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Phil Spinks- Pike Fishing
This winter my obsession with pike fishing has continued. It seems I look forward to my pike fishing more and more with each passing winter.
My first couple of trips were out in my boat, throwing lures around on my local Broadland rivers. These days didn’t disappoint and plenty of hard fighting pike smashed into my lures, the best fish would have been around mid-doubles, but with around 15 to 20 pike each day its great sport.
Towards the back end of October my attention turns to a large reservoir near home, the fishing can be tricky at times, but I feel I’m making more progress each winter. The reservoir is around 400+ acres so location is of paramount importance.
Finding the roach shoals in the winter has been the key, using a remote boat with a fish finder helps place baits neatly at range. The boat also helps me find underwater features such as drop offs and deeper areas. But sometimes the best way to locate the roach shoals is the more traditional way of looking for grebes working and roach topping early in the morning – regardless of how you go about it, locating the roach should be a priority, the pike won’t be far behind.
This year the reservoir has been kind to me, with my best day seeing 12 pike come my way including a brace of 20lb+ pike weighing 21lb 6oz and 21lb 8oz. Then the following week another 21lb 8oz graced my net – I must be doing something right!
Back in November, myself and the guys from ADTV filmed a pike fishing film for our YouTube channel. This was a project I really enjoyed. We filmed on three different days, covering lure fishing, gravel pit fishing and Broadland boat fishing for pike. I was very pleased with the way the video came out and hats off to the guys for their great camera work and especially Chris Ansell for the great edit.
Another memorable trip was at the Girton Lakes complex. Oliver Harper and I made the long journey up to Girton early in the morning to meet Hassan Khan and Lewis Porter for a days pike fishing and to film an AD live later that day.
The weather couldn’t have been worse! With very strong, cold winds and heavy rain all morning it made both fishing and filming very challenging. I managed to persuade my drop off alarms to fall a few times before we had to make a sharp exit due to the nearby river Trent flooding onto the complex, the weather really was terrible. The best pike of the day was a beautifully marked upper double. Hopefully I’ll get to return for another go one day in better conditions.
I’ve been out a couple more times in my small boat with very mixed results, a couple of days have been fairly productive seeing a few nice pike well into double figures, but I don’t mind admitting to a rather lean spell after Christmas having several blank days. One short morning session my local river from the bank I came very close to another 20lb pike but it fell slightly short weighing 19lb 10oz. Another stunning looking Broadland pike that I was very pleased to catch all the same.
One last noteworthy pike was a very lucky capture. AD photographer Amanda and I had a day of photography planned. The pike fishing rod and reel kits promoted by Mick Brown and Matt Hayes where among the items we needed to photograph. After catching a small jack pike straight away followed by a estimated 10lber falling off. I picked up one of the rods to reposition the bait elsewhere as it had not received and interest for a couple of hours. The pike must of picked up the bait just as I picked the rod up. When I lifted the rod from the rest I felt a heavy weight on the other end, a very lightly hooked pike of exactly 22lb was soon safe in the net. In fact the hooks fell out as soon as I netted the fish. Better to be lucky than good sometimes…
I now have a freezer full of rather smelly cheese paste and have the urge for a spot of chub fishing, so hopefully I’ll have some nice chub to share soon.
Tight lines
Phil