I’m a great believer in having a plan when I’m pike fishing. I certainly know that when I do not have a plan things tend to go adrift rather quickly. Anyway this autumn’s trip to Chew Reservoir (probably the best pike fishing in the UK at the moment) was planned around a day off the bank to observe and two days in the boat with occasional partner Steve Rowley to hopefully catch!
However it turned out to be the other way around because I nobbled a 25-05 and a 21-08 off the bank on deadbaits, while being thrashed by Rowley in the boat, 30-08 and two 23s! Luckily I saved myself from total defeat with a 23lber myself.
The day off the bank had been useful because it showed me where to go the next day; it’s just my luck to not get the big one again! Despite this I learned some lessons from the three days and hopefully next season I’ll be able to put them to good use.
The most important lesson was to keep the retrieve rate of your lure down to as low a speed as possible. You can do this by winding slower or using a lure with less weight in it. The classic softbaits such as the Replicant, Castaic and Daiwa Soft Trout’s are in many cases a bit on the heavy side. They were after all designed to be chucked into 20 feet on water, not 9 foot as at Chew. When get time I’m going to open one of these lures up and carry out lead removal surgery!!!