"What a difference a day makes...

...twenty four little hours"

Only fish of the day...just about scraped 5lb I think!

Our session on Thursday after Tuesday's pike-fest was bloody hard work. Between us me and Matt fished fourteen swims over a seven hour period for just one jack of about five pounds which I had on an old piece of frozen eel which had been donated by The Bishop. Compared to Tuesday there was a really biiter east wind blowing and this seems to have put the fish off.

It was my last pike session of my first piking season so here is a bit of a summary and a few observations:

Scores on the doors...first sesh' Jan 2nd since which I have been 13 times, caught 18 pike (8 doubles) best 17lb 8oz. To say I am pleased is an understatement....I can barely wait till the piking season starts again next September.

Most importantly, I must thank The Bishop (see link to his blog in side panel) for getting my pike fishing career off the ground. Also Matt for his company and friendly advice on the last few sessions.

Observations
... approx 12 of the pike took within thirty minutes of arriving in a swim and I don't think I caught at all if the swim hadn't produced after an hour....so next season I am going to move every 45 minutes if I haven't caught.
... approx 15 of the pike took in response to a fresh cast or twitching the bait....so next season I am going to twitch or even recast every 15 minutes.
... the closer you can get to features such as overhanging trees, shady corners, sunken trees and drop offs the better. Too many times I settled for a second rate cast. Compared to Matt, my casting skill and accuracy to features is laughable...so next season I must become a more accurate caster - especially underarm casting in tight swims.
....as The Bishop said I am Mr Lucky! I didn't even need to unhook five of my pike as the hooks fell out in the net! However, I only had two fish come off so my timing can't be that bad? Not sure of the learning point!
... all my fish were on floatfished deadbaits... so next season I want to catch legering and on a lure. Also fancy twitching a sprat or sardine.
... and finally next season I need a better and bigger net for my first ever twenty!

Comments or advice to this pike angling beginner welcome!

Ouch! Part Two

The sun is out, my hand has stopped bleeding and I have just caught my biggest ever pike! The tea tastes good and I feel re-energised after scoffing two of my favourite Tunnock's caramel wafers! Now, let's get back in the water!

I drop the first rod close in to the trees on the right. Almost immediately, the float goes under, and I soon have an 8 lb fish on the bank. It goes crazy on the mat and manages to unhook itself and is quickly back in the water.

Next cast, I decide to put a bluey on and try to emulate the cast that produced the seventeen pounder. Not quite as good but after five minutes the float goes, I make a mess of striking....nothing! Bah! I quickly cast out...same spot and ... the float moves off and soon I am unhooking a nice 8 pounder which has the partly digested bluey from the previous cast in it's throat.

Blood is coming through my dressings so out comes the first aid kit again...and another brew is supped!

Back home the hand soon looks as good as new... almost!

By the end of the session I have had two more pike of 6lb and 8lb 2oz making five in all. My best ever day! I did try a couple of new swims but had 'nowt. The wind had picked up and it was feeling cold and I guess the feeding spree was over for the day.

A quick call into Boots is necessary on the way home to replenish the first aid kit. Back home my hand is re-dressed and soon looks as good as new.

Indian take-away, football on the tele and a bottle of Old Crafty Hen soon follow.....what a memorable day!!

Ouch! Part one.

Part One......penultimate session before I hang up my pike gear till next season. What a session it turns out to be!

It's 2C and blowing hard so swim choice is a no brainer...somewhere out of the wind! First chuck and I'm in...9lb 12oz. Not bad, I hadn't even got my second rod out! No more bites in that swim though. I had previously decided to move swims if I go 60 minutes without a bite, so an hour later I'm settled into a nice new, well-featured swim, perfectly sheltered and facing the strengthening spring sun. Toasty!

I can see exactly where I'd like to fish but intervening trees make the perfect cast difficult. As my cast flies through the air, I can see its going to land too far to the right... Inexplicably, the sardine's flightpath suddenly alters and it land's exactly where I want it! Surely there's a pike under those tree roots......

Ten minutes later and there's a pike in the net that I am praying will be a twenty. It looks big anyway! The next five minutes resemble a scene from Casualty.....

The pike takes a liking to my hand and clamps both jaws firmly on my thumb and fingers as I try to unhook it. Blood everywhere and I mean everywhere! New unhooking mat, camera, rod, net, and especially the handles on my unhooking pliers which are now blood red instead of the familiar Fox green!

One mean pike 17lb 8 oz and my new PB!

It wasn't a twenty....but it was a new PB at 17lb 8oz. I am sure it would have still been a PB even without the 'extra' bits from my thumb and two fingers! Luckily, I have a good first aid kit with me and make emergency repairs to hand and settle down for a brew...

You'll have to read Part Two to see what happens in the rest of the session!

"That's a ******* Eagle Owl !"

Chatting to Matt as we waited for the third pike of the day,  he looked up and remarked "That must be a b-i-g bird up there on top of that pylon!"

Even though we were piking I always have my binoculars round my neck. You never know your birding luck! Expecting to see a perched buzzard I looked skywards to the top of the nearby pylon.

"That's a ******* Eagle owl!", I screamed  "..though god knows what it's doing up there! It's too high up to be looking for food" Matt got his bins and agreed with my I.D. Stunner!

A couple of minutes passed as we admired the world's heaviest owl. Hang on....something's not quite right....the bird was stock still and it's perch looked like it was a piece of wood attached to the top of a 150 foot pylon??  S-t-r-a-n-g-e. Suddenly the light came on....it was a sodding bird scarer! Its purpose, to stop ducks, geese etc from flying into the high voltage cables. Damn!

