Wednesday 12 February 2020

Wye: Week On The River


A week picked months in advance, and me and Paulos fished some of the best conditions all winter - pretty lucky, especially as Storm Ciara arrived the day after we left and put The Wye back in the fields!

It wasn’t easy fishing, there are no matches on these sections - the main target is barbel - with no bait going in the baitfish are difficult to locate, are they still here? And are the pike still here in numbers?

It was great to be re-stomping our old beats - and the pressure was soon off the mission when Paulos landed a jack followed by a 15lb 9oz double - worth the trip! And the final scorecard looked like this:

  Pike Caught: 13
  Doubles: 6
  Miles Walked: 71.9
  Nets Broken: 1

Breaking that down Paulos landed 7 pike, including 4 doubles (18lb 3oz, 15lb 9oz, 14lb 4oz & 11lb 7oz). I landed 6 pike, including 2 doubles (18lb 6oz & 15lb 9oz). No twenties - that’s for next time!

I cracking week on the river, the first annual Wye winter trip for me and Paulos I hope (or at least biennial). Massive thanks to Mum & Dad for putting up with us. And Wye pike - we’ll be back...

Pike Jack Pike 15lb 9oz Pike Jack
Pike Jack Pike 15lb 9oz (Recapture) Paulos Fishing
Pike 11lb 7oz Pike 14lb 4oz Pike 9lb 15oz
Swan Skull Pike Jack Pike Jack
Pike 9lb 10oz Perch 2lb 2oz (PB) Pike 18lb 3oz
Pike 18lb 6oz Pike 18lb 6oz Damaged Jaw Pike Floats

4 comments:

  1. Some nice fish and plenty of exercise. The roach are tucked up around Hereford and Ross at this time of the year and the dace have probably spawned but are still elusive. But I think that the main diet of big river pike is chub and I've watched big pike hunting them down. Chub are also much easier to find in the winter ;o)

    Not wishing to put you down but when they are on it, the pike fishing can be mental. My mate had a very recent trip with a lure rod. Two hours, 7 fish, 3 doubles with the best just shy of 30lbs. That doesn't happen too often but his smile nearly ripped his ears off.

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    1. When we were kids there were bleak everywhere, all times of the year and there seemed to be a pike in every peg. Occasionally a roach fisherman would see you with pike gear and ask you remove a pike from his swim (and run them up the bank a few pegs).

      There seems to be a lot less bleak about now (it was difficult to catch livebait). Don’t know if they have disappeared or if they are spread out as there is no match fishing and therefore no big quantities of maggots going in. The pike will switch to other baitfish; chub, roach etc - but has the number of pike gone down?

      It was tough going this week but we remembered (and talked a lot about) the occasional mental days, one of my earliest blog posts was 10 pike to 25lb in one session - I’d like a few more sessions like that - and very glad to hear they are still happening!

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  2. The bleak numbers go up and down, some years they are almost impossible to get a bait through and a ball of groundbait sees an enormous explosion of fish about 6' wide over it. Not had that for few years but I'm sure they'll be back.
    Have you ever tired the Hereford stretch? Three different 30's came out one season and stacks more hanging around the roach shoals. Canny fish mind ;o)

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    1. It’s probably been well over a decade since I’ve seen bleak that thick, but like you said it goes round in cycles - they will be back. But bait helps - need a few people to re-discover the roach shoals and start chucking maggots in.

      Hereford is very much on the radar, the bleak are still thick up there (2 weeks ago a match was won with over 40lb of them). Don’t know if I’ll get chance this season but I will be popping back in the summer for a reccy with a view to some long weekends next winter.

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