Marks Blog

I have just returned home covered in mud and blood after an enjoyable day with good friend and local angler Toby Merigan. We’ve just spent the day on the Somerset levels in search of a few pike. It was originally planned that Pete was going to join us, but due to the tight deadline of the printing of our new W&S catalogue, he was busy working away in an office somewhere for twenty-four hours straight with Bob. Ah, the joys of being a boss!

I met up with Toby after the short drive up the M5. He was going to take me on one of the drains that criss-cross the levels. In years gone by, local anglers have caught some good-sized pike from the area. But talking to them today, they say that the numbers of big pike getting caught are fewer and fewer. Never the less, they do hold a lot of pike. So after a short period of settled weather, I was well up for a days fishing.

Typically when we turned up the weather had deteriorated and it was dull, drizzling and windy. But that tends to be pike fishing. I looked across the barren landscape through the grim weather and thought of those lazy summer evenings fishing for rising brownies. I pulled up my hood, grabbed my gear and then thought, here we go! This is the type of fishing that fires me up. It was also an excuse to try out my new toy. I had just got my hands on new a Scott X2S rod and had been dying to try it out.

When we got down to the drain, the level was up and quite coloured. Toby decided to opt for big n bright. I’m sure it would have worked, but due to the wind it was quite a chore to cast, so he down sized to a 6/0. Pink was his choice and a colour that had been doing well in recent visits. I opted for black! Why don’t I listen? I was still busy casting away with the new rod, whilst Toby was bent into his third fish. All to the same fly. Not big fish, but all very nice on a grim February day.

About an hour later, after watching Toby have his fill of fish I changed over to a fluro-pink bunny, and with a slow figure of eight I was soon battling with a Somerset drain monster. Pink was certainly doing the job. I got the fish to the top and slipped it into the landing net. The total weight was about 4lb. Including the net! We spent the morning fishing and walking along the drain, casting into likely looking holding areas. One thing that was apparent was how the pike wanted the flies to be positioned. Casting 45° across the drain certainly seemed to be more productive than when cast straight across the drain. I quickly had a few takes and Toby had a couple more fish.

As we walked along the muddy banks towards the reeds, we soon noticed silver fishing spraying out of the water. For any pike angler this usually gets the heart racing. As we neared I asked Toby for one of the flies that he had been using. He did- but it cost me half a bag of Revels. I tied it onto the trace and I cast it alongside the disturbed bait-fish. Within the second twitch of the fly, I was in. I looked around and spotted that Toby was also into another fish. He was doing well.

By lunch we had managed a total of 10 fish. I’d managed to contribute the least and smallest fish so far. Oh well, the day was still young. We walked back along the drain keeping our eyes open for any movement and we had a few more casts until we reached the van. Did Toby have another fish? I can’t remember now. I know I didn’t. I was more concerned that I had eaten all my food whilst fishing. So Toby was good enough to share his sandwiches with me.

After lunch I was fired up. We decided to cross over to the other side of the drain. The wind had been blowing off the wrong shoulder all morning, so it was nice to get into a bit of easier casting. And it wasn’t long before we were both into a few fish again. This time I managed a few in quick succession. Id fished this stretch a couple of years ago, whilst I was thinking about moving down to the West Country. We did well then. If I remember right we had quite a few pike throughout the day. So I was looking forward to the walk along it.

Toby said he hadn’t done very well along it before, so it was nice to see him striking into a fish. Whilst unhooking the fish we noticed that there were a few silverfish still its mouth. Maybe it’s me. But I find it quite fascinating to see what the pike have been feeding on. I remember unhooking a large pike once and finding a pair of duckling’s feet sticking out of its throat. I changed over to a mirror flash bait pattern that Id tied and straight away I was into another small jack.

By then end of the day we had managed to catch 24 pike between us. Toby had a good day. He managed to catch 15 of them. I was glad to have managed to get a few fish on the new rod and it was another water that I had started to learn. It can be hard moving to a new area and learning all the new waters after fishing your home waters for most of your life. But it’s certainly enjoyable. Thanks to Toby for the good day. And thanks for the pink materials you donated to me. Ill get cracking at tying some of those flies and be prepared for next time.

The alarm went off and it was still dark outside. I could hear the wind howling at the bedroom window. I opened my eyes and remembered what day it was. It was the 14^th of February and I knew what this meant. Not Valentines Day, but the Valentines Day massacre. It was the BIG fish off between myself and female fly fishing ace- Jacqui Mock. It was a feature that was been run for Total Fly Fisher, and everything was at stake! It was the final decider. Who were the better anglers? Male or female. Would testosterone out fish pheromone? It was left down to me to prove the long awaited answer. Men- surely!

