In the dark

‘In the Dark……………’
By Jon Neafcy
Don’t be ‘in the dark’ about fishing for pike at night!
Within some sectors of Angling such as Carp fishing, fishing at night is an accepted norm& is indeed very much common practice & the done thing, however in Pike fishing although there are those of us who fish at night it seems much less the norm, indeed there are those who say that ‘Predator experts can fill their boats from 9-5!’ (a bold statement indeed) & there are some very experienced pike anglers who seldom, if ever, fish for pike at night. So from that should it just be totally dismissed that if so & so does not fish for pike at night that those who do choose to fish for pike at night just wasting their time? Or is there more to it than that? Can pike fishing at night sometimes give you an edge over other pikers who only fish during the day? We have seen thought provoking articles on fishing with lures at night in this publication, so I thought I would take another look at bait fishing at night in this piece. I will endeavour to put across my own experiences of bait fishing at night in this article……
Firstly I recall my own first night fishing session as a child on a large Welsh glacial lake, with my uncle, his mate & his mate's kids, fishing for Eels. It was like an adventure to me as a young lad, getting to stay out all night, quite exciting really. When it went dark it was surprising to me as a young lad just how dark actually was, there was no background illumination from street lamps & the like. There were no bite alarms, bed-chairs or bivvy’s then. We had a paraffin lamp so that we could see our bobbins (washing up liquid bottle tops) whilst we were sat on our deck chairs. We caught a few Eel’s that night & there was also a nice double figure pike caught by accident on a fish bait too (this is where my first thoughts of piking at night stem from), we stayed awake all night & went home & slept the next day. Since then, too many years ago, I have enjoyed night fishing for many species, in my teens it was carp, then tench & bream, then catfish amongst other species. Night fishing can be productive & one river I used to fish for barbell always fished much better at night, in fact so much so that after a while we rarely bothered fishing it during the day. Many, many years ago a lad I used to fish with at the time had a 30+ pike at night from a hard fished water, a rare beast indeed for the venue & area, a possible venue best, he kept the capture a closely guarded secret only telling a couple of close angling companions I was privilege to see the photo’s of that truly awesome best. The lad was one of only a few who night fished the venue for pike at the time with the majority of pikers packing up at dusk. It made us laugh one day when an experienced pike angler on the very same venue told us that pike ‘did not feed at night’ on that venue, little did he know………!
Creature Comforts
Since that first night fishing session of mine over 20 years ago the age of electronic bite alarms, bed-chairs & bivvy’s has arrived & we now have a plethora of ‘creature comforts’ to make those night fishing sessions so much more bearable. There are bivvy’s with winter skins, padded bedchairs, 4 & even 5 season sleeping bags, bivvy heaters & all manner of other gucci kit. I have tried one of the 5 season carp style sleeping bags which I have found to be excellent in winter, however the only drawback is their sheer size & bulk when carrying them, I now use a mountaineers style 5 season micro-pile sleeping bag that folds into a tiny compression sack. How far you go is an individual choice & is upto you. A decent bivvy bag is a good idea, firstly if your sleeping bag is in this & your gear gets wet at lest your sleeping-bag should stay dry & secondly if you sleep with the bivvy door open or under just a brolly as I sometimes do then it will keep your dry, thirdly it keeps in extra warmth. One item of clothing I find invaluable for night fishing is neoprene socks, no need to sleep in your shoes or boots or waste time putting footwear on when you get a run. Before purchasing these I never did bother putting my boots on when I got a run & usually ended up with wet & cold feet. Another must for me is a decent head torch so that you have both hands free, although the more experienced you get at night fishing the less you seem to have need of a torch. I have learnt by experience & I can net my own pike at night without the need for a torch, torches can sometimes spook the fish at the net, however if you use a torch for this consider a red lens or a dimming the lens. When my mate Cookey started night fishing he must have gone through a pack of batteries a night in his head torch as it was on permanently (maybe he was scared of the dark) he uses the torch less now though (the batteries must be expensive) however joking aside don’t compromise your own safety on the bank for the sake of not using a torch, many head torches have adjustable beams so you can dim them down anyway. I have a couple of different bivvys but prefer to use an umbrella system, this has fold down sides from open brolly to storm sides to full shelter, this is simple easy to use & flexible to suit the conditions. I can roll up the sides & watch the rods during the day, sometimes I even leave the sides rolled up at night when the weather is nice.

