A Very Private Water

Monday 6th November 2007.
This had been a day that I had been looking forward to for so long! My good friend Andy had somehow managed to get us a days Piking on a water so secret that not even the big man upstairs knew existed! Well, that maybe a slight exadgeration but none the less, this sure was going to be a very special day. The evening before I was just a mess, I couldn't even concentrate on tying up some new traces so I demolished a good bottle of white wine just to make sure that the sand man would pay me a visit. At 05.15hrs prompt, my alarm sounded and roused me from my slumber. Why is it that when we men have someting really important to do like going fishing, the alarm poses no threat to our levels of conciousness, yet when its the mundane chore such as shopping with "er indoors", you must stay in bed and sleep until the very last moment? So, up I leap like some demented gazelle and first stop is the little room to empty out. This of course was done with as much flourish as I could muster and I must say that my aim and velocity was indeed spot on !! Clothes slung on and then downstairs into the kitchen. There I was greeted by my bleary eyed Labrador who couldn't even be bothered to get up and greet me in the usual manner, even she looked at me with a quizzical eye! Breakfast done and flask made, off to the garage. Kit loaded and arrive at Andys pad. Now even I must admit that I have been partial to the odd "evening before" session but, when I pulled up at Andys house, his gaunt appearance gave me grave cause for concern. In a nut shell he looked like shit. On route to our destination he regailed me with the tales of countless beers and half a bottle of Jack Daniels which then led on to filthy dirty sex at silly o'clock in the morning. Some people have all the luck! On our arrival we crept down to the lake as we were under an obligation not to disturb the owner. Luckily the walk was short and soon enough we were boat borne and launched our livebaits to there impending doom. It didn't take too long for the first bit of action, Andy was in with a lively jack which he slipped back into the freezing cold water. Then again Andys float took off sideways and, just looking at the curve in his rod, gave me all the indication I needed. A good fish was on, Andy took control and steered this beast towards the tiny little craft which we found ourselves ensconsed in and, at the appropriate moment, I reached forward and chinned her out of the water. What a fish, not a monster but, fin perfect and markings that would have made any artist proud. We did weigh her and we settled at 18lb. After ther ritual of making her famous, she was placed back and off she powered, what a start! We remained in the same area for a while but decided to move on to fish another of the likely looking areas further across the lake. We carried on catching some lovely fish but sadly no monster was due to examine the bottom of our boat today. As the day wore on, Andy's face got whiter and judging by the sounds he was making, I was guessing that it was only a matter of time before he would be gracious enough to leave the wildlife a little present!!
Sum total for the day was ten fish boated and a couple of dropped runs. As we were about to depart, the owner popped his head round to say hello and rather sportingly invited us back in a few weeks. This visit will be the time for big old deabaits I think...................................

Thursday 26th October

Back on the river again. Today's session was with long time friend and fellow "Ol Bill" Andy Ramsbottom. Andy picked me up from my home address at 0830hrs and after a brief chat we loaded up and set off for Carrow Yacht Club. This club is situated on the peninsular of the River Yare and the River Wensum. We didn't have the use of my normal boat, so we borrowed one of the club boats, this turned out to be a small Cathederal hulled vesell of approximately 12'. As for power, well you would laugh if you could have seen us, I brought along my ancient Seagul longshaft outboard. This little beastie has been hanging up in my garage for well over five years without a touch of maintenance. Andy began to row our boat into position and I fiddled with the engine. I was absolutely amazed when the beast sprung into life after the third pull!! We motored up the river to our chosen location and began to sort ourselves out. I had the use of a couple of borrowed boat rods, these were set up to trot our livebaits down stream. I placed Andy in the more open area of water and within five minutes his livebait was swallowed up by a hungry Jack which subsequently spat everything out. Seconds later, I was away but again, a hungry Jack was the culprit. It never ceases to amaze me how such a small predator can do so much damage to my carefully made traces! Anyway, we soldiered on for an hour or so but to no avail. A change of location was in order so I fired up the Seagul and off we went. We fared little better on the main river, Andy scoring again with another Jack. It wasn't until we headed off to my favourite area that the real action began. Almost straight away Andy was into another fish but, yes you guessed it, another Jack. We then hit a bit of a purple patch with both our livebaits dancing around to the tune of Mr Esox Lucius but nothing of any reportable size came to either of us. The time was creeping on so we called it a day. I was quite surprised by how small the fish were today considering the size and quality of the livebaits used. Also, the river current was exceptionally slow but reasonably clear. Again, we saw nothing of any other Pikers so I have no real idea how the river is treating others. Next week will always be better !!......................

