EsoxWorld

Issue Number 1 December 2011

EsoxWorld the only magazine for Esox anglers around the world

featuring

3

Neville Fickling - how many big pike?

Bertus Rozermeijer - learning to read Josh Teignan - clear water giants Mick Brown - interview a legend (part one) Eric Edwards - let there be light Dustin Carlson - 49lb Tiger Muskie Gary Banks - magical Ireland Hans Schoenmaekers - 15 degrees below Dave Kelbrick - lure talk Dave Horton - “that’s a thirty” video Martin Bowler - catching the impossible video

Introduction

The Esox family must be up there with some of the most revered anima Predators such as the great white shark, lion, alligator etc, but few creat muskie or pike that inhabits the local pond, river or drain. Those of us t hear stories of dogs, swans and even humans being reportedly attacked ance and large mouth full of razor sharp teeth can be Esox’s biggest ene highly tuned creature that is extremely susceptible to both poor water c of this new magazine, to incept every country that bares home to one o protect them. If this magazine can offer information that gives a single but we won’t rest at one, because we have thousands upon thousands of safely fish for, unhook and look after their Esox once caught. Many will to eat, but many will mishandle them while trying to get their hooks ou ance to.

Historically, Esox anglers around the world have had very little interest muskie are similar in appearance, and have fairly similar habits, anglers States or northern pike fishing in Belgium and visa versa (there are obv silo. So, here at EsoxWorld we hope to bridge that gap between countrie from one another, pick up on tips that will be relevant to our own fishin

As the editor, it is my intention to split the content of this magazine thr the pike in the UK & Ireland and a third to the northern pike across no subscriber, wherever they live in the world. It will be a tough task and o enough support from writers and advertisers it should become a reality

If I can create a product that is of high quality, has credible feature write graphs and videos, I feel sure it will attract the most successful Esox ang Thank you for your subscription.

Steve Rowley Editor

als on this beautiful planet? For sure we have far more illustrious tures have had more stories told about them than that of the huge that spend time fishing for them will simply nod and smile when we d by a huge Esox, because we know better. But that ferocious appearemy, because underneath that hard looking exterior lies a sensitive, conditions and poor handling. The latter is one of the main objectives of the Esox family and offer information and advise on how best we can angler the experience to save one Esox, it will have been worthwhile, f anglers around the world that simply don’t fully understand how to l still kill them in order to set them up as a trophy, some may kill them ut of them, and these are the people that we can offer help and guid-

t in the Esox fishing in other countries, and though northern pike and s in lets say the UK have had very little interest in muskie fishing in the viously exceptions), and each country very much operates in it’s own es and create a new line of communication where we can all learn ng and generally share information across all corners of the world.

ree ways, approximately one third to muskie related topics, a third to orth America and Europe, delivering enough interest for every on occasions it may not quite work out to plan, but if I can generate y?

ers, that write interesting words, accompanied by stunning photoglers to write on a regular basis?

EsoxWorld

part of a changing world

Size 11 boot and 39lb pike!

In an age where mobile technology is moving at a rate even the experts couldn’t predict, media is changing beyond recognition.

Mobile phones and in particular tablets such as the iPad 2 will become the way in which we all read newspapers, magazines and books, and it will be happening in the next two to three years!

Online magazines will take over from their brothers in print for three main reasons: 1. They provide readers with a completely different package.

Video features and video adverts will become the norm, meaning readers/browsers will have a much more exciting interaction with their specialist interest.

2. The benefits of producing an online product compared to that of producing a printed one is a no-brainer. Relatively low distribution costs to anywhere on the planet, no costly copy returns, no paper or ink costs and NO margin to give away to distributors, wholesalers or retailers!

3. Cost will be a major factor as many publishers will be able to either reduce the price for an online issue compared to a printed one, or in many cases will provide the magazine FREE on subscription.

EsoxWorld will take full advantage of this shift in technology and will be the first dedicated online Esox magazine in the world.

It will launch in a magazine format and an app will soon follow.

Esoxworld will then become a truly mobile product that can be read by every Esox angler in the world, even when they are fishing (as long as they have a signal of course).

Hope you enjoy your first issue.....

HOW MANY BIG PIKE DO WE NEED TO CATCH?

by Neville Fickling Over the past few years I’ve asked myself this question over and over and never really come up with an answer. There are I suspect quite a few other pike anglers in the same boat as me.

What form of insanity drives us on and on trying to catch just one more big pike?

It is not as if we do anything with the blessed things when we catch them. In olden days you would have a row of cased monsters in your study, stacked up to the ceiling if you were any good.

Today we take a picture that gets downloaded onto a PC, you show a couple of mates and then it is forgotten. One has to question the sanity of someone spending a fortune trying to catch a big pike and then putting it straight back!

Yet we carry on, and so far I’ve never heard anyone say, ‘When I get to so and so many twenties I’m going to pack it in.’ Lots of people say that they love being out in the country; it’s a chance to get away from pressure at work, and so on.

However, you could get all that from a walk in the country, without the misery of sitting out in the rain and snow. I think I know why people go fishing for big pike.

They are collectors.

This must be so, otherwise why do so many pike anglers know exactly how many big ones they have caught? Why is it that having three thirty pounders to your credit makes you feel better than having none?

Of course a few successful pike anglers have little idea of what they have caught, but these people are Nev unfortunately didn’t get in with the action during the recent invitation day at Chew, but someone did!

exceptions. They tend to be lumped together with the people that claim to have caught vast numbers of big pike but just cannot remember how many. Such fantasists spoil things for everyone, to some extent, but anywhere in the world where the genus Esox exists there will be people who lie, be it about pike or muskies. Generally, these people are well known to other pike anglers, and in the UK one or two have been exposed over the years.

Fishing for big pike and always wanting another one is a form of illness. I have no doubt of this. It can, if uncontrolled lead to marriage breakups, poor career prospects and, for some, a lonely existence. Luckily, most pike anglers can control the illness, but even when you think you have a grip on things you can find trouble sneaking up on you. Running out of money is the most obvious problem, and lots of big pike fanatics have had this problem over the years. Some have even resorted to crime to finance their fishing.

So why bother with all this nonsense? Well, from a personal point of view, it is a bit of an addiction. There is the excitement of lure fishing, the hit out of the blue and the wait to see exactly what you have hooked, deadbaiting has its own excitement: the run and seeing the

float slide away. On the negative side, hours and sometimes days of not catching anything can be terribly dull, but it is true that success after a long wait does feel a lot better than an easy capture.

I’ve never felt any serious desire to stop pike fishing, though about five years ago I packed up fishing for carp, simply because I had no more book writing to do on a laptop by the lake. You’d struggle to take a laptop out in a boat while pike fishing! I have other interests, but, for good or bad, pike fishing always comes first. It is a terrible case of self indulgence, which some of us are lucky to be able to do as much as work allows.

So, 48 years on, I’m still doing the same thing several times a week, mainly in the winter, but sometimes in the spring as well.

A lot of you reading this will suffer the same affliction. Are we all mad or very lucky? You decide.

“I’ve never heard anyone say they would pack up when they got to so many twenties”

Neville has more than 420 twenty pounders to his name....

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Sunset on Chew Valley Lake - Bristol, UK

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LEARNING TO READ Dutch legend Bertus Rozermeijer lets us into some of his secrets

1011 10

D

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;20% of the anglers are catching 80% of the fish!â&#x20AC;&#x2122; That was a theme in one of the magazines I was reading quit a few years back. While reading the article, I was surprised that I was missing a part of this thesis. Frankly speaking: I did not believe that this was so, but in the course of the years I have seen that a lot of anglers do not really take the bounties hidden in the water.

Especially when anglers fish on new waters, many among us find it difficult to find and catch the fish they came for. Learning to read the water and see where you have to be to catch the fish you want is something you can learn.

Let me help you, step by step, to make the best of it.

13

The first step Not that long ago it was quite a job to gain information needed to prepare for a trip or get information about a certain water. The information was scarce and often outdated. You want

to know where you can rent a boat, if there is matching accommodation and, most importantly, where you

have to be to get to the fish! Often enough, I came to waters where no one could tell you where to go and what to use and, yes, it often took me long enough to figure out what to do and where to be. These days are over.

Using the internet, we have made the world a small bulb, and with Google Earth we have the opportunity to study our waters from above and in advance. If you dive in deeper, you might find fine details about the water you are about to fish, and you can do your homework with your fishing partner and have a lot of fun in advance. I certainly do my homework, and this is truly a big help to me.

Step 2 Once on the place you want to be, you do need more detailed information.

Local knowledge can be a great help or it might send you into the fog of uncertainties. Local anglers might see you as a competitor and send you where you should not be. Sometimes they are a bit overenthusiastic,

which can be disappointing too.

Anglers can send you to spots that are virtually invisible to you. I once got the advice to fish near and over ‘underwater islands’. Nice to know, but without a fish finder or GPS and on a water many square kilometres in size, this is often the well-known

‘needle in a haystack’ story. If you are not equipped with the likes of a GPS, you’d do better sticking to structures that look familiar to you.

Make a long drift along a fringe of reed. I did so on my fist trip to Sweden, where at first I got the advice to fish underwater islands that we could not find, but the deep fringes of reeds helped us out. We caught fish. A lot of them. The lesson was: if you want to catch fish then do so in places that look like your home water, and do not make your fishing too complicated. Indeed, you have to anticipate on the water itself. The fringe of reed mentioned was two kilometres long and edging a steep drop-of, the depth of which we frequently checked with the aid of a heavy jig head. It was important for us to know how deep it was under the boat and at the same time at casting range to the reeds. As soon as we found over five metres of water under the boat, we moved to shallower water, knowing that by this our lures were always in reach

of a possible pike. It also told us what lures should work best. It simply makes no sense to fish a high-running fine spinner in water over five metres deep. Sinking jerkbaits, softbaits combined with nottoo-heavy jig heads and weighted bucktail spinners did the job for us.

