For several years I haven’t really had to think about where
to fish for Pike but since the natural disaster of this spring I’ve had no
choice. As much as I love the Broads it’s
getting to the stage where it will become no longer viable. The trouble I now have is finding somewhere that
meets my strict criteria and it will not be easy.
When I began Pike fishing in the early eighties I was lucky
to have excellent fisheries on my door step.
For fifteen years or so I didn’t need to spend more than twenty minutes
in the car to reach a good Pike water. We
took it for granted thinking this would always be the way but as we all now
know, good Pike fishing doesn’t last. For
most of the last twenty years I have travelled for at least an hour in any
direction for my Pike fishing, the waters I grew up fishing have been largely
overlooked. This autumn I’ve been having
a little look at old haunts, as you’d expect they’ve changed a lot but can I
see myself fishing them?
I literally grew up on the banks of ‘The Pits’, it was here
I learnt to fish and became addicted to Pike fishing. I witnessed other anglers catching big Pike
and decided I wanted a bit of that for myself.
Most of my early Pike fishing milestones occurred during this time and
it was here I was taught how to set up a float paternoster rig and yes a Pike
really would pick up a dead fish from the bottom. A walk around the place sees me passing swims
that hold many memories despite looking very different to when I spent my time
here. The trees have grown tall and
thick making it a much prettier place nowadays compared to the bleak new gravel
pit I remember. In places banks have
eroded forming new features whereas in others siltation has made areas much shallower
than I remember. The spot where I caught
my first twenty back in 1983 is now unsafe to fish due to fallen trees. The
nature of the fish stocks have changed too, predation from Cormorants has depleted
the silver fish shoals and Otters have seen off the Tench. The pit can no longer sustain the same head
of Pike that I remember from way back when.
These missing fish have been replaced by the species of choice of this
era, carp.
Once upon a time most of the anglers fishing
here would be casting wagglers and sitting on blue Shakespeare boxes, nowadays
its bivvies, bedchairs and buzzers. I
have no problem with whatever people choose to fish for but it seems that many
of the best areas for Pike are also good for carp. If the place is busy I may not be able to get
in a decent spot. A while back a few of
us tried to get a livebait ban overturned here, we didn’t expect to succeed and
so it proved. The carp anglers were
worried that us scruffy Pikers would bring disease ridden baits to the lake and
infect their precious carp. As we know,
this just never happens and it’s ironic because the original stock of carp here
died after illegal introductions of… more carp.
There are some very good anglers fishing for the carp these days,
however there are far more brainwashed sheep who follow the Korda manual and
catch very little. These people then
shout loudly and call for more carp to be stocked. Can I really get motivated to fish here?
From 'The Pits'
Our first thoughts were to try and propel our baits as far
out as we could. The late Nigel Forrest
of Breakaway Tackle had just designed a rig which streamlined everything and
allowed us to cast great distances.
Nigel’s rig wasn’t quite perfect but it was very good but didn’t catch
on. We used it to catch many fish
including some big ones. In mid-winter depth, range and location were
crucial and our streamlined rigs definitely caught us a few bonus fish. Bait-boats were rare in the late eighties so
we often had to resort to using party balloons to drift our livebaits to where
we wanted them. Anyone who is old enough
to have used this method will remember just how inefficient it could be but
with a bit of luck and the wind from the right direction, it did actually
produce a few fish. Over time we became more familiar with the ‘big one’ and
realised long range casting wasn’t always necessary. In fact most of the time it was possible to
catch fish quite close in. If I could be
bothered to check I’m sure I’d find I caught many more Pike close in than I
ever did to the big chucks.
The 'Big one'
A walk with the lure rod revealed this water had also
changed greatly. For a start the
bankside trees have spread and thickened so much that you just can’t get to the
water in many of the places I used to fish.
The water has also been developed for uses other than angling making it
anything but peaceful once the sun is out on a pleasant day. Apparently the water is still quite popular
with Pikers even now, making the few accessible areas potentially busy. Can I really be arsed to fish this one?
From the 'Big one'