The Piker

Videos by Gordon
Plugged into Pike
Pike: The Natural Way
Adventure with the Piking Pirate
Fishing Impossible
Canadian Predators

Once a month Gordon will tell us a story of days afloat on one of his favourite waters.

Wild Water Pike

Hi there Pikers,

It's been a great couple of weeks hunting the big pike of the Lake District.  Big fish have been on the prowl!  Both of these trips to Windermere coincided with some mighty awesome weather conditions, lashing gales and torrential rainstorms.  Tough going it was but I coped with it all.  So very few fish in this weather!!!*?  This had caused the level of the lake to rise three feet but with it being clear I was confident of big pike being caught.

Fishing in a big sloping drop-off in thirty feet of water I was casting a parrot patterned Bull Dawg line when the first big pike roared up and struck!  A super fatty of a fish that weighed a cracking 21¼lbs.  A short while later my mate struck into an erratic fighting fish that turned out to be a ferox trout weighing 8lbs.  It was swiftly unhooked and returned to the water.

By this time there was a big wave blowing in from the south west so we set off trolling back to base.  While passing around a deep hump well out from shore a big fish struck the lure I was trolling.  I was using Remington Lokt 30lb Braid in order to get the Firetiger Depth Raider crankbait thirty feet down and this did the trick.  Four foot waves on the water made playing this big pike a bit rocky but I managed to boat a super fish of 24lbs.

This fish was followed a few days later by an even better one.  Float legered mackerel took a super heavyweight of 26lb 10oz and it had me whooping with delight!

This week I am back on the Lake District waters once again, as the saying goes, 'Hunting the hogs!'.

Good fishing,

Gordie,

The Piker

PS.  The trip to Esthwaite in the Lakes produced a super fat fish of just under 20lbs.  It took a Rebel Windcheater crankbait in eight feet of water.  

This morning Walker and I had a super session hitting eight pike, two of them over 10lbs from a drain near to Crossens, all fish took float legered deadbaits - sardines and herring.

Piking Here and There

Hi there Pikers,

This past few weeks have been quite eventful and the New Year started in style for my 10 year old son Walker.

This past few fishing sessions have been up and own really.  To begin with most of the waters I travel to fish have been well iced over.  Those being the lowland Lochs of Scotland such as Putton, Ken, Milton and Auchenreoch have all been frozen over.  One real surprise I got was a telephone call from a friend who at the time was standing on thick ice in the middle of that nationally famous hotspot Crommhin Bay on the mighty Loch Lomond.

A day out on Windermere produced a 17lb 6oz pike to a deep trolled Depth Raider.  When this fish lashed the rod round I initially thought it was a much bigger fish.  Still they can't all be hawgs!

Closer to home all the drains and canals got covered in ice also and at one time Walker and I were fishing mostly clear patches under and around bridges.  This paid off a couple of times while float legering sardines, mackerel and herrings we took several nice fish to 13lbs and a whoop or two was let out, wheee haaa.

The best fish of the drain sessions came when Walker went fishing with his mum Allyson and two school friends Jack and Neil.  Fishing the junction at Banner's Brook at Pool Hey Lane a short while after putting out the rods with sardine bait a super hawg of a pike was hooked.  The hooked fish kept going under ice which effected the use of the landing net.  Eventually Allyson hand-landed the fish, at 17lb 9oz this is one of the better ones roaming the drain system.

During Walker and my treks around the local drains I have chatted with a number of pikers enjoying themselves hooking into some cracking rod-benders.  So to all you pikers not getting out due to the weather I say this  - get to the out of the way areas because the big hawg pike are hungry and on the prowl!

Good fishing,

Gordie,

The Piker

Tartan Pike Trek

Hi there Pikers,

My son Walker and I have just returned from a very cold weekend piking in the Dumfries Galloway region of Scotland.  We fished a different loch on each day.  Saturday we fished on the roadside stretch of Auchenreoch Loch.  

Fishing four rods using deadbaits we had a total of eleven runs throughout the day resulting in eight fish to 14lbs.  All the takes came to herring and mackerel seafish baits.  The beauty of fishing on this water is that there's a motel on its shore and hot meals can be had throughout the day and we benefited from this luxury.  Usually it's a rough cook up on the bank!  It was cold at night and I expected a freeze up the following dawn as we drove to our next destination Milton Loch a couple of miles away from the former venue.  

