carrying your gear

transporting all your gear pike fishing is hard work. iv got a rod bag with loads of pockets, then a 35ltr ruck sack that i put larger stuff into, then a smaller ruck sack for food and drink. i prob walked about half a mile to a spot last sat and discovered my mug smashed while looking forward to a coffee. sometimes i will walk 2 or 3 mile when sussing out a new water.(caught a 6lb'er and a 3lb'er) i try not to take too much gear but its still a night mare to carry. i suppose if i break a leg it would be a good place to r.i.p.
prob need to cut down on my gear i always take loads of spinning lures and hardly use them

am i the only one mad enough to walk these distances? paths up here consist of no more than flooded deer tracks.

get a barrow m8 ;-)

[quote="rozzo"]get a barrow m8 ;-)
[/quote
too wild for a barrow and then theres the odd 10ft deer fence

I have a Power walker but you would not get it over a 10` fence

Simple, suss out a new water with 2 rods at the most and have them made up already. Travel light with a small rucksack and a minimal amount of tackle.

Firstly, I'd take a rod with a plumbing setup and a printed, blown-up map of the water, to mark off depths and likely spots. You'll learn far more about the water on a single visit, than you ever would by repeatedly fishing likely looking areas and carrying loads of gear with you over several, potentially fruitless sessions.

Secondly, I'd take either a lure rod or a wobbling outfit. The wobbling outfit is the same wherever you take it, plus or minus a little lead for getting down to various depths. As for the lure outfit, I'd take as little as 5 lures, each of which serving a different purpose. As an instance...

1: A floating jerkbait, like a Salmo Slider. A great recce lure that seems to produce fish on any water, at any time of the year. It's reputation speaks for itself.
2: A spinnerbait or a bucktail, for covering lots of water quickly, at varying depths and speeds.
3: A soft plastic, like a jig-head/shad, a springdawg, a mag-grub, a twin-tail or something of that ilk, for covering the deeper areas slowly and methodically.
4: A rattling, vaned crankbait, again for covering various depths but with the added advantage of making it's presence known.
5: A copper spoon, because they're useful for fishing at distance, covering all depths, fishing at every speed possible, making itself conspicuous with it's reflective properties and it's thumping noise and simply because copper spoons have been banking pike, from all kinds of waters for as long as man has been fishing for pike.

That is how I'd go about learning a new water. Once I know something about the water, only then would I go the whole hog and break out the 3 rod, kitchen sink approach

i always take print outs of waters. im a bit stubborn in what i will carry and like the challenge. i kno a water with a 2 mile hike to potential spawing grounds i would like to try with a deepest point of 160ft. this is a big water of 4 mile long what would you take ??

treble wrote: i always take print outs of waters. im a bit stubborn in what i will carry and like the challenge. i kno a water with a 2 mile hike to potential spawing grounds i would like to try with a deepest point of 160ft. this is a big water of 4 mile long what would you take ??

a golf trolley nowadays lol

no way rozzo theres no chance of that makin it without my gear being spilled half a dozen times

treble wrote: i always take print outs of waters. im a bit stubborn in what i will carry and like the challenge. i kno a water with a 2 mile hike to potential spawing grounds i would like to try with a deepest point of 160ft. this is a big water of 4 mile long what would you take ??

Treble, I'm much the same. I do like having everything with me but I've learned that it's a waste of time and effort trying to learn a new water when you take the full kit. By weighing yourself down, you're limiting yourself to fishing a lesser number of swims, which means that you have to do several trips to become familar with your new water of choice.

If you do what I suggested in the post above, you can become familiarised with the water in as little as 2-3 trips. Once you have become familiar with the water, you can then do the 'big haul' and put yourself on a swim you have confidence in and with that confidence, you fidget less or feel the need to move on after a time, telling yourself that there might be a better swim elsewhere.

It's great having everything with you. I like my home comforts a much as the next man but I can't abide feeling that I might be in the wrong spot. I like to burst a lung carrying all my gear, get to the water and feel 100% confident that my final destination will come up trumps, even if I'm there for a whole weekend. I prefer to set up shop, construct a home from home and stay put but I can only do that if I've done my homework first.

cheers hope to get back out soon

how much do you need to take
rods
bait
spare rigs
seat
brew
net
mat

what on earth have you got there

noodle wrote:how much do you need to take
rods
bait
spare rigs
seat
brew
net
mat

what on earth have you got there

what about the kitchen sink?

if u fell and broke a leg what would you do with no phone signal?

psion wrote: I have a Power walker but you would not get it over a 10` fence

the background of your pick is nothing like the terrain i might cover

treble wrote:if u fell and broke a leg what would you do with no phone signal?

depends on where it was, its something ive had to consider and worse in other pastimes ive had, one thing to consider is carrying a few simcards for different networks

noodle wrote:

treble wrote:if u fell and broke a leg what would you do with no phone signal?

depends on where it was, its something ive had to consider and worse in other pastimes ive had, one thing to consider is carrying a few simcards for different networks

Lie on the ground and cry like a girl

Or you could just make smoke signals!?

fatcaff wrote:

noodle wrote:

treble wrote:if u fell and broke a leg what would you do with no phone signal?

depends on where it was, its something ive had to consider and worse in other pastimes ive had, one thing to consider is carrying a few simcards for different networks

Lie on the ground and cry like a girl

fatcaff wrote:

noodle wrote:

treble wrote:if u fell and broke a leg what would you do with no phone signal?

depends on where it was, its something ive had to consider and worse in other pastimes ive had, one thing to consider is carrying a few simcards for different networks

Lie on the ground and cry like a girl

and that is how you get eat by foxes

haha too many red wines to play on computers last night