I saw an inquisitive deer peeping over a bush, as ever when nature pays a visit I am never ready with a camera, before I could even reach inside my coat the deer was gone in a flash, never mind, it was probably too far away and not sufficiently light to make a good snap.
The first, hour passed quickly, neither rod had made so much as a twitch to indicate any interest in the bait, the float remained stubbornly motionless, as did the bottom fished bait on the second rod. Not at all nonplussed, it was time to make a move, gathering up my accoutrements and chair, rods, landing net and bank sticks strapped together I made my way to the second swim (the beach swim).
On arrival was a bit disheartened to find another angler had taken up residence, a few words of greeting and I made my way along the bank to the third swim. I did not mention I had pre baited the beach swim , and did not see him again so I have no idea if he had a successful day.
Approaching the third swim, I was wondering if it would be free, and was heartened to see it was vacant, scrambling down the bank I quickly set up both rods, float to my right and freelined deadbait to my left. There was no indication of any fish, nothing topping, no swirls etc, but it was the back end of November so not unusual. I settled myself down and had another coffee, feeling peckish I also nibbled on a ham bap that ‘She who must be obeyed’ had prepared for me. As I sat munching and slurping coffee, the float started to dip and make a slow move across the current toward the far bank.
I put down the coffee and sandwich, moved toward the rod and picked it up, I dislike leaving pike ‘runs’ too long before I strike, as it can result in deep hooked pike, so as it continued away I tightened the line to the float and struck firmly, there was a moments tension and then everything went slack, the float started to make its way downstream, I wound in the mackerel deadbait had clearly been grabbed, and its head was missing, did I strike too early? I thought not, I would rather not have a fish at all than have a deeply hooked one.
The mackerel still looked fit for purpose so back in it went, then I turned to sit down and promptly kicked over the coffee, leaning to pick the cup up I dislodged my ham bap from its precarious position on top of my bag and it ended up in the mud. Doh! so far then, one blank swim, one missed run and spilt coffe etc.
I tidied around the swim, and settled back down to wait for another run, its been my experience that a missed run does not affect a pikes appetite for grabbing the same bait again, so I was fully expecting more action from either rod, but no, for the next hour I sat watching motionless rods, no runs, no interest at all. The only thing to alleviate the monotony was a pair of kingfishers flashing their swift way up and down the river. I had had high hopes for the ledgered deadbait upstream rod as it was positioned just below an overhanging bush, and the area had been prebaited earlier but there had been no interest at all.
The swim of missed runs
Eventually it was time to move again, I had stayed put in this swim for much longer than usual, because there had been positive indications of fish being present, however, it had proved to be a false hope, so gathering the rods etc together again, I climbed the steep bank to make my way to the third and final swim of the day.
Making my way across the field I mused as to my giving a run more time to develop , is it worth it to ensure that a fish is hooked, or is it just too risky, in the past I have caught Pike with the remnants of rigs still embedded in their throats, luckily I have been able to remove the offending items, as I always carry several tools , long nosed pliers, long handled hook snips etc etc which make clearing the problems not too dificult a job at all. I came to the conclusion that my own method of striking quickly without waiting for the pike to ‘turn’ its bait was the way to go.
Soon I reached the third and final swim of the day, I settled down, placing the bank sticks near to hand, I cut the remnants of each used bait up and fed the swim both upstream and down, then as before the rods were cast in, downstream float fished, upstream ledgered, baits were upstream mackerel and downstream this time I used fresh caught whiting. Fresh whiting are really tough, once hooked they stay hooked, the trebles will not tear the body, and I have always had good results when using them, strangely, they are not freely available as baits and the more dedicated pike anglers never seem to use them, instead favouring the usual baits, mackerel, pollack, trout, lamprey etc, anyway the baits were cast in, and once again I sat back to try to finish my by now late breakfast, another coffee, and another ham bap, (the last muddy one had gone into the river to be grabbed by a pair of passing ducks).
The downstream rod was this time fished very close to the bank, I knew that there was a drop off to about five feet depth within only a couple of feet from the bankside, and also, there was an overhanging bush which provided a bit of cover, some leaves were missing but had been replaced by a bit of black plastic bag material, washed down no doubt by the recent floods.
The downstream swim – spot the float
So, I was now sat, and had begun to clock watch, I had to be home for 2.30pm, so time was getting short, I had to pack up at 1 pm latest, there was nothing to do except to keep an eye on the baited rods, and hope that a toothy predator of literally any size would come along to ‘Break my Duck’ but it was not happening, the hour hand on my wristwatch was getting ever closer to the crunch hour, and I started to slowly pack up the gear, stow away the rig box, and generally prepare to go.
I wound in the ledger rod, as I was unhooking the mackerel bait I suddenly heard the slow tick tick ticking of the ratchet on the reliable Grice and Young pin, turning I saw that the old ‘Fishing Gazette’ float was once again starting to bob off across the current, dropping the bottom rod I picked up the float rod, and once again struck, this time I connected and the Mk IV carp rod took on a very healthy curve as a large fish bolted away across the river, it was a bit of a battle for several minutes, sometimes the pike gained the upper hand, only to be turned by me using side-strain.
I did not want the pike to get too far upstream as there was a large snag mid-river which I had found on my last visit, and it would certainly be the end of the fight if it took me around it. Slowly I gained the upper hand and eventually the Pike was ready for netting, it filled the bentwood oak landing net, but was easily unhooked, being caught in the scissors by one of the two de-barbed trebles.
Now, I needed a photo and to weigh it, not being one for weighing most of my fish I rarely use my scales, I rested the pike in the landing net, and retrieved the scales and sling from the bottom of my bag, switching the scales on, I was a tad ‘dismayed’ to find the battery was flat, but no matter I set the phone up for a selfie shot, and the below is the result.
At last, a river pike of decent proportion
I think it is one of the best selfies I have ever taken, almost all of the fish is in it, and whilst I am not smiling, at least I am not frowning as is more usual. I am not sure how much she weighs, certainly not a huge fish but probably a good 15 lbs plus, and she will have lots more years to grow bigger, all larger Pike are believed to be female so ‘she’ it is. Anyway, that is my winters piking tale for this year, this time I managed to at least catch the one, but missed the double shot. Thank you for reading, seasons greetings to you all, and may 2023 bring you health, wealth and happiness.
Writing & Images David Craine Winter 2022
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