Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
CARL & ALEX
The YouTube stars set out for pike and succeed in their quest for a monster after visiting three different venues
Alex – About five years ago our friend Michael took Carl and me pike fishing for the first time. Catching a pike of 3lb from a small river was enough to sow the seed, and led on to many years of fishing for the glorious predators. However, it wasn’t until the last couple of winters that we have really started to set our sights on a monster. For sure, we’ve caught plenty of fish over the years and absolutely loved it, especially the lure fishing, but we knew that to catch a monster we’d have to use a combination of tactics and also fish the correct waters.
Pike in the forest
To kick the pike season off we headed three hours north to fish a large, old lake in the middle of a pine forest. This was a water we’d fished in the past, and the owner had kindly let us back for another try. With pike to nearly 30lb, this lake had the potential to make a dream come true as a fish of that size would be special. We slept the night at the lake so we could wake up at first light and get straight to the fishing. First things first, we tried to locate some pike, so we grabbed the lure rods and walked a couple of laps of the lake, fan casting in every spot we came to so not to miss any water. In contrast to bait fishing, using lures is a very active and mobile way to fish. Although it doesn’t always catch the big fish it does help you get an idea of where the pike are hiding. After a few hours of fishing we had caught a number of small pike on lures. We experienced some exciting takes where the fish followed the lure right to the bank and committed at the last second, making huge eruptions of water as they hit the soft plastic lure. But to catch a bigger pike we felt a change of tactics was in order. We grabbed a couple of float rods and deadbaits, then headed for one of the spots where we’d had the most action on lures. By using a large float rigged up with a mackerel deadbait we could cast out a rod and leave it for however long it would take for a larger pike to find it. Unfortunately, by sunset we were still waiting for a bite. The following day was equally uneventful, and this session came to a close without our landing the big pike we were dreaming of.
A change of plans
Fishing for specimens is almost another game in itself. You need a completely different mindset and you need patience, something we don’t have much of! Carl and I do get bored quickly but we knew over the coming few sessions that we’d need to change the way we fish if we wanted that monster pike. Our plan this winter was to target our local river. Our friend Matt had proved that there were huge pike thriving in this small, dirtylooking waterway – last season he managed to land a number of pike over 20lb, and one beast over 30lb! We didn’t think it would be too much of a challenge to locate and catch pike from such a small, narrow river. Sadly, the weather put a complete stop to us even getting near the once-small river. It burst its banks and was completely unfishable! The high, chocolate-coloured waters have still not subsided and the continuing rain doesn’t leave me in high hopes for the rest of the season. We did make a few casts on a number of short sessions, but I really didn’t feel confident at all. It was time to look elsewhere, and after doing some research and talking with friends, we hooked up with new Nash consultant Craig Mortimer. He took us to a lake he had fished in the past, where he felt we would have a decent chance of catching. Craig told us that livebaits were the way to go, and that they always outfish deadbaits. That being said, we set up a maggot feeder and cast around to try and find a shoal of roach. Luckily these fish played ball and after an hour or two we had enough bait. The pike rods were set up with 24g Drennan Zeppler floats and wire traces with treble hooks. I attached my Waterwolf underwater camera to the rig on my rod which would be looking down at the bait and hopefully capture any action. All three of us cast, waited and hoped the pike would be up for a feed. Twenty minutes passed without any signs, and the bitterly cold wind was getting through to our skin, but with big pike in the lake we just had to man up and keep fishing! Then, out of nowhere, my float bombed under and I was attached to my biggest pike of the winter so far. It wasn’t a monster at 15lb but definitely one of the better pike I’ve landed. This fish was the start of a hectic couple of hours when the floats didn’t seem to stop going under. We managed another eight pike before the action dried up. Nothing as large as the first fish, but at least they kept us well entertained.