It's coming.

Savage Gear 3D hard eel

I've started to panic a little. The river closed season seems to be closing in on me really fast and I can't do anything to slow it down. When the river looks good, I'm at work and worse still I'm on a crap shift that means I can't get out to fish. When the weekend comes it's rained a day or two earlier and the rivers are usually a no go zone or at best, somewhere to go but you know it's going to be a struggle. Looking forward to this weekend we're tipping another write off as storm in a tea cup Juno heads our way. We might not get anything spectacular storm wise, but you can guarantee Wednesday and Thursday it'll piss it down that much the rivers are ruined for another weekend. Honestly, I feel like I'm just reposting an old blog entry here, it's every weekend that it is ruined. I'm running for Prime Minister in the next election and the first thing I'll be changing is the working week. Tuesday and Wednesday are the days off and we will work the rest of the days. Vote RiverPiker for Prime Minister.

I think part of the panic has come from being a little sidetracked messing around with my Youtube videos, the warm weather that seemed to go well in to October and then pretty much one of my first proper piking sessions I went and had a bumper day. Just after that I'm in chill out mood. Just go fishing and catch a fish or two. I'm not driven by big fish after big fish so not on a constant hunt for the big girls. Then there's a few half arsed weekends, a few tough ones and before I know it I'm now looking at that bloody deadline and fearing not catching another good fish. Is that lesson learned? May be I should be one of the lads who is on a constant chase for the big ones, keep at it full throttle and make it happen again and again. Maybe I should, but for now I still don't see that as being my aim. I'll settle for just getting a few fish and enjoying my time out on the river for now. Still, it's panic mode so I'm starting to get that drive to make the most of every opportunity, no matter how small. Hour before work, hour after work whatever I can

I'm not friggin stupid though. I finished work today and I'd figured out that I could grab a whole half an hour with the lures before dark, and before I was doing my evening job of dads taxi. Walking to the car after work I was met with bright blue sky, a hell of a wind but the sky was bright. If it stayed like that, last light comes a little later and I can squeeze out a bit extra fishing. But upon arriving at the car, in the distance all I can see is dark grey skies. Not clouds, just one dark grey wall. I started the engine while I pondered and while I pondered that bright blue sky was quickly getting eaten up by that big dark grey wall. I plonked my arse on the seat and headed for home. Yes you need to put the effort in, you need to be a bit daft, brave it plenty and you need to grab every little chance you can. But stuff that, I'm not friggin stupid.

Savage Gear 3D hard eel

I've not done bad though over recent weeks. I've had a few fish with the best being mostly low doubles. I'm not at the point in my piking where I turn my nose up at a low double and a hard fighting fat river pike like that is a great reward for braving the crap weather. I know I'm getting a bit of a name for the Squirrelly Burt lure, even being nick named "Team Burt" as often both Woody and I are catching many of our fish on them. But another lure that is doing the business for me has been the Savage Gear 3D hard eel. I think I'm liking it better than the original real eels at the moment, though I think that is because I'm able to fish it ultra slow in shallow water. Yeah I said shallow water. Who was it that told you all the pike are in the deep waters in winter? Well we've hardly had any proper cold weather so it may be that would be the case if it were cold, but I'm finding the pike are often in six foot of water and less. So if you are out and about make sure you are fishing the usual Autumn river spots and not just plugging for the deep waters.

Savage Gear 3D hard eel

Make the most of it boys and girls. Get yourself out whenever you can. I know some flooded rivers are not that great, and when it's cold, wet and windy it's not really enjoyable if the pike aren't playing ball. but we've not got too much longer left so go make something happen. I don't mean blindly just going on the river no matter what, if you reckon it's not right, ten foot up and colour of mud then yes sack it off and go to a still water somewhere. But if like me you love your rivers, get out and have a look as you never know. I've found that looking at the river levels on the web often tells me plenty but it doesn't tell me enough. Sometimes, that extra water that is in isn't actually that bad. It's not the colour of mud, it's not full of crap and sometimes, if those fishing Gods have been kind it's actually not too bad at all. Worth a look at least because if that extra water is in, and the clarity isn't too bad at all. Those bait fish will be shoaled up tighter than ever and those pike will be right on their arse and they will be on the munch. Have your plan B ready but at least have a look and see if plan A is worth a go. Personally I'd much prefer a steady day with a slight chance on the river than a perfect day on a boring canal. Pike is pike and catching them is what we love, but I love all the rest that goes with it. I'll be out this weekend on an up and coloured river giving it a go with most probably not much hope of anything at all. But I'm making the most of the time I have and I'm going to enjoy it. I'm going to enjoy the struggle, the hard work, the birds, the sunrise and the sunset because that's what I do.


If you haven't noticed, I've not posted all my recent videos on here so go check out my Youtube channel to catch up, there's plenty to watch. If you are struggling for a bit of motivation though I'd suggest you watch these two videos to help you get your arse in gear. This first one is me out on the river with my pike lures trying to find where the Esox are hiding. Just a few lures and my walking boots and off I go. All hard graft and I bag a few fish and even teach myself a few lessons along the way.

This next video is me making the most of the little time I have. Dashing out after work and getting to the river and I go right at it. Hitting a peg with all I have then running off down stream to find more pike. Hard work, yes it is but If I can get up at the crack of dawn for a shift I can put in that bit more effort for a pike or two, and it pays off.

 

Blogs are for blogging, so I'll blog.

Finally the rains came

I don't think I've got much to write about. Hang on, that will mean this entry is as long as the rest and I'll rattle on about something, of which at this very second I have no idea what that will be. So yeah, nothing much to write about. Why do I always feel like I'm waiting for some part of the year that always seems so far away? I'm waiting for proper piking weather. Not the depths of winter, I'm not wishing the sun away so soon, I would just like it a bit cooler, the odd bit of rain to keep some water in the rivers every now and again. For the last month or two it's been like a proper summer, there's been no rain and the river has been that low I keep expecting to see the pike beached somewhere and the spiky dorsal of the perch cutting the water every where I look.  Anyway, finally after weeks and weeks we had some rain, and boy did it rain. We had a bit of hurricane Bertha smack us right in the face, tail end my arse. For a full on hour it rained so hard even the streets around me on top of a hill were flooded. The 20mph speed restricting chicanes on the road created something the slalom canoeists would have loved as river rapids raged down the main road. At the bottom of the hill in town cars were underwater, the local tackle shop owner was fishing in the streets and Neil was planning a porte boat session up his street if it got any worse. I also managed to capture a lightening strike on film. The rains cleared, to be replaced by and epic lightning show in the sky. After all that, the river rose, peaked and dropped again over night. Not a sustained flood but at least it got a wash through.

