Change

So it’s that time once again, I’m sitting here thinking where the hell did those twelve months go? The truth is they flew passed because it was a bloody busy year. Lots of good stuff and some not so good. Looking back I wonder that it all fit in one year and I wonder how we got through it with some sanity intact, or did we? For me fishing is often therapy, escapism, headspace whatever you call it its almost always pure pleasure.

My Pike fishing in 2014 was as enjoyable as I’d ever known it and this continued into the New year and right up until the river season finished. I managed to catch good fish from three different waters which included my first twenty pounder caught from my home county for a long time. When I checked I was surprised just how long. Then came spring and the Broadland Prymnesium which has been covered at length, the system has been devastated and my fishing may never be the same again. My Pike fishing this autumn has been slow, partly because of what has gone on in Norfolk and partly because I’m spending my time scouting out ‘new’ places to Pike fish. More about that another time? Probably not. What has become apparent is if I want to continue to enjoy the type of Pike fishing I’ve become used to then I have to get out of my comfort zone, for a while.

I fished ‘The Marsh’ for five years but this year I gave it a miss and I have to say I missed the place. The waters I fished during the spring and summer were nowhere near as pleasant and relaxing. I did manage to catch loads of fish including a few Carp and a solitary Tench. The fishing was interesting but not enough to inspire me to do the same again next year. For the last three seasons some of my fishing has been on more popular waters than I am used to and without the Marsh this percentage grew. I’ve reaffirmed what I already knew, if anything I’ve become even more anti-social. I have a couple of other waters in mind for next year and if it all pans out I may even be spoiled for choice. I’m not thinking too far ahead at the moment because it’s still winter and as yet I haven’t caught nearly enough Pike.

Different

I shall call this place “Strangeways” for reasons that will probably never become apparent.  I scouted the place a few weeks ago and decided though although this pit is smaller than I’d usually like to fish, it was just about big enough as long as it wasn’t busy.  I thought ‘what the hell?’ and here I was pulling the car up in the dark.  I chose to fish an area on the western side as it gave me plenty of water to cover but was also sheltered from the gales that were forecast for later in the day.  As I tackled up I was pleased to see bait fish topping in front of me, definitely good news.

 As it was my first visit I kept active, fishing two deadbaits which were recast regularly, starting in the margins and working outwards.  I also used a lure rod with a mixture of lures which had one thing in common, they were all sinkers.  This was so I could count them down and get a rough picture of depths and contours.  This method of ‘plumbing’ sometimes gets a bonus fish and this was the case today, after half an hour a Replicant was engulfed by a hungry jack.  The lure was well inside the gob but that didn’t stop the fish chucking it out just as I bent down to chin it. 

After an hour or so of searching and dodging showers I’d found a steep margins and a gradual slope from left to right.  I was settled fishing a float ledgered Bluey just beyond some weed on the slope and a ledgered Smelt in the deeper water.  I bought an Oval brolly in January but because I like to travel light I’d only actually used it twice in all this time.  With a rough forecast I couldn’t leave it behind this time, in fact I had to put it to good use and was impressed at how stable it was in even the strongest gusts of wind.  I’ve worked out that if I’m careful (!) I can leave the poles attached, roll it all up and stuff it in my quiver.  That way I can leave the bag and the bloody groundsheet (I can’t ever envisage using) at home.

By 1100 I was restless so wound in the deadbaits and went searching with a lure rod.  Within fifteen minutes I’d moved my whole kit a bit further down the bank and was fishing a different area.  The bluey was cast beside a nice looking overhanging tree and the smelt lowered into a deep margin then once again I set about plumbing/fishing with the lure rod.

So Strangeways, it’s definitely not the prettiest place but I’ve fished a lot worse.  There wasn’t the array of birdlife that I’m used to but I did see a Sparrowhawk zipping around, there were plenty of Pigeons and Moorhens, a noisy Blackbird, a Wren and a friendly Robin who shared my roll.  Strange there were absolutely no ducks?  By early afternoon the forecast gales had arrived and I’d had enough. I enjoyed the fishing today, it was all new and interesting as I learnt my way around.  I’m sure I’ll return with a better idea of how to approach the place, a few ideas have already sprung to mind.  I’d prefer a larger water but today I had the place to myself (apart from two walkers who said hello, one of which may have been a couple of cans short of a six pack) and had room to spread out.  So far so good but if the place gets busy and the Pike are scarce it could see a quick end to my enthusiasm. 

