Re: Anybody Catching part two

mattjb Fri Dec 11, 2020 7:47 pm

lowdouble wrote:Just to muddy the waters a little and contradict my previous comment Matt, on the limestone loughs I fish, Smelt is a pure killer, and thats a sea run bounty too, i just dont know the answers and thats what makes it so interesting lol, every day is different

You are a lucky man to be living somewhere with all those big wild waters! Where I live in the south west of England we are far from the nearest big natural waters,the Lake District is 4 hours plus away. I've spent a week up there for the last 2 years fishing with a mate who has a boat up there and knows it well.Its so different to my usual piking,sea fishing for pike I called it the first time I fished there with him.If I lived 2 hours nearer I don't think I'd fish anywhere else. I've never been to or fished in Ireland or Scotland but maybe one day, both countries have such iconic pike waters,places like Chew will have their place in pike fishing history but not in the same way as the great natural waters. It's a crying shame the culling and netting that goes on over there in the big loughs,loved reading the stories of the well known anglers that had trips over there,real adventures!

lowdouble Fri Dec 11, 2020 7:56 pm

2 minutes from my house, and i can see most of it is the best water in Ireland, Lough Sheelin, My best day was 55 doubles in a session Shocked

fish over 30lb came like Chew fish. Now its a double a season due to nets and electrofishing Embarassed

luckily within 40 miles ive about 365 other waters but 300 of them are poor. finding the good ones takes a lifetime but i am here 22 years and learning a few things

lowdouble Fri Dec 11, 2020 8:00 pm

i am a Notts lad born and bred, never had a double figure Pike. coming to Ireland its all pike and trout, silver fish are called pollution

stubbo Fri Dec 11, 2020 8:06 pm

mattjb wrote:
lowdouble wrote:Just to muddy the waters a little and contradict my previous comment Matt, on the limestone loughs I fish, Smelt is a pure killer, and thats a sea run bounty too, i just dont know the answers and thats what makes it so interesting lol, every day is different

You are a lucky man to be living somewhere with all those big wild waters! Where I live in the south west of England we are far from the nearest big natural waters,the Lake District is 4 hours plus away. I've spent a week up there for the last 2 years fishing with a mate who has a boat up there and knows it well.Its so different to my usual pikingg,sea fishing for pike I called it the first time I fished there with him.If I lived 2 hours nearer I don't think I'd fish anywhere else. I've never been to or fished in Ireland or Scotland but maybe one day, both countries have such iconic pike waters,places like Chew will have their place in pike fishing history but not in the same way as the great natural waters. It's a crying shame the culling and netting that goes on over there in the big loughs,loved reading the stories of the well known anglers that had trips over there,real adventures!

you just reminded me of a storey my mate told me years ago when he used to go to Ireland to fish for the vast shoals of bream peter brad was his name from Rochdale they used to fish it every year in September , at the same time there where German pike fisherman in there b/b accommodations at the same time of the year catching some huge bags of pike filleting them on the banks and freezing them for the return home flight ,,, this was back in the 70s and 80s mind ...he said there was pike carcases all over the banks ..... surely this behaviour has stopped now Andy....

mattjb Fri Dec 11, 2020 8:14 pm

lowdouble wrote:2 minutes from my house, and i can see most of it is the best water in Ireland, Lough Sheelin, My best day was 55 doubles in a session fish over 30lb came like Chew fish. Now its a double a season due to nets and electrofishing luckily within 40 miles ive about 365 other waters but 300 of them are poor. finding the good ones takes a lifetime but i am here 22 years and learning a few things

That is a mind numbing number of doubles in a session! I wonder if one day they'll see sense and stop the culling over there? Probably not as the hatred for pike seems to be so ingrained in those people. How do you change the way those idiots think?

lowdouble Fri Dec 11, 2020 8:16 pm

In your dreams Stubbo. We got rid of the law where you can kill more than one pike a day which looked good enough, then millions of (I am one too) foreigners moved here and one a day was fine, 365 days a year!!!!!! I know theres not the same pressure on fish as there is in the UK, but if its accesible by shore its hammered!!!!! Embarassed

lowdouble Fri Dec 11, 2020 8:21 pm

I personally have ran petitions and had my questions answered in the Irish house of commons, only to be told that pike are immigrants and below the likes of Trout and salmon, its like banging your head against a brick wall. I have to find smaller and smaller bodies of water with little or no amounts of pressure to get success, its not quite as hard as England, but its getting harder Evil or Very Mad

lowdouble Fri Dec 11, 2020 8:28 pm

Its lovely and nice for everyone to think that Pike fishing in Ireland was like the old days. but it isnt lads. My best mate and the man that taught me to pike fish is here 28 years and knows a thing or two. 13 twenty's is all hes had for hundreds of days effort. Give it a try, its tough enough

stubbo Fri Dec 11, 2020 8:35 pm

lowdouble wrote:In your dreams Stubbo. We got rid of the law where you can kill more than one pike a day which looked good enough, then millions of (I am one too) foreigners moved here and one a day was fine, 365 days a year!!!!!! I know theres not the same pressure on fish as there is in the UK, but if its accesible by shore its hammered!!!!!