 
I didn't even get on it. I ended working an extra night shift over the weekend and then a mixture of being too busy and not been arsed to get out because of something more important than fishing, of which I will explain later. I did grab a short hour one day midweek when it was cool and another hour another day to do a bit of filming. I decided to knock up a lure video to answer those unanswerable questions. What's your favourite lure? Which lure catches most fish? What's the best lure for pike? and so on. I decided the best answer, a go to lure for me, was the Savage Gear Lowrider. A lure that can often trigger a hit when everything else seems to be failing. A lure that will catch fish so if you have one and you are struggling, whip it out and use it and only it, you will catch. So On that hot day I got on the bank and just filmed me talking for a bit about the lure and you can see that video below if you wish. The day when it was a bit cooler I had a few fish. I had the ultra light rod, a tiny 2 inch kopyto and I was looking for the perch. But me being me though, that meant I ended up with nine pike and a tiny perch. Can't complain, I do like pike.

So a few weeks have passed and I haven't done too much at all. I never really like the full on summer, it's too hot, not piking weather and the banks are either full of other anglers on the popular stretches or an absolute nightmare on the unpopular stretches as there's nine foot of growth everywhere and just walking 50yards takes an hour and 19,000 calories. I sweat enough at work (not cos I work my balls off but because it's already hot) so me working up another sweat for fun is not on my agenda. That's where getting out on the boat with Woody works perfectly for us but to be honest we haven't really done too much. Woody was sorting his engine and so the last couple of times we haven't really gone at it serious and then more recently I've been working or otherwise engaged so not been at all. That needs to change, we need to fish.

So what, apart from sun, work and lack of being arsed on my part has kept me away from fishing? What is so important that I would turn my nose up at a much awaited river running off or a chillaxing session with Woody and Tyke on the boat bagging fish after fish? The other love of my life which I have touched on occasionally though never probably gone in to detail with. I'm a northerner, a Yorkshireman and us proper northern Yorkshire men love rugby league. Flat caps, pigeons, whippets and rugby league. Actually most of that lot isn't so much the case for us Yorkies unless you're from Featherstone and then it's still all of them in that case. Not to be mistaken with the posh southern sport of Rugby Union, this game is played by coal miners, steel workers and anyone who spits and swears for a living. Hang on a minute, like the whippets, all that's changed now too. We have a game fit for TV now with super human athletes who run and bash each other non stop for 80 minutes, with a bit of biff and some cracking entertainment to boot. If you haven't yet discovered it, tune in to Sky Sports on a Thursday and Friday evening (days subject to change because Sky piss us about all the time) and we even make the good old BBC sometime, last weekend being one and weekend after next being another. (Read on)

My other love is Castleford Tigers. A small town team holding our own in the top league. It's like Blackburn Rovers or Huddersfield in the Premier League, with the exception that those towns are probably five times bigger than my tiny town. Ok league isn't anywhere near as big as football and since in the main it is confined to the M62 corridor and Yorkshire and Lancashire there's not a full nation of towns and cities to compete with. Still, it's a tough life kicking it with the big boys like Leeds and Wigan (pah! Wigan. *lolz* We smacked them in the quarter final at their place.) and for the last ten years it's been frigging hard. Relegation, promotion and then relegation again for us to claw back up to the top tear where we've lived 99% of our life. Money comes hard and we've struggled to compete but this season, this season it has been different. We're only kicking ass! We're fecking spanking them all you know. Only a couple of points off the top with a few games to go and in with a chance of winning it. But forget that, at least for now, we're fucking off to Wembley you know! We're fucking off to Wembley!

Last weekend I didn't fish because we had a massive semi final against Widnes Vikings and we cruised it, winning easily and sending my tiny town mental. We've got Wembley fever here and I can't even think about fishing. They say if you are not fishing you are thinking about fishing. Not for me old lad, we're off to Wembley. We're the famous Castleford Tigers and we're off to Wembley! And guess what, guess who we play? We play that big city team, our long time rival, the dirty Leeds Rhinos. The place is going to be packed and this tiny town of mine will be a ghost town. Every man, woman and child will be there, wearing black and amber and singing our hearts out. Come on your 'Ford! Tune in to BBC1 on Saturday 23rd August, wear anything you have that is black and amber and if you haven't got that, yellow or orange will do. Cheer on my boys, the tiny town underdogs against the big city bastards. Be a Cas fan for the day, and I promise you this, you'll be a Cas fan for life afterwards.

Here's a picture of me from the last time I visited the capital.

Big lures for pike

I forgot to put a link on here for this video I made a week or so ago. Pretty much me just sitting and talking about why I use bigger lures for pike fishing. It's not going to teach any of the experienced lads anything, possibly a few things I do differently may be. But for the beginner, novice and casual angler looking to improve their piking it should have in plenty. It's a long video so be prepared for that but it will help a few people I'm certain.

Link to video

Epic session is epic

Ooh, err... What do I write here? It's a little embarrassing to say the least. I know loads of people who would be happy with one fish as it's often a struggle to catch, I'll happily take one fish as I know how tough it can sometimes be..... but then this happens.

First week of the season and I'd had some fun on the river then by Friday I was ready for a change. I didn't want to do the same thing and also wanted some new scenery. I scratched my head as to where to go and what to do before finally deciding to go look at somewhere I hadn't fished for about nine months. I expected perch and pike and quite fancied a steady session on the ultra light gear. Catching a few perch on my small soft plastics and cranks was the plan. Next to a bit of flowing water and a bit of sun there was nothing to beat it right now, well that's what I thought anyway.

