A tasty Sausage and a Canal Cracker

After yesterdays Piking trip and the last minute capture still fresh in my mind, I couldn't resist another trip out.

Just for a change on our way fishing we stopped off at a cafe and had a full English breakfast. What a good idea that was, as it was absolutely fabulous. Now that's the way to start a days fishing if there ever was one.

We meandered down to our swims with our full bellies and got about setting up. I decided to lay one bait on the bottom and to suspend the other. A decision I would become thankful for later.

Allan though was the first to catch, a Jack Pike of around 5lb's fell to a Smelt.

We leap frogged a good section of the canal and I was getting itchy feet to move again when my suspended dead was under and away. I set the hooks and felt the weight of a good fish. I caught sight of it as it flashed past me in the water. "Jesus Christ I'm in to a good fish here Allan" Was my reaction.

16lb 4oz to be exact. Now what's special about this fish? Well... It's the biggest fish I have ever had out of the Canal. It was caught on a suspended dead and the bait was a 2" Sprat. I've never used Sprat's before, I pretty much always prefer bigger baits, perhaps though I'll use Sprat's a little more often from now on.

It's a shame that I've had to edit the photo to take the background out. Saves the Pike in this area being pressured.

And that was that, we stayed until the edge of dark but there was nothing else caught.

Perfect start to a days fishing Burp! Ahhhhhh!
16lb 4oz Canal Pike

Back fishing!

It's been a while since my last blog post. Over two months in fact! I've been busy with work and moving house, this has left me little time to spend on the bank.

Today I fished a private water which contains a few Pike. I had two takes in the five hours of fishing the first one stopped before I had chance to strike and the other which came 5 minutes before I was to pack up produced me a battle scarred Pike of just over 10 pounds.

Both takes came on Suspended Smelts. Laying baits on the bottom on this venue doesn't seem to produce the goods.

It was nice to be back out on the bank and landing the fish was an added bonus :)

Battle Scarred Double

Allan's biggest ever haul!

Little did I know what was around the corner when Allan confessed to me that he didn't use 'The Method' apparently he found it too fiddly and had pretty much given up on this killer tactic. "Don't worry mate, I'll set you up and show you the in's and out's" I said.

Needless to say Allan absolutely trounced both myself and Panto, he had the session of a lifetime, I'd say that he must have landed 70 - 80 lb's of slab's in around 3 hours. I'd wager then that 'The method' is probably Allan's new favourite way of fishing.

The Pike activity during the day was pretty good. 3 for me, 2 for Panto and 1 for Allan, no monsters but great fun was had catching them. The Pike in this water fight hard, so even the Jacks are worth catching.

I'm crying on the inside

One of many for Allan

Chucking lures and a stolen fish

Panto was in the middle of a 48 hour session. I decided to head down and mither him for a while. I didn't go empty handed I packed my Jerk Bait rod and a selection of lures. Despite thrashing the water to a foam, I didn't get so much as a take.

A moment of kindness came over Panto and he offered me one of his rods to fish with, I quickly went about setting it up for Pike and it wasn't too long before the water erupted and I was battling with a Jack of around 4 lb's.

An hour or so later and a noisy commotion in the water gave away the presence of another Pike in the area, this was soon confirmed when my float was under and away. A great fight was just moments away.

This fish was bigger and It fought hard, I have to confess that my right forearm was aching after playing this Pike. She weighed 10lb 2oz ensuring my first double of the season.

So it was worth going to see JP after all, and of course I was told on more than one occasion that the Pike should have been his and that I'd poached it from his swim, and lets not forget that it was all his tackle that he'd so kindly lent to me :D

The Pike season is nearly here and do you know what? I can't wait!

10lb 2oz

The day that Panto packed up too early

The usual rabble myself, Allan and Panto headed off to a local(ish) water today and we set about catching Pike and Bream.

We arrived at dinner and I'd proposed the idea that we should sit it out until the early hours of the morning to see if the Bream would come on the feed as the night drew in.

The Pike action was fast and furious and between the three of us we landed 10 in total, OK granted they were all Jacks to around 6lb but still fun nontheless the results were as follows...Panto 5, myself 4 and 1 for Allan, don't be feeling to sorry for Allan though as he (Although Panto may argue this) landed the biggest Pike of them all.


