I have left the river alone for a few days, in the hope the levels will drop down some what. However, the rain is still around but saying this, it has slowed down which in turn has dropped the river down a bit.
Finding slack water is still a hard task at the moment. The area I am in today is alright and also looks like a very good place for Pike.
One bait is more or less under my feet, up against the reed’s and the other rod is at the mouth on the stream flowing in.
There is a bit of turbulence in the water, but no real issue.
Despite this looking a perfect area, no Pike were had today.
Today I am out again on the river after the pike. The river is still in flood which limits the areas that I can fish, as the flood plans are full of water.
I arrived around 0930 and I was heading to the swim that I had previously fished. Despite not catching last time, I still think this is a perfect Pike swim.
With the sun out, it was looking even better. Both rod’s are being fished with deadbaits Mackerel and Herring being my choice today.
Unfortunately no joy again. I think I may try the lakes until the water level drops and clears up.
For the first trip of the year, I am Pike fishing on the river after that 25 lb.
There has been a lot of rain over the past two days and there will also be plenty of it today. I am going for a more static approach this time, as the weather is going to be rainy. Hopefully, this will result in a fish or two and if the wind and rain does calm down, I will move on later.
I have an assortments of baits and my bottle of predator Plus from Bait-Tech .
The weather has brightened up and has stopped raining for a bit, so I have gone for a walk about, to see if I can pick up a Pike in the slack water along the river.
After some 3 hour’s of walking and driving around, the only real prospect of a Pike would be back in the swim I started from! As the river was so on flood, it was hard to find a perfect spot.
By 1400 hrs, I was back there and hoping for the dusk take.
Just a perfect area. Dispite staying until after 5pm .
Today is the start of my Winter campaign to catch a 25lb Hampshire Avon pike. I have two months to do this, which should be plenty of time.
I do vary my approach from small single rod spots to large open bends on the river. I will also move around a bit but if along the way, I see a likely spot, I will always drop a bait in there for 15 minutes or so.
So far today, I have been in 3 areas and have had one fish.
A nice 21 lb 10 oz pike taken on a Joey Mackerel. I tend to use Mackerel, Herring or Sardines when Pike fishing.
Around 1230, I moved again and had a pike of around 10 lb.
Within 10 minutes of arriving in this swim – which was where the 20 lb (ers) had come from this morning.
I was having a bit of a dilemma now, as I did not expect to catch so fast. At this point in time, I had not had a bite to eat or even a drink due to my wondering around, looking for likely pike swims for my quick day session and for my barbel trips next year.
Unfortunately for me, my next choice of swim was on the opposite bank and I had spotted an angler walking along the other side heading for that swim. I will have to wait for another day.
With the sun slowly going down, I stayed in this swim as the only other option was a car journey move. This could have resulted in no free swims as it is the Bank Holiday after the Christmas weekend and there were a few angler’s on the bank today.