Back to the fishing. By the end of the day, we had caught three pike between us and all of them doubles. Matt was first to catch with a 13lb 12oz. Ten minutes later I had a 10lb 8oz and shortly after I had a 12lb fish which would have dragged my rod in if I hadn't have left the bail arm open.

I have decided that I will go piking for two sessions next week and then leave them to get on with what comes naturally until my second piking season starts next autumn.

'The eagles are coming!'

The quote is from my favourite book and isn't quite accurate...... it wasn't eagles plural but a single eagle heading for our bit of Norfolk coast.

It's just after 1pm and the house-husband's work is never done.....

I get a phone call from Mr Eele (check out his birding blog) to say that a white-tailed eagle had just left the Lincolnshire coast and is heading out over The Wash towards us. Now for those who don't know,  the Lincolnshire coast is around 15 miles away as the eagle flies, at least 14.5 of which are the North Sea (when the tides in!) So if I can get to the cliffs in the next few minutes I might just see it!

Put phone down....pause....don't play it cool....SOD THE WASHING UP! Chuck dishcloth in bowl, bins and scope chucked in car and I'm looking out over the The Wash towards the Lincolnshire coast quicker than you can say Haliaeetus albicilla (or Gwaihir the Windlord!)

Settle into raptor seeking mode...methodically scan the sea, horizon and sky.....forty minutes later I've seen nothing more exciting than a few fulmars and a red-breasted merganser; though a cormorant trying to reach the stratosphere did cause my heart to miss a beat. Soon enough the cold wind is nipping at my fingers and I retire back to the now cold washing up bowl.

Never mind............just the chance of seeing this flying barn door with a wingspan of over 7 feet is not one to miss. If you'd like to know more about white-tailed eagle hit the link. Keep your eyes on the skies....if it goes dark near you it might not be just a passing cloud!

Update... The bird must have come in really high. It was already in the Swaffham area by 3.25pm!

Last and first!

Last day of the river season and my first ever session on one of the Fenland drains. The Bishop and Matt were the accompanying gruseome twosome!

My first ever Fenland pike @ 11lb 12 oz. Great stuff!

I had not expected the drain to be as beautiful as it actually was....quite a few trees and bushes along the far bank and a half decent selection of birds - three goosanders, kingfishers whizzing around like pschedelic exocet missiles, green woodpecker and around twenty overflying whooper's. Not bad birding...now what about the fishing?

Matt had a jack early on. We moved swims a couple of times and then what had been a nice gentle flow right to left suddenly changed into something all together more substantial and left to right. The weight on my float was no longer enough to hold bottom so I added three swan shot but still could not hold on.

I moved swim again and took The Bishop's earlier advice of fishing close in. The flow was slower in the margins and I can just hold still. On goes a new lamprey and I cast out.  My float swept along in the current eventually settles just four feet from the near bank and less than twelve feet from where I'm sat.....I wanted to be close in but not almost on dry land!

As I contemplate casting again....bob - bob -bob and the float slides away. Jumping up,  I tighten into the fish and with help from The Bishop and his net soon have an 11lb 14oz fish on the bank. My first Fenland pike! I have now caught just ten pike and amazingly five of them are doubles!! Well chuffed....

A quick walk under the cliffs

Floating hotel..(it says it is on the hull!)

Fulmars are already appearing on the cliffs

This pair are in the mood already!

Starfish wreck on the beach

A touch of the Med in Arctic Norfolk!

As my bad back felt a bit better yesterday, I decided to give it a stretch and have a couple of hours at the Titchwell gull roost. With a windchill of minus 8C on went the Helly Hansen merino wool thermals, down jacket, two pairs of gloves etc  It was definitely a two wooly hat day as well!

Warm enough on the inside, it was the muscles in my face that felt the brunt of the freezing gale as I walked down the path to Parrinder hide. By the time I reached the hide, I had lost all sensation in my face and felt like I had had a jab at the dentist!

Approx five thousand gulls were present on the freshmarsh today

Settling down on one of the comfy stools I started sifting through five or six thousand gulls. With the help of a couple of other birders in the hide, no less than eight adult Mediterranean gulls were gradually located. This was a record count of Med gulls on the reserve for me so I was well chuffed. There were also a reasonable variety of waders around. I suspect the forty or so avocets (freshly returned for spring just a few days ago) wished they had stayed south in warmer climes.

One of the eight adult meds in the throng

I am itching to go piking again but think I'll leave it till Thursday or Friday as in all probability the gravel pits are frozen.

First post and a quick summary

January and Febuary 2013.

A German ringed Mediterranean gull at Titchwell

I am writing this in early March so it's a bit of a summary of 2013 to date. Birding has been slow and mostly done at Titchwell Marsh RSPB. The usual species have been seen...up to 5 med gulls on the beach and a few on the freshmarsh, the odd diver and red necked grebe on the sea. Overall there doesn't seem to be the number of species on the sea we used to get though admittedly the weather has not been great. A woodcock has been seen and heard over the garden at dusk on a number of occasions.

16lb 12oz and 32" long personal best pike

I'm a newbie when it comes to pike fishing. Fortunately, I have been taken under the wing (or should that be fin?) of a very experienced pike fisherman known locally as The Bishop. He has taken me out a few times, given me loads of advice (and tackle) and got me hooked on pike fishing. To date I have been out piking seven times and caught nine pike. Four of these have been over ten pounds (best 16lb 12oz) All have been returned safely to the water.