Treble -7 roll arm indicator update.29-11-13

I have modified them again,id used the clips off another drop off and wasnt happy with how they sat on the bank stick.The line clips have come back from the custom shop now,so will be fitting them tonight.My original idea of the cable cleat was a better idea and will probably go back to that.Someone else has had the same idea as mine ,but used the pipe clips,they stand off to far for my liking.................

These have the solar clips in,i used these last weekend as they glow in the dark..................
I need to paint the heads yellow like the others,will be using them sunday,lets hope they drop-off.

Short Pike Session 23-11-13

With my mum having cracked her pelvis my fishing trips will be short,julie was working till 2 pm and seems others are not doing there fare share,anyway i arrived at the lake and was set up for 3-30pm.The plan was one rod on a gravel bar ,popped up herring,the other rod cast down a tree line on popped up sardine,i popped them up because of all the leaves.Once the light had gone,i moved both rods closer in.It wasnt that cold,but at 7-45 the temps really dropped,at 8pm i packed up,Another blank.

The Barbel Society Talk Stockport 18-11-13

No i havnt joined the barbel society.I went with Lee Barlow to see Steve Pope and Terry Theobald give a talk.Steve,s talk was a 40 pointer ,Basically 40 questions he,d wrote out on the do,s and donts off barbel fishing,some very good pointers.

Terry Theobald took too the stage,a very funny and witty guy.Terry has caught some great fish and fishes in between him working nights,a great speaker and well worth a trip if you want to go see him,you wont be dissapointed.

I won on the raffle,pellets,boilies,groundbait and paste............................................

Nice too see Dave Mason at the talk,a great night,looking forward to the next one.

Where have all the pike gone 17-11-13

I have decided to blog even if i dont catch,only for pike so i can keep a record of what i do.I arrived at the lake today at 6-20,very misty ,quite warm aswell.I headed half way round the lake to try a different swim.
Tactics,ledgered herring and float fished sardine ,close in.

As the mist lifted there was two bivvy,s,one on the far bank and as usual the peg i wanted to try out.After about 2 hours i decided to bring float rod in and replace with a pat rigged smelt.The baliff appeared at about 10-45 as i was packing up for a move.

I decided to walk to the bottom of the lake and try the shallower end,got to be pike here,looked pikey aswell.Stuck with the herring and got the float rod back out with sardine.

Looked pikey,a nice breeze blowing into this side of the lake,followed by drizzle.I decided at 1-45 to move again.

Finally got onto the fancied peg,popped one up on smelt and popped sardine up on the other rod.I stayed till dark and didnt have a single run,it was just one of those days that seemed perfect.
Till the next time.Tight Lines Bloggers

Interview with Nathan Edgell River Pike Specialist

For a while now I've wanted to do something different on my blog .So here we go I asked Nathan 10 questions about his fishing.

1.Hi Nathan ,How did you get into pike fishing.
I got into pike fishing about 9 years ago after having a small roach grabbed whilst out float fishing for bits & pieces and I was amazed at the speed and pure aggression and savagery of the take.From that
Moment I wanted to learn everything about esox lucius.I had a well informed friend and soon to be mentor Dodgy Dagenham Dave,who was schooled in piking ,rivers,pits and resovoirs like abberton
In Essex.He took me on my first piking trip,which of course I blanked.,that's piking eh,but I did have a follow and saw a pike of about 15 lb cruise up behind my bait,it was sinister and so stealthy seeing the dark torpedo shape lying there.Next time we went I had a jack and from that moment on I've never looked back,I may have caught that jack but pike caught me forever.

2.What are you're preferred venues for pike and why.
well pete I could narrow it down to anywhere that's wet and would willingly fish anywhere and have in lots of places.The said rivers are my forte and where my heart lies.There is something about wild
River pike that gets me and difficult to quantify into words.I suppose that river pike carry a certain amount of respect within the piking scene and my guess is that this is borne out of the fish itself and efforts you put into catching them.Dont get me wrong I have fished chew and other places and I can understand the attraction and please don't think for one minute I consider any style of pikeing easy because I don't think it's easy pike fishing exists .My love of river pike fishing was borne out of necessity of fishing waters available to me,there is a lack of still waters available where I live so I learnt my craft exploring rivers and fell in love with them.If I could choose anywhere to fish then I would pick a river any day of the week.I might not catch 40,s or even 30,s ,but every single pike I catch of any size is well earned and I love it and them.