I had first fished this loch in the early 70's and it pleasant to return there from time to time.  Again float legering deadbaits from the tree lined shore saw us get runs steadily throughout the day.   We ended up having about fifteen or sixteen runs in flat calm conditions.  Sardines, herring and the ever faithful mackerel produced nine pike with two of them going into double figures.  This is a pretty big loch and I intend putting a boat onto the place very soon to try out the deep holes at the distant end of this loch as no doubt that is the best holding area in the place for big fish.

I'll let you know.

Good fishing,

Gordie,

The Piking Pirate.  

PS.  I've just had three cracking big pike out of the Fiddler's area on the Three Pools System on float legered mackerel and sardines, reports to come later.

Big Pike Time

Hi there Pikers,

Just lately I've been having a ball catching lots of big pike, oh nearly forgot my son Walker came along on these successful trips.

First off I went up to fish Lake of Montieth in Scotland and came away having hit out at a fair number of heavyweight fish.  Fishing in 18 feet of water right from the start while fishing deatbaits and casting lures I struck into feeding pike.

A 19¾ bulldozed a Bulldawg followed by another of 14lb to the same line.  A 12lb chomped a perch pattern Shallow Raider.  Another good double of 14lb took a whole mackerel float fished on the bottom.

Hey pikers this was fun, but then it happened a big hawg of fish smashed into a firetiger Shallow Raider and sanded deep below the boat.  After an exciting battle a big fat beast was hauled into the boat.  27lbs it weighed and my best ever pike caught on a jointed plug.

A couple of other big fish were hooked but came off.  What a session with more to follow.  A session on Loch Ken produced fourteen pike all to deadbaits with Walker taking the best of the day at 13lbs.  The big big surprise of this day was that Walker hooked and later lost the biggest pike I've seen contacted on Loch Ken in the near 30 years I have fished the place.  I took over the rod after it went through a sunken tree, unfortunately the line bust as it finally came out.  What a gut buster!

The local waters are fishing well with the drains fishing well and several nice catches have come to both Walker and I.  Mackerel and sardine have produced the goods.

Hideaway Bend on the Three Pools is well worth a try.  Keep an eye on the weather though because heavy rain will cause heavy pumping and colour the water up and this simply puts the pike off big time.  Try the Leeds Liverpool Canal at the Red Lion for some good fish if the drains are not fishable.

Don't miss next month's report because the big pike are on the prowl.

Good fishing,

Gordie,

The Piking Pirate.  

Hi there Pikers,

Hopefully lots of you will have been enjoying some good fishing now that the Foot & Mouth restrictions have been lifted on many waters.  Well my son Walker and I sure have!

Here in the North West, especially on lots of waters in the vicinity of Southport, the pike fishing is really exciting at present with lots of good piking coming to my rods, oh and my son Walker’s too.

We have fished a lot of stretches on various drains with “Fiddler’s Dyke” producing well.  The Sluice is fishing poor but the Three Pools is in hot form and so is Stillies Brook!  It certainly pays to find clear water areas because that is where the pike are prowling with a vengeance and this is paying off in style.

Walker and I have been fishing two rod approaches, one fishing a deadbait whilst with the second rod casting lures all around the surrounding area where fishing the natural bait.  Float legering herring, mackerel and sardine has accounted for lots of fish while lives have taken their equal share also.  Crankbaits, spinnerbaits, top-water plugs and bucktails have all taken good numbers of fish.

For the lure enthusiasts here is short list of some of the fish catches, so here goes: Super Shad Rap, Rapala Magnum 14, Bomber Long A, Shallow Raider, Hawg Wobbler, Time Bomb, Lindy Bucktail, Reed Runner and Professor are the catches of big hawg pike!

We have fished both early morning and evening sessions usually last a couple of hours at a time.  In these “whistle stop” assaults on the pike we have taken up to nine fish at a time to 15lbs in weight.  Although the many pike we caught were nice double figure fish of 10lb, three in the eleven pound bracket, a 12lb, 13lb, a 14¾lb and two 15lbers!  Walker and I got one each of the fifteens.

Good fishing hey, and so close to home!  Besides taking lots of pike my boy Walker also took a whole pile of perch to 2½lbs.  Mostly on worms but a few of the biggest ones on plastic jigs and rubber worms.  So you see all of you local pikers get out now the fishing is good and remember to put all the pike back in the water for other people to enjoy.  these predator offer good hair-raising sport and all youngster hooking a nice sized fish will be “hooked” for life.

Good fishing,

Gordie,

The Piking Pirate.

Hi There Pikers,  

It's Pike time in Lakeland.

The weather is getting better, and so is the piking!  This past few weeks the pike in the Lake District have really turned on and I have enjoyed several eventful sessions.  So now let me tell you what occurred.

