A very delayed report of a great days Piking with Neil on a local water. It was January and it had really started to get cold. On this day we where really feeling it. It was overcast and not a tiny bit of sunshine was shining through to warm us up. Neil mentioned he preferred the overcast days for for Pike just as we would for Bass. To be honest on these waters I haven’t noticed a difference and we normally only ever see a couple fish whether its sunny or cloudy, high or low pressure but it raised our enthusiasm and we felt confident.

  We both started with 4inch Shads, me with white which has previously worked well and Neil opted for one with some red to it. A colour that he has done well on. We reached a favourite spot of mine and casting into an area I have had plenty of hits and follows from fish before I got a take but no hook up. I changed from the weedless jighead I was using and opted for a normal jighead but a bit lighter at 5gm to help me not touch the bottom and keep a relatively slow retrieve. Next cast and I was in and only a small fish but im happy to catch anything this time of year.

We moved spots and managed to sneak into an area I hadn’t fished before. Neil soon had a hit and then he got nailed closer to his feet. I grabbed the net and landed one of the best fish we’ve seen from this water.

Neil had been bumping the bottom like he normally does when he fishes for Pike and soon after had a few more hits but no hook up. I meanwhile got nothing. We moved on to another good spot that normally sees us get a fish and It was my turn. Sticking with the 5gm jighead and a straight retrieve I got nailed close in.

Not a bad fish and one I was certainly happy with. A very tiny fish followed soon after and ended the action for the day. We moved on again but didn’t see any more signs of fish. Still it was one of the more productive days we have had here and the best fish landed so far.

I have fished here a couple of times since and me and Kory really struggled on a very cold February day. Nothing was normal and it wasn’t until the last mark that I hit into a fish only for it to come off. Soon after Kory had a follow right to his feet from a very nice Pike but that was it. Very hard work and it was interesting to see the fish come from a different area we hadn’t seen them at before.

Another session saw us use the Kayaks and to be honest I found it pretty tricky. The wind was howling and blowing me at a great rate of knots across the lake this if anything made it tricky to fish and also created more disturbance in the swim. Kory took 4-5lb fish casting into the reeds and saw a couple others that he spooked when moving around. I eventually got out and fished a good shore spot. On went my favourite Swimming senko in Chart and instantly I had a hit but no hook up. Next cast and the fish followed the lure right into my feet but didn’t take. This just gave me more reason not to use the Kayak here again though on a non windy day it could have been a lot easier and more productive because of it. It’s certainly starting to warm up a bit now and I wouldn’t mind getting back down here for another crack before I get too carried away in the salt.