Anybody Catching

Good fishing Guys, I am counting down the days to Monday, 1st day out for me.

I got my first double of my piking career this morning , she wieghed in at 11Lb 4oz, abso fantastic feeling, had her on a float ledgered sardine just as it was coming light, I got one of those Fladen floats,15gr, you can slide a chemical nite lite down the clear tube at the top of the float or there's the option of the battery poweredlites that fit into the tube, I was using the battery powered lite.
just before the light broke I had a bob on the float, the eel's have been feeding well this week and have foul hooked one on friday dusk, same kind of bite indication this morn as friday night, after one or two bobs the float started sliding and dissapeared, struck, fish on, she did some tail walking and whent of on a couple of short runs, followed all the advice and tips you've all given me, rod tip high dont giv any slack, she finally tired and slipped her into the landing net, as soon as i had to slide my hand down the landing net pole and pulled her clear of the water I knew it was something bigger I'd had in the past.
I had the unhooking mat already out with forceps in reaching distance, I put her on the mat strddled her but she really thrashed, head torch on managed to untangle the trace out of the scissor part of the jaw, I'd hooked her, top treble in her bottom lip and the bottom treblr was fairly deep past her gill rakers, I bought a pair of long handled long nose forceps and boy where they worth the extra cash I paid for them, top treble out a doddle, struggled a tiny bit getting the second treble out, unhookeed her made sure the trace and trebles were well clear, by this time I'd had her out of the water about 3 minutes, had the scales and sack in reaching distant, wieghed her and like i said 11Lb 4oz. by this time I felt she'd been ouuta the water long enough so decided against a foto for the pikes return instead.
Thats my P.B. and first double and boy did it feel good, she was huge, big thanks to all you lads on here, everything I know and put into practice as come off this forum,it was a huge fish a bit scary to be honest but the adrenalin rush was amazing, I'd better leave it at that now coz I cud talk a glass eye to sleep over this, 15Lb+ next goal, that fish this morn will keep me happy all season now........

well done mate

well in mate hope you took pics.........send them in muck

Nice one! Your first double is a great thing - should keep you in day-dreams for a good while I reckon. You made a good point though about the value of the site and the information available. I know we can all be a bit secretive about our venues and why not? we work hard to find them so it's only right that we keep them close to our chests. But the amount of advice and help and mass of valuable experience available is a superb resource for newcomers to the sport (and anglers who've been around hundreds of years, like Paddy. Sorry mate!)

Went off to my lovely loch on Sunday (200 mile round trip is a long way for a day but it's worth it just to be there).
Started slowly with not a beep or twitch till nearly 1 o'clock. After leaving the house at 5.30, it's a bit annoying when the pike decide to sleep in on a Sunday. Anyway, the float finally sailed away and soon I was playing a 5lber that went mental, catching the other line and setting off the buzzer. I landed him and then the other buzzer started up again! 5 hours without a touch then 2 runs within as many minutes. The second one let go after a brief tussle and I tidied up the resultant mess, unhooked the first one that was lying quietly in the sack in a big flooded puddle at the side of the track. (It's a perfect 'holding spot' as it's part of the loch but blocked by a tangle of weeds so any fish can be laid there quietly while organising cameras and weigh slings if needed.)

At 3.00 a popped up herring tail was away and I missed on the strike so, straight back to the same spot and after about 3 minutes - away again. This one weighed exactly 10lb and, like all of them in the loch, fought really well, jumping and throwing the bait as it did.

I was due to leave at 6.00 and, as I was tidying up my gear, the right hand rod, this time with a popped up lamprey section, beeped once then stopped. I pulled the line out of the clip as I could see the rod tip pulling round, picked up and walked out a little way winding as I did. I could feel a vague resistance so wound down and struck. I thought I'd pulled into a load of weed as a weight came towards me, pumped right in to the bank without as much as a knock on the rod tip.