I got my small box of lures sorted and put them in my bag, a drink to keep me hydrated but last minute I also decided to take the pike gear so chucked in a few bigger pike lures and took both rods. It gave me options and since there was a chance this place hadn't been fished this year yet, who knew what could be waiting. I was to be throwing the ultra lights but if I needed to I could have a bash with the pike lures and see if anything bigger was about. I also had a back up plan of a couple of spots to drop in on the way home should fishing be a bit steady. Ha ha, steady!

Scything my way through the grass and nettles I was a happy bunny, it seems no one had fished here yet, great stuff. I plonked my gear on the ground and stuck on a Zman shad. I have a sneaking feeling there's a decent perch or two living here. I've never had anything too big, possibly a couple of twos if I remember right. These shads are quite long, maybe four inches and have a nice paddle tail wiggle. That could bag me a big perch if there's one here I was thinking. I had a couple of knocks but maybe I was just bouncing bottom, but then the rod tip bent round and I was hooking in to a jack pike. Maybe five or six pounds and super fun on the light gear. Well at least the lure works and I wasn't going to blank today. Great start.

Zman shad

Happy with the fish I stuck with the same lure in the hope a perch might be about. I felt something pluck at it, then saw a tail but couldn't tell if it was a perch or a small pike that had nipped at my lure. Then the rod bent again and I was in, but then it was off. Oh well, keep going lad and before long I was bagging fish number two, another 5lber and losing another. A pleasing start. I fancied throwing a few cranks so put on a Mark Houghton crank and no sooner had it gone through the swim it was nailed by yet another jack pike. A few more retrieves and I was in again, great sport this. I switched to another MH crank and caught again and then again. (Sorry about the poor pictures)

Mark Houghton crank

Mark Houghton crank

After about seven or eight pike I was now sure there were no perch about. Catching pike on the light gear is great fun, but if that's what you keep catching then you are not geared up for it. The 25lb wire traces don't last for ever and can become kinked after a fish or two. The jacks thrash around a lot and there's more chance of something going wrong. Add to this the fact it takes much longer to get a fish in on the light, soft rod as even a jack has tremendous power and when it goes you have to let it go. The clutch is set light, the rod is soft and all you can do is take your time. The most sensible thing is to use stronger gear, and that's what I did. I got the big rod out, big lures and that is much better suited to getting the fish in with no fear of a kinked trace snapping or over playing a fish. Well done me for being arsed to bring a second rod. Maybe the bigger lures would winkle out a bigger fish two, who knows?


I think I put on a Savage Gear lip lure first. Wiggled and jerked it through the same spot and it wasn't long before another jack obliged. Then another, and another and another. This is a bit mental to say the least. Fish after fish after fish. I changed to a Squirrelly Burt and it was fish after fish after fish. I'm glad I had my GoPro switched on for this as no one would believe these fishy tales otherwise. Fish, fish, fish. I've now lost count. I've now got arm ache. I've now caught an unbelievable amount of pike.

Savage Gear lip lure

Most pike were between four and eight pound. I managed just a couple of bigger fish. Though I never weighed them they were a little better stamp of pike. Nothing huge but both were low double. They were solid muscled fish and made a nice change to the crazy jacks. It didn't really matter what size any of the fish were today though, I was in a bit of a daze after this as I would imagine anyone else.

 

I got in the car just short of three hours after getting out of it. I sat and tried to work out how many fish I'd caught but gave up. I realised that I could count them all up at home when I checked out my GoPro footage. I must remember to add on the five pike I caught after my memory card had filled up though. Usually if that were to happen I'd switch on the wifi, iPhone and the app' and delete any of the footage without fish on. However I figured that was pointless as pretty much all the clips would have some kind of fishy action on. Back at home I was sifting through the videos and the tally was rising. I ran out of time as I now needed to be at work so I had to wait all day, not knowing the final count until later that night when I could finish checking the last dozen or so clips. More fish to add to the tally, not forgetting the misses too, there were another ten or so hits where I didn't make contact.

Thirty five pike in less than three hours. I wasn't boat fishing all day, I wasn't on a large lake or anything. There' weren't two of us fishing. It was just me, 80 yards of water and a stack of pike. The number of times I've said it, right place right time.

First weekend of the river season came and went and I didn't even go out fishing after Fridays spectacle. I might get the stick float out next week and just catch some silvers....

My start to the river season.

All through the closed season, I like many was waiting, and waiting and waiting for June 16th. At times it seemed like it was years away but finally we're all back, it's great to be back.

Savage Gear lip lure

Luckily for me I have been on the dreaded afternoon shift but I don't always mind it too much as it allows me to get out on the bank most mornings and come the 16th I was up and about early doors. I'd got a few things to attend to mid morning so I could just get in a few hours of fishing and enjoy myself. Last year I bagged a twenty in no time and the year before I did ten fish in less than an hour or something so this year I was expecting to come back down to earth with a bang, as far as opening days go. Going with that mentality put me in the right frame of mind for a bad session, and just to go and enjoy being back on the water. Once I'm there, stood by the river there's really no rush, no urgency and no waiting any more and I actually just enjoy it. On that first morning it feels as though I have all the time in the world to do whatever I want and there's no rush or no need to catch. A fish would be nice though.

It wasn't to be a spectacular session fish numbers or size wise. I had a few half hearted follows to the point where you were tapping the pike on the nose with the lure and it wouldn't take. I knew it was going to be one of those days after that. I ended up missing two fish but landing three. A happy return, if not as spectacular as previous seasons, but I'm well happy to be back.
 
After that first session I was in a totally chilled out mood. There was no rush to catch a monster or have an epic session and so no major plans were made for the following day. I just decided to get up and go fishing and see what happened. I then spotted a photo on Facebook where Nathan Edgell had caught on his surface frog. Now I normally use those on still waters simply because there's usually weed and the waters tend to be of a good depth and clarity but I decided to have a crack on the river. So far this year for a few months at least there's been no massive floods and so the weed has had time to spring up in a few spots. Somewhere to aim for and to expect a pike or two laying up. So that was the plan, have a chuck and see what happens and I wasn't to be disappointed at all. After ten minutes I was shaking like a shitting dog. I'd had four surface hits and managed to not hook one of them properly. They were on and then off and crashed about in spectacular fashion.