Fridays River Session

It was always gonna be good! I had a cracking day, the weather held up and for the most part it was relatively clear. I didn't see another Piker and the fish god was kind to me.
I opted to float fish both rods and used a trusty small mackeral. I started off with both baits hard on the bottom but this didn't raise any interest from the fish at all. I wound in both rods and shortened the stop knot. I cast both baits back out and as I was buggering about sorting a place to sit my bum, I saw the right hand float dip down. Initially I thought that the bait had got snagged up on some weed but, then it did it again. The float then sailed away towards the opposite bank. I lifted the rod and wound down, as I increased the pressure to set the hooks, the fish roared off and almost took me with it due to the uneven foothold on the sloping and overgrown bankside!. Here we go I thought, another twenty for the boy wonder. Well not quite, I didn't weigh her but she was a good 15lb maybe a bit more, and boy wasn't she angry! She would not open her mouth to un tangle the mesh of my landing net!. Finally I un hooked her and took her into the shallow water where I held her until the powerful tail kicked back and off she surged back into the oily depths. I allowed myself to punch the air in celebration, not bad my man, not bad.
I tried the same tactics as I lept from swim to swim but the water level was dropping rapidly, my confidence was also dropping and so I made my decision to head off to my banker swim. I don't believe anyone ever fishes this particular swim as basically it involves a good long walk and the first visit of the year entails chopping down copius amounts of stinger nettles which grow unchecked for the main part of the year. I have had more fish from this part of the river that any other part. It is a good holding area for the massive shoals of Bream and is also teeming with bite sized Roach, so it doesn't take a genius to work it all out!. So, I set about chopping down the stingers and cast both rods out mid river. Within minutes the left hand rod was away again, I just love to see that big old float bobbing before it slips beneath the surface. And so I again went through the process of winding down and increasing the pressure on the fish. This one was also very lively and gave a good account before I slipped the net under her belly. Again I didn't weigh her but estimated a weight of about 12lb. I was happy and after admiring that primevil beast, I returned her to the water. I gazed around me for a while taking in all that had occurred today and felt a warm satisfied glow from within. I had accomplished what I had set out to do and so it was time to wander back to the car.
I'm already thinking hard about my next attempt and rather feel that the banker swim could see some serious attention...................................

The Evening Before....

Okay, here we go. I am sitting here like an expectant child on Christmas Eve, why, the answer is simple......I'm going fishing in the morning!!!
I've been a good boy at home and have earned myself some serious brownie points so now its time to cash the buggers in and go fish.
I'm off to one of my favourite venues, the River Yare. I've done really well on this lovely stretch and I'm hoping that tomorrow will be a good day. I intend to take a mobile approach, fish with two rods using a trusty joey mackeral and pin it down hard on the bottom. The Yare Pike seem to like this type of presentation so why change?
I will be giving each likely swim around 30-45 mins and then leap frog up towards my banker swim.
Tackle;
Both rods are identical, Greys Prodigy 3lb deadbait rods. These are absolutely ideal for this type of river and have worked really well for me so far.
Reels are the original Shimano XT10000's. They are more than adequate for the job and I just love anything made by Shimano.
Line is again Shimano, I like the 15lb Technum as the colour (grey) suits most type of water conditions and I have found this line to be exceptionally strong.
Traces are all home made, twizzled as opposed to crimped. I can't get on with crimps, just don't trust them.
Hooks are Fox semi barbed size 4, big and strong these babies, haven't let me down yet!
Indication will be by way of float set over depth, if the pull of the current is too much then I whip the floats off and set up the Fox ledger stems and go on to buzzers.
Nothing techy about that I hear you say, well thats the idea. I can't get too involved with Carpy techy rigs as I don't believe it to be necessary. Ask any seasoned Pike angler and they will prescribe to the simple approach.
I guess I am a lucky chap, I doubt if I will see another Pike angler roaming around like something which has escaped from an SAS boot camp. I'm not saying that I will be completely cammed up to hide myself from my intended quarry, I just like camou clothing!!
Thats my entry for now, will hopefully report on the days catch tomorrow..............................

In the beginning......

God created Man, then lo and behold that man went fishing. That man was me, I am Rob !!
There's a little bit about me already here so if you haven't read it do so now or forever hold your peace...............................

Before you get worried, I'm not religious in any way shape or form, I just liked the quotes!
So this is a blog, well I gues it will be if I can get my head round all the gubbins and directions. Don't you just hate all that stuff? Things should be simple, like me.
Okay, you know who I am and what I do, but like I said I hope to change my career path very soon as I don't wish to be a copper anymore.
Its a long story but quite a simple one, (there's a recurrent theme here!) I've been a Firearms Bobby for a number of years and quite recently I managed to hurt myself quite seriously one day whilst at work firing the new G36. After a normal days classification shooting, I felt a minor pain in my left shoulder. This "pain" developed into something a whole lot worse after a few days and eventually I ended up in the local Hospital and had major surgery to remove a disc at the base of my skull and had a couple of titanium plates put back inside. The long shot of this means that my days as an operational cop are done and the only job on offer is desk work! To me that is just torture, I can't sit still for more than ten minutes let alone eight bloody hours flying a desk!