Back in the harbour we were asked about our results and they indeed amazed our host.

The rest of the week? Without fishfinder or GPS, we stayed to the reed fringes, boating an average of 20 pike a day. Keeping fishing simple brought us a great week fishing.

Bertus is not just an awesome pike angler, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a pretty good photographer too!

15

If a bay is also narrow in the neck, warm water is pressed in and kept in longer. By looking for these places, we can reduce the number of potential spots a lot, and it can be not be too difficult to find likely places for us. Mentioning ‘warm’ water does not say that there is a big difference in temperature. Sometimes it is only a degree or two that makes the difference between a likely and a less likely place for the pike to spawn, and, thus, for us to be.

If the fish has not arrived, then you can be sure they will be waiting nearby in the light blue parts, for its best time

“If the bay is also narrow in the neck, warm water is pressed in and kept longer” to come to the shallows. Also keep an eye open for what we can see. Reeds with a lot of open space are good.

Plant growth or starting plant growth is a bonus, and a good substrate for pike to shed their eggs. Do not stay too long in a place that you have found. If pike are there, and are done spawning or waiting for the right time to spawn, you’ll find them soon enough. If not, go find another place that matches the pikes needs. If you do catch a few fish, then stick to the place. There might be a lot more pike waiting for you?

Top spots Fingers, reefs and weed lines.

Soon after spawning, pike move away from the shallows. A spawning place is not often a hunting ground too. Oh, sure, after pike, many other fish spawn in the same area. Let’s not forget this. It is worth giving shallows a go if other (prey) fish move in where pike have just left. If May is ending and June comes in, pike are found in many other places. In particular, the bigger fish can be finicky in finding a good place for their hunting activity. There has to be a good foundation for a pike to be there. This makes it hard to find good places, but at the same time, it makes it easier for us as we are as critical as the big pike are. Take a close look at visible places on your map. It’s

time now to learn about reading a chart and understand the structures we fish. Rest assured, you are not going to fish without some explanation. What I want you to do is look for ‘fingers’.

Imagine a longish island. In most cases situated north– west. At such an island, we can see on the map that it has more length, similar to above water, under the surface.

Perhaps it carries on up tens of metres under the surface? It is there where you can often expect some good pike. Especially the last bits of these structures can be promising. Why? I have the impression that such structures can be hunted left-right and back and forth by the bigger pike. Giving the fish a better hunting ground is the plus here. Look for these places and sooner or later you come across a big fish! Mark them on you map and fish them thoroughly. Just as important are rocks in front of an island. If they are connected by shallow water with each other, you can be sure that fish will be waiting there for you. If these spots are also weedy, then the feast is complete and big pike are more or less a guarantee.

I know, I create a utopia, but I have looked for this on maps in Canada, Sweden, Ireland.…and found them and fished them successfully. Also, try to locate narrows in a system. Where the water is narrowed by an island and mainland or bigger island, here is good. Imagine that at the beginning of both, the opening is wide. It might be a couple of hundreds of metres, but at the end it is not much more than a couple of tens of metres, here you have something like a fish fyke. A true fish trap and pike know this. You also want the most narrow point to be pretty deep. Perhaps up to ten metres or so, but some shallows near the bank and, yes, weeds please!

Multi Rowdy, one of Burtusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Lures

Baitfish have a bad time here. They are pressed more and more in to each other, making the hunt for any predator to be a piece of cake! Find them on a chart, check them out, and if they are as described, you are in a honey hole! But what if such a feature is not there? Then, look for structures on the bottom. Underwater islands: always good and, again, weed is a plus. Weed grow on top of the shallows, but it may well be that the pike sit behind the weed in deeper water.

If I fish an underwater structure, I have learned that in most cases pike are caught at the end of a structure.

Where the waves leaves the structure is often the best spot to fish. In this case, forget drifting. You are way

cooling water is something many anglers should consider. Perhaps we should have another look at the maps again. Like in spring, we have to take a look at the dark blue colours on the map. The wide blue sections are not our choice now. What we want to see is dark blue near deep water. A slow drop, very shallow near weeds, and at casting range, say some twenty metres from the bank and under the boat, some three, maybe four metres of water. I like open reeds now, and if I can see the bottom between the reed stumps, so much the better!

Here and there a patch of weed is good, but if not there, I don’t mind.

Frankly speaking, it is not looking much like a pike holding place, but,

better of if you anchor the boat at the top of the structure found (where the wind comes in) and fish the structure. Then, give rope, some ten metres or so and repeat the same process. Knowing that you are going to fish deeper, it is wise to change lures.

Shallows maybe best with jerkbaits, deeper sections perhaps best with soft jerks or shads on a jig head.

against all odds, pike are often right here. Cast a jerkbait out. They work great in spots like this. Locate islands with a wide shallow bottom around them, or bigger shallow sections around an island. Give them a go on a drift and do not be amazed when you start catching fish in less than one metre of water. That’s what pike fishing is all about. One big surprise and always exiting.

The last steps In the autumn, everything goes upside down. The good but not the fantastic summer places are left empty.

I know, as a true angler you put them all back but, still, the fish seem to be gone. And they are, back to shallow water again. Shallow, despite the daily 17

‘I learned that in most cases pike are caught at the end of a structure’.

A 50lb muskie Big looking fish going more like home a large catfish

19

A rare pug nose

Truly enormous!

LLadies catch big fish too!

Massive muskie

Jack attack

50lb muskie

Sulking monster

Clear water often gives muskie anglers a tough time: lots of follows but few hits.

As a guide on many different clear water lakes in Northern Wisconsin, I know these challenges. Over the past few years I have learned a few proven tactics that consistently put big big Muskies in the net for me and my clients.

Fish deep One of the things I’ve learned when fishing clear water is that there is always a deep water bite going on.

When I say deep water, I mean 15-25 feet. It seems this is where the big fish are. Three years ago I used to fish shallow all the time. I would fish weeds, rocks, and wood in 5-10 feet of water, I would catch fish but they were all small. I would rarely see a fish over 40 inches. I then decided to try deep water: I started fishing deep structure in 15-25 feet of water. Instantly, I started seeing and catching fish, and all of these fish were over 40 21

inches. In the first two weeks of fishing deep water, my friends and I put six muskies in the net that were over 45 inches and many others that were 40-45 inches. These muskies were not suspended but were relating to structure: weeds, rocks, cribs, pretty much any kind of structure that was deep enough for them. Today, I am

‘Instantly I started seeing and catching fish and all of these fish were over 40 inches’ still catching fish in this deep structure and I haven’t gone back to shallow water. So how do you go about finding these deep water fish? The first thing I do when I fish a clear water lake is find the weedline. I take my sonar/GPS and I drive the boat around until I find a weed bed. Once I find one, I take the boat and drive

towards deep water to establish the depth where the weeds ends. If the weed ends at 18 feet, that is where you want to fish. You want to fish the deepest weeds in the lake. Once you find where the weeds end you want to position the boat about 25 feet from them and bomb cast lures towards the weedline. As I write this article, I fished a new lake the other day. It was the first time I had ever muskie fished it. The first thing I did was find the weedline, which was at 20 feet in this particular lake. I then positioned the boat in 25 feet and bomb casted a long stretch of deep weeds. In the first hour of fishing I boated a 46 and a 47 inch muskie.

Lure Choices When it comes down to fishing deep structure, I have found two lures that seem to out produce all others: double-bladed bucktails and bull dawgs.

There are many double 10’s on the market today. I have fished with many of them and have found one that is hard to beat when fishing

Clear water giants

Josh Teignan

Josh with a stunning 45-inch muskie

Fifty percent of the fish I caught last year using this technique hit the figure-eight as it gets deeper than most other double 10’s, which is important for deep water fishing. Fishing these baits is very simple. Bomb cast them towards structure and slowly reel them back. The slower you reel the deeper they get. Doing this, I can get them down 10-13 feet, which is plenty deep enough for the fish to see in the crystal clear water. When using this technique, make sure you figure-eight after every cast, because fifty percent of the fish I caught last year using this technique hit in the figure-eight.

When fish aren’t going on blades, I switch to a Bull Dawg. Bull Dawgs

by Musky Innovations come in many sizes. My favourite being the Mag Dawg and the Super Mag Dawg (aka The Pounder).

These lures are one of the most 23

versatile lures out there.

You can work them anywhere in the water column. Just let them sink to the desired depth and start working them back to the boat. They sink about 1 foot per second, so if I’m fishing 20 feet of water I count them down to 15 feet and start working them back to the boat. When working them I like to use a pull/pause technique. Pull the bait so the lure darts forward, and then reel up your slack and pull again.

Do this all the way back to the boat.

Most of your hits will occur when the bait pauses. You will go to pull the bait after the pause and it will feel like you hooked a brick wall!

Another way to work them is to just straight retrieve them. I like to do this when a big cold front comes in or when it is late in the fall and the water is really cold.

The fish just aren’t as aggressive as they usually are at these times and they want an easy meal.

Just simply cast them out and Just simply cast them out and slowly reel them back. Just enough to get the tail on the Bull Dawg moving.