I did hook one properly, had it on, played it right to the net. As it was just coming over the net, the pike thrashed it's head and the frog shot out. Oh so close! But with this kind of fun there wasn't even any need to land a fish, I honestly didn't care. If you've never done it before, get some heavy braid, a strong rod and a couple of frogs and just go out. Cast out, wind in and try your best not to strike at everything you see, just react to the rod being pulled out of your hand, that's the time to set the hooks. Get yourself over to Lure Lounge and grab a couple of Koppers Live Target frogs as now is the time for surface fun.

After the mayhem, it went quiet on the surface so I had a bit of time left, switched to the usual and bagged two pike, one on a Burt and one on a SG low rider. Two fish in the bag, loads of spectacular fun on the frogs and another great morning.

Squirrelly Burt

Koppers Live target frog

So I'd now got a bit of a frog bug. The adrenaline kicks in, you get the shakes and the visual spectacular show is out of this world. I had to go back and have another go just to get my fix and that's exactly what happened. Wednesday morning I was back with the frog for an hour and again I was in for a treat. Surface to air missiles were being launched from a submarine in my peg. Ha ha, you have done some frogging haven't you? Hooking up with these hits isn't the easiest, I expected to lose far more than I bagged but I was now due a fish to the bag and finally it happened. Success on the river with my Koppers Live Target frog. I even managed it again the next day landing another pike, a two toned fish I know I've caught before so that was pleasing to see again.

Koppers Live target frog

All in all a good first few days of fun on the river and I'm glad to be back. There's going to be more like this, more options and it's just going to get better and better, I can feel it in my water!

Savage Gear lip lure

I'd not really thought about it until recently, but it's nearly here.

Yes it's not too far off at all. We're now in to June by a few days, which means it's not long at all until we can finally fish the rivers again. I enjoy the canals for a while, it's a change and it gives me a break from chucking big lures as I mostly just take out the ultra light rod. But when it gets to about now I start to get the urge to throw a big jerk bait.

This time of year the canal fishing starts to annoy me. My local ponds aren't the best either. On the shallow canals there's a mass of weed taking over so little cranks are a nightmare to fish. Half the casts are ruined before they start because they hit some bit of weed a foot below the surface. Add to that some sunshine and the boaters are out in full force. The annoying weed becomes even more annoying than you could ever believe. It's whipped up and thrown around making sub surface lures a waste of time. At the weekend we were catching fish on a small canal but by about half ten the boaters were out and after the fourth or fifth went past we had to come up with a plan B. Add to that further that the canal then turns a murky dark colour from all the mud that's chucked up and we're left pulling our hair out. However if you can get on them before the boats are out, or late evening when they have calmed down and all the mud and weed has settled down you can manage to get some fun using surface frogs. We've already picked up a couple of fish using this method and when the pike are in full, mental swing taking frogs off the top it's amazing fun.


If you haven't tried it yet, get yourself a medium lure outfit, some braid of around 40lb with a suitable wire trace and a couple of surface frogs. Decent makes that I've used are the Koppers Live Target and the Spro BronzeEye frogs. Both virtually identical and perfect in my opinion. You can fish waters you previously thought were out of bounds. Where the weed has taken over or a mass of lilies covering the surface you can cast these weedless frogs over the top and bring it right through everything. Slowly twitching the frog from one lilly to the next, stopping it on a pad and then giving it a few twitches through the next tiny clearing. Don't expect a take in the clearing though. Nah, none of that. These pike are mental when they're hitting the frogs and they'll smash right up through the weed and pads and you'll miss the first half a dozen fish just gawping at what you just saw. Honestly, this fishing is nerve racking, edge of the seat poo your pants stuff. You'll be left amazed, amused, confused and frustrated but when you finally hook one you'll have as big a smile on your face with a three pound jack as you would with a new pb.

Spro BronzeEye frog

Perfect for frogging

So what else pisses me off this time of year. Other anglers that's who. It's mostly just me, I don't like seeing others on the bank as I like it all to myself. Some canals at this time of year are full of pole fishermen and the general match angler. Some chaps you can chat to and pass the time of day but some of them are a right set of miserable old bleeders. Jesus Christ, apologies if you're one of the decent match lads but for those that are of the arrogant wanker type, kiss my hairy balls. You get right on my tits. Another reason I hate fishing the canals right now. The times I've been out over the last few months in miserable rain and wind, caught a few fish and right enjoyed myself but as soon as the sun is out all these folk come out to play. I swear one of these days I'm hitting the canals on my push bike and I'm riding straight through those thousand pound poles and off in to the distant sunset.

Is my frustration coming out? Can you tell I'm ready for some solitary pike fishing on smelly rivers no one fishes? Frig me, I can't wait.

MH custom lures Alphabet

So last weekend me and my buddy were out as usual trying to think of somewhere to catch a few fish. The tiny canal was the starting point and we had a few fish. I just had the ultra light rod while Woody also brought a second rod which he put a frog on. He fancied a dabble to see if he could wangle one out and after a few follows and fish missing the lure he eventually snagged one. However it was the MH Alphabet crank that did the trick. After a pike charged out a few times only to refuse the frog, he quickly made the switch and the pike took the alphabet first pass. A little later after some perseverance he finally had his first on a frog this year and it got us thinking a little more about using them. I wasn't having much luck until I put on small jerkbait. It was one I picked up in a second hand shop, hand painted by someone but it looked to me like a small Salmo Slider. At least I was using jerk baits and I enjoyed that and then not long in to it I bagged a jack. Then a little later I put on a Rapture Swimmy I'd had sent to me by Lure Lounge to try out. A soft lure with a diving lip. One of those soft lure swimbaits that you just know will bag some fish and I had a jack in no time at all. The canal muddied up not long after that so we had to go elsewhere and this also meant a change of tactics.

