The feature article

Feature Article
Jon Neafcy
Without a doubt the single most important aspect in pike fishing has to be locating the venues that hold big pike & then locating the pike in them, Jon Neafcy explains why in the long haul to catch any number of decent pike consistently that there are no short-cuts to success
Into
It stands to reason & indeed its common sense that the single most important factor in pike fishing has to be location, location location! The simple fact is that in order to be in with a chance of catching large pike that you need to be fishing waters that contain them. Furthermore to consistently catch any number of large pike (excluding a large amount of repeat captures) then you either have to be fishing a venue with a decent head of large pike or several different venues each containing a reasonable stock of decent pike. The best gear in then world the best rigs & freshest bait won’t catch you big pike if they are not in the waters that you fish.
Having selected a venue containing a few nice pike there is a bit more to locating where the pike are in the venue than just chucking a couple of baits or lures about willy-nilly. I will share with you some of my own theory & experiences on the subject.
Results
Sure if you are fishing a reasonable venue you may be able to catch the odd fish just by slinging a Mackerel out in any direction, but with a little more effort on location you could turn that one run into many more. Most experienced anglers will recall a day or days fishing where adjacent anglers have had two very different days fishing one bagging up & the other blanking using similar approaches indeed it could be as if they were fishing two completely different venues. If the fish are not in the area where you are casting then you wont catch them its as simple as that, sue at some point the fish may enter your swim but then again they may not.
The best of pike anglers on a water containing very few decent pike with the best tackle & tactics cannot hope to do as well as they may do on a good water containing a number of large pike. Indeed the less experienced angler fishing the better water could well do better than the experienced guy fishing the poorer water.
So above all else & before we decide upon which swims to fish & the exacts of how to fish venue selection is of paramount importance.
Local Scene
A long time ago I moved on from spending the majority of my pike fishing time near to home to spending the majority of my pike fishing time further afield, quite simply because there are not too many great pike waters where I live in Wigan. If there are only a few decent doubles in the water that you are fishing then at most that is all that you will catch, on some waters you may be catching the same fish as your mates or having any number of repeat captures. A water with only a few decent pike in that gets pike fished a lot the pike are likely to be difficult to catch & I think in my earlier years fishing hard venues near to home embedded the importance of location & secondary tactics employed to me, firstly I didn’t expect too much from the waters in the local area but secondly I found out the importance of where I put my baits & how I presented them to maximise my chances of catching sometimes the knowledge amassed giving the angler an edge over the less experienced when the chips are down. Now for the occasional pike angler or those who aren’t able to travel far or have very little fishing time due to other commitments to be in with a chance of catching one of a few nice doubles in a water near to home may be OK, however if you want to be in with a chance of a better quality of fishing then you have to be more selective where you fish. Just worth a mention here though that comparatively to me personally a 20+ from a prolific water is no better an achievement than a decent double from one of my local waters - where an upper double is still a big fish. The opportunities to grow & expand knowledge & skill in my own fishing were no longer apparent locally so I moved on. Knowing when you had had the best out of water or area & when to move on is also one of the keystone pieces of the location game.
Great Expectations
It makes sense to target the type of water that contains the type of fish you are realistically aiming to catch, that may be good doubles water if you have set yourself a target of catching so many doubles in a season or it may be a water with a low density of pike but of high average weight as you are going all out to crack your P.B. As I have explained to newcomers to the sport don’t go expecting to catch a big pike on your first visit to a venue, like most things that are worthwhile to consistently catch a number of good sized pike then you have to work at it putting in the hard work and effort taking the blanks that may come your way in your stead. Most of my fishing with few exceptions has been done the hard way learning various water types until reasonable results came, such results I feel justify & reward the hard work & effort through experience gained. People who have been at the sport for years invariably won’t give away all their secrets, indeed why should they however sometimes those who have done well may give handy hints & tips or suggestions, clues as to which piece of the jigsaw goes where rather than giving away the whole puzzle & these little gems often help others to improve their fishing.
Location
In essence there are 3 steps to pike location, firstly locating a venue that holds the quality/number/size of fish that we are looking to catch, 2 finding the key areas on the venue where the fish are likely to frequent & thirdly finding the area/s on the day in question where the fish are & where they are feeding – location, location, location!
So for step one how do we select our waters, simple answer carefully! , Some may be lucky enough to live in areas where there are many good pike waters near by, others may have to search them out. There are several ploys that no doubt many of us use to locate the waters we fish, I will briefly describe a few.