The day started with my usual 5 mile warm up run and visit to the local gym. I had been in training for months for this day. Id gained twenty pounds in weight and was in peak condition. Running, casting, fishing and gym work. You name it I put myself through it. The workout had got me in the right frame of mind and I felt like Rocky. I had the eye of the tiger!

I got back home, and before I hit the shower I decided to run through my kit again. Cleaning my lines for the hundredth time and checking my leaders and flies to make sure everything was perfect. I was leaving nothing to chance. Downing six raw eggs I checked the barometer, the air pressure and temperature were stable. The adrenaline was pumping and I was ready!

Well something like that anyway! It started off with me finding I had no milk left to stick in my brew. Id got up late and still hadn’t sorted through any of the kit I was going to take for the day. Nothing quite like been a pro. Always prepared. So prioritising myself, I took a quick jog across the shops to pick up a pint of milk and grabbed a few bags of Scooby snacks for later. I met up with Jax who was already complaining that she hadn’t had her morning cuppa. So having to multitask, I sorted through my tackle and made us drink. My mobile went and it was Pete Tyjas. I thought that he was phoning to wish me luck and to give me a few last minute tips. But instead he had got devastating news! Wellard & Scott had run out of chocolate hob-nobs! The guys were suffering.

We had arranged to meet up with Tim Smith from TFF at the W&S showroom. The weather was lovely. It was a crisp and sunny winter’s day. It might have been warm if it wasn’t for the freezing north-easterly that was whistling around our ears. Our destination was high on Bodmin moor. A stunning little fishery called Temple Fishery. If you didn’t know it was a commercial fishery, you could quite easily mistake it for a wild moorland lake. The lake that we opted to fish was of course the one with the strongest, coldest wind blowing onto it. Oh well, that’s show biz for you.

My first cast was awesome. A stunning loop fired into the teeth of the wind. I slowly twitched back my natural looking big hairy orange thing that Pete told me were all the rage down here. With every twitch I heard his voice in my head. “Let it sink n rip it back in”, “they love it”. The result of the cast brought me nothing. Saying that neither did the second, third, fourth or fifth. In fact two hours later I was still flogging away with his choice pattern. No wonder he was laughing as we pulled off from the depot. It was my own fault for forgetting to pick up his stash of hob-nobs on the way down.

Jax had opted to use an intermediate line with a team of black tadpoles. She was also struggling to find the fish. So biting the bullet we headed into the teeth of the wind. After about an hour of casting, shivering and stalking along the banks, the wind eased and things began to warm up nicely. Within minuets, I turned around and saw Jax bent into a fish! But to my relief she was only snagged on the bottom. She managed to release the fly and made another cast. Bang, her rod bent over again. Lucky! This time the tip of the rod was bouncing and I knew she was on the way to landing the first fish of the day. It was a real shame when it came off about three feet from the bank. I wasn’t quite quick enough with the landing net. HA!

Whilst she was untangling her leader, I decided to sneak into her swim. I had got rid of Petes orange guaranteed catcher and changed over to a team of small spiders and tadpoles. I cast 45° to the wind and let the team of flies swing around. Within seconds I was into a fish and after a short tussle it was in the net. Tim took a few shots for the mag and by this time Jax was back and busy casting away again in MY swim. It didn’t take her long to latch into another fish. This time things were good to her and she banked her first fish. This went on for an hour or so. First I caught, then she caught.

By early afternoon I had caught and landed my limit. Jax was still hammering away, determined not to let the female race down. She changed swims a few times and fell into the lake once. Now that’s dedication for you. I just sat around laughing and winding her up. But then it happened. She hooked into the biggest fish of the day. I knew it would be close. As Jax was busy playing the fish, and as I was busy trying to knock it off with the landing net, I noticed a couple of happy crows bouncing around on the far bank. I knew exactly what was happening. They had spotted our fish in the margins and decided to pop over for a fish eye surprise.

Once in the landing net and the obligatory photos taken we walked back around to pick up the remains of our other fish. Just as we suspected, the crows had pinched all the eyes out of them. I knew by looking at the size of the fish that the weigh in would be close. What I would have given to have the extra weight of those eyes! We all laughed and joked about the saga whilst walking back to the lodge. I think the laughing and joking was more out of nerves. After all, the whole male gender relied on the weight of those eyes.

