Since the beginning of the New Year things have been very difficult to say the least, the pike anglers have only managed a single fish so far this year. In truth we haven’t been out us much as we’d have liked but, what with the weather playing its part on the days we were off work, and then work commitments on other weekends, it has been difficult.
On a more positive note, it’s now only a matter of weeks before we take the long drive north to join up with The Pike Anglers of Great Britain, to fish Cobbinshaw Reservoir.
Here we hope to fulfil our dreams of catching a large Scottish twenty pound pike which we do think could be a realistic target. Last year The PAC fished The Lake of Menteith and caught a staggering amount of pike, including 1 fish of over thirty pound, 16 twenty’s, 42 doubles and more than 150 smaller fish.
The PAC will fish Menteith again this year, in fact only a day before we fish Cobbinshaw. We couldn’t fish Menteith this time around but we do hope that Cobbinshaw will fish just as well or even better. Will let you know…
What with things seemingly to be more frustrating of late, I have been doing much reading to see if I can learn more about catching those illusive 20lb fish we have been after. My latest read is called “MEGAPIKE, The Return” by Eddie Turner and his friend and fishing companion, Jason Davies. They are, without doubt, two of the finest Pike anglers in the country, catching many large Pike over twenty pounds and, more impressively, many over thirty pounds. The book tells the stories of some of their own and friends’ adventures and captures from their impressive past years chasing these memorable fish. There are many truly inspirational photos of E.T and friends. This book is a must for any pike angler’s bookshelf.
Early January we fished round three of the Predator Cup. It turned out to be a very disappointing day as, for the first time in the cup no fish were caught. We had hoped that it would have been a very productive day, we were told some time last season by local anglers that this particular stretch produced a lot of big predators in the past. The only unfortunate thing about this stretch though was that it was about a 6km walk.
Was this why it was so under fished by any chance?!
On our arrival we were dismayed at what we’d found. The swim was not as we had expected because much thick silt weed had covered the bottom along with a couple of very large sunken snags.
After such a long walk we still gave it a go but with no success, so we decided to leap frog back along the drain, heading towards the car. Many hours had passed by without so much as a bite, and what with the light now fading as well we decided to admit defeat and headed home.
Whilst most rivers and drains were taking on extra water due to the recent flooding I decided to try a lake I fished many years ago. Not knowing its true potential I decided to give it a go as I knew it had held pike but to what size I had no idea.
I chose a bank of the lake which had many overhanging and sunken trees which I was sure would hold a pike or two. Many hours passed by without a bite so I decided to take a walk around the lake to see if I could find out any more information.
Having been told that a twenty one pound pike had been caught recently I was more than optimistic, even more so when they told me that it came from the very swim I had chosen to fish.
After hearing this I was back to my swim faster than a rat up a drainpipe, hoping I could still be in with a shout as the light was now fading and time was running out. Feeling more optimistic a new fresh smelt was mounted on two size six trebles and with a gentle lob to the end of the sunken tree the trap was now set, all I had to do now was sit and wait.
Half an hour or so had past before finally my float began to show some signs of life then eventually slipped beneath the water’s surface, heading off out into the lake.
A good firm strike was made and the fish was on, straight away I knew this could the biggie I’ve been after. With a healthy bend in the rod and plenty of weight on the other end it just had to be………to be continued