I just thought I'd share my last few video updates on here just in case any of you lot have missed them. I'm trying to keep them a little bit different each time so it's not just the same thing all the time though eventually I guess it might just be me and Woody catching more fish, and then some more. Where I can though I'll try to keep it fresh if I can manage to be creative enough.
Anyway this first video was posted up to my Youtube pageabout over a month or so ago and it's just a bunch of pike action shots, slow motions and just general spectacular stuff that happens when pike fishing. It's why I do it.
Next we have one of my best productions to date. Out with Woody on his boat there's a few fish and some few high speed boating fun. A short fast and loud video for those with a short attention span like my kids, and probably most other peoples kids too.
Then we have a little video from a few weeks back where I went off on my own to a new bit of water looking for a few fish. I had no idea what to expect as I'd not even scouted out the place before. I was met with a hot day, peace and quiet with a few fish to the ultra light rod and the trusty Kopyto shad.
Finally we have another boat ultra light video with a few more fish caught and a few laughs on top. It won't be a box office smash but it shows what we get up to through the summer while we wait for proper piking weather, not this hot and sweaty crap we have right now. What's all that about?
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.
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.
I've had another little crack at a video and it's up on my fancy Youtube page. There were plenty of failed attempts at many things and a few choice words after faffing with software that wasn't worth a toss in the end, but it's not a bad effort and shows to me at least the potential for this little hobby. Would you believe the footage in this video is from less than an hours fishing after work this week, crazy when so much of my fishing for the last month has been devoid of fish. I've actually managed to catch a few Esox, on lures and had some fun. My next videos will hopefully be something a little more arty farty or have a theme to them, possibly instructional or possibly just none stop explosive takes. Who knows? So here it is in all it's glory. I'll soon have my own slot on SkySports if I keep this up.
I don't know what I've let myself in for here. As if fishing isn't hard enough when you're struggling and there's other lads pulling out fish left right and centre, and a new English record to make you jealous, I make an attempt at knocking up a video and while it's uploading I scan a few fishing channels. Holly crap I'm miles behind this Youtube lot. There's young whipper snappers knocking out all sorts of fantastic videos. These lads know how to edit, chat to the camera and can catch a few fish too. I'm struggling to catch fish, got a face like a smacked up Polish immigrant and I sound like a right knob on camera. Anyone want to buy a GoPro?
I finished work today and noticed I had about half an hour of light left. A quick phone call to the missus to see if she had my tea on the go, and she did, got her trained haven't I? Sausage, mash, veg, Yorkshires and gravy if you were wondering. She said she's keep it warm for me and so off I went. Rivers are in flood, had you noticed? So I had to find a spot where I could hope a fish might be laying up in a slack. I knew just the ticket but with still a good four feet of water in it my river doesn't always produce, but there were no leaves, logs and such like drifting down so I fancied my chance. I stuck the GoPro on my new head mount as I wanted to give it a bash. Not much point putting the camera underwater as it was far too murky and with the light fading it would have made worse viewing than Big Brother, Britain's Got Talent and the rest combined. First cast I lobbed my SG low rider in front of me and just pretty much tested everything. Made sure my rod and line were right and made sure I had everything in shot, checking the picture on my iPod thanks to the app that you can download. I could see there was still a bit of a pull to my swim so figured something might be tucked in the edge and so made a cast up current (down stream) and worked the lure back along the edge.
Waheey, fish on a GoPro and a fancy video I thought, until I saw all the other creations out there that was. It looks like Spielberg is helping everyone else and I've got Stevie Wonder. Ha ha, I know I'm being a bit hard on myself there. I wanted to have a play with the GoPro studio and see how to chop and edit footage, zooming in, slowing down and what not. I'm quite happy with the outcome but know that more planning and more clips are needed to make a better video.
So there you are readers, have a gander and throw any thoughts and suggestions you have my way, i'll be happy of the help, criticism and the rest.
Nah, not pro fisherman that's just a dream. The other day I splashed out on a new toy, the GoPro Hero 3 video camera. It's what all the adventurous people of this world are using to capture mountain biking, sky diving, skiing and everything else that's crazy. I'm just going to use it to capture some underwater fishy stuff since it comes in a waterproof housing. Already I've got my landing net handle sorted to mount the camera on and I'm hatching plans for other stuff. I don't have anything exciting to share yet as I've not really used it but come summer time I'm hoping to get something good to put on here. Clear water and bright sunshine should help me get the best pictures and there's also the fact that the fish at this time are far more mobile.
The camera itself is tiny, captures up to 1080 video and has a couple of useful handy things such as photo and burst mode, plus time lapse which I like the idea of and it also has it's own WiFi so you can connect to your Apple device while out to preview pictures or review what you just did. I'll have to get my creative hat on and see what I can construct. I'll also have to get my fishing hat on and start catching some fish again, which so far this year hasn't gone that well though, I am off the mark with the pike finally. So I just need some clear water and a few fish to play ball now.