the poaching here has been on the increase since the lockdown on some of the quieter waters ,mostly non British individuals according to the EA bailiffs and club water bailiffs I have spoken with
this lock down has not helped in the protection of our much loved species , carp , pike , I wonder just how many of a big pike have just gone missing over the last six months , I bet its more than you think too......its surprising , I have done a lot of midweek fishing this year and encounted a lot of non English speaking pike fishermen .....just goes to show they know when to go fishing when most of us are at work
I can spot them now a mile off , no nets ,no matt , just a rod and a big lure on the end , so god knows how they would unhook that fish with no gear, it would probably just be knocked on the head and bagged ........its an eye opener for sure andy

lowdouble Fri Dec 11, 2020 8:39 pm

Its a daily occurrence mate, the fisheries board catch several a week with multiple dead pike, how many over thousands and thousands of waters do they miss Embarassed

Ive had my license checked twice in 22 years Embarassed

mattjb Fri Dec 11, 2020 8:42 pm

lowdouble wrote:I personally have ran petitions and had my questions answered in the Irish house of commons, only to be told that pike are immigrants and below the likes of Trout and salmon, its like banging your head against a brick wall. I have to find smaller and smaller bodies of water with little or no amounts of pressure to get success, its not quite as hard as England, but its getting harder:evil:

A lot of revenue to the country from visiting pike anglers is lost from their shortsightedness ,guest houses, pubs, resturants etc would all benefit if the pike fishing was what it was years ago.
I thought it had been proved over there that pike had always been present but obviously even hard facts won't be accepted by them.Fair play to you for trying to change things Andy and make sure you protect that special fishing you've found.

lowdouble Fri Dec 11, 2020 8:47 pm

Proof is proof, idiots will always be idiots lol. I received phone calls threatening to burn my boats and sink them while running my guiding business, they are through and through Trout men. Its not my country but common sense isnt all that common Very Happy

stubbo Fri Dec 11, 2020 8:57 pm

lowdouble wrote:Proof is proof, idiots will always be idiots lol. I received phone calls threatening to burn my boats and sink them while running my guiding business, they are through and through Trout men. Its not my country but common sense isnt all that common

there are a few big trout waters I have fished and they loath pike fisherman on there patch in winter , but they don't mind putting on a big glitter fly on and catching big pike in winter too......but if we fish a lure or a dead bait ....its not acceptable us pikers booking up all there trout boats.......keep booking them lads me thinks .....fluff chucking barstewards......lol:lol!: lol!

mattjb Fri Dec 11, 2020 9:10 pm

stubbo wrote:
lowdouble wrote:Proof is proof, idiots will always be idiots lol. I received phone calls threatening to burn my boats and sink them while running my guiding business, they are through and through Trout men. Its not my country but common sense isnt all that common
there are a few big trout waters I have fished and they loath pike fisherman on there patch in winter , but they don't mind putting on a big glitter fly on and catching big pike in winter too......but if we fish a lure or a dead bait ....its not acceptable us pikers booking up all there trout boats.......keep booking them lads me thinks .....fluff chucking barstewards......lol:lol!:

I don't think they like it much when you catch big double figure brownies on a sardine either!

stubbo Fri Dec 11, 2020 10:05 pm

mattjb wrote:
stubbo wrote:
lowdouble wrote:Proof is proof, idiots will always be idiots lol. I received phone calls threatening to burn my boats and sink them while running my guiding business, they are through and through Trout men. Its not my country but common sense isnt all that common
there are a few big trout waters I have fished and they loath pike fisherman on there patch in winter , but they don't mind putting on a big glitter fly on and catching big pike in winter too......but if we fish a lure or a dead bait ....its not acceptable us pikers booking up all there trout boats.......keep booking them lads me thinks .....fluff chucking barstewards......lol:lol!:
I don't think they like it much when you catch big double figure brownies on a sardine either!

I love nailing them big rainbows on popped up full mackerel deads , fished a big trout water in Staffordshire where I was nailing rainbows on huge spoons 4incn long plus a huge treble on the end and they faff about with a size 24 Griffith gnat on the end of a 2lb tippet leader ......I had 80lb braid like anchor rope on my reel
to be honest it was an eye opener when you catch a 2lb rainbow on a large deadbait........ I must admit I do chuck fluff occasionally myself but mainly for pike when there really up for it.....

psion Sun Dec 13, 2020 12:09 pm

I blanked yesterday which is only my second blank this season so not doing to bad.
Lowdouble you are having a great season. Going back to bait selection my are Lamprey then maybe Trout but I always
try and have some Mackerel tails or Joey's, with me, I also like jumbo Smelt if you can get hold them.
I use to get a big bag of Sardines from the fishmongers but they have all closed now.