Rapture Swimmy

On the new canal it was jigging and small cranks. A much larger canal with more depth, less weed and loads of match men. Oh heaven! It was after lunch time now and we'd lost interest in serious fishing and just had a play around. I don't know how it came about but we ended up trying to catch fish on every lure in our box. If we caught on a Kopyto we switched to a Rapala and when we caught on that, on went a Yogi. In the end we'd caught fish on about twelve or thirteen lures. Proving that it's often not the lure but what you do with it. It was good to have a mess around and catch some fish, light hearted fun and a good bit of sport. We've a few more weekends to get through and this week we'll be trying to think of something or somewhere to go that'll keep us beaming and not just going through the motions. Lure fishing for us is meant to be fun. We love to catch the river monster or the huge spiky dorsal Sargent but in between those sessions we just like to have some fun.

Not long now.

Savage Gear Manic shrimp

Relax Kopyto shad

Tungsten jig

Rapture Vibra Shad

Rapala Jointed shad rap

Savage Gear Lip lure

Savage Gear lip lure - target fish pike (but expect perch and chub too)
This is a jointed hard swimbait available in many colours and a few sizes, 9.5cm, 13cm and 19cm. There is a 25cm jointed hard lure from SG but this is the lipless swim and jerk version. Note there is also a larger lipped low rider swimbait. I use all three of the lip lure sizes, the smallest for pike, perch and chub as a target, the 13cm as a jack catching machine and the 19cm as my preferred choice for pike. However as the pictures below will prove you will eventually catch chub and big perch on the 19cm if you are lucky. All three sizes have caught me big pike but the big lure has a better average for size caught. The lure should be suited to a rod and reel combo rated for casting and matched with strong enough braid and trace to give you a chance of getting the lure back should you become snagged. The lure is a shallow lure, 1-5 feet deep on a normal retrieve so perfect for shallower waters.

This particular lip lure version enables you to fish the lure in a few ways. Simply cast out and wind in for a steady swimming action with slight rocking. More aggressive retrieves wields a more aggressive rock of the lure while a very slow retrieve, kind of like slow motion, can often be the difference in encouraging a take. My preferred retrieve style is hard jerks. By jerking the lure rather than straight winding you impart an erratic wobble of the lure and this wobble gives off vibration and flash of colour which both in turn work the senses of a pike. This jerk should be mixed with pauses and this pause is often where the take comes. So keeping a taught line is important so you are immediately in touch with any knock. The hits come front back and side and so what you feel on the rod tip will be different each time. It could be the tinniest of touches, an arm ripping yank or the line could go slack meaning the fish is coming towards you. The jerks and pauses are a stop-go technique which once mastered is a devastating pike magnet. You can mix the stop-go jerks with stop go short retrieves for similar results and also speeding up or slowing down both retrieve or jerk to trigger the hit. As a word of note, the stop go isn't the old style retrieve and then pause to let the lure sink or rise. These lures are slow sink, slow float or suspend which means they won't go far on the pause. The lure also does a half side turn on the pause for added effect.

Remember you are lure fishing and the fun comes from making it happen, not just cast out and wind in. One day the soft and steady approach does it, the next it's hard and fast. So work the lure in any way you can, you will catch on all methods. As a general rule I will go in "quiet" with a cast out and steady wind in, often running along the bank side and see if there are any pike waiting to ambush. If no takes occur I will cover the same water again with a "noisy" approach of sharp stop-go jerks, lots of vibration and flash and this is to try to trigger a hit, make it happen.

My personal colour choice are any of the natural colour patterns, particularly any with a flash of silver in the paint job which will be highlighted more with the jerk and wobble of the lure. Colour choice should be used to your advantage or to aid in poor light conditions or murky water. Similarly the use of the lip for creating vibration in these conditions will help alert the pike.

There are cheaper versions of this lure from some random manufacturers. You may find one that works but many of them are poor in comparison using weaker wire and poorer hooks. However having the odd one in your bag might pick up a bonus fish as you'll dare to cast it in or around the big snags.

Top tip
You can switch the split rings on the hook holders (not the nose of the lure though) to weaker split rings to create a weak point. This weak point should then give, should you become snagged, resulting in lost hook rather than lost lure.

Chub on 19cm Savage Gear lip lure

perch on 19cm Savage Gear lip lure

This lip lure has done me a few twenties!

Perch

I've made a Youtube video of some perch action. I need to do more detailed things later to show the tackle and lures used close up, how to go about using it all and catch some perch. But in the mean time I've done a brief look at perch fishing using lures to help with the latest craze that is sweeping the nation. It includes perch both big and small, and the big ones are from my recent outing with Woody with the three pounders. Anyway worth a look so thought I'd share with you guys first. Hope you enjoy.

What to do when the rivers close?

With the rivers closed me and Woody decided for a steady session on the canals trying to find some perch. We know that they are nice and fat now, so could be a big fish or two if we're lucky but we also know that every man and his dog are at them. With the light gear we wanted some light fun but we also took the jerk bait rods just in case as there's a couple of locations along the way that throw up pike and we can't resist them sometimes.

We started at a lock, obvious feature, and the first few flicks produced nothing so we moved on and had a crack around some boats, always a good feature if you can find them. The odd tap but nothing to start with so we got up and personal, dropping the kopytos right in the gaps between closely moored up boats. It's only a matter of time before we get a fish or someone from inside a boat comes out and has a whine. I dropped in a tight spot that Woody was in and just dropped the kopyto below the rod tip, I jigged once and it was nailed by a plump fat perch possibly touching two pound, though I never weighed it. As is the case when me and Woody are fishing, as one guy is playing a fish he points to the same spot and the other one drops in. You never know, often there is another perch or two hanging about. His kopyto was nailed instantly and a fat perch, busting at the seems was in the net. Smaller, just over a pound maybe but fat as hell. We're off!

