When will the hot weather end? It’s beginning to feel like never but inevitably the earth spins, seasons change and before we know it, autumn will be here. What will the cooler months have in store? More extremes, more storms, biblical rain? What mugs we are! Anyway, hot weather doesn’t motivate me to fish any more than freezing cold. I had one recent trip which was a short evening session on a…
We used to call it global warming, for some reason nowadays we call it climate change, either way there are still people who refuse to believe it, saying it’s all a hoax. Coincidentally many of these people believe in the trickle down economy and considering the amount of evidence they choose to ignore, presumably a flat earth too. Whatever, I cannot remember such a run of high temperatures this…
Everything looked good for a trip to the shallow beach, an off shore breeze and a late evening high tide and as I hadn’t been there for a while, I couldn’t resist. My target fish tonight would be Rays, for some reason I don’t catch many Hounds here but I always hope. Whilst setting up I noticed someone in a gin palace had got it wrong on the way into the estuary, they were stuck on a sand bar for…
I pitched up once more, three hours before high tide on a grey breezy morning that threatened rain. Not a nice summer day but conditions I welcomed as I hoped it would keep the beach quiet. Despite the weather there were already four anglers fishing before me but all were spread out and I managed to set up pretty much where I’d intended, with space enough to be the anti social git that I am. I was…
Late spring has been busy. It's a good time for Bass and the Smoothounds start to show up too. I want to catch both and with the long hours of daylight and a bit of juggling I've been able to give it a good go. It takes a bit of effort and a bit of thought, I try to make the best of the time available and make my decisions on the tide and conditions. I don't always get it right, maybe it would be…
When my next time off came round I couldn’t decide what to do. I probably should have fished an estuary for Bass as it is still a bit early for Hounds but as much as I like the tranquil estuary areas it’s usually Bass or bust. I mostly prefer fishing the open beaches for the variety of species that can turn up, you never know what might turn up. Also if I really want to catch Smoothounds I have to…
After my last successful visit to the beach things just wouldn’t fall into place, when I had the time off the conditions were all wrong. Strong onshore winds do nothing for the fishing, make the chances of a Ray almost nil and make life bloody uncomfortable while you’re struggling on the beach. All of the above is accepted fishing logic which I have reinforced through learning the hard way but…
Another week passed by, it’s properly spring now, the first leaves on the beech hedge broke out earlier than ever before out and a few warm days followed, one of which saw me heading to the coast hoping for Rays again. High tide was due in mid afternoon and I made my plans to fish a popular beach that can fish well at all states of the tide. I arrived around 1400 to find a lot of people had the…
When the Pike season ends my fishing becomes much more leisurely, mostly. I rarely need an alarm clock and I’m no longer behind the wheel racing the dawn. I look at the tide times and weather forecast then pick a beach that I think should be suitable in the conditions and off I go. I mostly avoid the A roads too and almost enjoy the cross country drive. At this time of year my eyes are drawn to…
Through the ‘back end’ most of my Pikey energy had been directed north and I managed to spend a few days on the Broads. I mostly fished in comfortable conditions, caught a few nice fish and had a thoroughly enjoyable time but it is hard work! With the rivers now closed my season is all but over but as usual I had one last trip out in the Suffolk boat with Mr T. Like the preceding days it was dry,…
With the evenings starting to draw out and an early finish at work there was time for me to get to the river for a short evening session after Chub. It’s actually the first time I’ve been on the river for over a month in which time it has mostly been above the banks on which all but the stoutest vegetation had been flattened. The evening was mild and dull with barely a breath of wind, I was set up…
A Piker's Progression by John Wilson Ah this could be difficult… Through the 1980’s John Watson was something of a hero to this (at the time!) teenage Piker. This was due to his frequent appearances in the angling press and his excellent work as PAC secretary. I know his tenure was curtailed amidst a cloud but whatever the truth, seldom has PAC been as visible or effective. I first read JW’s “A…
