First "proper" Winter Sesh Tommorrow!

[mikey-1001]

I cant wait to flex my rods on my first cold weather piking expo tommorow!! I was out last week but theres not yet been enough cold frosty mornings to kill most of the blanket and ribbon weed back up at Edgelaw. This weeks been in the minus's more than out though so i think its gonna be winter tactics at last!! Think ill try a few jerk baits to waken em up before putting out my usual four rods (lamprey head section, smelt, joey, and herring strip) .I do love my summer piking but still say you cant beat a good 'frost crunching under foot' winter session!
I always like seeing the extra weight that the fish ive been catching all summer have put on during the winter months (although i know its a bit early to see that yet) ---its also great to break out the thermal suits (and undies!!) and all my other winter kit, to me its all part of the sport i love.

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Good luck and look forward to reading how you get on

[Norfolkboy]

Good luck mate

[fishypaul]

best of luck mate,i'm out tuesday or thursday this week (wife permitting ! )

[mikey-1001]

I was out today for a short 4 hour sesh and pulled out 3 of 12, 10 and 5 lb respectively. It wasn't looking too promising to start.....i cant really explain it ,i mean there was frost on the ground the margins were iced over with a thin layer there was a nice nip in the air, in other words it was a perfect winter sesh atmosphere but i just didn't feel right for some reason.

I set up all my gear in my 'lucky' swim and settled down for what i thought would be a long wait but about 10 minutes after my last rod had hit the water my extreme right hand rod screamed off, i hit and it took me deep immediately so obviously i thought it was a big 18 or something......i tell you she fought like an 18 but after a short fight she gave up and showed me her belly, on the bank the scales told a tale of 12lb 4oz .......the black cloud that seemed to have been hanging over me immediately lifted and i felt really optomistic...!

The next run didn't come 'till about an hour later (that was on float fished lamprey also, i forgot to mention the method on the first fish!) and it was a totally different take all together, it was more of a pluck,pluck, followed by a slow pull under then the float re-appeared and swerved off left on the surface, i struck and after a spirited wee fight the scales read 9lb 6oz but on close inspection at some point in its life it had been took by a VERY big pike you know the average size of a 9 and a half pounder? well the teeth marks started at the back of the gill cover and arced round to the anal fin !! I can only speculate at the monster that tried to take that lucky ,lucky pike!! The last fish actually came as i was in the middle of packing up (always the way eh.....landing net packed,forceps packed etc etc!!) It was a drop back take so i was a bit slow in striking which resulted in the trebles catching on the outside of the jaw and under the chin so there was no chance of me chinning the fish and my net was already packed so i just tightened the drag right up and slowly beached her on a half submerged dying reed bed. She came in at 4lb 10oz and was a nice end to a funny old sesh........it didn't feel right to begin but at the end ,in the dark it felt like life couldn't get any better!!


Its a funny old game !!

[Old Smoothound]

Nice report mikey, that must have been one hell of a big Pike to leaves marks like that

MMMmmmm must get out and do a bit

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Great read and well done

Im with you shaun must get out and get me some pike fishing in

[Portland Pirate]

Well it sounds like a far better session than me and Devon Born had yesterday. We got up ealry and had got all the right baits. When we arrived at the lake it was frozen over. We couldn't believe it.

[pingu]

nice one mikey
still waiting for myfirst ever

[mikey-1001]

You never forget your first pike mate.......mine came many moons ago but is still fresh in my mind.

It was mid summer and i was 12 years old ,i used to go piking with my brother and his mates (more liked tagged along!!)On this occasion we were fishing the Union canal in Scotland that runs from Edinburgh to Glasgow.I always fish basins for pike and perch on canals as otherwise you end up leapfrogging your rods for miles sometimes till you locate the pike.

I had chucked my perch deadbait on a straight float set up (rigged by big bro!!) tight to an old canal barge ,i only waited about 5 mins and i got a screaming take on it, i struck and it was fish on! Nowadays i would've known straight away by the way it fought and the lack of any severe bend in the rod that it was only a small jack on but then it was the biggest fish i'd ever hooked!! Especially since i'd only really fished for roach and perch till then.......anyway, on the bank it weighed 4 1/2 lb and i talked about it non-stop for two weeks,i was dead chuffed!!

That was the fish that set me on the road to becoming a specialist pike angler as i only wanted to catch bigger and bigger fish.......which i have done and never regretted it for a minitue!!