The latest Pikelines magazine arrived this week and it’s the best for some time with articles for Pikers of all experience as well as a couple of absolute cracking reads that are as good as it gets.  Worth the club membership alone.  Pikelines has been around since the formation of PAC in 1977 and this is the 150^th issue.  This must be the longest running Pike fishing publication in the UK and I doubt there is an older ‘Pike fishing’ magazine anywhere in the world?  Unlike most contemporary fishing magazines Pikelines is mostly free from blatant product placements and advertorials.  Mostly.

There are no Pike left in Norfolk

There are no Pike left in Norfolk…  Yes Broadland anglers have been laying that double bluff down for years but unfortunately there is an uncomfortable element of truth in it now.  Yes the ‘Special place’ has always had low stocks of Pike and has always been renowned for being a tough fishery but now its way beyond ‘tough’.

I had my best season in 2011-12 when almost every visit saw big Pike coming to the boat.  It was around this time that a dramatic, unnatural increase in Otter numbers seemed to occur.  From seeing Otters a couple of times per season I was suddenly seeing them almost every time I went out.  That spring saw a Prymnesium Parva outbreak on Hickling and there seemed to be a dramatic decline in Pike stocks immediately after.  One season we were catching consistently, the next we were struggling, yes we caught fish but it had got a lot harder.  There then followed a couple of years of gradual improvement and towards the end of last season there was real cause for optimism.  Then came the devastating Prymnesium outbreak this spring http://fishingsgreat.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/carnage.html

I resolved to keep on fishing anyway.  I just love being there; to me there is no place in the Pike fishing world like it.  After ten years of fishing the special place I like to think I know my way around, (in fact I’m proud that I didn’t blank for two years) but even so this year has been tougher than tough.  Seven full days have produced just four Pike.  It’s hard to stay positive when you cannot be sure there are even any Pike left in your vicinity.  In the past we always knew we were in with a chance at least.  While I think about it I haven’t seen a Bittern this year and can’t even recall hearing one.  

Is there any cause for optimism?  Well there are a few Pike left; even the Jacks are cherished more than ever, these are the future. There is still plenty of Roach and skimmers so the surviving Pike will not be short of food.  Recovery will come in time but how much time?

On my last visit to Norfolk I passed the dredger which is tied up and ready to commence work once again when the temperature falls.  Yes the genius minds at the Broads Authority still refuse to acknowledge the connection between a disturbance in the water column and the Prymnesium blooms.  They’re not suction dredging either it’s the good old clam shell bucket, an environmental disaster waiting to happen.  The trouble is the BA has the “right” to dredge.  There is a school of thought saying they might as well get it over and done with now while there is little or nothing to lose.  On the other hand it’s more than hypocritical for an organisation that calls itself a ‘National Park’ (even though it fails to meet the criteria for such a title) to do something that is potentially environmental suicide.  As we’ve said before, whether or not there is life below the water makes no difference to the weekend admirals, all they need is a sheet of water.  The wealthy sailing fraternity is the tail wagging a mangy old mutt called the BA.

More history

If you had nothing better to do in March you may have seen a review of Graham Booth’s “History of Pike Fishing Volume 1”, which I thoroughly enjoyed so it was only a matter of time before I picked up a copy of volume 2.

http://fishingsgreat.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/a-history-of-pike-fishing-by-graham.html

As might be expected, volume 2 picks up right where the first book left off, the chapters begin at number eight to reflect this.  The first period covered is between 1951 and 1971 with characters like Bill Giles and Dennis Pye featuring strongly.  The heyday of Norfolk Broads features, peaking with Hancock’s forty followed by the Prymnesium disaster of 1969.  Something all modern visitors to Broadland are only too aware of.  The figure of Dick Walker also looms large as although not truly a Piker his influence on “specimen hunting” in general is massive.  It was in this period that Pike angling ceased to be a purely mobile, active approach and one of patience with multiple rods, mostly sat in one spot became more popular.

The chapters that follow deal with the period from 1971 to the present day.  They begin with the characters that set us on the course of ‘modern’ piking.  Fred Wagstaffe and Bob Reynolds were anglers I was aware of but I didn’t realise how influential and ahead of their time these two were, particularly with their use of lures.  I was well aware of Ray Webb and the great Barrie Rickards.  These two men were masters of all piking methods and produced probably the most influential Pike fishing book ever.  I can’t explain why but somehow I have avoided acquiring a copy of “Fishing for Big Pike”.  Another famous Piker of this time was Fred Buller who is probably more influential as an author than a Piker.  His “Domesday book…” certainly had a massive effect on me.

