My first proper pike session

Twiddler · #1 12-30-2007, 12:24 PM

Mike and I have been invited to a predator meeting in January, so being a predator virgin (almost, only ever caught one esox) I asked Steve and his wife Wendi if they could take me out piking to show me the ropes.

Venue was the a place in Taunton, so I had to get up daft o'clock in the morning, 5am to be precise, ready to set off at 6am.

Bless the man who invented sat navs, because I would have never found the place otherwise, as I had to drive through the most bizarre country lanes and villages which reminded me of the film 'Deliverance'.....I'm sure I could hear bangos in the distance.

I managed to get to the venue by 7.30am were I was already greeted by Steve and Wendi.

Lucky we had only about 50 yards to walk to the spot Steve decided we're going to fish.

Soon we were set up, dead bait of mackerel, joeys and smelt were on the menu for the pike.
60lb braid on the reels I thought was a little harsh but Steve explained to me that it's not meant for bulling the pike in, only to enssure to manage to get out of a snag without risking leaving a trace with bait in the water in case of a snap off.

Steve and Wendi snuggled up under the brollie waiting for a run

My swim

An hour after set up I had my first bite, a very gentle take which under normal circumstances I wouldn't even have noticed, as the pike only gently moved a bit towards us and the only indication was the back bite indicator dropped off.

I lifted the rod, pulled the line in gently until I felt the weight of the led then struck...get in there, I hooked my first pike.

The little fella didn't put up a great deal of a fight and soon I landed this lovely looking one of 7lb 4oz.
Sorry pic is a little blurry

Steve showed my how to unhook a pike safely, which isn't as complicated as I thought, I think is more a confident thing. Still wouldn't attempt to do it on my own just yet, it's always nice to have someone experienced with you.
Steve and Wendi were chuffed to bits for me and once I re-baited Steve showed me how to make traces, while we were waiting for the next run.

Which happened half an hour later, again I was the lucky one...although I must admit I wouldn't have noticed, Steve told me that my line was slack but the back drop indicator was still on and the bite alarm didn't say a peep.

I picked the rod up,reeled in a little when I noticed the line was caught up in some weed. I lifted the rod trying to lift the line out of the weed, reeled in a little more, when I felt some resistance, I struck and bingo, I was in again.

This one put up a little more of a fight and soon I had in the net, small one of 5lb8oz but still very welcome.

With a little help of Steve I managed to unhook it myself and soon he swam off to live another day.

Things went quiet after that.....not as much as a nibble and Steve was getting bored, so he took his spinning rod and trying his luck.

No patient that man lol, after about 40 mins he gave up on the idea too, when suddenly Wendi's indicator dropped off.
Bang!!! She connected to a nice one, who put up a good fight.

Wendi's 8lb6oz baby

After that things went dead as a doddle......wendi had another take but didn't connect.....Steve was getting restless and tried spinning again but had no luck.
We talked about different tactics and rigs for predator fishing and the forthcoming venue, which is organized by Steve and Wendi.

The day went by and nothing else happened...not as much as a nibble, we checked the bait on regular bases, put fresh bait on but we just couldn't tempt Mrs Pike, even a Mr or Master croc would have done lol.

4pm arrived and we decided to slowly pack up, as the sky turned pretty grey all over sudden and we could see the dark clouds of rain coming in, when suddenly Steve's indicator dropped off, another back bite.....Wendi and I were chuffed to bits for Steve as this fella saved him from a blank.

The biggest fish of the day 8lb8oz

A very long but slim pike, looked kinda bizarre lol.

The rain set in and we quickly packed up, ready for 1.5 hrs journey home.
Thanks to Steve and Wendi for a great day, I have learnt a great deal and I'm looking forward to our meet in January, let's hope the pheromones will help me again to catch such a beautiful fish.

fishypaul · #2 12-30-2007, 01:38 PM

super report claudia,well done,you finally got a bit of pike action,impressive stuff

Lazarus · #3 12-30-2007, 01:49 PM

Well done Claudia and friends. It's nice to see Forum members venturing down to this neck of the woods. Sorry if the dualling Banjos put you off. We're used to them!!