lure fishing – The Masterblanker

Another blank session

Ok something that sponsored anglers never admit is the number of blank sessions that they endure. Sometimes a blank isn’t an issue and you learn something new. The other day I had a blank that was outstanding in its banality. Nothing was moving, nothing was feeding, it was as if the lake was devoid of fish. Of course I brought it on myself by attempting to film the entire session with the gopro… Either that or we had a sudden cold snap that put icy lids on many lakes that put the fish back onto hibernation.

I tried everything I could think of, different lure colours, depths, speeds of retrieve. Nothing worked and depressingly I didn’t even get a follow. Even. Normally productive snag was lifeless and barren.

Still at least I got some exercise around a very quiet Thorneyweir 😀

A few hours out in the January sun

well whilst I appreciate its been 7 years since the last post, i thought that I would make my posts like buses… wait 7 years and then 2 come at once. Here is a quick video i took when i had 2 hrs spare in early January at an undisclosed location. The pike weren’t really playing ball, the lakes were flooded and the river unfishable due to heavy rain and snow. Still I managed to winkle one out on a rubber shad.

A quick video – pike fishing at Thorney Weir

Well recently I haven’t been able to get out much which is really frustrating hence there has been a hiatus on this blog ( have just realized its been 7 years since I posted a blog… wow). One of the places I have been fishing is strictly no publicity hence there haven’t been many updates however i thought I would put up this video I made at Thorney Weir. No real pike to speak of but it was an entertaining walk around the lake complex.

Another quick video in the setting sun

I will try to get some of the drone footage I have taken of some of the lakes up as well soon

Just a quick update.. pike and pike and pike

just a quick note to let you know where I have been and the blog has been really very quiet. Sorry about this I have either been doing DIY on my new house or working. But Now I have been back on the bank again and I am having some success.

I have been hitting the pike in “The Mets” lake part of the Thorney Weir syndicate complex. And apart from not having any large fish I have not been doing too badly numbers wise with not a blank in sight so far. Indeed on a recent session I managed to get 2 in the net at the same time. Continue reading “Just a quick update.. pike and pike and pike”

End of the pike season

well it is the 3rd of March and that means for most of us that the pike season ended 3 days ago. Sad really that we have abandoned closed seasons on most waters in the UK ( though not in Norfolk) but we still cling to this antiquated idea that October – March is the pike season.I think some lobbying of my local water owners may be needed.

Anyway it is time to unload the lure kit out of the car and any quick sessions will now require a whole load more planning to sure that bait is fresh before setting out. One of the huge advantages of pike fishing is that you can just “grab and go” as lures are always ready.

Now on with the carp campaign 2011, hopefully it will be better than the carp campaign 2010 as the UK has not been kind to me yet fishing wise.

Thorney Weir Pike

As some of you know I have been lurking at Thorney Weir quite a but this year for very little results (which will change next year… I will get a 30 out of there), so as it is winter and the pike season is in full swing I thought I would give it a crack for pike. I had been fishing the river Colne that runs between Thorney Weir and the Mets lake for a few weeks but with the ice levels receding on the main Thorney Weir lake I thought I would also give that a go as there are several likely looking areas.

Anyway arriving at Thorney a little later than planned I was surprised to see the road bank completely full. Not sure why people were fishing this side as I would have been at the other end ( which is what the bailiff did) as that would have given the best chance of a fish (IMHO) but I suspect many of them just wanted to get out and go fishing with the minimum amount of hassle.

Continue reading “Thorney Weir Pike”

Merry Xmas to all of my readers

Well it is that time of year again and Christmas is here, sadly this year it also brought the snow and all the lakes around me are frozen solid.But don’t let that stop you from getting out and enjoying the unique fishing that this season offers.

I am having fun on the rivers, the above pic shows me on the Thames near Weighbridge lure fishing. No fish this time but it was just good to get out and wet a line. By the way this section of river has been fishing very poorly recently it seems ( from speaking to the people on the bank) and probably is not enjoying the extra pressure from the lake anglers who now have no where to go 🙂

Anyway I hope that you all have a superb Xmas, dont eat too much and get out on boxing day for the traditional session !

A couple of tips if you do venture out :
Continue reading “Merry Xmas to all of my readers”

Piking with lures – Stay mobile

Well the winter is now fully here with temperature fully in to the negatives each night. with this in mind my efforts have swapped over to predator fishing and in particular to the pike. Now i know that a lot of you will point out that many of the lakes are frozen solid at the moment but the rivers are running free and this is where you should concentrate. As it is so cold I am not really the kind of angler that likes to sit on my back side swapping the sit and wait style of carping for the pike… no I prefer to keep moving and adopt a roving approach. If something is not working get moving, if you are cold… get moving.

Continue reading “Piking with lures – Stay mobile”

Vertical jigging for Zander – the lure

Well it has been a while since I wrote an article on Zander fishing and I thought I would write on on the more technical aspects. Now I warn you I am no expert on Zander fishing and only caught my 1st one last year, whilst pike and perch were easy I really struggled with Zander and only thanks to the help of Juul from www.fishingamsterdam.com did I manage to break my zander duck and now I feel confident, not expert by a long way but if the zander are biting I can be confident of a fish.

The main issues that I had in the past that prevented me from banking a zander were in 2 areas

Lure setup
Jigging technique

This article will deal with the 1st of these 2 items, namely how to set up your lure and end tackle.The 2nd article will deal with the actual fishing style it’s self.

IMPORTANT NOTE, THIS ARTICLE DEALS WITH A SETUP THAT IS UNSAFE IF YOUR WATER CONTAINS A LARGE AMOUNT OF PIKE AND IS SUITABLE ONLY FOR VERTICAL JIGGING. IF THERE ARE PIKE PRESENT USE A WIRE / HEAVY (80LB) FLUOROCARBON TRACE BOTH IN THE LURE AND TO ATTACH THE LURE TO THE MAINLINE.

Wow, now that is off of my chest lets continue with the rest of the article.
Continue reading “Vertical jigging for Zander – the lure”

Are lure fishermen better casters ?

been thinking about lure fishing and its effect on my general casting. I lure fish a lot and I prefer to be mobile and cast a lot even if I am in a boat ( most times) I will stop drift or moor up and cast at likely looking structures that I can either see or find on the echo sounder.

A mate of mine also does a lot of lure fishing but he prefers to troll,

now ( and here is the link to carp fishing), if find that as I lure fish so much my casting is really accurate and my casting for carp is also ( at short to medium ranges) accurate. Not trying to boast but up to 60-70 yards I can normally get to with in 1-2 ft and sometimes closer not casting on the clip.

Over that distance, well … I am as accurate as the next man

Do other carp anglers who also lure fish also see the same increases in accuracy ?