Still the rain falls, the river has barely been within it’s banks over the last week so hasn’t been on my mind. This week I was due to fish with Mr P, it’s about this time every year that I remind him there’s more to fishing than Carp. We usually go out in the Suffolk boat but with another miserable sodden day forecast we opted to do the sensible thing and sit under a brolly on the bank somewhere.…
Last time I fished with Mr W we took the Suffolk boat out and didn’t get a touch but for some reason we decided to try again, mostly because it’s a bloody nice place to spend your time, even if the fish don’t show up. We were in position and fishing by 0730 on a gloomy morning that didn’t get a whole lot brighter through the day. At least being mild with a light breeze we’d be comfortable whatever…
There’s been plenty of rain lately and consequently plenty of water in the rivers, levels going up and down. I may loathe government but the river gauges found on the .gov.co.uk website are bloody useful, how did we ever get on without them? I can be at home yet have a good idea of how the river is looking at that moment and make a decision on what to do, when the river is carrying extra water it…
The beginning of January brought a week of frosty nights and day time temperatures that got lower by the day until they barely nudged above freezing. This came to a head on Monday morning when I woke to find a load of snow had been dumped on us, I hate snow. However a couple of days later cloud and rain brought slightly less arctic conditions and an opportunity to fish. I didn’t get up early,…
Absolutely the best thing about this time of year is my favourite people come visiting but the one minor downside of this is it means I’m house bound when otherwise I might be sneaking out with rods. However I did manage to get back to the river one morning for a couple of hours but I failed to catch any Chub. Then a week later, in the lull before the final beer storm I dragged myself out of a…
With the festival of greed looming, I expect the world to go mad so the best response to this is to take a few days holiday and leave work behind. This allows me to either escape into the calm of the countryside or to stay in and lock the door on all the bullshit. Having a bit of time also enabled me to choose on which days I fished so when things were uncomfortable I could retreat to my cave and…
Last month I spent a lot of time fishing in unfamiliar places, exploring stretches of river I’d barely looked at before. Combine this with gruelling times in Norfolk and I haven’t actually caught many fish at all lately. For some bizarre reason I feel compelled to catch Pike at this time of year, I’m like an addict, when I’m not catching, I crave. I needed a fix and had the perfect place to score,…
After a few weeks of giving it maximum effort, living the boat life on the broads I needed a break and a rest. A bit of fishing closer to home that doesn’t require getting up in the middle of the night will do nicely thank you. I hope to have another go at the ‘other’ river this winter but it’s still a little early to be dunking deadbaits in this water. It occurred to me that there was still…
T he clocks have gone back, the nights are now long and dark and during the lighter part of today it mostly pissed with rain. It’s the time of year when the marketing machines convince people to buy pumpkins which will be mostly carved up then thrown away in the name of a “tradition” that didn’t exist forty years ago. These things are more than enough to make me grumpy but not the reason I’m…
“Farewell and Thanks for all the fish” by Neville Fickling Neville Fickling is undoubtedly one of Piking’s superstars and despite giving him a bit of stick from time to time, he’s someone I have a great deal of respect for. His early writing had the same effect on me as the words of Rickards & Webb had on those a decade or so older. In hindsight the influence of “Fishing for big Pike” is certainly…
Back home and back to more ‘normal’ fishing, the stuff I’m more used to. The spooky Chub on the upstream stretch had been bugging me so I plotted their downfall. I’d fish pellets and hemp, sneak in an hour before dusk and winkle one out. Somebody must have warned them as when I got there I couldn’t see a sign of them. I fished anyway although without confidence, I couldn’t see site nor sign of a…
A long ‘A’ road followed by four motorways then another A. Three to four hours of driving but it had brought me back to the happy valley for the first and probably only time this year. Kev and Rich would be joining me later but as I’d travelled alone, I was able to get away early and after pitching the tent I still had time to head to the river for the evening. As it turned out I got lucky as the…
After a really good spring on the beaches it’s been harder of late and for the last few weeks I’ve been scratching around to get a fish or two. Either side of the trip out west, August has been hard work, when I’ve had time to fish the conditions and tide times have often been against me, yes we can always find a way to blame the things we can’t control. Probably the biggest problem is not getting…