Tactics carried on the same, in and around the next boats but only the odd small perch showed and after a while we were making or way back to the car, time to try a new spot we thought. As we neared the car, out pops an old woman from within her boat. In a loud, aggressive and damn right disrespectful manner she shouts "those better not come anywhere near this boat!"  while pointing and gesturing. We weren't anywhere near it and hadn't been. I replied with "good morning to you too my love" to which she barked back more aggressive crap. Again I said "good morning to you too love, how about you speak to us in a proper manner and raise your concerns, you might be pleasantly surprised at the response." She was just a miserable old git that thought she was lady somebody. After more words she threatened us with the old, "I'm phoning the police" to which me and Woody chuckled. There really was no need for the way she had handled this. She proceeded to explain to the 999 operator that she "was ever so sorry to trouble you" and that there were two fisherman and she had asked "nicely" to leave. Blah blah blah and then she finished with thank you. We were in trouble. Actually I kindly explained to the lady she had forgotten to tell the police where we all were. It would take her ten minutes to explain our location and she'd forgot to do that. Her act of pretending to phone the police didn't intimidate anyone and didn't fool us. We were on our way anyway so not long after toddled off. The police never did turn up. Some people really do need to learn how to speak to their fellow human beings.

We jigged a couple of other likely looking spots but never found any fish so we had to keep going to another spot we knew about. On this spot we fancied some pike and perch so took the light and heavy gear. Switching between both and trying our luck where we fancied it, leap frogging each other and swapping rods when something made us do it. We were both at one point throwing squirrelly burts (big pike jerk baits) about. We know there are often pike about and expected a take any time soon. There's also some nice perch along here and Woody commented, "I bet a big perch would take that burt easily" to which I agreed. Less than a couple of minutes later something smacked the burt. I struck and missed, cursed my luck but then said "I actually think that was a perch mate". It wasn't a big smack like a pike, so I cast straight back at it and brought the burt through and then bang, fish on! "I'm in" and Woody looked across and saw a jack, turned away and then heard me shout "get the net". When he looked back he saw the stripes, it wasn't a jack as he'd thought, so threw down his rod and came running with the net. In no time the perch was scooped up and safely in the net. Two super sized grins to match the super sized perch in the net. We jumped around like idiots, hugged each other and danced, it was like something off a Disney film. I'd stupidly brought the jerk bait bag and the net was too big to weigh the perch accurately so Woody watched the fish in the net while I ran back to the car, which was frigging miles away. About 50 yards short of the car I found a carrier bag hanging in a tree, that will do, so I then hot footed it back. We weighed the perch and I was gobsmacked when it went 3lb 6oz, what a result.

The "burt"

I stuck with the burt but can't remember if Woody was still doing the same. Fifty yards up I had another smack and this time it was a jack of about 6lbs. Finally a pike, by now I expected we'd had a couple of jacks. I guess they weren't at home today. Still with the burt I was bringing it in and as it neared my rod tip I could have sworn I saw something. I just stopped the burt below the rod tip and it ever so slowly started to rise. Whatever it was below was now not just a trick of the light rippling over the waves, it was a fish coming up and then I saw it. Another bloody great big perch. I didn't know what to do and it all was slow motion until finally the perch saw me, turned and dived back down. Holy cow, they love burts today.

Savage Gear Low Rider

We hit another jigging spot but again nothing produced so we turned back around and headed back to the car. We wanted food and drink now but couldn't walk past all that water without fishing. Woody had a small rapala on and was aiming for perch while I decided to stay fifty yard behind him and thrash the water with big lures, a Savage Gear 19cm low rider. From nowhere my lure was smacked and in seconds I saw another big perch on the end of my line. Woody was miles away with the net so I just scooped it up in one hand. It was a good two and after more smiles and amazement the fish was put back without a photo for some strange reason. I hope I don't sound like some snobby angler who doesn't like two's!(edit - grabbed a screen shot from a video I took)

Back out in front and Woody was thrashing the water with his rapala and then he got the hit, heart thumping moment, wondering what it was only for a jack of about five pounds to emerge. An enjoyable catch but not when you are only thinking of big perch at that moment. Then finally he had a bang and a fight he'd been waiting for and when we scooped up the 2lb 6oz fish we were well happy, another super fish.

We made it back to the car and I had my pasty with Woody his cat food/tuna thingamy bob and a drink to get us some energy back in. It was after midday now so we still had a bit of time to fish and set off in search of more.


A new spot produced a hit, a brief tussle and then what I thought was a perch shook the hooks free. A bit gutting but at least we knew we were on to fish again. A little further along all of a sudden all hell breaks loose. We were both fishing in the same spot. We both had small rapala shad raps on and casting at the same spot, a foot or two at most apart. Woody shouts "fish" and within a second I shout "double!". He was in to a big perch and he thought I meant I was in to a double figure pike, but in fact I too was in to a good perch. The net was nearer me and I whipped it under my fish. Woody had the foresight to have brought his pike boat net, so while my fish lay safe inside the net Woody worked his perch towards and at the last second I dipped one end and scooped up his perch too. A double hook up and two super perch sat in the net.

We danced around again like idiots. We've had double hook ups before but nothing in this league. The perch were unhooked and then rested in the net while we sorted scales and cameras. It doesn't really matter the weight, the fish today were fantastic but it is nice to know a weight as guessing can be way off. Woodys fish went 2lb 7oz, fatter than it looks there and then my fish was in the bag for a weigh and it went 3lb 5oz. Feck off, you're kidding me, another three!

Firetiger Rapala jointed shad rap

Covering more water we knew there was a chance of something else, hopefully another nice perch or two. Even a couple of ones and twos would be fantastic but after a bit of water covered nothing more came so when we reached a good distance we about turned and headed for home. We tried a few new things but then got back to the rapalas and back in to the same pattern of leap frogging and hitting any spot that shouted out to us. Three quarters of the way back and now fast running out of water it was nearly time to pack up and go home. However there was to be one last piece of magic to come. Woody was a little in front of me, twenty yards or so but his lure was towards me, and then all of a sudden, "I'm in" he yelped. I whipped in my lure and dashed up the bank with the net. I drew level with the fish and then saw it, a good lump with dark stripes and awesome spikes standing tall. I don't think Woody quite knew how big a perch it was just yet and I beckoned him to just angle the fish toward me, then scooped it up with the large net. This was another superb fish and at 3lb 7oz was the biggest today and a fantastic end to a storming day out. We had a couple of smaller fish, Woody one over a pound but that was it. We were happy and it was time to go home. Two jacks, a good sprinkle of 6oz to over a pound perch, five twos and three, three pound super stripeys. Another top day and one to remember. Missing the rivers much?

