Click play to watch video. Includes: Getting to know your venue - Tips on starting pike fishing - Advice on when to strike - Temperature relevant to the venue
The big thing as far as my fishing is concerned is that I have to enjoy it. I often get requests such as 'Could you do a video on this species?' or 'Could you do one on that venue? Although I appreciate the interest very much, the bottom line is that, in the truest sense of the meaning, I'm a pleasure angler. My fishing is based on what I fancy doing at that time, and following on from targeting pike last week, it was more of the same this time round.
Mute swans on the lake
I don't know about a kid on Christmas Eve, I often struggle to get to sleep the night before a fishing trip - and I'm in my 50s. So it was this time round, with the alarm set for 6.30am it was the early hours before I dozed off, and even then I was just cat-napping. Heading for a club lake in the neighbouring county of Shropshire, I was fishing by first-light. I was using my favourite method for pike - float-fished deadbaits.
The first fish on the bank
It's always good to net the first fish of any session and I did that an hour and a half in. It was a decent enough fish for the venue and that's important for all anglers to bear in mind; you can only catch what's in there. Although I always try to catch big fish whenever I go fishing, 'big' is relative to the venue. Within an hour of my opening pike I had another two runs, resulting in one fish and one where I 'pulled out'.
The second pike of the session
As you can see from the video, I ended the session with four runs resulting in two fish on the bank. On the nature front I managed to capture a few seconds footage of a common buzzard in flight, which a few moments earlier had been mobbed briefly by a carrion crow. I also saw - and heard - a pair of ravens, which is pretty common for the area. On arrival I also heard a muntjac in the woods surrounding the lake.
Winter sunshine on the lake
Happy with my two pike, I decided to see the week out with a couple of early-morning sessions on the Staffs/Worcs Canal after the elusive pike there. I covered that in last week's blog entry and highlighted just what a challenge it is to even catch one, regardless of size. So it was, as both outings resulted in a blank. But at least I had a chance as my baits were in the water.
Always keep your tools at hand
Both canal sessions were in atrocious conditions, with gale force winds and heavy rain. In fact on the second, which was the most severe, I couldn't put the umbrella up as it was so windy, so I just sat it out in the rain. There's always a positive though and at least, with it being from the SW, it was 'warm' rain. As this is the first blog entry of 2013, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a great, fish-filled year ahead. (Published January 4 2013)
(Blog entry 547)
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