From here on in the book is covering ground familiar to me, modern Piking history from my own lifetime.  I remember much of what is covered although in most cases I can remember bugger all else away from fishing through those years.  Graham Booth takes us through the birth of the ‘Pike Society’ and its eventual transformation into the PAC.  It is impossible to understate how much these organisations changed attitudes towards Pike.  Without PAC in particular, Pikers in the modern era would not have been able to enjoy the quality of Pike fishing that have been privileged with. 

The rise and fall of British Pike waters is charted; The Fens, The Broads, Gravel pits and Trout waters.  All of the famous captures, faces and places are given due recognition.  There are chapters dedicated to Scottish and Irish piking too.  Inspired by the likes of Wagstaffe and Buller English Pikers ventured to these places and over the years the locals developed a love for Pike fishing too. 

 Pike fishing in the eighties, That would have made a good book title?

The rise, fall and rise again of Lure fishing forms the subject of chapter 15.  We Brits have been slow to recognise the worth of lures but eventually caught on.  In the final chapter Booth asks whether Pike is once more considered a “Game fish”, particularly following the rise of fly fishing in the UK.  In my opinion Pike aren’t game fish, they are better than that.  Few species can be fished for with such a wide variety of methods in such diverse waters.

Although the history is now complete, happily the book itself isn’t.  We are taken back in time to the golden age and its “Champion Pike fisher” Alfred Jardine.  Graham Booth’s extensive research has exonerated Jardine and put his 35lbs ‘Maidstone Pike’ back where it belongs as the first English “Mammoth” and first record Pike in our sport’s wonderful history.  It occurred to me that although I had enjoyed the whole history of Pike fishing it is this golden age that has intrigued me the most.  This is the exact opposite to what I had expected before I began reading.

A History of Pike Fishing is published by Harper Fine Angling and it goes without saying that the book is of the highest standard and beautiful to behold.  As I said in March, Graham Booth has done anglers a service in documenting our sport, not just Pikers, all anglers owe him a debt of thanks.  Pike fishing has a great history and these are two great books.

http://www.harperanglingbooks.co.uk/ahistoryofpike.html

Dirty deeds done dirt cheap

I've mentioned the local GAPS fishing club on here a few times over the years, unfortunately I've had more bad things to say than good.  The club underwent a big change just over two years ago, as mentioned here;
http://fishingsgreat.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/in-club.html
It seemed for some time this would be a change for the better but sadly it began to wobble and the wheels have now definitely come off.  Reading back what I blogged at the time now leaves a feeling of sick irony.

For over a year there has been talk of making one of the clubs waters (known as the Small lake) into an easy, overstocked fishery.  I have no problem with this in principle but there are individuals who find it impossible to believe this is possible while there are Pike in the water...  Yes that old chestnut, in 2015!  (This was also attempted around ten years ago when Pike were removed from the water on the quiet and killed.  The very fact it has reared up again proves the policy is doomed to failure.)  Needless to say there has been a great deal of heated debate but it seemed that it had died down and sanity restored.  Sadly not so.

The club issues news letters every now and then and the most recent caused me much food for thought.  I had been aware that there was a policy to move Bream and Tench from one pit (known as the large lake) into the proposed 'small lake' easy water.  I have always been uncomfortable with this.  Firstly I prefer natural fishing, I don't want to catch fish that have grown to a decent size in one water then transferred to another.  To me that's artificial, meaningless, plastic fishing.  Secondly I don't believe it does a fish that has grown to a 'specimen' size any good at all to be moved into another, far smaller water.  One of the justifications for this policy was a supposed 'oxygen problem' on the larger water.  As far as I know there has been one occasion when there may have been a dip in dissolved oxygen.  This has given an excuse for the real motivation for this policy, it will allow the carp to grow bigger.  No one seems concerned about any oxygen problems caused by overstocking in the 'small lake'.  I should state here that both lakes were once one larger water before being reworked, therefore as far as I know, EA permission is not required to move fish.

Reading down a bit further I noticed the decision had been taken to stock the 'small lake' with carp and straight away the alarm bells rang.  As soon as I read that I knew that moving Pike would be on the agenda again.  I challenged the club secretary and was invited to attend the club's monthly meeting, which I did on Monday, the first occasion I was able.  It was my intention to voice my opinions then walk away and not renew my membership.

