A Mid Term Mixed Bag...

Any hint of Spring that had been in the air vanished quicker than the Doctor's tardis on a BBC set. I watched the mercury drop day after day as temperatures plummeted once again. The weather forecast incessently droned on about the bitter east wind, factor in the wind chill and it was a serious case of freezing the balls off a brass monkey and yourself, if you dared or were stupid enough to stay out in it for any amount of time.
I was in a spot of bother, the mid term break had just arrived and the junior piker was bursting for some action at the river. Try explaining recent flood levels, daily snow flurries and gale force winds as reasons not to venture out to a ten year old! Eventually I gave in, we braved the elements and headed to a swim that has produced the goods of late. We came home perished, the wind had cut us in two, I was raw to the bone and to top it all, the fish in their infinite wisdom did not entertain, not as much as a run...
We held off for the guts of a week watching the forecasts, playing the x box and waiting, waiting for a small weakness in the blocking high which would allow a marginal break in the weather. Friday was looking like the best of a bad lot. Temperatures (not that they felt it) had crept up a degree or two as we met the biker piker on the towpath. We were not there long when a rod  almost ended up in the river, it leapt out of the rear bank stick, the alarm screamed "RUN" as a psycho jack hammered a bait. The junior piker was well hooked up and into his first fish of the day. A hard fighting Barrow pike came to the bank. It was the biggest smile I'd seen on his face all mid term break. Little did he know there was more in store...

I stood there (freezing) watching my rods, willing them to burst into life, they remained static, not as much as a nudge. I was playing a rather bad game of  hide and seek with my unseen quarry. The junior piker let a roar, I nearly jumped out of my skin, he was in again! A smaller fish. This time however on his lighter rod and tackle so there was an almost comical battle of tug o' war before the fish finally decided to let him win and come to the net. Things were looking bleak for the biker piker and myself, we were now two nil down to my young lad.

I went through the usual ritual of moving the baits around dropping them in the best holding spots I could find. I even went as far as slinging one out right across the river to a small pool under the far bank. Coffee, sandwiches, more coffee and more waiting. Then something happened. Yes, the junior piker was roaring yet again. "I've got one"... I raced down the bank to help him, what a surprise!. Splashing in the water in front of us a beautiful Barrow brownie.

A surprise bonus Barrow brownie for the junior piker.

At this stage it looked like the game was up, we were 3 nil and two species down to the junior piker! But in the end lady luck did shine as did the sun later in the afternoon. The biker piker was next up, he picked up a jack in the middle of the afternoon and my gamble on the far bank pool paid off  just before we called it a day.

Alan, the biker piker strikes again!

And finally I got one.

Talk about saving face! What a great day, conditions were far from ideal, windy, sunny and very cold. No massive fish but we all caught, some more than others... It was the junior piker's mid term, he caught fish and I was happy!

Scraping the bottom of the bait box.

The river remains at summer levels or at least very close to them and the water appears clearer than ever. How long this will last I don't know considering the forecast Met Eireann are giving for the coming week. In the meanwhile its a great time to be out doing some lure fishing to get the season under way. The recent drop in temperatures seems to have woken up the fish somewhat, they appear more willing to chase and investigate a decent flash and vibration in the water after their summer respite. I've been experimenting with a few swimbaits of late and must say I'm pleased with the results especially their versatility in the manner in which they can be fished. However I keep coming back to a couple of what you might call "old reliables". Call me old-fashioned but I find it hard to kick the habit of using some of the more traditional lures, the likes of a copper spoon or even the classic Abu Toby both have saved me from blanking on many occasions. The old saying  " if its not broke..... don't fix it" comes to mind. Here's a very recent lure caught Pike, fell to a copper Toby when he jumped out from under the bank just before the lure came out of the water! I love to get that last second smash on the line at such close quarters - puts the heart across me every time.

