As the darker morning start to set in, with a hint of freshness in the air, pike fishing takes on a different character - this is what it's all about. I got to the river at first light this morning, with the hope of catching a few pike.
After trying a few different swims, i got to a slow paced glide going under an overhanging tree which quickly provided my first run. The float bobbed a few times, and with the hope of avoiding deep hooking a struck quickly into something solid. Unfortunately the hook pulled after 10 seconds or so....they always seem bigger when you lose them!
Moving to the next swim, this offered a much deeper hole close in next to a raft of weed and overhanging tree - a perfect pike swim (also a perfect chub and perch swim!!). It wasnt long until my float bobbed and then quickly dissapeared, mackerel head the bait. I picked up my rod, and was about to strike when i noticed my overfilled spool of line was tangled. Before hitting into the pike, i had to sort this, all the time knowing a potential leviathon was munching at my bait. After 30 seconds or so it was sorted; the pike was ponderously moving upstream with the mackerel, and i hit into it - the result being an 8lb pike in fighting fit condition.
With the river being high on my local river, i decided on the lower reaches. The water was still pushing through here, but easily manageable.
With most of my river piking, location is simple. There is a fair depth by my feet, so i simply look for features such as overhanging trees. However, here the water is inches deep by my feet, but gradually slopes away to a fair depth. Also, there isn't sufficient flow to be able to read the water. I'm pretty new to stretches like this, so decided to start pretty far out, and gradually bring it closer in further up the slope until i connected. Bait was half Mackerel (i have a freezer full to use up!) using float ledger tactics. Third cast out, and about 2 rods out, i had a take after 30 seconds or so, which ended up with this low double ar 11lb 4oz.
Despite a short move downstream, the only other action was trying to catch a pike by my feet, which bolted. All in all, a nice few hours on the bank.