I initially challenged the moving fish policy and was told by one attendee that if I was against moving fish I must therefore be against stocking fish, as it was the same thing.  As far as I am concerned the two things are absolutely not the same and I really couldn't believe my ears.  I was told the 'small lake' "didn't fish very well this year".  Well click on my blog entries for May to July 2015 and you will see evidence to the contrary.  I caught Carp, Tench, Bream, loads of Rudd and hundreds of Perch.  I actually tried to avoid catching these latter species so I could keep my bait on the bottom for long enough to attract a Tench!  There are plenty of fish in the lake, just the wrong species for some.

The subject of Pike was brought up by someone else in the room and I took the opportunity to challenge the committee.  This went pretty much as I expected but what was disappointing was people who claimed to be Pike anglers actually support the decision. (To me there is a world of difference between a Pukka Piker and someone who chucks out a deadbait in the winter when the carp have become hard to catch.) Some even claimed this was a Pike welfare issue as a large Pike was being hammered in this tiny lake.  I countered the Pike would get no less hammered if moved to the larger (but still small) lake as intended.  Also I stated they would never be able to remove all the Pike so it made sense to leave the apex predator where it was for reasons that are obvious to most.  Maybe I should have kept quiet because the committee began discussing electrofishing the place!  You couldn't make it up...

Finally I asked why the committee hadn't announced it's decision to move Pike.  I was told that actually they had.  Well I double checked and they bloody well didn't.  The decision was made weeks ago and it was deliberately hidden for as long as possible.  I didn't notice at the time but there was a certain person in the room who was unusually quiet, others had obviously been primed to do the talking for him.

Following the open meeting and after I had been asked to leave, two lads had been summoned before the committee in a closed room to hear disciplinary charges.  Their reputed crime was parking their cars in the wrong place.  Now every time I walk around these lakes I see rules being broken.  It could be argued that carp anglers wandering away from their rods is no big deal but that wouldn't stop an EA bailiff issuing a ticket.  This is just one example, other rules are ignored by the very people who should be enforcing them.  That aside it has become apparent that the inner circle of the GAPS club can do whatever they want with impunity.  These lads admitted they had parked in the wrong place because they didn't know any different.  The real reasons they were brought before the committee were; 1)  They've been catching quite a few carp from a challenging water. 2)  They are not part of the clique.

In the days that have followed I've had many conversations and it has become apparent that I'm one of many people who is angry at this state of affairs.  Discussions in this period have revealed a much wider dissatisfaction and it isn't just Pike anglers that are annoyed.  Many long standing, loyal members of the club have simply resigned and walked away.  Other things have come to light this week that I cannot mention at this stage.  One of which, If proven, is potentially disastrous and would make my grievance about Pike removal seem trivial.

I should make it clear that although I have been referring to "The committee", not all of its members are involved in dirty deeds.  There are a couple of top blokes involved, others are genuine people with whom I have a difference of opinion.  Sadly other committee members are playing politics and feathering their own nests.

 From the high hopes and optimism of a couple of years ago we are back to the situation we had a decade ago, where the GAPS club only represents one section of anglers and feels it is acceptable to treat Pike and Pike anglers as a nuisance not an asset. The whole situation is reminiscent of the end of Orwell's "Animal Farm" where a few years after the revolution it's impossible to tell the difference between the Bolsheviks and the Romanov's.  Or to put it another way, a bit like the feeling we had a few years after voting for Blair.  Never trust a politician.

Wherever next?

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'

 There is another water close by which also holds special memories for me.  If I was schooled at the pits then the ‘Big one’ would have been my college.  It took a year or so to come to terms with this place which aside from being very big was also four times as deep as what I had become used to.  My friends and I worked hard, fished hard and began to enjoy consistent success.  We were used to fishing gravel pits where almost everything was ‘within range’ now we were faced with a big sheet of water. 

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'

 The ‘big one’ was simply beautiful and the size of the place meant we almost always fished in space, peace and quiet.  I fished this water regularly for six or seven years and became spoilt; I grew so used to uncrowded quiet fishing now nothing else will do.  My dislike of busy waters must have been mentioned on here a hundred times, it all stems from my time at the ‘big one’.  The water’s heyday was nearly twenty five years ago, its two decades since I fished the place regularly and ten years since I’ve fished it at all.  In the early nineties the fish stocks collapsed, Cormorants and herbicides were blamed but no one knows the reason for sure.  All I do know for sure is the Pike became very skinny before they all but died off. 

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'

I’m getting the feeling that going back to these places will be a mistake; I should really be moving on and looking for somewhere new. I should be feeling enthused by this prospect but there is the fear that the best places and the best days have been and gone.