I decided to leave fishing for a few days after last Sunday when Jack caught his four pike. As Wednesday night drew in and I saw the forecast for the weekend I figured that there is a strong risk that my river will be unfishable again by then. I set the alarm for 5am but at 4am I was already looking out of the window at the grey clouds. I've still not got all the decorating done in the bedroom, I'm getting closer but we have no curtains up so each morning I wake up as the room starts to illuminate. I rolled over thinking there may be no point going but by the time my alarm went off at five I said stuff the rain, got up and sorted some food for at work and off I went.
I'd not yet fished my new location early morning so set off for that one, the same peg where I had ten pike in an hour. Arriving at the bank I had a bit of a walk up the long wet grass to my peg so it was bang on 6am when I started to fish. First few casts and all was quiet. I stuck at it and it wasn't long before I got my first response from a fish of around 6lb. I quickly followed that up with one around four and a half pound. It was worth getting up after all and if that rain could just hold off a little I could even manage to stay relatively dry. A third fish took the lure and gave a right good scrap for a small one, probably only about three pounds. I moved downstream about thirty meters to cover more of the water and I was thinking I had a chance of a fish or two from this area as it was a bit bigger than the last bit. I set myself a target of two more fish and I would be happy. A four pound jack crashed in to my lure and then another around the same size took the lure less than ten feet out and that was five fish in around half an hours fishing. No monsters among them but it was great fun.
This new peg hasn't thrown up any decent fish yet, no doubles at all and most of the fish have been about five pounds. I took this in and then had a think about whether to stay here and probably catch a few more jacks or go to my other swim in the hope of something a bit bigger. I decided to stay, it was great fun catching anything and if I didn't keep fishing it I'd never catch anything bigger here. The next half hour threw up two lost fish, three missed takes and another five small jacks. That's the record equalled, ten pike in an hour and again it's the rainbow lip lure that does all the damage. It was now coming up to 7am and I made the quick call to move swims. I might stay here and catch the odd jack or it might even go quiet and I find myself chasing nothing for the next hour. I had to be at work for half eight so off I went.
I got my gear in the car the heavens opened and I was glad I made the move when I did. As I drove to my next swim the rain lashed down and all looked bad but as I neared my target the skies suddenly cleared. Travelling light I chucked my gear on the bank and made my first cast. The river looked to be rising slightly and if that rain kept coming like it had been then this weekend will surely be off and maybe I would get those curtains put up and the rest of the jobs finished. A few more fan casts and no sign of a fish so I inched my way up river and then not too soon after a pike smashed in to my lure not far from the edge. A scrappy battle and a decent healthy seven pound fish was caught and released. I'm so glad I did get up this morning as that's not a bad little session at all.
There's still plenty of time though and so I edge up the river even further. At this point, the bit of slack water I've been targeting, that has lots of fish activity and lots of small fry, is getting smaller and smaller. At this point, I can cast ten feet and then my lure is into raging rapids rushing off a point in the bank twenty feet up river. This bit of river has produced a lot of fish but when the water is lower there is more of an area to fish, right now it's just about as big as a snooker table maybe a touch more. But, this bit of water is pretty still and any fish moving up river will come to this point, a bit of a bottle neck and I wouldn't imagine that many would even attempt to push through the fast water. So I flip a cast out into the fast water and then quickly pull it out and in to the slack. Slowly flicking the rod to make the rainbow flash but not move so much, I'm looking down on the river stood about three feet above water level. The water is slightly murky but I can mostly see my lure as I don't let it go to deep here as there's a few snags about. Just as the lure reaches the edge of the river, roughly where I am normally stood when the river is a little lower, a massive swirl and the arching twisting body of a large pike emerges and engulfs my lure.
I'm in. The pike doesn't quite know what to do and i'm glad it didn't head for the fast water. That joy turns to anguish as the pike decided to cart it across the growth in the side of the river bank. I've got strong braid on, but this fish was charging through all sorts and at certain points I had five or six feet of nettles and all kinds of river growth in between me and a fish trying to carve up the bank side. I kept thinking all this growth could help pull the hook free, so I tried my best to keep the line tight and try to pursuade the pike to come out. I had one heart stopping moment where it all went slack as the line got caught and I didn't know where the fish was but thankfully I reconnected and then got the fish in to a bit of clearer water. By now I'd marched about thirty feet down the river but was much more confident about landing the fish. I had the net ready and the first time I saw her again she was right beside it and I quickly scooped her in. Get in. I secured the hooks and then put her in the sling for a weight and I was happy with the result, 16lb. She was a short fat thing with a massive head and one which I later noticed had a tail to distinguish it from all others. This was a another new fish to me and one I hope I could catch again in a few years time to see how she's doing. Awesome mornings fishing!