3.What is your preffered method for catching pike and why
My preffered method for catching pike is a simple float rig  with a live or deadbait trotted down a marginal slacks of the river.Its what has produced most of my fish and is my preffered method and one i developed on my own really with a single rod approach.Moving swims every 5-10 mins,moving down river until you find a fish thats feeding.Its not in my name to sit still for too long ,plus having a family and not much money its a simple and deadly effective way of catching pike and maximising the little time i have to fish.

4.You have caught some awesome pike,how many over 20.
Ahh the odd numbers game,to be honest im not a huge fan of numbers so i will answer like this,very simple not enough!!!!...In the last 2 years i have caught 70 over the magical 20 pound figure.Size isnt important,to some it is and thats fine with me,however whats most important is consistancy in my pike fishing as i hate blanking and my motto is big or small love them all and i do.

5.If you could choose only one method for pike,lives,deads or lures which woud you choose
For me lives every single time.The reason being they get takes quick and like i said im married with 2 children and working full time means  time on the bank is extremley limited and therefore i get results quickly.If your not bothered about the size of the pike you catch then lives will always will alays get you a fish quick and i have said consistancy is the key for me.I sometimes wish i had time to travel around targetting select waters all day for weeks to grind out pike with large deads but thats a sacrafice thats too much for me.Family come first and fishing second so ill take a live anyday,please if you have any ???

6.When you fish rivers how do you choose tactics for the session.
Simple ,i only have one,a roving approach with one rod !!!!...Ok maybe there is a bit more to it than that.I love lure fishing and do lots of it and my experience has been that whilst it doesnt produce big pike consistantly it is a great way for getting out there and covering ground.My tactics are to get out with the lure rod,study the river,note follows and missed takes ,changes in the riverand features as they develop and get back to the hotspots with baits as soon as i can.The thing with rivers is that there in constant change and therefore you need to be constantly changing tactics accordingly.It makes river piking exciting but also challenging,truth be told most times i go i dont decide till the night before or when i get in the car in the morning.

7.Do you fish for other coarse fish besides pike.
There are other coarse fish ????.wow who knew????.oh you mean bait,well yes then i do after all any piker worth his salts could give any matchmen a run for there money when it comes to bagging up.Sorry i could not resist,ok seriously no i dont ive yet to find a species in the uk that inspires me enough to consistantly get out there fishing.That said i might try a bit harder to target chub ,barbel and perch nexy year.But hand on heart im a one species man to my true love Mrs Esox Lucius and im very lyal and faithful guy.

8.You are now a sponsored angler,what companys.
I am very fortunate to have a few sponsors and thanks for the opportunity to plug (pun intended).For lures im with www.jerkbaitmania.co.uk who have some fantastic lures including a lure named after me the edgell bomber.I have also been promoting and testing lures for a finnish company called www.lunkermania .co.uk
have a look at the s-killer one of my top 5.Im also sponsored by a float company floats online who produce premier pike floats and are the floats that have nailed me so many big fish.My fav is the self cocking vaned no 2 which is really an exceptional float that allows fantastic freedom of movement for the bait.And Finally
i have just been sponsored by www.team30plus.com which is a huge achievement for me.They are more a mainstream company which are big and established with a wide vareity of tackle,incl rods and clothes e.t.c
i relish the opportunity of working with them over the next year and putting products through there paces.

9.Being a keen river angler,do you stactic fish for pike.
I very rarely static fish for pike,not on rivers anyway.The only time i do on rivers if im targeting a wide deep bend or a slack area of a weir.I love weir,s.And in my experience of them on rivers is that they are a natural larder and pike move up river at different times of the day to feed as they hold bait fishLike ive said already its not in my nature to sit still for long and with limited time factor i prefer to get out there and go to them rather them come to me.

