Don't mention the 'B' word!

The Drains - Blank one...

Well it was bound to happen, the dreaded 'B' word (Blanked) has happened to me on my last to sessions. I fished the drains yesterday, I headed to an area that I don't fish too often these days. Mostly because it gets a little too much pressure than I'd like, when mooching about on Friday morning there was nobody there so I set up the rods and tried my luck. I sat patiently all day but rods remained motionless at least until I packed them away and sulked off home.

The Reservoir - Blank Two...

An early session with Al on the reservoir was planned, 3 rods baited, 3 different baits. Not a touch all day. Not even a dropped run. Like most fishermen when I don't catch, I look for who or what element to blame and I could certainly waffle on and hypothesize about why I think I've blanked for two days on the run, but I'll spare you the drivel. The highlight of the session was the bacon butties that I had for dinner :)

Static vs Leapfrogging

I decided that I would leapfrog down the drains rather than staying static today. Actually I did a bit of both. I wanted to see if moving about produced anymore fish. My plan was to fish on the first peg until 11.30 and then up sticks and move about a bit.

On occasion of late I have struggled to fit mid doubles into my FOX Predator net, it's just not up to the job. I had an old carping net in the garage which I'd kept in case it ever came in handy, I was talking to Dave Lumb the other week about Piking nets and he recommended using some mesh that he had in stock, finally I could make use of the old net here is a linky to Daves website DLST he only sells quality gear and his range of rods are what most Pikers aspire to , sadly I can't afford any yet, but they're on my list.

The action at first was pretty slow until I caught a tiny Pike and an average Perch on the Jig. I was about to pack up and start about my journey when I caught sight of a fizz of bubbles near my right hand float was there a Pike in the area? Seconds later this thought was confirmed as the float bobbed and then vanished under the water at some pace, it would seem that this Pike had read the script today as the time was bang on 11.30. A good strong Pike had taken my bait a nice lump too, probably around 12lb's or so.

Time for the move, I walked to the complete other end of the drain, this would make things easier for my return journey at dusk. I fished all three rods on my 'Old Faithful' bait, this I thought would give me a better chance of landing some more fish.

I may as well have stayed put, as I didn't get so much as a snifter during the rest of the session. The leapfrogging/Static debate is inconclusive, and in my opinion without proper research will remain so. There is something appealing making camp and sitting it out rather than going to the effort of keeping on the move. My point is that the drain is like a road for Pike and as long as you cast to the right spots and you're using good bait and the right tactics they'll come along in the end.

Now that's a net

The new net christened :)
These are what you come for

Definitely a brolly day

The weather man tried his best to stop me going fishing today, he warned of a massive band of rain that was to empty it's payload over the northwest. Needless to say it didn't work, that's why the umbrella was invented.

I made my way to the drain and managed to set up camp before the impending downpour arrived. As promised it made it's unwelcome appearance at around 9am, bringing with it some powerful gales.

I was weighing up the job doubting that I'd catch in these conditions, when my float bobbed under and was away. A Pike of around 7lb's or so led me a merry dance, tail walking and clearing the water by a couple of feet in the process.

Mid afternoon and the rain finally died away, but the winds remained relentless. On more than one occasion I feared I may lose my umbrella.

It was a long wait until I saw my float move again, a peculiar take revealed perhaps the smallest Pike that I have ever caught on a dead bait, a pound in weight if I was lucky. I spared myself and the Pikes humiliation by not photographing it and returning it to the water post haste.

Now it's at this point that I should have called it a day, gone home and put my feet up. But oh-no I stayed until the end, the rain came back thus giving me a soaking as I packed up. I never seem to learn, I suppose I never will either. I am the 'Just one last cast and you never know I may catch kind of guy'

Better than a blank!

Someplace different

A change of scenery was called for today, instead of heading to the drains, myself and Jonny Panto headed to a couple of different locations.

First stop : The river Yarrow and our target was to be Chub on the jig. We tried a few locations creeping down the banks and fighting through the undergrowth, but none of the swims produced fish, except my last one, I found a deep hole and took great pleasure in watching a chublet spot my Jig and hit it with great force.

Second stop : The Leeds Liverpool canal, but a section that neither of us has fished before, our target this time was to be Perch. It didn't quite workout that way though, as I didn't get so much as a follow from one. I did manage to catch something - a Jack Pike of around 2lb's. I caught it on very light tackle and got a great fight. This section of the canal looks pretty Pikey and I'd like to head back there soon and target Pike on dead baits.

Yarrow Chub

Great fun on light tackle

A move produces the goods

I'm really cramming in the sessions on the drain this week, Christmas is coming though and I'm going to get a lot busier with work, so as they say 'I may as well make hay while the sun shines'

I started the session Jigging for Perch, I caught a few throughout the day, the biggest around 12oz. I'm loving this method for picking up bait rather than waiting for the fish to feed (Or not) on my maggot offerings.

