Flyfishing for pike

I had an enjoyable time at The Flyfair in Stoke-on-Trent. It was good to meet old friends, make new ones and swap ideas.

When summer departed,the pike fishing improved and fooled me into believing that the autumn would provide the traditional high quality of sport. Early autumn's results, whilst not startling were at least encouraging. The guiding sessions were producing a reasonable number of pike with some double figure fish. My largest for the autumn was a 19lb fish from the Upper Thames.

Tim Westcott added to his impressive tally of 2o's with a splendid pike from the the local river.

I was itching to get the guiding/fishing into top gear when the Weather Gods decided to intervene. Persistent heavy rainfall has put the rivers out of fettle for weeks. Not many guiding clients fancy the prospect of boat fishing a big pond when the wind is over 50MPH and the rain is horizontal. I will be praying for better conditions and will try to take advantage of any improvements.

I've recently enjoyed the experience of connecting some bait/lure fishers with their first fly caught pike. I hope that they move into the light and continue with their efforts to get to grips with a fascinating and challenging sport.

Until last week, the biggest fish caught on one of my pike flies was a 47lb baracuda. Jim Hendrick, a great bass and pike guide from Ireland has set a new target with an 80lb lemon shark that he caught in The Bahamas.

Next year, I will be organising trips to Ireland, Northern Manitoba and the Swedish Baltic - If anyone wants details, I can be contacted via my Website http://www.flyfishforpike.co.uk

Flyfishing for pike

A quick snippet of news. I've taken a last minute booking to demonstrate at the Tatton Park show near Knutsford Cheshire on Saturday the 29th of August.

Flyfishing for pike

My pike fishing efforts are on hold for a few weeks. The high water temperatures usually see the pike dour and lethargic. Also, if I do land a good fish, I'm worried about how well it would fare being returned to water with low oxygen levels.

Things will improve soon enough!

On the week-end of the 22nd and 23rd of August, I'm demonstrating at the Gamefair at Broadlands near Romsey. These 'local' gamefairs are great events and parking is usually easier than at the National one.
On the 5th and 6th of September, I'm demonstrating at Barnes Court Lake in Northern Ireland at pike fishing event for the Loughs Agency. I'm then doing a spot of guiding in Ireland.

I will look to start guiding in ernest from the later part of September.
There is a place left for the trip to The Secret Lough in Ireland - week commencing 11th October, £690.00. I've posted a picture of a splendid pike I landed there last autumn. I will need to adjust to normality after the fantastic experience of fishing in Northern Manitoba

Flyfishing for pike

i can't resist posting a couple of shots of good pike which I caught in Manitoba. Also, I was introduced to a splendid device for bringing a pike into the boat which stowed more neatly than a conventional landing net and was kinder to the fish. I unhook most of my pike in the water but sometimes I want a photograph and sometimes the fish needs to come onto the unhooking mat because it has really engulfed the fly. The special landing cradle was a perfect tool for the job. I'll be importing some. If any-one wants one, I can be contacted via my website - www.flyfishforpike.co.uk

Flyfishing for pike

My guide in Manitoba was a Cree Indian by the name of Ernest. He added a great deal to my enjoyment of the trip as he was completely in tune with his suroundings and was able to point-out many interesting sights to me. Ernest showed me eagles' nests, loons' nests, bear scratching posts and wolf tracks. On a couple of occasions, we came into sheltered bays to be confronted by a large bull moose. He also put me on pike with unerring skill. With his help, I caught plenty of what the Americans and Canadians describe as 'trophy' pike (over 42") The clear water meant that I was often able to sight-fish which is always a pleasure.

I didn't take enough flies! Racoon zonkers may look large and impressive when first removed from the vice. When they've been hit 30 times by aggressive pike, they look somewhat dishevelled.

If I were to write how many pike I caught in Manitoba and how many big pike, it woild be pointless, as no-one would ever beieve it.
The whole experience was wonderful. I stayed in the splendid Golden Eagle Lodge on Sickle Lake - 40 miles from the nearest road. The last 200 miles of my journey were by floatplane which gave a great view of the woods, lakes and rivers which formed the complete wilderness landscape.

Manitoba trip

I'm looking forward to the Manitoba trip in July 2010 and need just three more people to complete the complement. This years fantastic adventure was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and thank you to those who made it possible.
I've got a new site at http://www.flyfishforpike.co.uk so keep updated there for specialist news and offers.