She then woke up and shot left, jumped then sped off across the surface for getting on for 30 yards. I missed with the net twice and she took another 10 yards or so before I finally got her. She went 17lb 1oz and was a beautiful specimen.

Quite a place.

great fishing bud, well done

I like to go piking with my 72 year old uncle, Tony . . He is happy enough just seeing 1 on the bank so I usually hit the runs and he perhaps doesnt catch as many as he could. . . . . Well 6 am this morning we arrived on the riverbank. We were to walk half a mile up from the van. I told him to stay put and I would do the donkey work lugging the tackle up to our chosen swims. Now normally he would insist on carrying his fair share , However this time I popped half a mackeral up and hit the far bank right next to a weedbed, and told him to sit tight and perhaps he would have his chance to get a decent pike for a change. So 20 mins later,after a carp like run on the delkims. I was netting and weighing him a nice 13lb 8oz.( PS dont they look bigger when you havent seen a double for a couple of months). Top start ! After a few pics , we walked to our swims. Where he promptly landed a 12. then missed 2 runs. The 12 was stunning ! It was a golden colour. I joined in at dinnertime with a gorgeous looking 8 or 9 pounder.

Good stuff was going to give it a go out today with work being slow but thought against it with the good weather going to a new venue tommorrow after a tip off fingers crossed

Good fishing guys, I was out yesterday, wasnt going to, as it was still very hot here in Lincolnshire, anyway I had promised to take a mate out for his first time, we went to a lake not far away from home, I only had two rods out between us, as I was showing my mate what to do, he lost a good mid double at the net and had a couple of exciting episodes where he had made contact but didnt land the fish. He was made up with the day and is busy looking for Pike gear as we speak I managed a jack, 5lbs ish on drifting Joey Mackeral, not big, but my first of the season, looking forward to getting out on Friday and getting to our fish in on Sunday

Top stuff guys out today had a 6lb jack on Lamprey wasnt happy with where id set my ledger so was reeling back in to re-cast when he couldnt resist still hoping for my first double its going to come soon i hope

And heres a pic of Steve with his first pike of the season



Well done Steve

Adie

Lamby78 wrote:Top stuff guys out today had a 6lb jack on Lamprey wasnt happy with where id set my ledger so was reeling back in to re-cast when he couldnt resist still hoping for my first double its going to come soon i hope

It's taken me three seasons to land my first double, 11Lb 4oz, but it was worth the wait more so catching the jack's built my confidence up nice and slow ready to handle such a big fish, I'm still on a high since catching it Sunday morning.....

stubbo wrote:well in mate hope you took pics.........send them in muck

felt I'd had her out of the water long enough, had a bit of a problem un-hooking the end treble, it was really deep, I had to go in through her gills, by the time I'd weighed her it was goin on 3-4 mins, made the decision to get her back over keeping her out any longer for foto's, I was on my own and I had'nt set the camera up, next time the camera will be ready to roll, bought a little tri-pod especially for the job yesterday, it's hard taking pictures when your a Billy no mates Piker!!!!!

well done on the fish mate

billy no mates piker join the club lol, I always set up a camera after ive cast out, a little(lot) optimistic for me but you never know when your luck may change and you got of think of the fish first

[quote="cavemandom"]

Lamby78 wrote:Top stuff guys out today had a 6lb jack on Lamprey wasnt happy with where id set my ledger so was reeling back in to re-cast when he couldnt resist still hoping for my first double its going to come soon i hope

It's taken me three seasons to land my first double, 11Lb 4oz, but it was worth the wait more so catching the jack's built my confidence up nice and slow ready to handle such a big fish, I'm still on a high since catching it Sunday morning.....[/quot

Very well done Cavemandom, you stuck at it and it paid off thanks for posting the pic Adie, makes me and the fish look very slim

Well done guys,

Well done to you both for braving the elements Paddy
And 2 fish in such a short time is good going mate nice one

Adie