Another important factor for clear water fishing is colour. I have caught far more fish on natural colored lures then bright ones. For bucktails I like to use nickel or brass blades with a black or white skirt, and for other baits like Bull Dawgs I like to use sucker, walleye, or perch patterns. All lakes are different and I have favourite colours for different lakes. The best way to find out what works on your favourite lake is to experiment. Try one colour for a while and if nothing happens switch to another colour. Keep experimenting until you have some action.

All lakes are different and I have favourite colours for different lakes

47 inches

25

Interview with a leg

In the UK, pike fishermen don’t come more experienced o Mick is a major ambassador for our sport and is one of, if He has written a number of books, produced nearly 1,000 videos/DVDs and of course has played a major role in ma Oh, and he has caught a few pike as well, with 21 over the

Mick kindly agreed to the first ever EsoxWorld interview,

Q EsoxWorld -You have pike fished seriously for more than three decades Mick. What have been the main driving forces over this period and how have they changed with time?

A Mick - I can’t answer this in just one feature, Steve.

It could take a long time, but I’ll start by telling you a bit about the early days and the events which started me on the ‘big pike’ trail. Quite simply, I have been driven to fish for pike by a force over which I have no control. I believe I was destined for this role in life but do not understand why or how! This might all seem a little mystical and romanticised, but as I grow older I feel that there is more to this life than we are aware of. Certain things have happened to me which have left me feeling that they have been more than just luck.

27

31lb stunner

Pike came into my life in the first hours after I was born, as one was laid beside me on the kitchen table by my father, who had caught one for food. From that very first day, I was nurtured by the essence of the pike through my mother feeding me after eating them. She did eat rabbits as well, so maybe that’s why I have strong teeth and I like carrots!

Being brought up in a family where everyone fished, pike were encountered from time-to-time but they were

gend - Mick Brown

or successful than Mick Brown. f not the most famous UK pike angler EVER! 0 magazine features, appeared in numerous any TV episodes on the Discovery Channel. e magical 30lb mark and 324 over 20lb to date.

, and here is his response to our first question:

r not welcomed by them as my family were either

match anglers or game fishermen. I witnessed a lot of slaughter of pike at the hands of match and game anglers w in those days, but this only served to draw me closer to pike. I could not make sense of the ignorance I witnessed, and went to great lengths to rescue or save pike from their hands. I lived in an area with very few pike fishing opportunities, but I will never forget the fascination of trying to catch them with spinners in a local park lake.

The magic and mystery of seeing them loom from the depths, follow my lure and then turn away just consumed me, and I wanted to know more about them. I wanted to catch them!

t

When I could finally drive, I had more freedom to follow my passion to fish for pike. It was nothing to do with catching specimens; I just loved everything about it. Cold frosty mornings, misty mornings, the smell of the river, the livebait float bobbing around, or the feel of a hit on a spoon or spinner. It was magic then and it still is now.

In my early twenties I joined a specimen group, and we fished for every species, but my main interest was catching pike. I eventually caught a twenty pounder, but catching one of this size was never on any sort of agenda.

It was all about the adventure and the fun, but above all, living for those moments when the pike takes the bait.

Inevitably, through contact with other anglers, I got

drawn into targeting bigger pike.

It was all quite innocent at first, and I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think we realised at the time what was possible if we set out to catch numbers of big fish. For most, and I was no different, pike fishing was a weekend pursuit and I was quite happy with that, but, between sessions, pike were always in my thoughts.

A significant change came about when a conversation with another pike angler made me stop and think. There were a few of my contemporaries who were becoming notorious for catching big pike; anglers like John Watson and Neville Fickling. The guy I was talking to said that the only difference between me and them was that they were targeting the waters that held big pike. It was stating the obvious, but I was fishing within my financial means and fishing waters I enjoyed fishing. To catch bigger pike meant sacrificing fishing my favourite venues, where a twenty pounder was quite a rarity, and focusing on venues where I had a better chance. To do so also meant travelling, with its financial implications. Suddenly, I was into â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;big pikeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; mode, and this opened up a new chapter in my pike fishing. I still had the restrictions of a family and a job, but was now travelling to fish venues like the Broads and Fens, rather than my local waters in the Midlands region.

29

I started to catch twenty pounders on a more regular basis, but going back to the early eighties, even the most successful pike anglers were only catching a handful of such specimens in a whole season. So many things that we now take for granted had not yet happened. Trout waters had not been opened up to us and many of the larger man-made pits had not been dug out or matured.

There was not the wealth of good pike waters that we have at our disposal today. Where pike were fished for, they were often killed or badly handled, further reducing the chances of catching a big one. Furthermore, tackle development such as fish finders, braided lines and advanced lure patterns had not come into popular use, thus limiting us when tackling more challenging waters. Above all, the

more to catch one.

When trout water access was limited to just Grafham and Rutland, I saw an opportunity to befriend the manager of the Gailey Trout Fishery in Staffordshire, about forty miles to the north of where I lived at the time, with its obvious implications. Hardly anybody had seen the possibilities in the increasing number of smaller trout fisheries springing up around the country, but I had a hunch it would be worth taking a look. It seems unbelievable nowadays when trout waters are synonymous with big pike, and I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think many modern day pike anglers know how far we have come from those days.

communication revolution had not hit us. News travelled slowly in those days, especially from distant places. You cannot compare the catches from those days to those of today, where anglers are advantaged in so many ways.

happened to be a good friend of my brother. By God, it was hard work convincing him that I was not interested in his trout, but in those days that was the common attitude at such fisheries. I did manage to get occasional days on the water, or should I say hours, as he was very restrictive. I was not allowed to use lures and soon found that the pike there did not have any interest in deadbaits at all.

Livebaits, however produced an immediate response and, although the numbers of pike in the reservoir were low (it had been drained only about five or six years previously), I started to catch a few. Plenty of doubles at first, then a low twenty, and then a twenty-six pounder.

These pike never had the chance to grow bigger as I was only allowed to fish if I took them away. I found good homes for them all!

Taking out the pike naturally made the fishing harder, and I left it alone for two seasons. In 1987, I moved away from

In the mid-eighties, I felt compelled to catch a huge pike â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a thirty pounder. A couple of anglers like Nev Fickling, John Watson and Eddie Turner had caught a few, and I was well aware that their success was due to tackling the right waters. I have never chased fish or followed other anglers around, and wanted to find my own thirty pounder. I chose venues more carefully, such as several of the lesser-known Norfolk Broads and the River Wye, but missed my target by a couple of pounds and settled for a personal best of 27lb 13oz from Hoveton Great Broad on a trip with Watto. It was on the day when Watto caught his 30lb 3oz fish from there, and that fired me up even

Fate seemed to play its hand here as the fishery manager

d m

the area as I had decided that I would move to a better pike fishing area – the Fens! That’s the start of another story, which I will tell another time. This story ends on a very high note, though. Now living in temporary accommodation in Peterborough, where I had taken a job as a plastics engineer, I had to return to the Midlands each weekend to visit my family and make preparations to move away. Thoughts of the possibilities at Gailey never left my mind, especially as my brother kept me informed of any interesting news from there because he was often out shooting with the fishery manager.

The news came to me that a ‘monster’ pike had been seen, possibly a forty pounder. Having never caught a thirty pounder yet, it sounded like it was worth fishing for as, even if exaggerated, it could certainly be the fish I wanted.

Fate played its hand again because the manager had heard that pike fishing could make him some extra income and he asked me to try and catch a big pike to promote his new idea. He also agreed that all pike would be returned safely as part of this new venture. Remember that this is many years ago, when trout anglers hated pike, and the concept of putting them back and charging pike anglers to fish for them was only just emerging.

A flying visit home on the following weekend in late May saw me snatch a few hours at the reservoir. The trout livebaits supplied didn’t produce a run, but I decided to put out a small roach of about five inches which I’d brought with me. It went straight away and I hooked into a pike which took ages to get into the boat. Recently spawned out and quite flabby and empty, it weighed 28lb 1oz. Almost certainly she had been a thirty before spawning, but, nevertheless, I couldn’t complain about a new personal best.

The following weekend was almost a replay of the last when I had a take on a similar-sized live perch, this time producing a different pike of 27lb 13oz, another incredibly hard fighter. This one was also flabby and no doubt another spawned-out winter thirty!

Time was running out for me as I had to arrange moving my home from the Midlands to the Fens, and the summer weather was not exactly conducive to pike fishing. However, on June 20th, I had one more chance to fish there and then I decided to call an end to it as he planned to open it up to the general public and I didn’t fancy travelling over a hundred miles to fish in the crowds that would surely turn up to fish. I have nothing against this sort of competitive fishing, but I prefer to fish alone and explore new waters.

The day was bright with only a light ripple on the reservoir, and by early afternoon, my boat partner (Colin Dorsett) and I had used up most of the small livebaits we

had by catching a handful of jacks. With just two small perch left in the bin, both being about four inches long, I suggested that we went back to the area where I’d taken the recent high twenties and have one more drift as we finished the cold tea in the flask.

The breeze picked up and the two livebaits drifted away side by side. Braided line was virtually unheard of in those days so we were using greased mono, which made drifting livebaits so much more difficult than the modern approach. Colin’s float suddenly slipped out of sight, and an early strike saw another jack splashing to the boat.

Minutes later, my float went under in the same area. This was obviously something very different!

After a few minutes, I said to Colin that he was about to see a twenty pounder, and, as he had never seen one before, he was quite excited. Then it cartwheeled out of the water, showing itself completely, at which point I quipped that he might even be witnessing a thirty. In my mind I was thinking it could be a recapture of one of the high twenties as the water had very few pike at the time.

