Ryton Pike - Part 3

The weekend before last, before the big freeze, I fished an early session at Ryton. Arriving just before eight meant I had the place to myself with the choice of swims, I opted for the sand bank and it wasn't too long before I had a couple of dead baits out onto spots that had produced runs on previous trips.
To cut a long story short, it was another one of those long sessions that suddenly burst into life right at the end. I'd tried a few casts all around the sandbank area through the morning without a touch and decided to have one last cast into the area that had seen the first cast of the day. I was due to pack up at midday for an afternoon of festive shopping so had kind of got everything all packed up ready to go, I had a couple of twitches on my free lined bait which developed into coils of line slowly being pulled from the reel, I picked up the rod and allowed the fish to take some more line before closing the bale arm and arching the rod back into a satisfying curve with a resistance to match, at last a Pike. I was hoping for a good scrap and have one of the lakes 'big girls' roll into the landing net, the scrap was very dull and the small Pike gave up fairly easily.

At 8lb 8oz, it's not big but at least it's a fish on the bank.

Carpy thoughts - Part 1

I've been doing a bit of thinking about my Carp fishing lately, with all the shopping and visiting people prior to the seasons festivities commencing, it's all I'm able to do. Looking at my diaries and notes of observations I've made I have a plan that might have to be actioned over the Christmas break.

Fish baits - we all use fish meal boilies to catch Carp so why not chunks of fish?

I think I mentioned a few blogs back about seeing lots of fry leaping from the lake as if being chased and after looking at my maps of the lake, it was happening in an area of the lake where Carp regularly feed, could they have been chased by Carp? I've heard stories of Carp being seen chasing fry and I've read stories of Pike anglers catching Carp on deadbaits so it is possible. This has lead me to think about scaling my pike approach down to Carp size and hair rig a section of frozen fish to try and tempt a bite from a Carp.
I've already come up with a hooklength based around a thin coated Pike trace, I've used wire to combat the teeth of a toothy critter should one pick up before a Carp. To this I'll add a PVA bag of flaked fish mixed with groundbait, the hook will be hair rigged with a chunk of frozen herring, the slick from all this should be enough to draw in any hungry fish, fingers crossed it works.

If I don't get a Carp then I would be happy with one of the lakes bigger Perch.

Mind you, with the luck I've been having on recent trips, any fish would do!

Ryton Pike - Part 2

I started the session off with a good deed. After seeing another angler struggling with a good sized pike I offered a helping hand, it was nicely hooked in the bottom jaw so wasn't to difficult to deal with and after weighing and a little instruction on the best way to hold a Pike, photo's were taken, the Pike weighed 15lb 12ozs. The angler did give me his name but all I can say is that I've had a senior moment since then and have completely forgotten it, apologies, maybe you could drop me an email if your reading this and remind me?

The day didn't go too well for me, after seeing where this Pike was caught I chose to fish the far side of the lake well away from any commotion that may have occurred, I did get one run but this failed to develop into a fish on the end of the line. I tried two other pegs and called it a day when I couldn't see my floats any more for the lack of light.

Another blank!

Avon at Barford

Barry introduced me to another stretch of water, the river Avon at Barford. It was just on a guest day ticket with a view to getting a season ticket for next season.

With my trip to China and Christmas shopping last weekend, I haden't been fishing for four weeks and was eager to get a line wet even if I didn't catch anything.
There was a slight mix up over dates which didn't allow us the freedom to fish the best pegs, this was because of a match between pegs 51 and 100.
I'd heard tales of the Barbel along this stretch as well as big Zander and Pike so I went equipped to target both Barbel and predators. The stretch from peg 50, above the weir, was at our disposal though I really liked the look of the stretch the matchmen had below the weir. The swims we fished were very wide and slow moving with plenty of colour from the recent rain. I put a feeder towards an overhanging willow with a view to catching a Chub or Barbel, anything would do, the second rod was baited with a small Roach and cast around to various parts to try and tempt one of the resident predators. A few hours passed and we hadn't caught anything, we asked the chap fishing the match on peg 52 how he was getting on and he'd had two Barbel of 11 and 14 pound which was good news, even though I wasn't catching it's nice to know fish of this quality were swimming in these waters.
The match finished at half three and I decided to have a go for a Barbel for the last hour before dark, Barry was to fish one of his favourite pegs for a Zander. I tried my best putting a good quality bait out into a spot that looked very 'barbely' but the light faded really quickly and that hour seemed to fly. I made my way down to where Barry was fishing and being the expert on this stretch in that last hour he'd had four runs with one Zander and one Pike on the bank both at the same time.

The Zander looked to be around 5lb

Will have to try again soon!

No fishing - China Trip

I've not added much to my blog for the last two weeks as I've not been fishing. Since bonfire night I've been hard at work in China, three days in Shanghai and six days in Shaoxing with a very long flight at each, However turned out that one of the people I was working with is as passionate about fishing as I am.
I was invited out on a couple of fishing trips but the amount of work I had to do and the jet lag meant that I had to decline. (On this trip, next time I'm taking my own rod!)

All the work was finished last Friday so on Saturday morning I was introduced to the local tackle shop in Shaoxing. My new friend Terry was on hand to translate for me and a couple of photos of fish that I had in a small photo album I take with me on these trips helped bridge the language barrier and brought a sense of mutual respect to the gathering in the shop.

The fishing out there is totally different to here in the UK, rods are much longer and are nearly all telescopic, lines are fished lighter with end tackle looking more like it should be hanging from the end of a 16 metre pole. There were some spinning outfits on display but I was told that these were not good for the fish in the area where we were. I bought a small fly reel for a lighter fly fishing set-up for next year and a couple of lures for my spinning box.

Ryton Pike - Part 1

It's a while since I've fished at Ryton so it was nice to be back even though I wasn't after my usual quarry the Carp, today I was after a Pike.
Barry had fished there a few times this Autumn and blanked so he was determined to catch one. I had the first run and didn't even see the float go and was a bit quick with the strike, I felt a good fish on the end of the line then everything fell slack, it had spat out the bait. The half a mackerel had been scored with deep teeth marks which started at the first hook, so close!
About half an hour later Barry had a run and like a professional he first opened his bail arm and let out some line, everything stopped for a moment then the fish made off again, the bail arm was closed and he stuck the rod into a very satisfying curve, fish on. The Pike stayed fairly deep during the scrap and gave a couple of good runs before coming to the net.

A nice fish of 13lb 14oz's.

I had another take later on in the afternoon which caused the float to bob a few times and move a short distance before stopping, after about thirty minutes I pulled it in only to find another set of teeth marks on my bait.

A blank for me then!

The Quest for an Urban Zed - Part 5

Friday's on the Coventry Canal are becoming a regular thing and I was there again this Friday. I headed to my usual stretch as I'd seen a few features that were worth investigating with a bait on my last visit but I'd not got round to fishing them on that trip. I didn't get a touch till it was just about dark then I saw the Isotope glowing tip of my rod give a couple of sharp taps, Zander.

Not big and the only fish of the evening but now that we are turning the clocks I am looking forward to a few longer sessions in the dark to see if I can bag some bigger Zed's.