The Pike fishing was once again pretty slow today, despite my early start it wasn't until after dinner until I caught my first Pike, my old faithful bait had produced the goods again, another blank saved. This Pike wasn't going to win any beauty competitions, it's mandible was hanging off it's mouth, probably the result in shedding a trace from a previous snap off, it also had deformed fins, see photo below.

There is often a debate that gets mentioned on the drain, and it's the debate of if you're not catching should you move? There is a technique that is known as leap frogging, this is where you work your way down the drain, moving your rods and casting every 20 minutes or so. The theory is that eventually you'll drop on to a Pike. The other side to this debate is that Pike are nomadic, and if you stick it out long enough a passing fish will probably find your bait. I usually stick to the latter, but today as my floats lay motionless I decided to pack up and work my way down to the start of the drain, technically not leap frogging as such, but it's not often that I would go to the effort of moving swim once I'm there I make camp and sit it out.

The move paid off as with an hour my near margin rod was in, a good fight ensued, there was a hair raising moment as during the fight the Pike snagged me under a bush. I managed to land it in the end, good job too as at 12lb 6oz it wasn't to be sniffed at. Like an idiot I forgot to take my camera today so I was grateful that a friend of mine Eddie just so happened to be passing to capture the moment on my phone.

So in summary..... Perhaps when the going's tough and I'm not catching, pack up and move

Torn mandible
Deformed fin
12lb 6oz

No big girls - Two welcome Jacks

Jonny Panto phoned me yesterday and the little rapscallion confessed that in my absence he'd sneaked on to my peg. I asked him how he'd done, and I have to confess that I did chuckle a bit when he told me that he'd blanked.. :)

This morning I headed back to the peg in question, and the fishing was indeed tough going. I used a Jig that Panto had passed on to me, he's been catching a lot of Perch on these of late and I tied one on and put one to the test. First cast and bang I was straight in to a Perch. Wow! This will do me I'm going to bag up on this method... Wrong! I must have cast around 200 times afterwards and nothing, not even a take, a classic case of beginners luck

One of my Pike rods was finally in, a very welcome Jack of around 7lb's was to be my blank saver.

Allan came down to test out some spinner baits that he'd picked up, which was handy as his photography skills were about to be needed.

6PM and dusk was approaching it was getting time to pack up, the nights are drawing in very quickly these days, limiting the time on the bank. I'd brought one rod in and I was having a couple of 'just one last casts' on the spinning rod, and catching my second Perch on the Jig in the process, when I caught sight of my float bobbing, it moved a couple of inches and then stopped, a Pike had picked up the bait and dropped it. I returned to the Jigging when the float was off again, but just as before it came to a stop. This went on for around 3 minutes, eventually the float had travelled far enough to convince me to wind down and strike. My timing was right, as the Pike was perfectly hooked, not a big Pike by any means probably around 4 to 5lb's, it did put up a good fight though tail walking all over the place in a deperate bid to shake the hooks and freedom. On closer inspection I noticed that it had a hole in it's side "Wait a minute" I recognise this fish. A few weeks ago Paddy had reported on his blog that he'd hooked into a Pike and while he was playing it, it had been grabbed by a bigger Pike. It's good to see that it survived it's ordeal and is still feeding - albeit cautiously.

A welcome Jack
I'll call this one 'Lucky'
A hit from a Pike can be devastating

Two doubles and two Jacks

Back on the drain, and I pretty much left off where I finished on Saturday. I fished three dead baits, two on the bottom and one suspended on a paternoster. I also used the experimental bait again, which was the first rod to get a taste of the action, I pulled out of the fish though, no great loss as I saw the fish and it was a pretty small Jack. The bait was still intact and being rather curmudgeonly I cast it back to the same spot.

The drain starting pumping at some pace soon after, and it made holding the bottom impossible. I had to bring all three rods in and double up on the weights, job sorted and I was fishing again.

My Froogle bait saving techniques from earlier paid off, as once again the (Experimental) bait was off and away. The result was a great fish of 14lb 14oz, but if I'm honest it wasn't the hardest fighting fish I've ever landed, perhaps it's been caught a few times and knows the routine. Maybe it was thinking "lets just get this over with". This is the biggest fish of my dead bait campaign so far this season.

The paternoster dead baits, picked me up two fish today, a rooting Jack of around 3lb's and a better Pike of around 10lb's. The latter of the Pike was pretty strange looking, it had a deformity and had a humped back. I'll certainly recognise that one if I ever catch it again.

One more fish on this session and another Jack of around 3lb's or so had also taken a liking to the experimental bait.

Well I'm becoming a little convinced that the bait that I keep referring to as the experimental bait is a winner, 3 fish and 4 runs in two sessions will do for me. My theory is that it's a little different and they probably don't see this bait too often, it's thinking out of the box with things like this that catch you fish.

14lb 14oz

Different angle The Hunchback

One of the rooting Jacks