To be honest, I didn’t really want to believe it could be any bigger than that as I didn’t want to be disappointed. My search for a thirty had taken me to so many places and I had gone through so much in the process, and I seemed to turn off the thoughts that this could be it.

As it emerged from under the boat, doubts began to enter my mind, which was jumping from ‘high twenty’ to ‘thirty and back again’. There was no time to think any longer as, after two failed attempts, I could see that Colin was going to struggle with the netting. After all he was very inexperienced. As she came towards the boat again, I grabbed the net from him and plunged it deep into the water. She swam into it at high speed, nearly pulling it from my grasp, and I had to drop the rod and use both hands to take control.

‘It then cart wheeled out of the water, showing itself completely’

31

We sat for a minute to gather our thoughts. The pike lay very still, its massive head glinting in the strengthening sunshine and the solitary size 6 Eagle Claw treble showing in its teeth. We lifted the anchor and started to drift towards the shore, perfectly in line for landing close to the managerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hut. I decide that I should not get the fish in the boat; I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want it flapping about in a tiny boat with little room to lay it out properly. I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to row and drag it either, and decide to let the breeze do the work while we carefully let the pike recover in the net alongside the boat.

After resting her for a while, we were all prepared to weigh her. I told everyone concerned that this was going to take only a minute or two and I would put her back in the water whether they wanted me to or not.

Out she came and straight into the sling. Everything was zeroed and we watched the needle go round as I carefully lifted. The 32lb Avons bottomed out, so without hesitation I put her straight back in the tank.

She had been out of the water for no more than thirty seconds and she was back in it again!

It probably took about ten minutes till we hit the shore, and a big Colin went for crowd had gathered. his Avons and we Just twenty yards away set everything up was the fishery holdagain, this time ing tank, and I quickly with the two sets carried the pike to it. of scales taking the It took just seconds to weight of the sling remove the trace. She was carefully lowered into the tank and zeroed. This time I needed help. The pike was placed and we put a cover over it to shade her from the sun. in the sling and we lifted, and Colin was instructed to read out the weight on his scales as soon as they settled and I Then I sat and relaxed as someone brought me a cup of would read out mine at the same time. Colin shouted out tea. The realisation of how big it was started to dawn on seventeen and three-quarters and mine read seventeen me. It had to be a thirty, it had to be! pounds and five ounces.

I quickly calculated that she weighed just over thirty-five pounds and held her for a quick picture. I took her to the water, we took a pic as she was slipped back, and then she was gone. She was safe and I had caught a thirty! A huge thirty!! Like the other recent pike, she was empty, and in fact a few eggs were showing at her vent, indicating that she had only recently spawned or recovered from being spawn bound. With the possibility of her holding twenty percent of her body weight with spawn, she may have at one time been swimming around at a weight of from 40–42lb!

After a lifetime of working in precision engineering, I am 100% confident that the weighing process was carried out accurately. Everything was zeroed, and I ensured that the scales were free running at the critical moment and nothing could have caused them to give an incorrect reading, maybe by the lifting hook catching on the body. Then I did a silly thing!

truth, even if you interpret it differently. That at least consoles me when I feel annoyed at myself for being too pedantic.

Thinking I would never catch another thirty was another error of judgement, although I can’t be blamed for such as they were, and still are, rare beasts. Having caught that fish, I turned my back on Gailey and decided to concentrate on my next adventure, exploring the Fenland drains in a way I’d never had time to do so before. Moving home to live amongst these prolific predator waters must surely give me my best chance. In the next issue, I’ll describe how events unfolded!

‘she may have at one time been swimming around at a weight of between 40 & 42lb?’

On the way home, I decided that weighing on two sets of scales might be construed by others to be inaccurate, even though I did it correctly.

I decided to claim a weight of 32lb 12oz, the weight when the first set of Avons bottomed out. I was happy with that and, in all honesty, never thought I might catch another thirty anyway. After all, even the top anglers of the time who devoted their fishing to targeting thirties had only caught a handful at most.

To this day, I regret that decision, especially as I have caught more than twenty more thirties and only one has bettered that weight. How can I view this? I remember the famous pike angler Jan Eggers once saying to me that you cannot change the

Look out for Mick’s second question and response in the next issue.....

Mick Brown’s brand new book - Mic is available at mickbrownangling@ta Price £28.00 ($44.73, €32.55) + post

ck Brown Professional Pike Angler alktalk.net t and packaging.

SCOTLAND AT HER

As seen through the len

Dawn on the beautiful Loch Katrine 37

R VERY BEST

nse of Nicolas Valentin

A lonely search across Loch Lomond

Doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get more beautiful than Loch Long 41

A famous Loch Lomond landmark

Scotland at her best.

by Nicolas Valentin

The Esox Family Esox Niger - Chain Pickerel Grows to 99cm in length and inhabits the waters of North America.

Esox Americanus Vermiculatus - Grass Pickerel Grows to 37.6cm in length and inhabits the waters of North America.

Esox Americanus, Americanus - Redfin Pickerel Grows to 39.4cm in length and inhabits the waters of North America.

There are six members of the Esox family.

Here are some of their main characteristics .

Esox Reichertii - Amur Pike Grows to 115cm in length and inhabits the waters of North America.

Esox Lucius - Northern pike Grows to 150cm in length and inhabits circumpolar fresh water.

Esox Masquinongy - Muskellunge (Muskie) Grows to 183cm in length and inhabits the waters of North America The Tiger Muskie is a hybrid of the Northern pike and Muskie.

LET THERE BE LIGHT

by Eric Edwards

It often amuses me that while pikers will spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about inconsequential matters like moon phases or whether or not their bait is quite fresh enough, they often pay little attention to things that really matter. Now as a firm lunar-theory sceptic you might expect me to be a little scathing about that particular line of thought but there are certain fundamentals in pike fishing which even the lunar-tics would admit can have an enormous bearing on their catch rate whatever the moon phase.

The relationship between pike behaviour and light levels is an example of one such phenomenon; everyone knows it has an effect but few people actually spend that much time thinking about it!

How many times, for instance, have you fished for the first few hours of daylight and had good sport only for that sport to peter out, leaving you with several fishless hours to kill before the evening feeding spell arrives? We all know it can happen but really how much thought do we put into it and is there anything we can do to improve our lot as anglers? Pike feed in the early morning for a definite reason, it isn’t just that they feel a bit peckish when they’ve just got out of bed, and to understand why this should be so we really need to take a closer look at the pike themselves.

Millions of Years in the Making Pike are primarily a sight predator. They have large, efficient eyes which, we believe, can at least distinguish between the primary colours and they also have binocular vision, meaning that both their eyes can focus on the same object in front of them at the same time. Contrast this with a non-predator like a bream which has much smaller eyes which point sideways, out from its head. This enables the bream to look all around it and to spot a predator approaching, even from behind but this configuration is no good for focussing on something straight ahead. The pike’s binocular vision gives it perspective, enabling it to judge distance very accurately and of course that’s essential for a predator that hopes to catch and engulf its prey with one mad deadly tooth-filled rush.

T It’s clear then that light is a big thing in a pike’s life, for without light those well-developed eyes are of little use to it, but light brings problems as well as benefits. Take a good look at the next pike you catch, study it’s markings, the olive green back, the creamy spots, the dark fading into light as you move down the flank of the fish. Those markings aren’t there by accident, it’s taken the pike around twenty million years to develop that level of camouflage and it’s vital to the pike’s survival for while the pike can utilise the daylight to see its prey, so can its prey use it to see the pike.

Over millennia, pike have become conditioned to behave differently according to the light levels they experience.

Early morning, when light levels are low, the pike has the advantage. Its highly developed eyesight allows it to see its prey quite easily while its camouflage makes it difficult for the prey species to pick out the pike with their less efficient eyes. Naturally then, this is when the pike are going to be active because feeding at such times is going to be most productive. As the day wears on however, the sun gets higher in the sky, light levels increase and the pike’s behaviour changes. Feeding now may be less productive because they prey fish can now see more clearly, and thus avoid capture, so the pike may stop feeding and spend the time productively in other ways, maybe digesting its latest meal or hiding from its own predators, usually bigger pike!

The pike isn’t making rational decisions when it moves in response to light levels, this behaviour, as stated above, is conditioned, instinctive, having been bred into the fish over many centuries. A pike isn’t a clever creature; it’s a stupid one, but nature has given it in built mechanisms so as to give it a better chance of survival.

All too often though, the pike fisherman’s behaviour doesn’t reflect the change in his quarry’s mood. He’s fished the water before and he knows the going swim. He arrives at first light, fishes hard for the first few hours and if he’s lucky, he has a couple of nice fish under his belt by late morning when all goes quiet. What to do now? If he moves, someone else might move into this hot area which means they will get the benefit of the late feeding spell if there is one. Where would he move to anyway? He may well be right to stay put, the pike may not be feeding as avidly when the sun is high and it may be better to wait until conditions improve but it’s not always so.

Sometimes the weather can come to the piker’s rescue and introduce conditions in which the pike might continue to feed. Cloud can make all the difference as we know, heavy overcast weather has the effect of lowering light levels and this can be enough to prompt the pike to leave their cover and venture out for more food, but what if there is no cloud?

Eric with one of his many stunning fish

It’s no coincidence that pikers don’t rate sunny flat calm conditions, particularly through the middle part of the day, but a wind, even a light one, can make a big difference. Take another look at that pike now. It isn’t hard to imagine that while bright glaring sun will blow its cover, dappled, broken sunlight shining through a wavy surface would make it much more difficult to see. The whole point of that camouflage is that it breaks up the outline of the pike and dappled sunlight makes the job complete.

