Anybody catching?

well done mate

Good fishing Brookie.

well i goot out today blankty blank as per normal on this water for me just cant seem to winkle 1 out of the place been fishing it since last oct

Not taking the p1$$, but they are present in that water I take it?

Perseverance may be the key word. Looks a gorgeous venue.

yes theres a good head of them in there no matter who i go with they bank 1 a lad i went with today had 3 out its just me they dont like me lol i wouldnt mind but i was on exactly same setup as him i had 1 run but pulled out of it
theres allways next time
oh its not georgus in the day lite mate but some nice fish

lol thats why my dad stopped piking with me as often.... i was always outfishing him on at least a 3 to 1 basis

It may be your choice of aftershave/deodorant then craig !!


Meant as ajoke, please don't take that the wrong way.

Lefty wrote:It may be your choice of aftershave/deodorant then craig !!


Meant as ajoke, please don't take that the wrong way.

dont worry mate im a verry easy going bloke i can give as good as i get i like a bit of banter makes forums a little easya going

Craig, do you move around the water much or have you been fishing much the same area?

That spot in the photograph does little for me. I've never really been one for fishing into blank open water, even on the biggest lochs, unless there's a feature to aim at, like a shelf, a weedbed, a sunken boat or something.

If I don't know a water I look for water inlets, streams, bays, shelves dropping to around 8-12 feet, points, islands....anything that might provide shelter, ambush points, attracts prey etc. I never just hit and hope for the best unless it's a very blank looking reservoir or something and even then, I'd be more likely to use a mobile approach like wobbling or lure fishing until I had a grasp of the likely haunts. If you're set on bait fishing, you should perhaps limit each rod to 30 mins and fish livies leapfrog style.

You might also benefit from a whole day just plumbing the water, in order to build up a good picture of the sub-terrain.

The one thing that does appeal to me is the fact you've blanked solidly on the place. Large numbers of jacks can and often do move around the least likely areas just to avoid the attentions of the larger pike. The fact you haven't caught any jacks even, suggests to me there is a reasonably low but stable and natural population of pike in the water. In a healthy water that hasn't been fished out much pike-wise, the pike should only make up 3% of the total biomass, which really isn't that many, especially if that 3% has a healthy number of larger pike within.

Not many folk appreciate difficult waters and simply move on. I know a water I blanked on for 4 YEARS!! but I knew there were pike in it for definite. It took me to really go at it wobbling to locate the pike and I eventually hit 3 doubles in 9 casts from the same spot and now I've had fish to 19lbs off it but I'm aware of several fish over 28lbs taken from the same areas. I've only had about 5 jacks in total. The rest have been 14lbs+. Had I not put the effort in, I'd have given up on it a long time ago. I've also since lost 3 fish, all of which I believe were over 25lbs. 2 of the 3 may have gone 30.

I'd really have a think about what to do next. I'd definitely suggest you get yourself a bag of frozen 5-6" perch and wobble the water from dawn till dusk and keep doing so until something moves at least. That would be my first plan of attack on such a hard water. Wobbling is a very good indicator of what you've been missing.

It might also help if you look at the water on a map and make a template/map to mark spots where you get any attention for later visits.

Put the time in and I have a suspicion the fish you do eventually get will be big.

....Andy....

Sound advice there Andy.

Manged to get out fishing on Friday.

More info here

well i took my brother down to local canal today to try and get him his first fish managed 2 pike was well happy the frst pic is of my brothers fish i had pic taken he wouldnt dare he thought it would bite him the second is mine 5mins after my brothers fish


u cant see it in the pics but please note the unhooking mat is underneath the fish
they both fell to float tactics using single treble on smelt and sprat

Nice livies!!....lol....

Good fishing nightwatchman and Craig, well done for taking your brother and catching his first Pike, it really doesnt matter how big that first one is, its a Pike and a good one. i was out today on a local river, i knew when i got there it would be a challenge it was running fast and coffee like. Anyway i persevered for three hours, the bailiff came and went, the first i have encountered in 5 years fishing, and guess what yep you got i blanked

been out 2day,not the best weather!!!!! Tried everythink to catch but i blanked

Brookie wrote:been out 2day,not the best weather!!!!! Tried everythink to catch but i blanked

me too, lost one near the net, got free

still drying tackle and clothes out lol

was this on your PAC day bazz?
did many catch in the bad weather?

Yes it was....most caught and a good day was had by all. An 18lb was the best of the day!

brilliant, good to here it mate

managed to get out today, but venue not in the best condition . it was pulling like a train, chocolate coloured and had loads of rubbish pushing down then over the next 3 hours it dropped 18" . still managed 2 fish to 8lb and lost 1, so not that bad

Will be going out this weekend so will pop a post on then with a updat, just wondering where to go?

with all this rain, i would say a still water would be your best bet

You could go back to the place you fished last weekend !!
Now where did you say it was.....

I think I agree still water it will have to be again head back to the water from last week early doors around 6

Well where do i begin i woke up at 5.30am full of hope for the day ahead. Was soon out of the door and at the butty shop nice bacon butty to start things off so i scoffed that and made my way to the water and was greated by fog so headtorch on and a verry verry steady walk to the waters edge...



Well the rods was set up allready both on running ledger with lamprey on my left rod and sprat on my right hand rod. The rods where in so time to relax before the other lads turned up was about half an hour or so when heldy turned up so the meets and greets outa way then the rest of the lads appeared a little time after.Well we was all here and looking forward to the day ahead when all of a sudden the left hand rod went off i quickly got to the rod and and felt the line to see if the fish was still there and to my joy line was being pulled off so wound down and struck (at this point i usually say oh bollox) but not this time it was on so rod high and fish played wasnt long before dan chinned it out Well the rush i had was awsome my first poo city pike since i started last winter

Was a well apreciated catch the pike gods where looking down on me (well for that 10mins anyway ) well the rod was soon put back out on the lamprey unnluckly nothing else fell to my rods but i didnt care id finaly bagged a fish from there may be a small fish but was a verry welcomed 1 what else can i say another top day with good company and a fish im still exstatic now

back down at the canal 2moz so hopefully should have another tale to tell tite lines boys