Pioneer – The pioneering approach of searching out a new or forgotten venue, the first on may be likely to bag up. This has worked for me before but I’ve also had my fair share of waters that turned out not to be worth the effort. This approach is very rewarding & gives you a sense of achievement.
Privileged Access Events – Booking onto every privilege access even that you can get on with the PAC, PAAS & the trout waters that open their doors each winter can no doubt be a good ploy to catch some good pike. Someone somewhere has done the homework for you & come up with a good venue or obtained access to a known water. However don’t go expecting to catch a monster pike on the first trip, you may do but invariably you have to put the effort in & you only get out of it what you put in, the fishing can be hard amongst stiff competition. I occasionally book onto some of these events but they are not the main proportion of my fishing.
Angling Press – Keep a watchful eye on the comics, sorry I mean weeklies & the monthly’s, sometimes people name the venues (not many) – however the venue may get packed out after that, so personally I don’t name venues in this way as it can see the water getting too much pressure. Some articles may disclose the authors chosen approach to fishing certain water types or a certain method which it pays to keep an open mind to. You may get subtle hints of where the fish are coming from or of the general geographical area that the fish are from, you may even recognise the area from a photo it its not had the background changed. However tread carefully some people deliberately mislead others as to where they are actually catching their big fish, indeed this is a ploy that my late uncle often used to protect his fishing sending others on wild goose chases. These publications may also contain other good sources of information including match results.
Do your homework – This can range from contacting local tackle shops near to venues, contacting clubs who control the venue, research on the internet etc. one of the best of these ways is to go for a walk around the venue if the geographical location in proximity to where you live & physical size of the venue permit this before you fish. Some anglers on the bank will tell you what they are catching & others wont & others are just bullshitters. During the walk round you can look for potential areas to fish, signs of prey fish etc.
Networking – Networking with other like minders anglers pooling knowledge for mutual gain, however as I’ve said before beware of those who have nothing to bring to the table to return the favour or those who only take information & never give it.
Clubs – Joining a club such as the PAC or the PAAS can reap its rewards, many regions arrange their own club outings (such as the region of the PAC that I am R/O for where we will be having monthly club outings in the winter)
So step one has to be selecting the right water to fish, having completed step one having now selected a couple or a few decent venues that contain what we are looking for how do we located them within the water? If you are extremely lucky then you may find a very small water that contains a number of good pike where you can cast to them from the first peg off the car park however I cant think of any examples where I have found this to be the case personally. On many waters I have fished the most popular swims are often ones those right next to a car parking location, now is that always because it’s a good fishing spot or is it sometimes just human nature to take the easy option?
Location location
So what are we looking for? Is it just a case of finding one likely looking area & sitting it out waiting for the fish to come to us? Or should we do the opposite & fish as many areas as we can? Both of these approaches may or could catch you fish & if time is no object to you then could do OK with both approaches, however they both have their drawbacks – firstly sitting it out, what if the fish aren’t there? Secondly how much time will you waste fishing un-productive areas if you just set off in a hap-hazard manner fishing any & every area of the venue until you find the fish? If like me fishing time is precious to you then there is more that you can do to stack the odds more in your favour by selecting a number of likely looking areas & fishing these, if you are fishing with a mate together you may be able to pool knowledge & get to know the venue quicker, however there is the equation now of 2 anglers fishing & still the same amount of fish in the venue.
At first light prey fish can often be seen topping, this classic can be a good indicator of where to try. Match results or walking round & seeing where the lads fishing for the silver fish are catching can be another good tactic. Most anglers will know that points, stream inlets & islands etc. can be good spots to fish from the bank (or boats). Other areas that provide cover such as bays, reedbeds, moored boats etc can all be worth a try. An obvious feature on one drain that I fish is its confluence with another watercourse & this can be a prolific hotspot to fish. Other areas that have man made features can be good areas, dam walls, pump houses, valve towers & the like. All of these features can be seen above the water line from the bank with little effort & so can tend to be popular places to fish.
At certain times of year we may know (or think we know) where its best to fish such as the boat dyke on a broad lands river or a deeper area on a large pit in the depths of winter or fishing the shallows on many venues at the back end of the season & often these areas produce the fish.
However on many venues there are more interesting underwater features that cannot be seen above the water line & can take a little more effort to suss out but the rewards are there to be reaped by those who take the time, trouble & effort to do so.
On some venues that I can think off there are amounts of underwater features that attract the fish, these vary in type & amount from venue to venue. Some in my experience only attract fish at certain times or in certain conditions where as others there is a reasonable chance of catching in that area on a regular basis.