First session on Windermere saw a friend and I working various rocky outcrops in both the northern and southern region of the lakes.  Casting a variety of spinnerbaits, crankbaits, jerkbaits and Bulldawgs we began our session around a rocky reef area at the very top of the lake.  Big Al hit a small fish of 8lbs on a perch pattern Shallow Raider then I hit a fish on a Bionic Bucktail and had a big fish narrowly miss a flo-perch Big Jim jerkbait.  Several small fish kept the adrenalin flowing throughout the morning.  

Then a move to the area south of the mid-water shallows saw me take fish to 15lbs on a whole mackerel fished in twenty feet of water.  Disaster, unfortunately, was just about to arrive!  Another take developed and came directly towards the boat.  My mind was racing in anticipation as I reeled into a big pike.  BUT the line bust under the impact of the strike!  What should have been a real day of excitement finished in a gut buster for me.  I hate losing big fish in this manner.  However, some cracking sessions followed and one I will reveal here.

Last Thursday I took a complete newcomer to pike fishing to Windermere for, hopefully, a good day.  The day began just like my previous days afloat on the water with relatively still, calm water conditions.  We began fishing one of my favourite spots floating legering deadbaits such as whole mackerel and herrings in water between fifteen and thirty feet deep.  

For several hours I flogged away casting a wide variety of my artificial lures.  The weather conditions remained quiet and still all morning and so did the pike!  Not one single take from a fish was the result of a hard fishing session.

I noted a dark cloudy weather front approaching as I headed north to another noted hotspot up in the northern section of the lake.  The wind blew up strong and a big wave got up and stirred up the water and the big pike turned on!

One after the other the fish came out, good double figure specimens of 12lbs, 15lbs, 16lbs, and I had a great tussle with a super twenty pounder.  There was also a few back up fish below ten pounds.  These fish chomped Springdawgs, Shallow Raider, Spinnerbaits and Little Joe.  My newcomer-to-fishing friend landed a fantastic fighting fifteen pounder and was absolutely delighted.

All of the Lake District pike waters are now open, so it's time for some excellent fishing in the coming months.  So get out your lines and hit the lake - it is pike time, big time!

Good fishing,

Gordie

The Piking Pirate

Hi There Pikers,  

It's been frustration in the Lake District just lately and due to the weather up and down several trips to some of my favourite venues had to be put off.

Finally prospects looked good last week and a couple of friends and I put the boat onto Derwent Water.  A wet dawn greeted our arrival at the boat ramp and this had all of us feeling somewhat dismayed!  Even us diehards hate getting prepared to start out in the pouring rain.  Lucky for us the rain soon ceased and we set off down the lake trolling large plugs.  we had not gone a hundred yards when the first fish struck.  A nice plump 8 lber smashed its jaws onto a fire tiger Storm Big Mac in twenty two feet of water.  I remarked to Jack and David that "We'll cane 'em today!"  Pike were on the feed.

A short while later I hit another nice fish that took a herring trolled deep down using lead-cared line techniques.  We began working the deep trough in the south of the lake using plugs such as Repala Magnum, Deep Diving Husky Jerk, Depth Raider and Cisco Kid, resulting in a nice double to Depth Raider.

Well optimism gradually faded as hours passed without a single strike from a pike despite a lot of trolling.  We were seeing packs of big fish on the screen of the fish finder in deep water but not one of them reared up and smashed its jaws onto a line.  Frustrating it was after a good start.

Finally, I located a pack of pike by a deep hump in the bed of the lake.  Well Jack and I decided to cast on the drift and thoroughly combed the area using spoons, spinners and big Bionic Bucktails but never raised a pike to strike or follow the line.  Even more frustrating!  

Verdict - A lot of white (snow) stuff is still on the high hills and as it is thawing its running into the lake cooling the water too much and putting the pike off prolonged feeding spells.  Well now we should see warm weather improving conditions which will see the pike of the lakes turn on the feed and bingo it's showtime.

Don't forget to check out for restricted places before setting out to go fishing.

Good fishing,

Gord Burton

Hi There Pikers, 

Due to the dreaded Foot & Mouth many waters remain closed to fishing though now there are lots of venues opening up.  Some of the waters in the Lake District are opening in limited access points where its possible to launch boats.  Some stretches on the canals in the North West are open to fishing.

This past couple of weeks I've seen quite a few nice pike caught at a few locations on the Leeds Liverpool Canal.  One angler I saw took five fish at the Red Lion basin in Scarisbrick when casting spinners.  Another chap caught a cracker of between 14 and 15 lbs on a Titchy Jim jerkbait in green perch pattern while fishing near to the Saracens Head pub.  This stretch is one of my real favourites due to the reeds along most of this stretch.  These reeds make for good cover and pike are always resident in very good numbers.  It's also very popular for big perch and carp, anglers regularly bivvy up for all night sessions along this stretch.

