Posts Tagged ‘Pike angling’

Pike from a Bog Lake

Sunday, December 9th, 2012

Success in fishing is derived through layering of experience, in essence a combination of theory and practice. To that pairing one can add the routine of regular fishing trips. Knowledge gained of fishy behaviour in tandem with natures changing cycles becomes stored in the subconscious, where at a future date and time, the angler confronted by a particular set of conditions, seemingly without thinking makes a correct tactical choice which results in a good fish.

A ten pound Irish pike from a little bog lake.

David Murphy and his fishing buddy Robbie have pike fished a local water on a number of occasions over the past twelve months building up a body of knowledge. Allowing for the time of year, it is no surprise that their last two visits have resulted in some excellent returns, with four pike to 11.lbs gracing the bank yesterday.

Playing a double figure pike on the bog lake.

Building on experience gleaned from previous trips the lads successfully employed both ledgered and float fished dead baits, roach and dace on this foray, resulting in a cracking afternoons fishing on what was a calm, bright, frosty, day.

Pike Fishing in Ireland. Trigger Happy Pike

Monday, November 26th, 2012

Anglers who fish for large predators such as pike talk about triggers, those little understood factors which motivate the fish to commence hunting or feeding. Fluctuations in water temperature, atmospheric pressure, stages of the lunar cycle, amount of light, pure hunger, or combinations of all play a part in rousing the predatory instinct. One day a water known to hold pike can seem devoid of fish, the next it comes alive, Saturday the 24th of November being a fine example of the latter.

A double figure pike for David Murphy caught on float fished roach.

A cold frosty morning found David Murphy rigging up at a favourite pike water. Employing two outfits both baited with roach, he float fished one and ledgered the other. Having fished the venue on a number of occasions his best haul to date had been a couple of fish. Little did David know when lobbing out his first rig, that this trip was set to go down in the annals.

A fine Irish pike from a small water.

In David’s own words: “It was a ripper of a day, the rods were flying off the stands, we must of had about 8-9 runs. The two pike were caught on the floats using dace and roach. The ledgered baits produced a number of runs of which there were two screamers. On one the line shot off the spool nearly causing a birds nest, this happened twice. You couldn’t leave the rods as about every 15 mins or so there was a fish on. The pike Robbie caught actually broke the top treble hook and we lost three pike by the bank, it was a cracker of a day.”

What more can you say, well done lads, that’s why we go fishing……….

Click on: Playing the Pike Percentages.

Seasonal Pike.

Friday, December 23rd, 2011

Itching to christen his new pike kit David Murphy headed towards a local midlands water. Not having fished the lake before and on his first session of the winter season, Dave’s first priority on arrival was to assess the venue. Deciding to fish close to a reed bed on the far side he set up his 12′ Shimano rod matched with a 6000 size bait runner reel, before casting a dead roach bait into a likely corner close to the reeds. Ledgering, it wasn’t long before the rod top nodded and line spilled off the reel. Striking, Dave felt a light resistance and shortly afterwards landed a jack of about five pounds.

A nice double figure Irish pike for David Murphy from a midland venue.

Coming up to lunchtime David connected with a larger pike which after a five minute fight was surprisingly lost at the net, only being lightly hooked in the lip. Well into double figures, a disappointed Dave re baited and cast into the same hole. Ten minutes later his perseverance was rewarded when he wound into a purposeful slack line bite. This time there was no mistake and after a spirited tussle a fine well conditioned pike graced the bank. Carefully unhooked, Dave placed the grand fish back in the water where it swam off to fight another day.