A bright, sunny, flat calm day Deep Thoughts As anglers, we can’t make the wind blow any more than we can cause the clouds to form but there are things that we can do to improve our chances. Try to imagine what the pike are doing when it’s bright and in particular, where they are likely to be. Pike like cover from which to dart out and strike and this cover can take a number of different forms. Many of the waters I fish have great depth to them and naturally, as it gets deeper, so it gets darker. Find the depth at which there’s an acceptable level of light for the pike and it’s possible to extend the morning feeding period considerably. Indeed I have, on many occasions, taken good fish even during sunny flat calm conditions by fishing my baits very deep.

Even this has its limits in very clear water however and in one water I fish regularly, I never catch between 11am and 3pm after the first of March. Interestingly the pike on the same lake have no hesitation in picking up a bait during the middle of the day in the earlier months of the season, particularly in January. This is because the angle of the sun is so much lower during mid-winter and so the light cannot penetrate so deeply. I guess that when

the going gets tough I could just go deeper and deeper but even I have my limits, anchoring up over 100ft+ introduces its own problems and hazards!

Interestingly, it’s not all about fishing in low light conditions; it’s more about getting the light level just right.

The water we’re fishing in may be a little too deep and too dark and on occasions, a little sunshine can help. The pike may be lying up hiding from the sun but perhaps the water clarity isn’t good enough for the pike to consider feeding when the level of sunlight is poor. When the light changes though, that twenty-million years of conditioning kicks in and the pike gets interested. Many times I’ve been lure fishing in deep water and catching nowt only for a burst of sunshine to switch the pike on.

This has happened so many times now that my friends and I find ourselves beseeching the clouds to part and believe me, the effect can be both immediate and dramatic. I recall one day in particular when Gary Knowles and I were out trolling deep diving lures on Blithfield.

The sun came out, within moments Gary’s rod whacked round and a superb 30lb+ fish came to the boat.

So deep water may be a place to try when the sun is at its height, but what if you don’t have the option to go deep? Your chosen venue may not have such depths or it may be that the deep water is a considerable distance away from the area you’ve been catching during the morning and realistically, pike aren’t going to travel long distances to find cover if there’s other cover close to hand. In such circumstances the pike may look for somewhere else to hide, and often it’ll be in the weed.

Head for the Weed Most anglers avoid fishing in weed, fearing that it will bury their bait or that they will struggle to extract a hooked fish from it but these fears are groundless for the most part.

Pike tackle should be strong enough to cut through even the toughest of weed and it’s rarely so thick that a bait will be completely invisible in it.

I have two approaches to fishing in weed, one is to fish a bait above the bottom weed, either by popping it up or by floatfishing it off bottom and the other is to nail it down hard. By fishing a bait with a big lead attached

I can be sure that I’m not going to accidentally drag the bait along the bottom, snagging the hooks on the weed and thereby covering the bait.

The fish can be caught in weed using deadbaits ok but I guess it would be a whole lot more problematical to try to present a livebait in thick weed. I expect a livebait would waste no time in wrapping the line and trace around the fronds and even though the pike might find the bait in time, the pike is bound to encounter a huge amount of resistance when it takes. That’s one thing to guard against when fishing deadbaits in weed too, be sure to strike early. There’s a far greater likelihood of the fish feeling a lot of resistance if it has to drag the line around a clump of weed to register a take.

If you haven’t got any weed to fish in then what about shade? Maybe there’s a high bank or a group of trees nearby that offer shade or maybe the shade is a little harder to spot! A morning feeding spell can be made that bit longer if there is shade to the east of your fishing position blocking out the sun for an extra hour. It’s worth thinking about this when you select your swim, weighing up the

Gary Knowles with his Blithfield 31.08

advantages of shade versus the “hot area” that everyone else wants to fish.

Don’t forget the other end of the day though, if you’re going to be fishing in the evening then you might want to think about switching to the west side of the lake as the day wears on so that your evening feeding spell will come on just that bit sooner.

Underneath the Surface I mentioned the fact that shade can sometimes be hard to spot. Well we need to consider objects that are actually in the water as well as those on the bank. Once again weedbeds can offer shade and if you’re going to present a bait up against a weedbed it’s best to consider which direction the sun is in and present the bait in such a way that it’s in the shade of the weed.

Underwater reefs are great for providing cover. I fish one area in particular which I’ve nicknamed the Saddle. Here, the topography of the lake bed is such that it resembles a saddle running North/South with deep water either side of it.

53

A very shady River

Here I’ve noticed that I catch on the west side of the saddle during the morning, then in the middle of the day it all goes quiet before the fish switch round to the east side for the afternoon and evening. I can think of no better example of the fish finding the right light levels in which to feed.

Drop-offs work in a similar way. A drop-off may offer shade for the pike in the morning but be in full sun later in the day and the fish then stop feeding. Look around for another feature then and gain the advantage again as evening advances but above all be mindful of the effect of the sun. An old friend once told me that “pike don’t eat drop-offs, they eat fish.” and of course he was right but when the drop-off provides cover, it’s worth fishing.

Spooks I couldn’t finish this article without touching on a peculiar phenomenon which took place last winter in several of the Lake District waters and which was closely linked to light levels. I’ve written in the past about turnover, in which the waters of a deep lake will literally turn over, top to bottom when the surface layers drop to the temperature of the lower layers at around 4 degrees Celsius.

Most years, in English waters, turnover happens very late in the winter or it doesn’t happen at all because the water temperature never gets low enough. The winter of 2010/2011 was different to most though as it was far colder than usual and turnover took place in early December.

This gave the pike and their prey access to the very deep water and some of those fish went deep and

stayed deep, where it’s very dark, for quite some time. Pike that live in dark conditions become “washed out”, losing much of their colour and so it was that in January and February of 2011 a number of people were reporting captures of what they thought were albino pike. Albinism is actually very rare in pike and what these people were catching were these washed out fish, returned from the depths. I even caught one myself, a low double figure fish which was quite striking in its appearance.

There we have it then, one example of how great an influence the sun can have on your piking. Take more account of the sun the next time you go out and you just might improve your catch rate. Believe me, it’s a lot more important than it’s cousin the moon!

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve written in the past about turnover, in which the waters of a deep lake will literally turn over, top to bottom when the surface layers drop to the temperature of the lower layers at around 4 degrees Celsius.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

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Unbelievable!

59

A world record tiger muskie?

An interview with Dustin Carlson

DUSTIN CARLSON is a successful guide working for Northland Muskie Adventures Guide Service. He guides many walleye and muskie trips every year and regularly fishes the St Louis River.

On Saturday 16th June 2011, Dustin took his uncle Charlie Gallagher and best friend Greg Avey on a St Louis muskie adventure that non of them would EVER forget......

EsoxWorld - Dustin just how rare is the tiger DC - Throwing the bait back at her from a muskie in your part of the World? different angle was a key factor in my opinion.

This year up on the St Louis the bites have DC - The tiger muskie is a hybrid of the muskie actually been tough. In June we had something and northern pike and although not particularly like 25 out of 30 days with the wind blowing from rare they do tend to have strongholds in certain the west, off Lake Superior, meaning it was 20-30 waters. We have a few in the St Louis river, but it’s degrees colder in Duluth than anywhere else in mainly muskie, and big ones at that! the northland. When we get these cold days the water doesn’t warm up and the weed doesn’t grow.

So the June period was tough, but we could still go EsoxWorld - Where were you fishing when out every day and have chances with them.

Charlie hooked his monster?

When Charlie came up, the water temperatures were getting warmer that week, into the 70’s. Also DC - We were fishing on the St Louis River. top water bites were going well for me at the time, It was a sunny day running at around 80 so I knew I would be having Charlie & Greg throwdegrees with a light breeze, these conditions ing top water most of the time. meant a lot of boat traffic on the river.

I told the guys, if you throw top water all day, you We were fishing off a weed bed in around will get a few follows, a few blowups and will have 5 feet of water. the hooks in a couple, I hoped that we could land them. The St Louis River is one of the favourite EsoxWorld - What lure was Charlie using? top water fisheries I have ever fished, My clients and I catch many muskie over 50 inches every DC - He was using a Joe Bucher Top Raider in year from top water. The river is stained water and red squirrel with brown & orange belly, which the fish are very aggressive in top water, and shalis my favourite selection for stained water. low weeds. I had Charlie throwing the top raider (the fish love them on this river), and its a bait that EsoxWorld - Was there anything that you felt always works. Greg lost a big fish on Saturday triggered the take from Charlies big fish? morning on the top raider, she hit at boat side

but he didn’t manage to set the hooks.

We were just about at the end of the weed edge where Greg got a 45 incher the day before on a Markowicz Globe, also on a weeds edge.

Often, in the summer time there is a lot of floating grass that gets cut up from boats that run over the weed flats, and the top raider is the only bait my clients or I can throw and when you get a weed on your bait you can give it a little rip and the weeds break off with the metal tail. Works every time!!

EsoxWorld - Incredible, what were her dimensions?

DC - Her exact dimensions were: - 48.5 inches in length - 28.5 inch girth - weight 49lb EsoxWorld - What was your reaction to this amazing fish?