Pike Welfare
Lets examine the most important aspect – pike welfare. Bite detection, there is currently a wide range of accurate, reliable & immediate response electronic alarms available to suit most budgets, remote sets are also available. Having tried many types of alarms the Delkims are the ones for me & they are one of very few front alarms that will still activate after the drop off has fell off with an open bail-arm (when the line is free running), which is how I like to fish. From my old carp fishing days, educated by the wrightings of Maddock’s in that great original book Carp Fever we used to have the rods as close to the bivvy as possible (often in striking distance whilst sat on the bedchair), not normally closing the bivvy door, with the sleeping bag not zipped up & the wellies at the side of the bedchair, good idea. These days there are also Bivvy’s with ‘crash doors’ (Velcro or crash zips are available) & sleeping bags with crash zips, if you feel the need. If you are going to fish for pike at night examine your own set up so that you are well organised & so that the time taken to strike is absolutely minimised. Get to know the banks & area of the swim before it goes dark where ever possible. Organise your gear before it goes dark a place for everything & everything in its place. Remember organisation is one of the key’s to successful fishing at night. Indeed it is not only fishing at night where correct organisation applies, I have seen people fishing for pike with rods out in the day who have fallen asleep. I have seen people with rods spread over large distances during the day or those who wander the banks chatting & stray from their own tackle during the day, leaving the rods to fish for themselves – how prompt do you think that they strike when they get a run? Food for thought!


‘Code of conduct’
When I talk about night fishing I mean just that fishing at night & I do not mean partying & I detest the ‘chav’ element who get drunk on the bank & leave litter, play loud music etc. I don’t get drunk on the bank whilst I’m fishing & I never leave litter! If I want to get drunk I won’t go fishing I’ll go down the pub instead! Those who get drunk on the bank & leave litter are in my book not fit to be called anglers as they give us all a bad name & endanger our sport for the rest of us. Irresponsible fishing sees prohibitive rules implemented & enforced & in some cases fishing rights lost so act responsibly. I don’t generally believe in ‘sacking’ the pike I catch & at night is no exception, a good camera with a decent flash & if fishing alone a small tri-pod & camera with self timer should ensure a good quality photograph before the pike is quickly returned to the water so there is no need to sack it up overnight.
Enjoy it………………………
As a mutli-method, travelling angler who fishes many different types of venues I don’t see night fishing as the be all & end all of pike fishing however I do see it as being a means to put a few extra fish on the bank. If you don’t enjoy night fishing then quite simply it is not for you, it’s as simple as that. Select your venues don’t night fish, especially not alone, somewhere where you are worried about getting mugged, always put safety first. Personally I don’t agree with the views of those who say that we should not fish for pike at night, I think there are enough rules governing pike fishing & I see no harm in pike fishing at night as long as when ever you fish for pike it should be in a responsible & pike welfare orientated manner.
Potential
The potential of fishing at dawn & dusk are well known so I won’t duplicate too much of what has been said by others here, however if you are night fishing then you have your stall set out or so to speak to cover both of these key times. Some waters receive quite a lot of angling pressure, if I fish such waters I try to do my own thing a little rather than using the lottery approach & try no to do the same thing as everyone else. Here is a situation where if the majority of pikers are only fishing in the day then night fishing could see your catch rate improve. Some venues can be quite notorious for pike being caught at night.
Some years ago whilst fishing for bream on a large Stillwater for the weekend in early autumn I put a pike rod out in the same swim. The bream in the water were renowned to be night feeders & it was rare to catch anything of any size during the day. I caught quite a few bream, nothing special though, however I had 3 nice double figure pike upto 15.11, all 3 caught at night. These bonus fish made the trip a worthwhile one for me. Did the ‘switch on’ of the bream feeding at night trigger the pike into feeding whilst the bream were off guard a little, who knows. All I do know for sure is that I got the runs on the pike rod around similar times to when I had caught bream. I had combined my bream fishing, involving the use of large amounts of bait with my pike fishing, the theory being where the bream & other fish were the pike would not be far away. So if you fish for other species at night (or day) there is still the potential to combine this with a little pike fishing. I don’t do this personally myself anymore however as now due to time restraints etc I only fish for pike.
On a trip to Norfolk in the winter of 2006 my mate Andy ‘Blunt Hooks’ Dixon caught a superb 20+ pike at night. We were bivvied up, with it being a 250+ mile trip each way we obviously could not go home each day & our finances did not stretch to such luxuries as hotels. Would he have caught this fish, the biggest of the trip, if we had not night fished?, personally I doubt it. That fish by the way was Blunty’s best pike of the 2006/2007 season making it a very memorable capture, well done Blunty mate!