David Wynne Sun Dec 13, 2020 1:09 pm

If I could only use one bait it would have to be Sardines, I've lost count of the fish I've had on this cheap bait. I am using Joey Mackerel increasingly these days as sometimes it's all you can get hold of, again a good bait. Blueys are another bait which seems increasingly available and so gets used a fair bit, another very oily fish that does well around the waters that I fish. Herring is an often overlooked bait but my experiences with these is it can pick up better fish. I always puncture all my sea dead baits with a baiting needle to allow those juices to seep out. Smelt and Lamprey are good alternatives but I would never loose any sleep if I didn't have any of these with me. I'm tending to use less coarse dead baits nowadays, some clubs and waters ban their use, hence not using them.

stubbo Sun Dec 13, 2020 4:53 pm

David Wynne wrote:If I could only use one bait it would have to be Sardines, I've lost count of the fish I've had on this cheap bait. I am using Joey Mackerel increasingly these days as sometimes it's all you can get hold of, again a good bait. Blueys are another bait which seems increasingly available and so gets used a fair bit, another very oily fish that does well around the waters that I fish. Herring is an often overlooked bait but my experiences with these is it can pick up better fish. I always puncture all my sea dead baits with a baiting needle to allow those juices to seep out. Smelt and Lamprey are good alternatives but I would never loose any sleep if I didn't have any of these with me. I'm tending to use less coarse dead baits nowadays, some clubs and waters ban their use, hence not using them.

ive always done well on joey mackerel which I catch myself in the summer months , even in the early days piking , mackerel was my favourite......funny though you always associate your better catches on a certain bait used on that particular session , but in reality would that fish would have took any bait on that particular day , a fresh roach or a scabby refrozen sardine that's the burning question , which I don't think nobody can really answer...
its the same on lures ....like the ones we have faith in , or is it we use that lure the most ....a pike will attack most things if the timings right , I like a floating frog lure on the surface when other lures fail me , its not really a popular lure you see people fishing , but I nearly always get a pike or at least a follow or two...... its one of my early season top water lures.

lowdouble Mon Dec 14, 2020 5:47 pm

I guess I am like most people, well the ones I fish with anyway lol. i try every bait there is going and seem to find they LOVE it Wink

for a while, If I get a couple of bad days i blame the new wonder bait and return to the old favorites Roach and Trout. Ive had great seasons on Blueys, Pollan and smelt, sardines too but only on one water which is strange. They all work if we put them on the hooks for long enough Very Happy

lowdouble Mon Dec 14, 2020 5:57 pm

Just going back to the Trout for a while. lough Sheelin is the jewel in the crown of all the midland trout loughs, Famous worldwide. When I landed the Sheelin record brownie at 13lb 9oz I was elated and proudly let the fisheries report the catch and release of such a beauty, Unbelievably the fly boys were upset that She went back and was munching on loads of small trout every year. You cant win lol.

mattjb Mon Dec 14, 2020 6:50 pm

lowdouble wrote:Just going back to the Trout for a while. lough Sheelin is the jewel in the crown of all the midland trout loughs, Famous worldwide. When I landed the Sheelin record brownie at 13lb 9oz I was elated and proudly let the fisheries report the catch and release of such a beauty, Unbelievably the fly boys were upset that She went back and was munching on loads of small trout every year. You cant win lol.

That illustrates just what a bunch of muppets you are dealing with there ,no chance of making them see sense with pike if they can't even see sense with their favourite species!

stubbo Tue Dec 15, 2020 7:18 pm

lowdouble wrote:Just going back to the Trout for a while. lough Sheelin is the jewel in the crown of all the midland trout loughs, Famous worldwide. When I landed the Sheelin record brownie at 13lb 9oz I was elated and proudly let the fisheries report the catch and release of such a beauty, Unbelievably the fly boys were upset that She went back and was munching on loads of small trout every year. You cant win lol.

good trout that andy , its probably switched to fry feeding on roach / perch /bream ......and not eating any trout what so ever

my mates mate fishes the large lakes in the lake district and had some huge ferox trout , he believes they follow the large shoals of coarse fish about ...he had most of these fish on large lures late on at dusk , when the small bait fish make there way to the surface to feed.

lowdouble Wed Dec 16, 2020 3:56 pm

Ive had 3 double figure Trout in the last 3 years Ive targeted them, and all came from over 40ft deep down on pike lures, girls that size dont want a gnat lol.

stubbo Wed Dec 16, 2020 6:58 pm

lowdouble wrote:Ive had 3 double figure Trout in the last 3 years Ive targeted them, and all came from over 40ft deep down on pike lures, girls that size dont want a gnat lol.

That's a fantastic catch , its nice sometimes to target other specimens , even if a pike takes it makes it enjoyable anyway...... Very Happy

psion Wed Dec 16, 2020 8:10 pm

When I had a boat I tried for years to catch a ferox with no luck. I would have liked to fish big Roach but freshwater baits are banned in most of the Lake District.
Which reminds me the EA changed the wording from coarse baits to freshwater baits a few years ago - I remember phoning the National Parks to ask for clarification, it took a few weeks for a spokesman from the EA to get back to me and he said they are "fish that do not go back to the sea after spawning". Mind you I haven't seen a EA bailiff in years!!

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