EsoxWorld - Can you describe to the readers what DC - Between my clients and friends we have happened next? caught thousands of muskies over the years, of which, a dozen or more 50 inchers make our boat DC - We were just about to the end of the weed every year. edge, when I told Charlie & Greg that I was go- I have caught back to back 50 inchers on the same ing to turn the boat and cast back up on the weed spot many times, but to see the girth on this fish edge from a different angle. I like to fish weed was just incredible! I will NEVER forget that fish! edges outside in and then inside out. Meaning, I position the boat on the weed edge say in 7 foot EsoxWorld - Last question for you Dustin. of water, casting into the 3 foot weed edge, when What is the biggest tiger muskie you’ve had in you are done change the angle of your presenta- your boat prior to this fish and where was tion and fish it inside out. I put the boat in 3 foot it caught? of water and cast to the weeds edge out in 7 foot You will be amazed what can happen when you DC - I caught a 42 inch tiger out of Lake give the fish a different angle, they can sometimes Nebagnamen, and a 42 incher out of the come charging out of there to hit your bait.

St Louis River, but those are the biggest.

Also pay attention to the sun angle too.

I only get a couple of tigers every year, as there are I turned the boat and Charlie cast back up there not so many in the St Louis River. and right on the edge, which is where the giant tiger muskie hit Charlies top raider. She hit it about EsoxWorld - What an awesome story Dustin.

30 feet from the boat, thrashed on top for a few Thank you so much for sharing it with us and seconds, it looked like someone had dropped a please send our congratulations to Charlie. bathtub in the lake, then she went down making a few runs, staying deep the whole time, I knew it was a big fish, when I saw Charlies muskie innovations rod doubled over, I said “Lift her up This amazing fish was measured Charlie”, he said “I cant”, I said “OK, when you can and released, and therefore not I’m going to scoop her in the Frabell as soon as claimed as a World Record. she is head first”. The fish then came from under the boat and I netted her. As I did the back half Testament to both Dustin and of this giant fish rolled and I realised that she was Charlie who clearly had the a giant tiger. I said to Charlie and Greg, “Oh my well-being of the fish at heart!

God this is a giant tiger muskie, this thing must be a world record”?

49lb tiger muskie being released back into her St Louis river home

Pike Secrets

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Magical Ireland

by Gary Banks

‘the ultimate challenge for any pike angler, is the big, wild Irish Loughs’ So let me take you on an adventure, that once you have tried, you will either hate it or like me, absolutely love it!!

My first trip to Ireland was back in the mid 90s, I remember being so excited but at the same time, nervous. All I took on that trip was a bivvy to sleep in, my boat fishing gear and a bit of food.

When I arrived at my chosen Lough I was speechless, the scenery was stunning. It was a bright sunny start with frost on the ground, and more importantly, not another angler in sight. The weather was kind to me that week and what a week it turned out to be. I caught a load of fish up to 27 pound, I could not believe it, I was hooked for life.

Though a good few years have allapsed, I am still going every year. I have moved on a lot since that first trip, I now go with the same mate every year, Kev Shore, or to us, big Kev. For those of you who have been lucky enough to have not met Kev, he is 6ft 6in and built like the proverbial brick ---- house. But joking aside, he is one of me best mates, although I would not tell him that.

Its a few years ago, but I can remember the first time my Dad took me Pike fishing, wow, what an impact that day had on the rest of my life. That day we managed to catch one small jack pike, which to me, seemed like an absolute monster!

I was well and truly hooked, twenty odd years later and I am still chasing big Pike all over the British Isles.

I have since fished every conceivable type of water lakes, rivers, lochs, loughs, canals, drains, gravel pits, reservoirs and caught big Pike from all of them. But for me, the ultimate challenge for any Pike angler is the big, wild Irish Loughs.

My trips start as soon as I get on that ferry; all we do all the way across is talk about the pike fishing and sink a beer or two.

We try to set out a plan, but as always the unpredictable Irish weather usually squashes them. We normally book ourselves into quality accommodation because trust me, after a gruelling day on the Lough, its nice to come back to a nice warm dry house. Once we have unpacked and launched the boat, off we go on our travels. Depending on what time of year we go depends on what type of area or features we will look for.

For this particular feature I will focus on our spring trips.

We always keep mobile, trolling being our first choice. Now my experience tells me that once the pike have spawned, they will normally hang around the same area waiting for the baitfish to arrive. First to arrive are the perch followed by the roach and bream. Now in these Loughs, the shoals of baitfish can be enormous. Seeing a shoal of roach on these Loughs can be a spectacular sight, I have seen shoals 2 – 300 yards long by the same width and not just in one area. You can see why the fishing can be so hard.

Now Kev and I only fish one rod each which will be a trolled dead bait, I cannot see the point of trolling any more rods than that, I’ve seen other anglers get in a right mess, these wild pike do not give up easy and can easily take out your other lines.

Once we have located a pike we tend to give that particular area a bit more attention. We have found that where there is one pike, there is normally another, multiple catches can be common.

Over £80K worth of equipment in this shot!

We always try to work out why the pike are in that area so that we can build a picture and try to work out other similar areas. I cant really say that we have found any particular time of day to be better than another, if the pike are there they usually let you know. The takes can be mega aggressive, we have seen twenty pound pike come clear out of the water as it surges up to take your bait, its an awesome sight. Water clarity can play a big part in your fishing, a big deluge of rain is not good, as most of the bigger Loughs we fish tend to have lots of rivers feeding them, I remember fishing Lough Mask in the west of Ireland and have seen the Lough rise 4 inches overnight, now mask is over 40,000 acres so you do the maths.

Lure fishing is becoming a popular method in our armoury, its an awesome way of fishing, I defy anyone not to get excited when they watch their lure coming back towards the boat, being followed by a big wild pike. I have had lures smashed to pieces by these pike; they can be so aggressive in their attack.

Now on these big Loughs, wind strength normally plays an important part in your week. If the boat goes over 1mph then trolling normally becomes ineffective due to your bait being pulled through the water too fast, we then use a drogue to slow us down, for those of you that have never seen a drogue, its like a small parachute that

you drift behind the boat. We normally put ours off the centre of the boat so that we can drag a dead bait each behind the boat and then lure fish off the front. This method can be very affective; you can often stir a pike with your lure and then catch it with your following dead bait. I remember Kev hooking and losing a very big pike with this method, proving that it works.

Every day can be different and we often go long periods without even seeing a pike. You are not only competing against the pike, you are competing against the weather.

We have been out in six, seven-foot swells, which make fishing impossible so boat safety is the most important.

Please don’t think you can roll up in any boat and take on these Loughs. Kev has recently purchased a 17ft Marcraft from Holland with a 60hp engine, for those of you that do not know these types of boats; they are a lot like the American bass fishing boats. They are made of the highest quality aluminium and have a nice paint job.

They are ultra stable; they have rod lockers and lots of compartments so that all of your gear can be stored out of the way. The electronics are very useful as Kev’s has a GPS system and a chart plotter, this feature is very useful for trolling, as we know exactly where we have been and what speed we are travelling, the definition of these units are also useful for finding weed etc, with the older type echo sounders, you think you are over weed when in fact

you are over rock, some of you might think this is a bit extreme but believe me when I tell you, it is dangerous on these Loughs when the weather turns bad. My advice to people would be to use an open boat i.e. no cuddy, a cuddy just restricts your fishing room and acts as a sail in the wind. I know some people prefer to tuck away under their cuddies out of the rain but we prefer the extra room and boat control plus with todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s quality clothing, you can stay dry. Always wear a life jacket, we now wear flota-

A stunning 21lb Lough pike.

The traps are set....

tion suits, which keep you very dry, very warm, and will not let you sink, should you go overboard.

So if you fancy a go at these big wild Loughs, remember safety first and make sure to be kitted out properly and always check the weather forecast in advance. Fishing these Loughs can be magical and atmospheric; the scenery is stunning and wild. The Irish hospitality is second to none and the Guinness isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t bad either!

Big Kev Shore with a lovely Irish 23lb pike

A very young Gary Banks with a Lough Mask 18.08.

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15 DEGREE

Ha

ES BELOW

ans Schoenmaekers

42 inches of proper ice pike

Many of us would love to fish through a hole in the ice on our favourite lake, but in the UK we just don’t get cold enough winters.

Here, Hans tells us about his rare opportunity to ice fish in Belgium.....

Winter days in January…. After 15 years finally another winter where temperatures dropped deep below the 0°C. When everyone is sitting at home, near the fireplace with a hot beverage, my mind dwells off to the frozen pikes underneath the ice.

Freezing temperatures, icy winds and frozen pikes are only for the hard core winter fishermen who are scares in our regions. For three reasons ice fishing isn’t a popular sport in our regions.

1. Ice fishing is forbidden on public lakes.

This winter, after 15 years of ‘so and so winters’, finally all the lakes froze solid. When the ice was about 7cm we started to walk on it, in pairs, because alone would have been madness when something goes wrong.

Safety is very important when you try to walk the ice for the first time.

Even the trick with the rope around the middle doesn’t look so stupid if you consider the risks of going through it.

It’s been a childhood-dream to fish the ice instead of just sitting at home, worrying when the ice will disappear

your feet, nose and the rest of your entire body when the thermometer screams -15°C and you’re not really moving a lot, just you standing still on the ice. Fighting the fear that the entire lake cracks under the pressure of the frost. I must say, it gives you a feeling of how small we are in comparison with the force of nature.

And of course the chance of fighting a true monster pike is a dream that might just come true…

Equipment A few years back we bought a couple of ice rods for ‘you never know

2. Loads of fishermen don’t fish in wintertimes, let alone on the ice of the frozen lakes.

3. Ice fishing requires specific materials that are not standard in a fisherman’s fishing gear.

this year. Everyone can see pictures or movies of ice fishermen on the world wide web but fishing the ice yourself is really special. Different battles are standing in front of you when you start: fighting the cold on

when’. It’s a 75cm hard body, soft top rod with an amazing strength.