Whilst fishing a large gravel pit that can at times see more than it’s fair share of angling pressure during the day, runs on dead baits in the day became less frequent & more finiky. At the end of the days fishing many pikers threw their left over baits before going home. Fishing close in just over the shelf at night found the fish feeding on the freebies & accounted for some good fish for me, again would these fish have been taken in the day?, I doubt it. It could even be said that day anglers were in-effect inadvertently without knowing it baiting up for those few who night fished.

In between Christmas & New Year 2006 saw me & Blunty arranging another long haul piking trip. Blunty lives an hours drive from me & another 3 & half hour drive saw us arrive early morning at our chosen destination. Due to the distance of our trip it was too include an overnighter, we were accompanied by Midlands man & very keen piker Paul ‘Yam Yam’ Humpries. Despite promising info on conditions the day before on arrival the river was up & coloured, we along with the locals failed to catch in the day. That night it was raining heavy, with strong winds. At 1am Blunty had a run on a full Herring producing a fine 16+ pike. If we had slept in the car or opted for a B&B then he would not have caught this fish. This fish is also Blunty’s best fish from the venue to date making the capture extra special.

Being an angler who fishes for pike all year round night piking can offer an alternative. In summer I choose my venues carefully as the pike can be lethargic & pike welfare always must be your first priority. Last summer on a large deep gravel pit I gave up piking in the day & opted for evening or night sessions when the temperatures were lower. This paid off on the very first attempt with a low double caught at 1.30am. The pike just did not appear to be feeding, or at least were not taking baits in the day on that water, at that time. This approach also gave me some extra time to spend with the family on the Saturday day, an unusual bonus for me. A few extra fish were caught as a result of changing from day to night time fishing.

Fishing at night does not have to be confined to the bank. I have also boat fished at night, however consider the safety aspect & don’t put yourself at risk. Not all the night feeders are monsters as the photo of a modest Lakeland pike caught at night from my boat shows, however all are good fun! The Lakeland pike pictured along with a couple of other pike was taken at night following a day on which both me & my mate John Sands had failed to get a run, unfortunately John was not able to stay that night & so he missed out on catching a few night feeders. I have just purchased a set of the fox boat rests which facilitate the use of conventional front mounted electronic bite alarms from a boat however to date at night I have used starlight’s on my floats in-conjunction with clip on electronic boat bite alarms without a problem.



Creature Comforts……………..
There are those who prefer to stay in self catering, B&B or Hotel accommodation whilst ‘long haul piking’. I don’t generally do this, for me, myself this is the exception rather than the rule, I enjoy night fishing & I quite simply I can’t afford the cost of going fishing & luxuries like accommodation too. Sometimes however I am forced not to be able to night fish due to enforcement of no over night fishing rules etc on some venues & sometimes on a lost trip I will book one nights accommodation in a B&B to dry off & as a break from the fishing, maybe going for a meal & a few pints & catching up on a decent nights sleep in a warm bed. On a recent trip to the lake district we enjoyed a night in a B&B due to no over night fishing rules on the chosen venue, we didn’t over indulge & we were up well before breakfast, before first light infact & back on the venue. On that occasion at least it could be said that a change was as good as a rest. I have heard some pikers say they prefer to stay in accommodation every night for their long distance piking so that they arrive on the bank fresh the next day, however I have seen some pikers who stay in accommodation arrive at the venue late morning with raging hangovers, sometimes missing out on getting the good swims &/or early morning feeding spells. Personally I doubt that I could fish effectively with a raging hangover anyway. If your disciplined enough not to over indulge & you can afford accommodation when you are on a long distance piking trip & if you enjoy a bit of a social to boot then good on you, each to their own. On a couple of occasions me & my mates have wound the rods in & left the tackle securely in the car etc. & had a stroll to a local pub for a good meal where we wanted a short break from the fishing on a long fishing session (any excuse to avoid Cookey’s cooking). On one or two occasions where I have been very tired due to long hours at work I have even wound the rods in at night to get a good nights sleep in the bivvy to be fresh for the next morning, again exeptions rather than the rule for me though.
One of the things that attracts me to pike fishing is variety & it’s a case of each to their own & in my opinion there is no single method or approach that will beat all others all the time consistently on all venues. I fish for pike because I enjoy it & I hope my enthusiasm & passion for the sport & pike welfare is foremost in what I write. The day (or night) that I become obsessed by the numbers game or try to put the dampers on others achievements is the day I will hang up my rods. As I said earlier night fishing is by no means the be all & end all of piking but I enjoy the night fishing & it has helped me & my mates to put some extra fish on the bank……………
Tight Lines
Jon Neafcy
Wigan Piker