Awaydayjoys
BY LOUIS FEROX I’VE been planning a fishing mission or two over the last few weeks – but getting a group together with their permission slips signed is tricky these days.
The will is strong but logistics, work and spouses can be stumbling blocks.
We’ve lined up a few away days though and there should be a glorious return to the Fenland drains this spring chasing Pike.
An off-season offer on a farmhouse meant the last trip was in much more elegant digs than our normal dank discount B&B.
Our accommodation had excellent access to the Fens around Wisbech.
Although they look featureless, these are some of the most productive wild fisheries in the UK.
With miles of murky water that is perfect for pike to ambush their prey.
It might look like you’re fishing in ditches but the Fens are something special.
Tackle for drain pike is extremely simple. A couple of setups each allow you to rod hop along the length of the drain covering water with lures, flies or deadbaits seeking out little inlets, bends, structure and vegetation.
As it was so early in the year, lots of the fish on the float rods had leeches showing on them and were probably roused by the blood trail off the lamprey, or perhaps a lucky cast that landed on their nose.
It’s a very visual way of fishing in the cold as the winter pike can lay low on the bottom, tucked away in among weed and mud.
The lure rods came into their own when bait fish shoals turned up. These moving feasts stirred up more active pike and our little lures and sparkly flies, which imitate skimmers, did the damage.
There’s a superb swim near a bridge in Wisbech that was our banker for the day. We decided to set up there and watched an old sofa drift downstream as an official-looking van stopped off and a camera crew emerged.
I doubt they were looking for the opinion of some Glaswegians but were perhaps too polite to refuse.
It’s a joyous experience watching your Glaswegian pal explaining to a non-plussed Cambridgeshire reporter why you’d travel eight hours south to fish a ditch on the side of the road, and why the Fens is so important to anglers.
Maybe the TV crew just didn’t get it but I can’t wait for 2019’s species list, fishing missions and away days to start.