Photography

Another passion of mine whilst fishing is to take pictures,too capture a moment.Heres a few of my favourites whilst i have been on the bank.

A shot from the bivvy ................On a local Resovoir

A tricky robin,fed him biscuits to gain his confidence....

A self take on xmas day 2011,blanked ..........................

A picture i took behind a local still water............

The light was fading on the Derwent

The garden peg on the Trent.................

The Mighty Minnow.......................

Deer Lake Northern Pike taken on the original big s lure

My mate Lee with a canal personal best stereo speaker......

Local Pike Water 18 Dec 2012

I went yesterday with lee..Lee had a jack close in before the weather turned early on to bad rain,i decided to leave in the afternoon and try today.I went to a local water i keep trying .I arrived at first light fished paternostered roach on one rod,Ledgered joey on the other rod.I decided to sit it out at this end with the water being a bit deeper.At 11am i moved all my gear a good 70 yards up the bank to shallower water.I casted out the paternosted roach bait.I picked up my other rod to change to a float,the dropper went and i was into a 7-8lb Jack,quick pic and she swam into the weed.I tried popped up herring and float fished smelt.Nothing came of this,i left knowing ill be back for another go.Till the next time...........

First Light...................................

Fell to a paternostered Roach...............

A jack and a bucket 15-12-12

After last weeks blank that did include a run it was time to get back out.A long walk to a swim that i hadnt fished for a while.We got there and Alan set up far bank and i set up to the left.The problems started as i set up,the water was up,so i could only set one rod up in the water,ledger and lamprey as bait.I moved the other rod up and fished sunk paternoster and a roach dead bait.I set tip rod up later after the rain cleared to catch some baits,caught a bait for Al first,he put this out on the drifter.Wasnt long before i had one.I put this on the Pat rod and within 10 mins the dropper went,struck and landed a jack about 5 lbs.I moved the lamprey rod and carried on tip fishin,my swim got ruined due to a pike snatchin my bait and the swim went quiet.We Decided to stay till an hour into darkness.I reeled in the lamprey rod that was about 60 yards out,it was real heavy and as i got whatever i,d hooked nearer the bank it was a 10 litre Bucket.Nothing into dark and we packed up.Till the next time....

The Bucket...........................Just put the jack back,didnt take a pic.......................

Big Wild Water Pike Floats

I got these from Mark Berrisford at P.A.C Region 31 meetings.There 10 inches by 1 inch floats.These floats are self cocking.When fishing bigger waters where theres snags or when boat fishing theses floats sit perfectly still in the water.They also cast really well with the set up ive got for using them,ill post a picture of that when im next out....

Till the next time......................................

First Double of the Season 1-12-12

After the last two sessions blanking and nothing to live baits or deads,it was time to get back out.With overnight rain i woke to no  frost on the van.Arrived at the water and headed to a quiet spot to catch some baits.After an hour with only a small perch for my efforts,i packed up and a long walk to the swim.I set up a paternoster rig with a herring,on the other rod was a float ledger with a smelt.When alan arrived i set about fishing with the tip rod again,wasnt long before we had a roach each.I put one on the pat rig.I was fishing in between the pat rig and float rod catching roach and had two snatched of pike,so was confident.An hour passed and i moved the float ledger,removed the float and fished further out with a lamprey.It wasnt long before the Delkim beeped,drop off started to drop and as i grabbed the rod the fish was off,struck it was solid,after a good fight on my new Treble-7 rod,Alan netted the fish,weighed at 15.7.pictures taken and returned.Stayed till dusk and with no further fish we headed off,Till the next time....

15.7 Ready to go back strong............

Making Traces (Tracelets)

Ive been making wire traces from fox carboflex,im a crimper not a twister ,i was really happy with the carboflex.The only problem that occured was once you had a lively fish in the net,this ruined or kinked the trace,meaning a new one would have to be used.I then stumbled upon a thread on the old Pike & Predator forum about tracelets.These were the idea of Mark Houghton,and was featured at a later date in the magazine.How they are constructed is by making a seperate trace from Titanium then adding your tracelet,which is made up to suit the deadbaits you are using,this is the part that normally gets ruined and you can clip one one after each fish if damaged,and the trace stays intact.Ive made up the tracelets with e.t 7 strand wire and have become a twister,this is due to the fact,crimping is to fiddley.

The components to make the traces.

The Hooks,i use eagle claw in size 4 or 6.

E.T 7 strand for the tracelets.

Components to make the main trace,E.T.double crimps,Crimp Rubber sleeves and a Gemini clip.

This is the wire,enough to make 5 traces...

Here the wire is put through the crimp twice.

Here the wire has been pushed through 3 times.Then trim tag end.

Here is the crimp once its been crimped with double crimp pliers.....

Once you have trimmed the tag end,slide crimp rubber on for neater presentation..

The completed trace,at the bottom you can see the gemini clip which is crimped exactly same way.

The pliers needed to crimp the double crimps,forget anything else..................

The Tracelets,made to various lengths to suit the baits i use...........................

As you can see in the picture,attach main trace to tracelet,slide tail rubber over crimp and on to hook. .

Pike Fishing

Finally managed to get out.A change of plan was needed due to others not turning out.I went to a small water near home.cleaned the frost of the car and the day looked promising.Arrived at the water,chose my spot and cast in my first rod,smelt as bait on a float,poured a coffee and was just baiting the ledger rod up,when the float went.Nice jack of around 9lb.I had 2 more takes on the float,but failed to hook the fish both times.I moved to another area that has produced,but not a touch,so packed up and went home,Till the next time.....................

The Jack,did a self take but cant get pic of other camera................................................

The Swim................................

The Treble-7 roll arm indicator,no runs today,just field testing