That feeling on a Monday when you a bagged a twenty at the weekend.

We're getting there folks. We're getting to that point where we can't fish the rivers any more. Just when everything is fat and plump, just when the rivers are starting to get in to a good condition some bugger goes and pulls the plug on it. It seems to happen like this every year, and then it seems like a really long way off before we can get back on it again.

So it's a mad rush for all to get on the rivers this week and try and get one last fish. As a piker it's the last chance to get that one last river twenty, that's the fish we all are chasing, all accept me. No I haven't already bagged one if that's what you were thinking. I finished work today at 2pm, the sun was shining and I had plenty of time to get some river fishing in but what did I do? I went home and cut the grass, it's growing like mad if you haven't noticed. I fixed the shed window too as the last nasty winds we had gave it a bit of a battering. A bit of a tidy up but I left some jobs for late, the closed season will be a long one. I then settled down with a pot of tea to watch the DVD of my team snatching victory in the very last second of the game. Work this morning was with a smile, a bounce, and lots of energy. The last time I felt like that on a Monday morning was when I'd landed a twenty at the weekend.

Last weekend I didn't even fish the river, I was out with a few forum lads who had booked a lake for a lure social. Most of them where new to the sport, some hadn't caught or even seen a pike before so I went as the "experienced" angler. It was hard work, crystal clear water and apart from a few follows not much happened. I reckon the place had seen a bit of lure action, despite the owner telling us it didn't get fished for pike. Every pike that followed was hesitant, and on a place that is not pressured at least a few jacks will smash the first lure they see. We didn't fail though in our quest. There was a follow from a couple of pike and two of the lads were trying to entice one. I passed my polaroids to Nick so he could see the action as he didn't have any and then I stuck on the reliable rainbow lip lure and wobbled it in. I couldn't see the pike or the lure and then Nick commented that the pike was following one of our lures, and then I realised it was following my lure. Both lure and pike came in to view but I had ran out of water, so I showed them a trick. Lure hanging right below the rod tip, a foot from the edge of the water and the pike sat face to face with the lure suspended a foot off the bottom. They were spellbound at this point, and I explained that you should never be in a rush to lift the lure out of the water. "Watch this" and I gave the smallest of flicks of the rod tip, the lure moved slightly and the pike smashed it. Don't let a pike think, let instinct take over. Not a monster but it was a fantastic sight to see and the lads were buzzing, plus we got to show them how to handle a pike so that when they bag a fish they can do it with confidence. We nipped off to a canal at the end and all bagged a couple of perch so no blanks. I also later got a message this week from Dave who was over the moon at catching two pike on the lures now he was confident that what he had been doing before was right all along. He just needed to put his lure in front of a hungry pike.



This Sunday saw me helping out at the Selby region PAC teach in day, as Mark Green had asked if I could get down and pass on some knowledge on lure fishing. It was a crazy March day, and the planned frosty fishing session with extra layers was instead met by glorious sunshine. It was a good turn out and a good few lads were keen to learn about lure fishing and I was glad to help. Too many things to talk about and too many questions for us to get fishing with the lures but I think those that came were happy with my mumblings. I tried to focus a little on the lighter lures as that is what has kicked off big style this last year or so in this country. Most of the lads weren't the serious pike fishermen, throwing huge plastics and jerks, so I just gave them a glimpse of that part. I think in the end about four fish came out to baits, so it was good that some of the new pikers got to have a close look at a pike and everything to do with handling. After my latest hook up the other day though, obviously I took a back seat for that demo!

You're not going to bag a twenty at this rate pal, you need to get some serious piking done. But that's not my aim, I class myself as a pleasure angler, a pleasure piker. I do love the big girl sat on my knee but I hate the hard grind of chasing one. You can dig back through this blog and often the general message about my fishing is, little and often. I enjoy getting out, armed with a few lures and the aim of catching a fish. Many times I blank, some times I get the result but that's how I like to approach things. It keeps it casual and keeps me away from the hard slog. Despite dropping on some good fish over the last few years I don't get about too much and I'm pretty new to this piking game, serious piking anyway, so I don't have stacks of waters to go at.

I had no plans at all to fish on Saturday, the wife and kids had far too many plans for me to even consider a small session. I resigned myself to a day of shopping. School shoes, party outfits, living room furnishings. Why doesn't she just order the stuff off the net and get it delivered to work like I do? Hell the day was that bad I even suggested taking the mother in law along, she's not that bad if I'm honest. Looking back, may be I did harbour a sliver of hope of getting out on the bank later in the day as I used a few time saving ideas. I used the in car sat nav to get me to all the locations as quickly as possible, gave a few words of encouragement and agreed at the first item they all wanted to buy. I was home for half two and when the wife asked "are you off fishing now?" there was only ever going to be one answer.

I love these off the cuff, spur of the moment sessions. No plans, no pressure to catch whatever I get is a bonus. It can be a fish, being outdoors, watching the sunset, anything and everything. Just anything on these little sessions is what it's all about for me. I just fished without thinking of anything and was just glad to be out.

There was a big swirl at my lure and I was in. The swirl gave me great hope as the water moved look decent, though within no time I saw a flash of tail and it looked like a jack. I'll take that, a fish is a fish. I moved the net closer to the water as I wasn't going to risk another self hook up if anything on this landing looked dodgy. I gave the fish some pressure to get it in and the jack gave me some back, going off on a typical crazy jack surge. I gave more, the pike gave more and after the third pass in front of me of the pike going up then downstream then back up, I was now hoping for a half decent double. Slightly more excited to see the fish, a little more effort was made to get the fishes head up and this just made the fish fight even more. Hold on a minute this is a good fish. As it neared the bank I was definitely netting this pike, an upper double easy and it doesn't matter where the hooks are it's going in the net for safety and as I pull the tail over the lip of the net I'm beaming. Super super fish. Most probably the last river pike of my season. I can't spake!