Because its length the rod holds only 3 Fuji eyes. We tested the rods with three guys. One holding the rod, two guys pulling the rod down,

not giving in to the huge pressure we put on the material, it lasted and lasted. Unbelievable material, the rod could withhold such a test!!!

In combination with a normal reel with an excellent drag you’ll have a perfect combination for fishing the ice. Don’t use a reel that’s too large in combination with the very short rod. The corner of the line will be very sharp so the guidance of the line through the eyes will be disturbed.

In terms of line, I searched several fishing stores for something specific for ice fishing. You can choose nylon or braided line. I prefer the nylon because of the short length of the rod and the big pressure you put on the fish when you fight them with this material. Nylon tends to give a little extra ‘stretch’ during the drill. Never forget you’re standing on top of the fish.

For the rest, the methods are the same as when you go fishing live bait with a float. So stopper, float, steel trace and treble hook are the standard equipment for all sorts of pike fishing with live bait, it doesn’t change on the ice. We tested the set up after a night in the freezer.

Still strong, but icy-cold.

We used several live baits such as: roach, bream and goldfish. With just one treble on the back of the fish we were able to keep the fish very lively under the ice. It has a huge

freedom to swim without trouble with the treble and you can easily set the hook after you got a bite. We are all sports fishermen so returning the fish in prime condition is a must. Who doesn’t want to catch the same fish again when it has grown to super proportions!!! Every fisherman dreams of monsters in the net!!

-15°C and chopping the ice The first day we looked like Eskimos.

Two normal guys with too much clothing and hot coffee standing on the ice. Around us several holes we chopped with an axe to fish in.

At that moment the ice was 7cm thick. The fear of going through it was gone, all we could think of is the monster taking the fish…

Fishing sometimes is a waiting game, but due to conditions we didn’t have a moment to relax. At -15°C we constantly need to keep the fishing holes ice-free. Every few minutes we scooped the holes with a spoon. Also the bucket with the live bait we keep needs attention. The fish don’t seem to have trouble with the temperatures.

After an hour or so, the first take was a fact! A small pike took a roach underneath the ice. The first frozen pike was pulled from the hole.

One might think the fish lays still underneath the ice but nothing is what it seems… Roach and perch are

active during daytime and nighttime, even closer to the borders than one might think. We noticed that the sunshine gives the water underneath the ice a boost of life. Roach tend to move around more, the Pike become active as well.

A dream come true!

We stayed on the lake from morning ‘till dark. Fighting the elements all day for four days. We caught numerous pike in different holes but the big one was still not taking our bait.

I started fishing a hole where the bottom tends to form a pit in front of a large tree. After catching a small pike I got a take on a big goldfish.

The fish fought long and hard. With the small rod you can really ‘feel’ the fish perfectly. Meters of drag pulling, pounding head-action. I was in for a struggle. After 15 minutes of battle-mayhem, finally the fish gave in and my dream had come true. My first pike of over a meter on the ice was a fact. After a quick photo shoot we slipped the lady back in the hole, back in its element. Satisfaction is the word that rules our fishing here.

The days we stayed on the ice were magical. The cold, the ice, the snow, the sun and of course the pike.

Magnificent in all aspects. If only they would allow us to fish the ice on the public waters as well…

One thing is sure, I know what to do when hell freezes over…..

LUREbyTALK Dave Kelbrick

Lure fishing is the worlds most popular method used for catching Esox, but here in the UK it took that little bit longer to establish itself as an important part of the pike anglers armoury. DAVE KELBRICK has been at the forefront of lure fishing development in the UK since the eighties and here he talks about the different lure phases and some of his successes......

If I had to state one major factor which I could attribute to helping me to catch good quality pike over the last twenty five years Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d find it very hard because there would be a number of possible reasons that I could reel off which can all play a part on any given day. Of course it could be argued that as a rule it often takes a number of factors or various situations coupled together in any case in order to experience some action, and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d be the first to agree on that as it is seldom just one sole reason that equates to a good days fishing for

pike. It could be the wind direction or wind speed coupled with water or air temperature that make for good pike fishing or any number of other various permutations of things which vary from water to water.

With all this taken into consideration though I feel pretty sure that the actual lures and lure types which have been available have been the key factor to not just mine, but many other lure anglers success. Of course there are loads of good lures around and they all catch pike on their day, but for me there have been a few which

have stood out well above many other lures and proved the test of time by having that all important edge. Over here in the UK and Ireland there has been a vast amount of various lures and lure types appear in recent years and this is especially so since the early nineties when jerkbait fishing started to take a grip as a new and exciting method in the UK. Fortunately, at the time along with a small number of other UK lure anglers I got involved with jerkbaits and tried the method for myself back then and I must say the results were

very productive and the method was often just so visual, it was addictive, exciting and very encouraging too.

Don’t get me wrong, it was sometimes hard work when for instance, casting what where often much more larger and heavier lures than usual from a pitching boat all day, but if you stuck at it the results in regards of pike caught and overall size made it more than worth while come winter or summer more often than not.

‘The fact that jerkbaits were often on the large side led me to experiment more with other large lure types, some of which proved quite successful too’ Jerkbait fishing certainly caught on and grew in popularity amongst UK lure anglers, probably because it was hard to ignore a method which was not only accounting for multiple numbers of pike, but also for some very big pike in excess of thirty pounds in weight.

Besides the fact that they caught fish it was also noticeable that most jerkbaits were often much larger than the average lures which we had been used to back then, and they worked on a wide range of waters both large and small which was obviously a plus factor too. The pike on most of the

waters I fished back then had hardly ever and in most circumstances never even seen jerkbaits before and incidentally it was often the brighter patterns which worked best for a few seasons or so, after which the pike got wise and preferred subdued colours mostly which I find is often the case with most lure types too. It stands to reason that Looking back to this period of my lure fishing I would certainly say that jerkbaits such as Reef Hawgs, B Flats and the late Dave Scarff ’s original Pigs and Dolphins helped to pump a new lease of life into my lure fishing and they certainly made me more open minded and experimental in my own lure fishing approach and lure making.

In turn this has helped me to continue to catch good fish on a wide selection of lures through the years since then and I still fish jerkbaits with success on a regular basis each and every season and probably always will. They certainly helped boost my lure fishing knowledge and results that’s for sure and besides which I really enjoy the method too.

Despite jerkbaits being so successful I would point out that other lure types were still productive during those early jerkbait days and as most lure anglers will know it’s not good sense to fish one lure type to the exclusion of all others as this will cost you fish in the long run. No doubt we have all got our favourite banker lure, one that we could take to just about any water and catch on it, but given the choice it makes sense to have other lures along too just in case the pike tough up a little and want something different. I feel I could easily cover most of the situations I am likely to face during a day session with about a dozen lures in various types if I needed to, but more often than not things don’t turn out like that and I end up taking far too many “just in case”. You know how it goes, one in perch, one in roach a firetiger pattern just in case the water is coloured and so on, better safe than sorry though I say as pike can be unpredictable beasts at times.

Not long after jerkbaits hit the scene the next big thing to hit lure fishing

in the UK was the availability of large soft plastic baits which in my opinion made just as big an impact on lure fishing for pike in the UK as jerkbaits did, but it was without doubt Brad Ruh’s Bulldawg that first shone out back in 1994 and broke the mould as a big pike catcher over other large soft plastic baits that were available at that time.

For a few years jerkbaits had seemed

‘Without doubt in my mind, bulldawgs had a massive impact on my lure fishing so far as big soft plastic lures go and are proven big pike catchers’ to steel the lure fishing limelight due to their effectiveness and for a while it was almost hard to envisage anything else coming along which would prove to be more effective, however for me the dawg proved its self over and over on just about every water that I fished it on and if jerkbaits were catching then dawgs or mag dawgs usually, but not always, caught more. Of course there were plenty of other soft plastic lures around prior to this but they were usually a little on the small side as most were intended for bass and other smaller predatory fish rather than pike, but the bulldawg really was something different and something else in comparison. I’ll never forget watching one of my fishing buddies launch a dawg out from the boat into deep water during a warm, still day when everything else including jerkbaits was seemingly being ignored. If I recall right he got it from Rollie & Helens Musky shop by mail order and they had only just

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;jerkbaits certainly still catch for me season after seasonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

come out so it was the first time I’d ever seen a Bulldawg first hand and I must admit it looked quite amusing at first glance. However when a mid twenty took my friends dawg on a slow deep retrieve and it was safely boated, you can bet your life I had got myself a few dawgs just over a week or so later and I couldn’t wait to try them out..

Of course one swallow doesn’t make a summer but there was something about this lure that made me think it could be something special and just like jerkbaits did when they came on the scene, dawgs just looked different to other lures that were around and with pike being inquisitive creatures that can make a big difference. I also liked the idea of a lure with a soft body as it surely must feel a lot more realistic and bait fish like to a pike when bitten or grabbed in comparison to a hard wooden or plastic lure? Pike definitely hang onto soft plastic lures longer and with more confidence in comparison to hard baits from my experience and even better still they often collapse and fold up easily just inside the pikes mouth on impact during a strike which results in a better hook up ratio for sure.

I find that hard wooden or hard plastic baits rarely offer such a good hook up ratio, as when taken the lure usually stays outside the pikes mouth which gives the pike leverage and a better chance of ridding its self of the offending object and without doubt you are more likely to suffer more multiple hits which do not result in a hook up or pike caught when fishing hard baits.

Back to the arrival of the Bulldawg then and as I headed out onto the water it was now time to find out just how effective they were and I can remember clearly that on the water I was fishing at the time the pike were responding very well to spinnerbaits and they were by far the number one lure above all others for me on that water up until then.

