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- May 19, 2002
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Latest match (last Sunday) was the Pike Cup and we'd returned to Grange Farm Pond near Thirsk where we'd held this match two years ago.
The current form was promising - the lake owner had, had a brace of fish out the day before we arrived, a group of anglers had three or four on lures mid-week and I bumped into one of the guys who has a caravan on the site in Morrisons whilst hunting for fresh sardines and he confirmed the above and added he'd had a few fish himself recently.
There were only four of us fishing and we just used the pegs along the peninsula between the two halves of the lake - Tink at the top-end, followed by Matty, George and myself.
It doesn't take long to get tackled up for pike fishing - I set-up the six rods I had with me in about ten minutes flat - three live/deadbait rods, two lure rods and a 13' Shalespeare Zen float rod for livebait catching purposes.
Bait wise I had sardines, smelt, a few sprats and a couple of pollan and at the start dropped a sardine down to my left under an overhanging tree before having a unsuccessful 20 minutes or so flinging lures to all points of the compass - the finest creations of Messrs Rapala, Heddon and Shakespeare not eliciting any response from the lakes pike population.
A switch to a second, floatfished deadbait was no more successful
We'd started at nine and it was almost two hours later that the first fish was successfully landed - Tink catching a little jack of 2lb 9oz
I redoubled my efforts to catch a livebait or two - scrounging a few maggots off George after the fish ignored the half dendrobena I had been offering them.
George had caught a small perch earlier which he lip hooked and I finally caught a tiny skimmer which was soon back in he water towing my pike float around.
I don't know if anybody still does a bit of livebaiting but those who do probably know that little skimmers are rubbish
They don't swim about much and expire very quickly - roach are far superior and even better are gudgeon.
I caught another skimmer - which I donated to George since his perch had snuffed it and he did supply the maggots I was catching with.
Actually looking at the photo that could be a hybrid - either way George lost it second chuck
I got a perch late on which I returned and that was it fish wise - I never had a sniff on my pike gear - another 90 minutes working through the contents of my lure box (which is fairly extensive) never produced as much as a follow.
So that's a first trophy of the season for Tink and, for the third year in succession, a single fish has been the only one caught.
Dromonby Farm next - the winning weight should be greater
Sunday lunch escaped
Simon
The current form was promising - the lake owner had, had a brace of fish out the day before we arrived, a group of anglers had three or four on lures mid-week and I bumped into one of the guys who has a caravan on the site in Morrisons whilst hunting for fresh sardines and he confirmed the above and added he'd had a few fish himself recently.
There were only four of us fishing and we just used the pegs along the peninsula between the two halves of the lake - Tink at the top-end, followed by Matty, George and myself.
It doesn't take long to get tackled up for pike fishing - I set-up the six rods I had with me in about ten minutes flat - three live/deadbait rods, two lure rods and a 13' Shalespeare Zen float rod for livebait catching purposes.
Bait wise I had sardines, smelt, a few sprats and a couple of pollan and at the start dropped a sardine down to my left under an overhanging tree before having a unsuccessful 20 minutes or so flinging lures to all points of the compass - the finest creations of Messrs Rapala, Heddon and Shakespeare not eliciting any response from the lakes pike population.
A switch to a second, floatfished deadbait was no more successful
We'd started at nine and it was almost two hours later that the first fish was successfully landed - Tink catching a little jack of 2lb 9oz
I redoubled my efforts to catch a livebait or two - scrounging a few maggots off George after the fish ignored the half dendrobena I had been offering them.
George had caught a small perch earlier which he lip hooked and I finally caught a tiny skimmer which was soon back in he water towing my pike float around.
I don't know if anybody still does a bit of livebaiting but those who do probably know that little skimmers are rubbish
They don't swim about much and expire very quickly - roach are far superior and even better are gudgeon.
I caught another skimmer - which I donated to George since his perch had snuffed it and he did supply the maggots I was catching with.
Actually looking at the photo that could be a hybrid - either way George lost it second chuck
I got a perch late on which I returned and that was it fish wise - I never had a sniff on my pike gear - another 90 minutes working through the contents of my lure box (which is fairly extensive) never produced as much as a follow.
So that's a first trophy of the season for Tink and, for the third year in succession, a single fish has been the only one caught.
Dromonby Farm next - the winning weight should be greater
Sunday lunch escaped
Simon