In to some fish - plus some lure instructions for anyone interested

What's that, the rivers are running off you say? Well not for everyone in the country just yet but I spotted my little bit of water was heading in the right direction. So I kept my eyes on things and predicted I'd be able to get out for an hour with the lures. That would be most welcome, and if I even saw a fish I'd probably have been happy. In the end I was over the moon with my results. No river monster just yet, but I bagged, lost and missed a stack of jacks and it brought it all back to me why I love my pike fishing, and why with the lures. Follows that got my arse twitching, misses from crazy jacks getting the hit wrong and misses from me being too eager to set the hooks when I shouldn't have, plus on top of that some bad angling where I lift out too soon, schoolboy error! Also right at the end, I managed a lump to crown off a frantic bit of sport with a pike that put up a great scrap, topped seventeen pound, was absolutely stunning and I even got it all on camera.


So yes of course I stuck all the bits I had together and made a video for my new youtube channel. It's not a bad effort and I also think it is an improvement on my previous videos too. It helps if you have some good footage and after a few days of faffing, tweaking and then redoing I finally got it sorted. Still learning and still trying to find the best way of doing things and I also have plenty of ideas for the future to work on so I hope to do other things than just the pike hits and misses in this one. I reckon you'll enjoy it but any feedback is most welcome.

Link to video

On to the video itself and more importantly what it contains. Yes pike attacks and some are fantastic but I didn't want to stuff you full of "look at me I can catch pike". I'm not a pro but I do feel I often have a natural take to lure fishing which I have found some people do not have. Same as some anglers know all the rigs, knots, techniques and finicky things that i haven't got a clue about I suppose. While editing this video I thought about adding some instructions to it to explain what and why I was doing what I did. In the end I opted to leave it out but maybe revisit that idea another day. Possibly get some better underwater lure footage and talk through everything, but in the mean time I thought I'd type some words for any readers who might be interested. You can go ahead and just watch the video if you're a dab hand with the lure rod already. But if you struggle with lures or particularly you can't seem to catch on the Savage Gear four plays, read on first and then watch the video.

The Savage gear 4play hard lures come in three types, the swim and jerk version, the lip lure and the lowrider. The first one is a simple cast out and wind in lure. Mostly this is all you need to do with a swimbait but if you want you can add in a pause or a jerk to trigger a hit or get the pikes attention. In this video I don't use the swim and jerk version as I prefer either the lip lure or the lowrider. Many of you will remember me harping on about my rainbow lip lure in the past and to be honest last year I hardly used it at all. Come the start of this year and things being a little tricky I found it was a go to lure and it has already got me some results including the high double. Now the lip lure too can be used as a simple straight retrieve and it works like that. However I prefer to give it strong, sharp jerks which makes the lure wobble, rattle, vibrate and flash giving out maximum distress signals. The jerks will be hard and fast, but I'm trying to not move the lure far at all. Time in the water is important and far too many people cast out and wind in within seconds. The swimbait and liplures don't dig in at all and only work the top couple of feet of water, and even the lowrider with it's larger lip does not go down much more than four or five feet especially when using a heavy 80lb braid which will hinder the diving even more if you didn't already know.

So strong, fast jerks to get the attention while at the same time, not really moving the lure too far. A nice pause will let the lure sink a little and getting to know the lure is most important. Knowing how fast it sinks, and knowing the depths of water around you can help you keep that lure in the zone longer, but off the snaggy bottom. If the bottom isn't snaggy let the lure sink right down and even leave it there. The keen eyed viewer will notice in the video, that many of the fish on this occasion came from a very small bit of water. The pike were stacked in one small spot which was half a flick of the rod tip long by half a flick of the rod tip wide, not much water at all. It was a small, shallow slack spot right off some fast water. I wasn't launching a fifty yard cast, I simply flicked the lure out a few feet, sometimes in to the fast water and then aimed to get it out of their and keep it in that slack, making as much distress as possible in that zone for as long as possible without snagging up on the bottom.

As the video starts the first couple of fish are hit and lost on a lowrider then a squirrely burt. These are the go to lures when the water is a little more coloured. I don't want the big lip to make the lure dive, I want to make use of the extra resistance it gives on the jerk and the extra noise, flash and vibration it gives off when I do give it a good jerk. Same style retrieve as the lipe lure, it just exaggerates everything much more because of that big lip. The burt is another go to because it has a rattle inside and is noisy as hell. If the water is murky it will get the pikes attention. The burt used is also a shallow burt so doesn't dig in and get snagged up and just works to about two feet under the surface and when that's over 4-5 feet of water that is plenty. After all that, I still miss the first two fish but quickly realise that I probably have just jacks in the area and since I'm in need of a fish I make a switch. A light rod and a four inch white kopyto and single hook. No stinger as that will get me snagged up as I intend to slowly bounce it along the bottom. The jacks will see it and it will make for an easier hook up. No more lightening hits and lures crashing against teeth, just a simple open and suck it in for the pike and the first fish is bagged. Thinking about why you miss a fish, and then the right change can get you the fish next time.

So you can see from that I don't just cast out my favourite lure and expect to catch. Sometimes you can do that of course but mostly I try to put some thought and effort in to what I do. When it comes off it's much more rewarding and it'll help get you a fish when other lures don't. Some days a pike will hit anything, some days they won't. The video shows pike smashing in to anything and everything but actually what it doesn't show are all the casts of the jerkbaits that never got a follow, the big eels that just had me making a lot of splash and a few more lures that didn't work. The 4plays seemed to always get a reaction. When I was catching I switched to something else and then nothing, switched back and then fish action again. Make a note, sometimes the lure you normally catch on doesn't work and making the change can see you get their attention. For me on this occasion, the 4plays giving out lots of vibration and flash were the key to getting their attention. Even better for me, they hits they produce should keep the attention of the youtube viewer too.