I joined an angler along the Garst Lane stretch last week and while casting spinnerbaits like the Reed Runner and small Darter jerkbaits we raised quite a few fish to about 9 lbs and it was good fun.  These sections are well worth a visit now before the water colours up like it does most years after late spring.  So go for it now!

Good fishing,

Gord Burton

Hi There Pikers,

Fishing prospects continue to vary from bad to worse due to the climate changes in the winter weather.  Even so I’ve managed to get out onto the water a few times with some good results at times.  The local drains in the northwest area close to Southport are producing some good pike in some of the out of the way places not so often fished.

One mid-day session I took a lovely brace of 15lbers in rapid succession.  One fish took a whole Joey Mackerel and the other chomped a sardine.  Both baits were float-legered.  A couple of days later fishing close to the same spot I took more nice plump pike, a couple of 9lbers and an 11lber, both of the small fish took tail half of mackerel with the double figure fish falling for a sardine.  So simply get your rods out and hit the drains.  When they are not pulling off to strongly good pike will be caught and static deadbaiting, it seems, is the best tactic at present.

A couple of trips to the Lake District in the past couple of weeks produced twenty pounders to myself and a friend.  A 23¾ to myself and a 21¾ to my mate.  They were the only fish caught on each day on the lake.  One doesn’t mind that when the fish are big hawgs hey!

This next month should see lots of big pike caught and I’ll be doing some myself.  Hope you do too!

Good fishing,

Gord Burton

PS.  Due to the Foot & Mouth and the continual outbreaks of the disease throughout the country restrictions have been put on many of the waters we fish.  So to ensure nobody wanders onto forbidden lands, i.e. where livestock is or was kept please check out the situation before you go fishing.  Let’s hope this sad situation is soon resolved!

Hi there you pike catchers,

Although this past month has been quite eventful for varying weather conditions, i.e. severe frosts, heavy snowfalls, rain and bright clear days some good pike have been caught by those fishermen who have been prepared to put in some effort on the water.  

Some big double figure pike have been taken from a number of waterways that criss-cross the countryside in the regions around the Southport, Burscough and Scarisbrick areas.  In some of the out of the way places on these drains some of my close friends and myself have been taking good numbers of pike.  Most of the fish have been coming to float-legered deadbaits like sardines, tail halves of mackerel, herrings and smelts.  I know of fish of almost 20 pounds caught by friends and also a report of a 24 lber from the upper reaches of one particular waterway.

My biggest recent pike of 16 lb took a roach bait at a junction where two waters joined up.  This fish came from an area I have been pre baiting with fish heads from my fish-monger.  If the weather remains dry for the coming weeks all of the waters in the area will fish well.  So look to fish the local drains and Leeds and Liverpool Canal for good sport because the pike will feed well!

Here's a little enthusiasm booster!  While trolling on a big northern water on Saturday a real hawg of a pike slammed its jaws onto a Depth Raider plug, unfortunately it came off at boatside.  Never mind though there's plenty more where that came from.  My adventures are about to begin in style!

Tight lines,

Gord Burton

December 2000:

Hi there Pikers,

Crikey!  Where does all this rain keep coming from?  My favourite waters of the Lake District have been well out of favour just lately.  The water levels have been constantly up and down due to the continual downpours of rain almost daily and this has really put the pike off the feed.

Not to worry too much though because the local Leeds & Liverpool Canal is well worth an effort at this moment in time.  Between the Red Lion bridge basin at Scarisbrick and the reedy section towards the Saracens Head bridge at Halsall, pike have been feeding well of late.

I've enjoyed several exciting sessions this past few weeks, taking up to 11 fish in a session.  Good sized pike between 8lb and 11lb have been accounted for while using a variety of tactics.  Using natural fish deadbaits such as roach and smelts have produced good results.  Casting artificial lures such as spinners, spinnerbaits and small jerkbaits like the titchy jim and aglet are catching their share of pike.  I had one pike of about 15lb follow a piglet jerkbait right to the end of the retrieve.  Still you can't catch 'em all hey!

My 9 year old son, Walker, got a cracking 21lb perch on a reedrunner spinnerbait the other week and that's a quality fish!

The local drains have also been unfishable due to all the floodwater too, but once we get some consistent settled conditions big pike will really turn on the feed and some big hawgs will be caught that's for sure.  So be prepared for the bonanza.  

Good fishing,

Gord Burton

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