If I’m honest, although I’d only just recently seen a mid twenty caught on a dawg the very first time it was cast by my buddy, it was from a different water and the jury was still out regarding just how effective these lures would be overall. Sure I knew they would catch me some pike and that they would work to some degree but I didn’t expect them to out fish spinnerbaits because as previously mentioned, at the time they were usually the banker lure on the water in

‘Soft plastic baits usually mean better ho due to the lure collapsing or folding up wh strike them, meaning they end up inside rather than outside the pikes jaws’

I can’t sing the praises of a lu Bulldawg highly enough as many big pike and musky h this lure since it was introdu opinion I would have to say first ever outing with my newly acquired brace of dawgs and to cut a long storey short swim baits are now also up with them and give dawgs a both the rainbow trout and perch pattern their money results wise. Al were hammered lure types are soft in texture lures which makes them ver repeatedly and confidently throughout the running depths and therefo day with such aggression by numerous fish often experience days when up to the low twenty pound mark. It was such as a Castaics or Replica a revelation to be honest and it proved to pike’s preference if they are be no fluke as I continued to catch a lot of Having said that, events ove big pike on that water and numerous other told me that there are days w waters far and wide on bulldawgs during site applies and for that reas the following seasons and they still work both of these soft plastic lur well for me up to this very day. Of course ous colours and sizes with m since the dawg made an appearance all in preparation for whatever those years ago there are now many other good soft plastic lures on the market too and fancy on the day. Actually it the case that fish profiled so they take their fair share of pike, but for me lures with paddle type tails dawgs are still up there at the top and they still play a regular part in my plans as a rule. ing more popular in the UK question and the pike were hot for them. As it happens any doubts I had were soon put behind me on that

ook ups hen pike

ure such as the god knows how have fallen to uced, but in my y that soft plastic there on a par a good run for lthough both e and are sinking rsatile at various ore a good bet, I n soft swim baits ants will be the not on dawgs. er the years have where the opposon I always have re types in varime on the water r the pike might t could well be oft swim bait are now becomK at present than

curly grub type tailed lures such as that of the bulldawg. The fish like profile of a swim bait alone can also be a plus factor in comparison to the longer slimmer profile of dawgs if the pike are sight hunting say in clear water, but I feel it is often the more subtle tail action offered by the paddle type tail of a soft swim bait which can make all the difference and prove advantageous on the day over a curly tail and this is especially so when fishing for easily spooked or wary pike.

Of course it could well be argued that in certain situations lure colour as well as lure profile or tail type could come into the equation too and that is something I believe in myself but won’t go into in detail here right now as it would take far too long. What I will say is that by contacting Brad and asking him for some exclusive new colours in dawgs, I know it made a big difference to my results in some instances, especially when using them on waters where all the usual coloured dawgs had been seen by the resident pike population and were being used by other anglers more regularly.

By the late nineties the UK was now rich with all types of lures in various shapes, sizes, colours and materials and I had been making quite a few of my own jerkbaits and wooden swim baits for myself and a few friends for a good few years or so with some nice pike caught on them too. However I was still catching pike regularly on Dawgs as well but was getting fed up with smaller pike trashing the bodies and biting tails off all the time which works out costly when having to mail order your dawgs from over seas in the first place. Yeah I used to melt them back up and fix new tails back on but the damage caused was often severe due to the hard hits the lures were attracting so I decided to make something similar but more practical and longer lasting to alleviate the trashing problem. I gave it some thought and after a little experimentation came up with a lure which I named the Hell Tail and by fishing it along side dawgs it proved to be a winner at both catching pike and for being more durable due to its wooden body fitted with a belly treble and a mag

grub mounted on a large single hook made up the tail end of the lure.

Being made of wood the body was weighted so that the lure sank slower than a dawg too which meant that shallow water areas could now be fished more easily and at a slower retrieve rate than when fishing a dawg. Of course Brad eventually made a shallow dawg which was a good move on his part as there was certainly a demand for it, although I’m not so sure how popular they were or are when compared to regular or magnum sized dawgs.

The Hell Tail also proved to be a very successful lure and during a year of field testing them we caught loads of pike up to over twenty pounds in weight on them, the best of which went a few ounces over 28lbs and fell to my wife. That was a very memorable and satisfying fish on a very cold day. After that first year of field testing I eventually passed the lure design of the Hell Tail over to Phil Griffiths who at the time ran ACE

‘Soft plastic swim baits with paddle type tails, such as replicants, are up there on a par with curly tailed lures such as dawgs, and their fish like profile can only be a plus factor in my opinion’

lures in the UK and the lure went into production and became quite popular, especially in Sweden where it has since accounted for numerous thirty pound plus pike over the years. The hard body and soft tail combination certainly makes the lure quite versatile and without bias it is still one of my favourite hybrid type lures for targeting big pike with and I always have full confidence in it. I must admit though, if it hadn’t been for the dawg then I would probably never have come up with the Hell Tail and a lot of good pike caught on this lure may never have graced the landing net at all. One good point to the Hell tail over dawgs besides being more durable was that the hardware only consisted of one treble and a single hook which meant that it was a little more pike friendly and once taken by a pike the lure could be

still used conventional lures such as minnow and crank baits, spinnerbaits, in line buck tails, jigs and spoons and they all have their day on occasions too. It is important not to get too carried away with new lure types when they first come out as its easy to get pre occupied with them and throw them almost exclusively in comparison to other lures. If this approach is taken you may well get good results but you will at times miss out on some even better fishing by being too blinkered in your lure choice and approach and for that reason I always mix my lures up a little and often change to a different lure even if another one is catching well. One occasion springs especially to mind when during a visit to one of the UK trout waters back in 2001 I remember taking a bunch of big pike of over twenty pounds all of

‘My wife Den with the 28lb plus pike she caught on one of my prototype hell tails during field testing, what a belting fish’ removed more easily and with less risk of hook damage to the fish or the angler. Of course whilst throwing jerkbaits, soft plastics and hybrids around I

which fell to nickel spoons. On this rare occasion I’d tried dawgs, jerkbaits and swimbaits but the pike would only follow so we went through the lure box and once a

spoon was put on they were all over it and I couldn’t go wrong. Actually on that occasion I remember how the pike didn’t want a slow retrieve at all and I had to work the spoon back in jerkbait fashion and quite fast to get a take and that was the case for every fish I caught on that occasion. That session was one to remember and I ended up with a haul of nine pike over the twenty pound mark, all but two fish were over 25lb plus and one of them went over 31lbs too which was a right result.

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Just one of a nine fish haul of big pike taken on spoons, most of which weighed over the 25lb mark. On this occasion soft plastics and jerkbaits were only followed, but, nickel spoons were nailed big timeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

More importantly though I found it strange how on this occasion you would have thought that jerkbaits would have been nailed due to the retrieve I was catching on with the spoon, but no, follow is all the pike would do with jerkbaits this time. It would have been all too easy to stick with dawgs and jerkbaits because of the confidence and previous success I’d had with those lures over the years but when follows are all you get then you have to look to something else until you find what they want and in this instance it was spoons. I guess my good fortune was partly down to the flash of the spoon to some extent but I found it still had to be worked on a certain retrieve if you were to get a take otherwise it was a waste of time.

I find it often proves productive to vary the retrieve of my lures even if it means working them in a way not intended for that particular lure as this can often be the trigger factor for a take in some cases. It works for me any way and that’s all that matters.

Ten years or so on and a lot of lure fishing for pike later and despite catching my fair share of good fish on many other different lures I still take plenty on jerkbaits, dawgs and soft swimbaits as they still seem to stand the test of time. There have been some great new lures turn up this past decade too of course, in fact far too many to mention, but for me it was those early jerkbait and dawg days which gave me extra inspiration and made the real difference to my lure fishing for pike. On their day these lures are still devastating and I for one am so glad I came across them when I did as I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have caught a lot of the fish I have. It does make me wonder though if there will be anything else that comes along that is so different to other lures that it will make as big an impact on my lure fishing as jerkbaits, dawgs and soft swim baits have done.

I for one hope so but if not there are still plenty of great lures out there that do the business and catch pike, it’s just a matter of having confidence in them and finding out what does it for you on the venues that you fish.

Good fishing.

‘Soft baits are effe but, not to the e

ective and used on a regular basis, exclusion of other hard lure typesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

Daveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own design of th

n original he hell tail

Photography

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Western Ireland

DAVE HORTON Like Mick Brown, who features earlier in the magazine, few pike anglers in the UK have been more successful than this man!

He has caught in excess of 200 twenty pound pike, with a staggering 21 over the magical thirty pound mark.

Dave has caught big pike from every conceivable type of water on every type of method. He has written numerous articles and his book Ultimate Pike is regarded as one of the best pike books of its generation.

Dave has kindly given us a short video of a stunning thirty pound pike that he caught on one of his long trips to Scotland.

Click here to view video

Still from Martin for link to Catching footage.

Editor

Steve Rowley Send all correspondence to: Farmhouse Barn, Mill lane, Somerford Keynes, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7 6BG. Tel: 07590 282440 or email editor@esoxworld.com

Special thanks go to:

Mark Ackerley for patiently proof reading the content.

Marcus King for rescuing the Dave Horton video.

Hugh Miles for letting me use his wonderful â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Catchingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; footage.

Every single contributor who have provided their work completely voluntary. Without these guys it would have been impossible!

Alex & Pete at Star Web Innovations for setting up the website.

Anyone else who has helped in some shape or form to get this project off the ground.

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