And so to the Bream, I'd fished the tip all day and the results were pretty good. I fished on worm and landed a decent amount of fish for my troubles.

8pm and Panto decided to call it quits, he was getting bored of catching Skimmers, and the lure of watching a thin lizzy tribute band seemed to tempting for him to resist. Myself and Al decided to stick to the plan and fish into dark. I switched over to the method and fished double maize and as the sun was setting the Bream switched on and it was fish after fish after fish, I can honestly say I lost count of the amount of slabs that I landed, the biggest of the bunch was 5lb and I'd say the average was around 4 lb's.

The tactic of using double maize is a good one, it's a hardy bait so lasts for a good few catches. I'll certainly be using it again next time I'm out and fishing the tip.

Sadly the fishing had to come to an end, and at midnight Allan spoiled the day by telling me it was time to go home :( Still nevermind I'll just go back there next week :D

Allan's 6lb Pike

Nice to get back on the Pike,

a sign of things to come

An early Bream, and the first of many5lb and the biggest of the session

Not to be outdone

4lb' and Al's biggest

What? Another big Eel!

An afternoon fishing on the tip at a local water produced me another personal best capture.

When I landed my last sizable Eel a couple of weeks earlier, I thought that it would be a good couple of years before I'd see another one.

So when after a couple of hours fishing and my rod signalled a good take I presumed that I'd hooked a Carp or large Tench, watching the line zig zagging from side to side gave me suspicion that I'd hooked another good sized Eel, and as Panto knelt down to assist with the netting I heard him say "Bloody Hell Matt it's a big Eel" my thoughts were confirmed.

According to my Reuben heaton's it weighed 3lb 1 oz. I'd beaten my 3 week old Eel record by just 2 ounces.

The fish was caught on Worm and on a maggot feeder.

The fishing thoughout the rest of the afternoon was by the best part pretty slow. I ended up with around 8 fish in total including a Tench of 3lb's or so.

3lb 1 oz Eel

6 Hours! One Bite! One fish! But what a fish!

Back on the drain today and I met with Allan and JP for an afternoons fishing. The water wasn't towing as fast as my last visit, and looked to be recovering just nicely. Should fish well today I thought to myself.

Allan and JP had arrived an hour or so before me and I'd expected them to be well into the fish, but this wasn't the case. In fact it was just the opposite, they were struggling for bites. Not to worry I'll show them how it's done and I went about my business setting up.

5 hours later and I hadn't had a touch. Unbelievable! The conditions were spot on, and here I was facing a blank.

Allan was sat under my brolly, complaining that I'd talked him into fishing the Sluice (Again) and that we perhaps should have chosen another venue. I was just in the middle of arguing back - saying that it fished OK the other day, and I couldn't understand what was wrong, when my tip moved a little, then a little more and then WHAM! I was in!

I lifted into the take and I felt a good force tugging back. "Allan I'm into a lump here mate and it isn't a Tench" "It's either a big Perch or a big Eel" It was the latter, and what a lump it was. It stayed deep in the water and wouldn't show it's head, it kept me in suspense for a little longer than I would have liked.

Finally It's head came to the surface and it was met with a chorus of gasps from all three of us. To some of you reading this blog you may not consider an Eel of 2lb 15oz to be of giant proportions, but I can tell you that for this venue the very sight of an Eel these days is a rare one indeed. let me put it into a little prospective, in all my visits to the drain, which I can assure you is a lot, I have never even seen an Eel being caught never mind catch one. I was made up with this catch and to date I'd consider it to be one of my best fish that I have landed from the Sluice.

It's a funny old game this fishing malarkey isn't it. I have one bite in the 6 hours that I fished and the result was a PB Eel. I guess that's fishing for you and that's why I love it.

As for the rest of the fishing. Allan landed a cracking Tench of 4lb's. This was some achievement, as he'd caught it fishing the pole and his rig was only 1.5lb bottom. Top angling that mate, well done!

Panto had around 5lb of fish, but Al gave him a good run for his money. The weight difference between the two of them when they weighed in was just 1 ounce.

The 2lb 15oz Eel

It wouldn't keep still

Around 3ft in length

Allan's 4lb Tench