After an enjoyable first trip to Ardleigh Reservoir we were pretty keen to make a swift return, so after booking another day off work and making a quick phone call we were all set to go.
On our arrival we were informed that some big fish had been caught recently so we were pretty optimistic for the day ahead. Unfortunately, the day didn’t go quite as well as we had hoped for but as always we enjoyed it nevertheless. Club member Nigel did manage some success as he managed to catch two pike with the biggest weighing in at around 6lb which, funnily enough, were caught on an 8” Yellow Crackle replicant lure, the same lure with which we had success on our recent visit.
After catching the reservoir bug we were back again in a matter of weeks and again found it hard going especially after we had lost 2 decent sized pike at the start of our session, these were hooked on large lures but unfortunately were lost close to the boat. A number of hours had passed without any sign of another fish and things were looking a bit grim. It had been raining for most of the day but around 4 o’clock we finally hooked a fish.
Nigel had caught the biggest pike of the day which weighed around 12lb.He also landed a second fish of 7lb which was caught on a large 8” yellow hot tail replicant lure. For a change we also fished with dead bait float tactics, the baits we used were Large Smelt and Herring which accounted for 2 of the 3 pike. These were all caught within half an hour of each other. We are sure that in the near future we will strike lucky at Ardleigh if we put in a little more time, we have also learnt that no matter how hard your day is it’s still worth hanging in there and waiting in case they do just come on the feed like they did in this case.
On a couple of other occasions whilst on my rest day from work I had fished the forty foot drain at Ramsey. This drain has always been a popular venue for the predator angler over the years, so I decided to give it a go. The national angling press have also reported a number of pike and zander being caught recently from this drain. I did manage to catch some nice pike from here, with some weighing up to 11lb 4ozs so far, all of which have been caught on a number of different types and colours of lures.
A total of 59 pike have been accounted for since our campaign began so things are moving along nicely, leading up to the colder months when, fingers crossed, we hope to start getting amongst some bigger fish.
The Cambourne Pikers were delighted to be called upon in September to help the local Cambourne Scout Group. Basic fishing techniques were shown to them along with the importance of correct handling of the fish, and boy did they do great or what!
We all met at Lake Ewart at 10 o’clock one Saturday morning and, after a quick introduction, it was all hands on deck. In a little over 2 ½ hours over 100 fish were caught between the scouts. We think that was a great achievement to say the least, and we must mention how extremely well behaved they all were and what a great credit they are to their Cambourne scout group. WELL DONE!
Until next time Good Fishing Stuart