pike – 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.

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.

Niewemeer

Please note that this is part of the fishing in Holland and Expats guide, the parent article can be found here.

NiewMeer is a lake situated just outside of Amsterdam connects the Schinkel in Amsterdam and the circular canal of the Haarlemmermeer polder. It is reachable via tram and also by boat from the Amsterdam canals. It contains Carp, Pike, Zander, Perch and many other species ( including catfish) however it is best known for its predator fishing. As I didnt really fish it for carp the rest of this article will focus on the predator side of things however if you wanted to fish for carp you will find it relatively untouched as I only saw 2-3 other car anglers there in the years I fished it. Continue reading “Niewemeer”

Pike success from the Mets and a tip for carp anglers

Well it has been a white n coming but I finally felt that I was at home around the Mets. I have been a member of the Mets / Thorney complex for a year and apart from taking some nice photo’s of the place I have not done a lot else. well that changed this weekend. I decided that after I had dropped my wife off at Heathrow I would pop down for a couple of hours with the lure rod to see what was up. Continue reading “Pike success from the Mets and a tip for carp anglers”

Piking on Thorney / Carping on the Lizard complex

Just a quick post update about 2 sessions on the Thorney-Weir and Lizard complexes. One was for pike and was a blank and one for carp ( which was also a blank) but strangely the largest pike came on the carp session… sadly not to us but it was a fine picture all the same and shows that there are big pike in Lizard 2 ( see later).

Continue reading “Piking on Thorney / Carping on the Lizard complex”

Session report – Teddington Weir / Lock

Recently I popped up to the tidal Thames at Teddington for a session with Richard Crimp and one of his friends. I has been encouraged to fish the Thames when I looked into the Thames Anglers Conservancy website and forum. The chosen section was at Teddington Lock and when I arrived I could see that it was popular with anglers with many already setup on the island in the choicest swims. Even through the best angling is to be had at high tide when the river flow slows to a crawl, anglers were there in numbers several hours before this.

Continue reading “Session report – Teddington Weir / Lock”

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”