Ploys & approaches to try, some examples – another classic approach on drains for example it can be a good tactic to employ leap-frog tactics to find the fish, in a boat it can be a good ploy to move every hour or so. Combine this with where you start off or where you move to, as opposed to hap-hazard & you could be onto a winner. For example starting off near to features such as a lone tree or a bridge or other man made structure may bring the results, in a boat fishing drop-offs & other features can produce the goods, perhaps giving these ‘feature areas’ a little longer is the order of the day. There are venues that have very little in the way of features, or their may be more subtle underwater features & you may have to move around a lot or work to suss out subtle underwater features to find the fish. When bank fishing a large pit you may want to suss out a few likely areas & try a different one each visit or travel light & fish more than one spot in a day to give you a feel for the place, the key being to find some likely areas & concentrate on these.
Tools of the Trade
From a boat its wise to use a fish-finder as most people do, I tend to use this more for locating features than I do for locating features & the cheaper models may not be that effective at locating fish anyway. Fishing from the bank many years ago I used to plumb the depth with rod float & line often making a mental note, a diary note or in some cases even a basic depth map of the venue for future reference. Nowadays I tend to use the smart-cast wireless fish finder when fishing from the bank, these are very quick & easy to use & have often sorted out likely looking spots quickly & easily for me. The drawback if you can call it that is their range, I use the one that has a base station rather than the rod or wrist mounted version as the one with the base station has a greater range. Conversion kits are available to extend the range on these set ups but I haven’t looked into that yet. On the odd occasion that I use a bait-boat mine has a built in Echo-sounder giving my a good indication of the depth & if anything is underneath the boat, other models of bait boat are available with all signing all dancing fish finders but they come at a price. As regular readers will know I have purchased a small carryable boat, this can also be used to map out a venue before fishing in effect hopefully maximising catch potential during my fishing time. Making a diary note of where you caught, when & the conditions is worth-while for future reference using the good old diary to link together the key factors of the results of you fishing exploits to assist you in where to fish when.. You could you a PC programme to chart or database this information if you want although I don’t go that far myself. Markers are another useful bit of kit, to mark up features especially if you intend to return to an area again later of the next day, however on the more popular venues they may give the game away to others where your fish have come from & I once even had a H block marker stolen & as no one others than anglers were out on the water it could have only been stolen by a fellow angler which I think is pretty pathetic really.
Location, location location
So we have selected our water & found some reasonably likely looking areas, is that it then have we cracked it? Or is there still a little more work to do? On some of the large venues I have fished there are many, many underwater features, many drop offs, many deep holes etc. etc. & it is sometimes only by putting in the hard work & effort that you get to recognise which ones of these produce the goods on the venue & when they produce. On some venues I fish there are a couple of good areas to fish when its milder but you wont catch fish in said areas in the depths of winter. There are other areas that have a couple or even a few features & a range of depths surrounding them where they can be a reasonable bet at most times & in a variety of conditions. A few venues I have fished for several seasons I know which areas will produce the fish at certain times of the year or during certain conditions & others that will produce the goods time & time again. Not every single feature will produce fish & if you can find a feature with prey fish in the area then you could be onto a good thing at the time, the spot in effect providing a good ambush spot for the pike & a full dinner table for them.
On some venues it may be the same areas that produce fish time & time again, with some seasonal variation. I have seen anglers in a current ‘hot swim’ fail to catch or struggle because although they knew the area produced fish (through seeing others catch) they didn’t place their baits in the key area of the swim, on more than one occasion I have moved into such an area after another angler has left & I have caught. On some more pressured waters fish may move because of angling pressure, on the larger glacial lakes there may be but a few areas that produce fish on any one given day, use the experience & knowledge that you build up to your advantage to maximise your chances of having a good day. My mate Andy Cooke has a bit of a hap-hazard approach a bit like a kid in a sweet shop wanting to try every possible area he can & if time was no object they we could fish in this way in a very laid back manner, on a new venue this can pay off if you find the fish, however as I’ve said you could waste a lot of time fishing unproductive areas until you find the fish, personally I prefer to be a little more selective & to spend a little time finding likely looking areas rather than going in at the deep end with all guns blazing, a little time selecting a number of likely areas will be well spent. Once you get to know the venue a picture or pattern may emerge where certain areas produce the goods time & time again or at certain times or in certain conditions (taking into account/linked into local conditions/seasonal variations) so it can sometimes pay to concentrate on these ‘hot-spots’ when you find them in effect reaping the rewards of the effort that you have put in to find them in the first place for not every area of a large venue is likely to fish so good.
