River Severn Piking

The penultimate weekend before the river season finishes proved to be quite profitable. Friday evening saw me sneak in a quick hour session on the Warks Avon for a small lure caught pike.

The weekend's Avon opener

But the serious session had me visiting a dropping River Severn that had lost quite a bit of colour on Sunday. Therefore, I resisted the temptation of targeting barbel and set my stall out for pike. Visibility was a good 2ft, if not more so I fished deadbaits and soft lures.

My first swim saw me fishing a large slack area just off the main flow. Bait was a sardine mounted on a set of number 6 trebles with the float set at about 6ft. I kept myself busy by working the lure around the swim while my dad (who had come along to spectate) and I watched the float. Around 30 minutes had passed when we began to discuss moving on to the next spot. Just then, the float bobbed and moved a couple of feet downstream. It then turned and moved purposefully in the opposite direction.  I was in and it felt a good fish. With spring approaching, it was a far cry from the torpid battles of the pike I had caught in deepest winter. This fish had some power and had the reel screaming on several occasions. A muscular looking fish was netted and I suspect it had never been caught before such was its impeccable condition. The scales showed 12lb 1oz, which was my biggest river pike of the winter and represented a great start to my morning.

What a start

Finally! (Pike and Perch)

With a run of 5 blanks during my last 6 sessions, my record was rivaling that of my football team, Aston Villa. Four of those blanks had come on a very unsettled Warks Avon attempting to catch Pike and Chub with the other on a lake famed for Pike. That day saw my companions and I fishing 10 baits between us for one solitary run. So I am sure I could be forgiven for being less than enthusiastic as the river once again topped the banks earlier this week coupled with some arctic conditions to boot. Therefore, as the weekend approached I my options were limited to stillwaters or canals.

In the nick of time

I had hoped to get my Piking fix on Saturday but the end of the week saw me blighted by man-flu so I actually spent the day sofa bound feeling sorry for myself. That said, I decided to be brave and give it a go on Sunday morning. The problem however was that Sunday was the day I had been booked into a friend's birthday lunch meaning I had a strict 12.30 finish time. By the time I got on the bank I had about 3 hours to catch some fish.

Conditions looked promising. Yes, there was a stern upstream wind that caused the river to be quite choppy, but it was overcast and quite mild given the time of year so I was reasonably confident. I was fishing deadbaits, one on ledgered paternoster across river and a float setup closer to the near bank. Despite the early confidence, nothing was happening which prompted me to pull the lure rod out of the bag but even that failed to provoke a response. I adopted a leap-frog approach meaning I moved along the bank giving each spot 20-30 minutes to respond.

By the final hour I was fishless and starting to get desperate. I did wander upstream with just my lure rod but a snag put paid to that approach pretty early on so I settled into my final swim. Again, like the swims before, the Pike seemed disinterested in my baits. As my 12.30 curfew approached I reeled in my ledgered bait and cast a lure around. By 12.25 I had started packing away with just my float fished deadbait in the water. I had been casting this upstream to allow the flow to keep the bait moving. By closing the bail arm, the bait would then move across the flow once it had reached the end of the swim ensuring it covered a fair bit of water. With minutes remaining, I turned back to the water to see my float vanishing. I quickly tightened down and struck into a fish. There was some reasonable resistance at first although this was short lived and the rest of the fight was pretty disappointing given the time of year. The fish was a very scraggy looking specimen. It was very thin and had an odd shaped head but given I was minutes from returning home empty handed it was more than welcome. Hopefully, my next trip later in the week will be more productive.

Pike: Up and running

I finished work on Thursday with the intention of making it out for what would equate to about two hours of fishing. With the date being October 2nd, the previous day had seen what many view as the opening day of the Pike deadbait season. With this in mind my target would be to try and sneak a Pike out.

The colours of autumn

It was a fine autumnal evening. The sun, low in the sky was producing some beautiful reflections on the water. My chosen approach was trotting a dead roach. With the river still low and clear I had doubts that a static bait would be sought out by fish that were probably holding up in cover. I would remain mobile, spending 15 minutes or so in each likely looking spot before moving on to the next.

Having spent a lot of time on the river over the years, it is my opinion that the margins are prime Pike territory. These areas often have cover in the shape of trees, reeds or other vegetation and often give you a few feet of water. My second swim fitted this description perfectly. As nice slow flow to keep my bait moving with overhanging grass and reeds. I dropped the bait a few yards upstream and let it trundle slowly through the swim. I had set the depth so that the bait was suspended and would be able to find its way through the swim unhindered. I was also using size 2 single hook on a home made trace with the dead roach hooked next to its dorsal fin to present it a natural position in the water. I have more confidence in single hooks for smaller baits and it makes deep hooking very unlikely. That's not to say I don't use trebles. If the bait size necessitates their use then they will be employed but it's important that bite detection and early striking is employed to avoid deep hooking.

On my third trot through the swim the float showed a fish had emerged from the cover and grabbed my bait. The float surged under and started moving away from the bank. With a smallish bait and obvious indication that the bait had been grabbed confidently, I struck early and saw the rod bend into action. A lively fish put up a good scrap but was safely landed. The hook was positioned in the scissors and was removed by hand, vindicating my use of single hooks. Unfortunately, none of my subsequent swims produced but it was nice to get the ball rolling and I am sure better conditions will arrive in the coming weeks and I can find a few more.

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