£
and draw it up alongside it, the
pike nailed it first cast and it
weighed 18lbs 9oz. I was quite
pleased when, back in January I
visited the Chicago Musky show
and listened to a talk by Joe
Bucher in which he described
exactly the same phenomenon,
changing the angle of attack to
get a follower to take.
If you just can’t get that fish
to take then you’re faced
with a choice, you can
either change tactics
altogether and drop a
dead-bait in or you can
go away, rest the fish and
come back later to try
again. Like I say though,
it doesn’t always work.8
THINK
3D
Of all the attributes a
lure has, running depth
has to be the most important
one. There will be times
when you want the lure to
work shallow and there will
be times when you want the
lure to work deep. Knowing,
which is the right thing to do,
is something that comes with
experience but for a start you
need to have the lures that are
capable of doing what you want
from them. Your lure collectionneeds to have shallow runners,
deep runners and everything in
between, this is far more
valuable than having the same
lure in ten different colours.
In clear, relatively shallow
water, a pike will come up many
feet to hit a lure and it’s not
quite so critical at which depth
you use it. If you’re fishing in
weed of course you might want
to fish very shallow so as not tohang up on the weed and you
will catch the fish if visibility
is good. If the water is deep
however you will need to get
that lure down close to where
the fish are living and if thevisibility is poor, you’re going
to have to get it right down
alongside them so that they
detect its presence, either by
vibration or by sight.9
WHO
DARES WINS
The pike you’re after may be
living in the most inaccessible
spot on the whole river. It may
be in thick cover, at the
bottom of a steep
slippery bank or over a
ledge where you just
can’t reach it. Lots of
places will never see a
lure at all but there are
a few things you can do
to give yourself a better
chance than the next
guy and put your lure
close to the fish.
A couple of years ago,
I slipped and fell into the
River Severn. It was a ten foot
deep pool of black, icy water
with a strong, swirling current
and had I not managed to grab
the bankside vegetation on my
way down, I might not be here
to tell the tale. A week later, I
slipped and fell heavily on my
knee whilst fishing the Wye,
something had to be done. I
spent some time on t’internet
looking for something thatwould make life a little safer
and came up with Edelrid
six-point crampons which were
available from Amazon for just
£23 or so. I bought a set of these
and haven’t looked back, they
just strap to your boots in
minutes and you can stride out
across the slimiest, muddiest
bank there is and you just do
not move. Of course apart from
making it a lot safer to walk on
muddy banks, I now find I can
access swims that I would never
dare approach before – and that
other anglers still avoid. This
has really paid dividends on
several occasions and caught
me a lot of fish – big ones too.
Another splendid item that I
use is a Gardner Specialist
extending landing net handle.
This is a really robust bit of kit
that extends to fully ten feet and
which is strong enough to lift a
30lb fish vertically up a steep
bank – believe me, I’ve done it!
My third piece of
indispensable kit is one which
LAS members are slowly
cottoning on to, rated split rings
on my lures. I use heavy gear
for these pike, 100lb bs braid
and very stiff rods and I make
the split rings that attach the
hooks to the lure my weak
point. 100lb braid and 50lb
bs split rings make a niceOF ALL THE
ATTRIBUTES A LURE
HAS, RUNNING DEPTH
HAS TO BE THE MOST
IMPORTANT ONEA tremendous 30lb 8oz
pike, my 5th lure-caught
thirty, which took a
Replicant close to the
bank in a tight little
swim in between two
overhanging bushes in
March 2014Your lure collection should focus
on running depth above all else