10 I f you could give advice to any up and coming pike angler,What would it be.
First and foremost have fun and enjoy your fishing and go with someone experienced as you will learn more in a day than you will going it alone.Put the time in and persevere as its actions that get results,learn your waters and your craft.Join the P.A.C  as its a wealth of information and full of passionate people who really care.Try to get along to talks and look up your region for talks by guest speakers.www.pacgb.co.uk
Also dont be afraid to ask questions,its always better to ask than not to.You are more than welcome to ask me anything ,you can find me on facebook.com/adventures of a riverpiker.

I,d like to thank nathan for the interview,tight lines mate for the season ahead.

Nathan will be giving a talk for Region 31 at the caledonian hotel ashton in makerfield at 7pm on tuesday 3 december 2014.It will be his first talk in the north west,dont miss it .

First Frost Of The Season 10-11-13

After looking at the forecast ,i decided to go today,a heavy frost predicted.Upon arrival at the lake i dropped in a different swim from last week.Tactics this week ledgered pollan and float fished herring.I decided to leave the baits out to see what happened.After 3 hours i decided to throw some lures with my new set up,no birds nests and was pleased,no fish.

As the day went on i decided to swap the float rod for ledgered sardine and sit it out an hour into dark.Nothing happened,i packed up and cant wait to go back,love the place cant wait to explore the whole venue.

Close up of the new drop off with magnetic line clip...................................................

Drop off with solar line clip............................................................................

My new mat,Angling Inteligence,very padded and really pleased...........................................

Jerkbait Rod & Reel Set Up 9-11-13

For sometime now ive been looking into an upside down rod and reel,LOL.I had been browsing various sites looking for a rod,i wanted a short 6 ft 6 rod,id bid on a few and missed out on them.Finally when i was away in october id put a cheeky bid on an unused 6 ft 6 rod,when we came back from dinner i found i had won it,Brand new £20,happy days..................................................

Nash jerk the specialist,had never been used,still had film on cork handle..............................

Next job was to get a reel,i had looked at a few,but asked a couple of very keen lure anglers what was the best possible reel i could start off with.I was suggested 3 reels to get and as the pair of them had suggested the same type of reel,i went with the Abu.

Loaded this morning,backed the reel with some mono,tied with an arbor knot,then 100 lb braid joined to the mono with a uni to uni knot........................................

Side view of the abu c3 6501,small dint left handside ,hardly noticeable,got for a good price...............

Rod and reel set up...............................................

I decided this year i would get a set up as when i go to america i love lure fishing,then i come back have the odd chuck with a fixed spool and spinning rod.I am looking now to add an edge to my pike fishing,was told off mike it will become an addiction.I have some lures suitable to use but will take my time sourceing some jerks and cranks out.........................................................

Treble -7 Roll arm indicator update 7-11-13

Here are the heads sprayed yellow,a nice and visual colour instead of red.The heads are 3 inches long,the carbon arms are cut at 5 inches in length...................................

The carbon arms are attached to the aceytal and at the back an add on weight.

I will take a photo on the bank of the complete arm to give a better picture.Also in the above picture of the heads you can see a solar adjustable line clip  ,the reason for this is because i left the heads in the kitchen and my grandaughter picked one up and has broken a magnetic line clip of the head,so i will try the solar one until my new clip arrives from the custom shop...................................................

Pike Season 2013-2014

Finally started my pike season today on a new water.Saturday was a windy,rainy day ,hailstone and thunder and lightning.

I arrived at the water before first light and had a walk around the lake,i decided to fish the bay area as you come onto the lake.Tactics,ledgered herring and float fished smelt.

Im not going to go into much detail about the day,pouring rain after i set up,continued throughout the day,but when it stopped in between showers,thats when the bites came,all 5 off them.

My float rose and slid away 3 times,each time i struck to early.
I had two drop backs on the ledgered herring,struck into two heavy fish and both came off.
Must take my Barrow next time.
Learned a lot today from one session and cant wait to go back again,whether i fished badly today or was just plain unlucky,who knows.......................................................

I left before dark,not like me,but needed too,gutted over the loseing the two fish.............................