experience is different from
what I’ve written here as I know
lots of people who regularly use
all different types of lures with
only one single and they have
excellent hook up rates. It is,
however, food for thought.
The story doesn’t end there
though and on this particular
day it wasn’t to be all doom and
gloom. I quickly switched the
Rep for a new fat belly shad
clownfish pattern lure that
Mark from MH Custom Lures
had recently sent me. I’ve
always wanted a “Nemo” type
lure and this was the first
clownfish style I had ever used.
After the one that got away, my
thinking was to downsize and
go for two trebles to pretty much
guarantee hooking up the next
take if I was to be lucky enough
to get one and at only 100mm
length and 22g the smaller lure
with two trebles would certainly
increase my chances.
I wasn’t to be disappointed
either as after about another five
minutes of roving down river I
reached a small slack out of the
flow of the main river, a perfect
ambush spot for a predator to lie
up in. The fat belly shad is a
floating lure with a diving lip
and once cranked will dive down
to approximately 3ft. The beauty
of floating lures is that you can
cast them out into the flow and
let them float down river, then
when you’re ready just lock the
reel up, crank the lure down and
retrieve back through the flow
and into the slack with the
minimum amount of
disturbance. I’ve written here
before about big lures (see
winter issue) and about swims
I call “one chancers”; these are
swims that I believe potentially
could hold a big pike and with
every cast you make the chances
of catching it decrease.
These “one chancer” swims
are places that require thought
before you ever make a cast, it’s
all about reading them correctly;
asking yourself where is the
right cast to place this lure and
how do I get it there accurately?
I can’t stress enough the
importance of this type of
thinking and your craft in
general. Everything has its place
- if you turn up at a large
reservoir then, yes, cast where
you like and as many times as
you can, but when faced with
rivers and especially shallower
ones where pike tend to hug the
marginal slacks right under
your feet, then I would urge you
to use stealth and caution.
So back to the swim I was
describing, I was able to use the
river to float a lure past it and
then retrieve the lure so it
enters the slack. There’s been
no splash, no disturbance of
any kind whatsoever and I’ve
kept a rod length distance from
the bank with my silhouette off
the water. Now the lure enters
the slack as naturally as I can
get it, as close as possible to a
real fish entering the small slack
to escape the main flow of the
river and BANG, an instant take!
That’s just what happened here.
I witnessed the bankside
vegetation move with such
force through sudden water
displacement that I knew
instantly this was a good fish
and being focused and ready
this time I struck immediately.
Fish on, once again within a foot
from the bank and instantly she
went ballistic, heading straight
for the main river stripping line
from my reel. Good old faith in
your gear always comes to mind
at this point; the 65lb power pro
and strong trace both held and
after a few minutes I slipped her
over the net. 23lb 4oz of wild
river pike banked by design on
a new lure and by judgement
more than luck, you have to be
happy with that!
Finally, I’d just like to
introduce readers to the
“Tubeology” bait which are very
simply flies/lures that you can
use on a lure or spinning rod.
For those who don’t know,
Tubeology is a system of
different lures designed with
interchangeable heads,
spinner blades etc. which
allow you to quickly change
the lure colour, weight or
even your technique, right
at the water’s edge. It is a
system that has literally
thousands of variations
within one kit and is suitable
for all predatory species
regardless of light and
conditions. The takes on
these flies are hard, savage and
exciting and having the ability
to add colour, weight, blades etc.
or to remove them instantly
makes this a really exciting
product. If you haven’t heard
of it until now then it’s well
worth checking out and I will
be putting it thoroughly to the
test throughout 2015. I’ve
already had some good results
so far and it is available from
http://www.truefishinggear.com
So that’s it from me for now,
I have a couple of days on Chew
Valley coming up, I’m attending
a lure weekend in Devon and
stop press, I had a cracking river
twenty from the Dorset Stour
only yesterday on my banker
lure. Hopefully you will read
about this and my other
adventures in the next issue.
Tight Lines
t
w
f
r
‘The beauty of floating lures is that
you can cast them out into the flow
and let them float down river’
A Tubeology fly
on a lure rod
fools a good
river double
23lb 4oz of wild river
pike falls to a ‘Mark
Houghton Clownfish
A Fox Replicant
and a Fox
Replicant Twist