 With so many new lures on the market its often very easy to lose the plot. "One of these, one of those, yep need a red one, a sinker, a floater....." so on and so forth. I often wonder if many lure anglers are also avid lure collectors, do both go hand in hand or is there a point  when we have enough (can you ever have enough lures for the job). Personally I would try make sure to have a fairly complete and varied arsenal of lures ready to tempt the Pike under different conditions. I must admit though I'm impatient, I keep going through the lures until I find something they like and then fish with that. By doing this I've found that I now have what you might call a short list of "working lures" and I rotate these. Sometimes a lure will become relegated when the fish cease to respond to it and others will be promoted as it were. However the Pike can be most fickle whats hot today maybe completely useless tomorrow, thats quite often when I reach for the bottom of the bait box, break the routine and wet an old school retro lure! and they very often do the trick. Don't be too quick to dismiss some of those older lures, they may just surprise you next time out.

 
By the way don't forget to check the trebles and split rings if you do decide to dust off a few of those old lures. You may just meet an old school fish!

Sink or SwimBait

The local tackle shop got a few new lures in the other week. Well if the truth be known they seem to have a never ending supply of "new lures" week after week to tempt you to part from your hard earned cash! I'm not a great believer in the adage "big lure-big fish" so it was normal for an average size lure to get my attention. A four piece jointed hard lure swimbait, the fact that it was well in the sub €10 category also helped. It turned out to be a Rapture Silent Shad Swimbait.

They come in slow sinking and floating 11.5cm and about 20gms with a decent treble hook. The action is great you can pretty much do anything with them, the Pike in my post below took it on the drop just after it hit the water and I've had others take it as it bounces off the bottom real slow. The Barrow Pike are impressed. For the moment anyway!

A morning Pike.

I had decided last night that quick trip to the river may be in order. I was curious to see the level and how clear it was running. It has slowly dropped over the last couple of weeks and has now reached its average "summer levels" having remained very high in July and August. Visability and clarity is now very good too its easy to see a lure at 5-6 feet depth.
All this coupled with overnight temps of 4-5 deg. and a brisk westerly wind prompted a rod and a few lures into the boot late last night.
I did the school run and a short drive later I was walking across the fields to my chosen swim. It was the first time out with a new rod and reel, (both of which will get a user review in the not to distant future) I was just getting the feel for things when my lure was hammered, there was a large boil in the water as what appeared to be a reasonable fish took the lure just under the surface, it went straight down, feeling through the braid it appeared to be chomping on the swimbait possibly trying to eject the supposed prey fish. Quite a fight ensued as the fish attempted the same chomping manoeuvre whilst jumping clear of the water (classic head shaking stuff) a number of times. Shortly after the white flag was raised and it came to the bank. A quick photo or two later and it was kicking its way back into the swim.

I fished the swim for another while but as is often the case on the Barrow, if you get one your as well to move on. I moved upstream to the back of a reed bed and it wasn't long before I got a knock but it was just that, as the fish came short plucking at the lure. I covered it a number of times but this one appeared shy!

It was getting late now the sun had climbed in the sky and it was getting warm, the fish had gone quiet. Time to retire for the day. I changed to a small spinnerbait and had a couple of last casts in narrow tree ridden channel. No fish-but what a great follow! just as the lure was coming out of the water there was a long golden green flash in the margin, a push of its tail and it retreated to the depths.

Familiar River Barrow signs

Please note there is a strict No Salmon or Sea Trout fishing policy currently in place on the River Barrow.

New Horizons

Pike season is almost upon us once again. As I write there is already a distinct nip in the air and Met Eireann have gone so far as to forecast a touch of  frost for tomorrow night. Maybe a false alarm but the fact remains that October is just 'round the corner.
I have decided (without giving the matter much thought) to start a blog as I have found it rather difficult to obtain up to date and relevant information on pike fishing on the River Barrow. This coupled with the fact I've found the transition from lake to river pike fishing to be quite trial and error!