We finally arrived back at the lodge some five minuets later. We were welcomed with a warm brew and the fishery owner began to zero the scales for us. I went first! Like a heavy weight boxer, my catch rolled in at 6lb 12oz. I took a sigh and looked at Jax as she began to place her fish on the scales. I was busy rummaging around on the floor for a stray m&m that I had dropped when her last fish hit the tray. But I smelt the victory. 6lb 10oz!! Get in! Male domination! Id managed to beat her by 2oz. I was grinning from ear to ear.

My victory was soon short lived when Jax commented to me that she was glad that a man had finally realised that size does matter. Even in victory a female still has the knack of managing to have the last say. I would just like to thank Jacqui and Tim for the enjoyable day. Unlucky Jacqui, maybe next time ay! Oh yeah, I remember now that she beat me last week when we went out with Pete to fly fish for carp. That means it’s a draw. Maybe we will never know which sex rules the rod. All’s that I know is I’ll keep trying in the name of science.

Having read a few recent web sites and forums regarding fly-fishing for pike, there have been a few disagreements between using mono or wire at the terminal end. Having pike fished all of my life, and fly-fished for them for the past eighteen years, I have tried all different sorts of materials over the years. I can understand and see why some anglers opt for ‘mono’ traces. Pike flies in general can be cumbersome things to cast. Not very aerodynamic, and once waterlogged don’t like to hold up in the air during the cast.

Connected to a stiff wire trace, combined with swivels and snap links, the cast can frequently start to hinge, sometimes causing the front end to collapse. Resulting in a collapsed cast, tangled leader, or the fly kicking back on itself. So to get rid of this problem, some anglers opt for a heavy leader/trace constructed from mono or fluorocarbon. Tied directly to the leader with the fly attached, the need for all the metal work of snap links and swivels can be eradicated. Making the turn over of the fly much easier.

But when I have spoken to anglers who use mono traces for fly pike fishing, I would often ask them what they usually use if they go spinning. They all said wire trace for protection, so they wouldn’t get bitten off. So what’s the difference? It’s still the same pike that they are targeting. The most important thing in all of this is the protection of the pike. Personally I would rather not catch, than hook a pike and loose it because it had bitten me off. I would feel bad knowing that there was a fish swimming around with a 6/0 hook still stuck in its mouth.

In my opinion there is only one trace material- and that has to be wire. So how do we make it work for us? First I find it makes things easier if we get rid of the snap link and swivel. So this means we must use a wire that can be supple enough to knot, but stiff enough that the energy from the cast dissipates down the flyline, through the leader and wire trace and turns the fly over at the end.

Let me explain my set up for fly-fishing for pike. I like to use heavier AFTM rated rods and lines. Usually 9 or 10 weight. The length of rod I prefer to use is 9ft. The shorter rod length helps me to control the stop, and helps keep a straighter line path of the rod tip. For those who are new to fly fishing/casting, the straighter you can keep the path of the rod tip throughout the cast the better. This will help to maintain a tight loop. Combined with a haul to increase tip and line speed it is possible to keep even the most cumbersome of flies airborne. You must make sure that you marry the rod and line rating together. So if it’s a 9-weight rod, you use it in conjunction with a 9-weight line. Preferably a weight forward flyline. It’s not rocket science. But I have come across all sorts of combinations throughout my days fishing and guiding.

Attached to the end of the flyline I usually make up a tapered leader. This usually comprises of about five feet of thirty-pound fluorocarbon, then a few feet of twenty pound. The knots are kept simple. My favoured knot is a double grinner. Using the same knot I then attach my wire trace of about 16-20 inches. The length of leader and trace combined is usually kept as short as my fishing allows. If you use the correct wire, you can then choose you own favoured knot to attach the fly.

It was not my intention to plug any gear, but I feel that I have found the perfect wire for making up traces. Thanks to my good mate Pete Tyjas, he put me onto an amazing product called Surflon micro ultra by AFW (American fishing wire). He brought it over from the States a few years ago. It’s a wire designed for tying knots, and is perfect for fly-fishing. Damn, I hate admitting that he teaches me things. But he was right when he said how good it was! It’s a 19-strand nylon coated wire that comes in a massive range of breaking strains. I tend to carry everything from 17-50lb bs.

So as you can see, it is still possible to combine the element of the pikes welfare and still be able to cast and fish proficiently. One argument that I still hear from time to time is that some anglers don’t like the visibility factor of wire. But personally I think this is rubbish! During my jerk-baiting days, it was common to use 80-100lb braid with a solid 200lb steel wire trace. It counted for good numbers of twenty pound pike, a few thirties and a big forty that I had the honour of landing for a friend. Fish of those sizes don’t get that big by being stupid. It’s just that pike aren’t as finicky as some other species. Once locked onto a target, it only has one thing in mind. Food!!!