The margins themselves can be an under fished feature on some venues & it can pay to fish a bait close in, this worked for me & mate Paul Houghton recently we used this tactic on a large pit when the venue was failing to produce the goods, we both caught by fishing baits very close in me taking a scraper double & Paul taking a nice 15.5. More on fishing the margins in a future article.
There is no substitute for getting out their & fishing & finding the fish yourself. I can think of venues where there are drop-offs next to streams that often attract prey fish & hence are good pike swims, however sometimes the feature/s producing the good fish may be more subtle & I can think of examples where this has been the case bringing the rewards for those who have sought these areas out whilst others who have put in lass effort may not do as well.
When it comes right
On a fishing trip to a reasonable sized glacial lake a venue that I know quite well, there are two areas that consistently produce pike in the colder of the winter months. The first is a good walk to the far side of the venue fishing from a point with a drop off into a small deep hole, an obvious but well fished spot for those who can handle the walk. The second area is on the near bank casting to a slightly deeper area that I have previously found during the course of my explorations, in both these areas of features where you will sometimes get run after run yet a bait slightly miscast or not in these areas is likely to be ignored as occurred on this occasion. During a day & a half’s fishing we had some reasonable sport & fishing the features I took some nice doubles, two of which came from rods fished to the slightly deeper area at the same time. Two nice doubles were literally caught at the same time, my mate netted the first one whilst I hand landed the second one. This is not the first time that I have had two good fish literally at once fishing features – both obvious & the more subtle ones & no doubt others will have had similar experiences.
On a trip to Scotland we spent some time searching out likely looking areas of the venue we were fishing & in my own mind I’d narrowed it down to several potential areas as we would not have enough time with one trip to fish the whole of the large loch, where as Andy Cooke would have liked to go for the kid in the sweet shop approach fishing from the off in a hap hazard way anywhere all around the loch which in my opinion maybe wasting precious time that we didn’t have in some unproductive areas & not really giving each decent area enough time to do them justice. Fishing from one boat together we both managed runs in all of the several carefully selected spots out taking fish to double figures, all of the areas selected contained some prey fish & likely looking features. At the end of the second day we were fishing one of the spots picked out a drop off from the shallows into deeper water & I was fortunate enough to find a small, narrow level area laying in-between the deep drop-off & the shallows. This was a very narrow band & fishing from a boat you could only really get one rod in the area. We fished this area at the end of the second day of the trip with me having my rod in what was to be the ‘hot spot’ (on the small narrow level area between the drop off & the shallows) again taking fish to double figures whilst my other rod cast off the back of the boat which I moved around on the drop off & into the deeper water went runless, fishing from the boat with Andy Cooke he took one pike to the side shallow side of the hotspot. The next day we again spent some time in the ‘hot’ area this time with both Andy’s rods moved closer towards but not on the exact area of the ‘hot spot’ where most of my fish had come from, my own rod in that one small area doing the business again & me taking pike upto 26.8. Again my other rod went untouched, again Andy managed one fish in the area just to the side of the hotspot. The final day we only had a few hours in the morning to fish, we both knew where we were heading for - Andy absolutely insisted that it would be his rod fishing the ‘hot’ area today & not mine & so it was that my rod was cast slightly out of the area & Andy’s rod took pole position. That last morning the one rod of Andy’s in the hotspot got 4 runs, he managed 2 pike best going 16. His other rod remained runless as did my two. I figure that this was a decent area because the pike were using it as an ambush point either down into the deep water or up into the shallows or just lying in wait as the prey fish moved from deep to shallow or visa versa at the time of our trip. We did fish other areas of the loch & caught fish but on the days of our trip that small area mentioned was the hotspot, had I just turned up & chucked out a couple of baits would I have had the 26, I doubt it? If we had just used the hap hazard approach would we have ever found reached or fished that spot? I doubt it. If we get another go at that venue the hot area may well have changed but using the methods & tactics described then we may just be lucky enough to find another one.
Conclusion
Without a doubt locating the fish it the number one key to successful pike angling get this right & combine it with successful methods & tactics & your sure to be onto a winner. There is a balance to be struck between sitting it one in one area all day for a run & fishing as many areas as you possibly can, for me picking several likely areas often linked to prey fish location & features has worked well for me. So next time you decide where your going fishing be sure to make the right choice & think before you just cast out a couple of baits.
Tight lines
Jon Neafcy
Wigan Piker
R/O Region 31 PAC South Lancashire