The Riverflow

The PAC annual Convention took place a couple of weeks ago and as usual it was a cracking day and night.  I spent most of the day helping Mark and Gary on the PAC products stand which was a bloody good laugh as always.  I didn’t manage to see any of the talks but I rarely do.  From what I heard all three went down very well.  In between talks the trade hall was buzzing and all the traders seemed happy.  The bar was also very busy but you wouldn’t expect anything else.  After the convention all involved have a chance to let their hair down with a glass of beer or six and this opportunity was gleefully embraced.  A pub full of Pikers is a great place to spend an evening and all left suitably refreshed.

I’d planned to pick up a shiny new fishing book at the convention and due to surprise circumstances I ended up walking away with two.  I remember reading articles by Dilip Sarkar in some of the earliest ‘Pikelines’ magazine but the name seemed to drop out of the Piking scene.  A few years ago Dilip and the Sarkar family reappeared with a bang and his love for fishing running water was obvious.  Having written almost forty books on Second World War history it was almost inevitable we would see a book called River Pike by Dilip Sarkar. 

No angler, no matter how dedicated could possibly write with experience about all of the various types of river we have in this country.  So while Dilip himself writes about his own local rivers he has sensibly recruited several other river Pikers from around the country to share their experiences.  Each writer brings a different approach, not just to the fishing but also the format of the chapter. 

However the first half of the book is mainly written by Dilip and focuses on the Midlands Rivers, Severn, Wye and Avon.  There are overviews of the rivers, a bit of history which tells each reader how the rivers characteristics came to be.  Then follow insights on how best to tackle them and several anecdotal pieces sprinkled in too.  As ever, a method that works on one piece of water may not be as effective on another.  Other writers help out here too with good contributions from Chris Leibbrandt who covers the Tidal Severn, Martin Mumby with a great tale of a Wye monster and Steve Bown on his beloved Avon to name a few.  An angler who has never tackled these waters would definitely get a good insight into how to go about it and sensibly attention is not drawn to any particular areas.

From a beginning in the Midlands the book then ventures mostly south and eastwards.  The Fens and Broads already have recent books dedicated to them so these areas are only really covered in brief but in Denis Moules, Paul Belsten and Stephen Harper you couldn’t pick any three people better qualified to do so.  Almost all of my river Piking has been done in this area and it’s nice to see some familiar waters featured, some famous and others not so.

Small river big Pike

 Phil Wakeford describes his fishing on the Thames, a river I’ve fished just the once but enjoyed a good days piking.  I particularly liked Bill Rushmer’s description of his one-time Thames record Pike, what a fish!  In the introduction Neville Fickling is described as “the Godfather of modern Pike fishing” and he writes about his experiences fishing the Trent.  Nev bears no resemblance to Marlon Brando but his chapter is excellent.  I was a little disappointed that the Wessex rivers weren’t given greater coverage but the two anecdotal stories by Terry Theobald and Jerry Lloyd are both very good.  The book only travels northwards on one occasion but ‘Dangerous’ Dave Greenwood’s chapter on the Yorkshire Ouse is my favourite piece in the book.  Not only were Dave and friends pioneering a water new to them, they did so trolling lures.  A method that at the time was new to them too.  I followed a similar path on some fenland rivers several years ago but without Dave’s spectacular success.  Pat Henry tackles his adopted River Shannon and gives a great account of how tough it is to tackle Ireland’s greatest river.  With perseverance and dedication there are still unknown monsters out there. 

A theme running through this book is just how demanding river Piking can be.  It is a world away from sitting in comfort behind alarms on a stillwater.  Yes this approach can work on rivers but consistency requires a much greater physical and mental effort; you need to get up off your backside and get moving, a lesson it took me too long to learn.  My own favourite venue is a river system but I don’t really consider myself a river Piker?  The effort required is at least the equal and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  Challenging fishing = interesting fishing.  Over the years I’ve caught Pike from fifteen different rivers including many that feature in the book so I share the buzz and passion of these Piking writers.

River Pike is published by Harper Fine Angling books so is laid out by the master Stephen Harper himself.  Stephen has a reputation for producing books that are not only great reads but are beautiful to look at too.  Straight away it is obvious this book has Mr Harper’s magic touch, it is full colour throughout and has countless great photos of fantastic Pike and fabulous scenery.  This book was not originally on my radar when I went to the convention but is a very good read and sits well amongst the favourites on my book shelf.

More details here;http://www.harperanglingbooks.co.uk/RiverPike.html

My Pike season has well and truly started and so far has gone pretty much as expected; it’s tough and challenging, more so now than ever. I expect to take far more photos of scenery and wildlife than I do Pike this season but I’m up for it.  So far the scenery and wildlife have been very good…