Region 30/60 Fish In
BEWL WATER
Well after a poor show from the fish on our last fish in on the River Stour Andy Larkins pulled off a master stroke for this years jolly. I received a call from him to tell me he had provisionally blocked booked a load of boats to fish Bewl Water for our yearly get together. I was at first ecstatic until I realised that I did in fact know zip about fishing a trout reservoir for Pike, thankfully I wasn't alone with Andy, Alex, Neil and Ben in the same predicament. Browny and Nick are Bough Beech die hards so they were ones to watch along with Pete and Mick who have so far fished Rutland and Chew this year and despite their protestations that they didn't do any good they are, after all pikers, and as such prone to lie through their back teeth so probably had everything well sussed. Another dark horse was last years "Champ" Griffs who snuck right in and took the cup last year.
Well with the pairings made as follows, John Gardner and Richard Gibson, Andy Brown and Nick Prior, Andy Larkins and Alex Larkins. Neil Griffiths and Ben Griffiths, Pete Armistead and Mike Lunn. There was nothing more to do but await the arrival of the tickets.
The day arrived and imagine my shock when I opened the ticket envelope to find two tickets inside for me and Richard. Pikers fishing a trout water and it was our real names on the tickets. Now that's a first and worthy of a mention I thought. Well the day arrived and so did we, meeting at the Bewl car park at 08:00am on Sunday and what a sight greeted us. The mist was coming in off the hills and settling on the water, proper sexy look about it and fair got the imagination running riot about monsters hidden in its depths.
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| The View from one of the bays towards the nature reserve. |
Apparently you are not allowed to fish this area El Capitan...Oooops!
Well with all the boats loaded and everyone agreed that the best course of action was to go straight up the ressie towards the moored boats "El Capitan" Richard Gibson was the last to leave and went in the opposite direction. I asked him why and he said cos every other feckers going that way so we'll go the other way. I know he spent 10 years in Ireland so he must know a bit about this boat lark so "El Capitan" had his own way. We headed down to the far distant bay and on route I had my first fish which fell to a trolled lure that I had messed around with setting up differently the day before. I was liking this boat lark. Then Once in the bay we trolled about picking up likely areas on the Finder
I had another fish which this time fell to a trolled deadbait. It put up a scrappy fight and came, like the first fish from about 40ft. Richard then had a lump on which he lost this was followed by one from me which I lost. I then received a text from Andy Larkins asking how we had been getting on and that he hadn't had a touch. I told him I had had two and lost one and Richard had just lost one. After a lengthy pause I received the following text
"Where are you?"
Fecking Bewl Water thats where Larkins now jog on lol. Cor he should know thems the rules and not to give your pike fishing secrets up. Didn't work though as it wasn't long before we spied a boat with a dodgy looking driver edging closer and closer to us. The boy Larkins had found us! Still there was bags of room down that end of the lake and as we had found a huge shoal of coarse fish we wasn't going anywhere. The day ended all to soon with Richard getting a fish that saw him shouting at me to get the net then getting me to reel in the rods then telling me to put em back out again as it wasn't as big as he thought it was lol. In all fairness though on a lake I can generally tell what a fish goes long before I see it as can most of you but I had no idea what was on the end half the time. They certainly fight differently on a "ressie" thats for sure.
On the way back towards the Jetty we saw Andy and Nick and found out from them that they had a couple, I knew that Andy Larkins had had one. No one had heard from the Griffiths boys or Pete and Mike but by this time I had had 4 and lost 1 and also had a 2lb trout so I was in with a shout for the cup. Nah! surely not lol. We carried on and I threw my lure out for a last ditch cast before we returned and got smashed by another pike. I have to say it wasn't the biggest fish but was by far the scrappiest little bleeder I've ever had, it would not come out from under the boat. Fish landed, surely that would be it.
Back to the Jetty for the count up..............Yep I had it! A years bragging rights which I fully intend to use (mainly at the boy Larkins for the hell I had to endure over his 27lber) It was a great day which I think was enjoyed by all. It was good I think for some of us to come out of our comfort zones and try something different for a change. I hope to get back there soon and certainly wouldn't complain if it was to become a regular feature for us as a region.
For this rig I used a Trolling vane. Its important that the vane matches the lure being used. In this case the 30g vane matched the 5" Professor Lure perfectly. The vane is an important bit of kit as it keeps the lure down where you want it. In my case on that day it was fished between 30 and 40 foot. The length of flouro was used so that as we were trolling along I was able to work the rod forward in a jigging sorta motion. This allowed the lure to flutter back into position under the normal troll. it is important to note that the length of line from trolling vane to lure must not exceed your rod length by any vast amount or you will have trouble netting your fish as the vane isn't going to pass through any tip eye I have ever seen lol.
There are several ways that you can achieve the depth that you want. The first is to mark your line every 10ft and feed it out to the depth that you require. I added or subtracted line as I saw fit using the depth finder or by looking at the angle of my bottom rig line as it left the rod tip and entered the water (more about that later)
Dont forget to add more line than required as the lure will rise in the water the faster you go. Depth plus 20% worked for me.
This rig is the main one that I used to get the depths and also to enable me to effectively fish the lure rod at the depth I wanted. It is simplicity itself. Mainline attaches to a John Roberts boom and off the end of that I used a quick link attached to my trace which was 30lb Carboflex. The business end consisted of a large single hook that the large deadbait was mounted to through the bottom of the mouth and two size 4 trebles mounted in the tail root and the flank. I used a single as the baits are large and soft and it was more secure and gives a better action as its moving through the water. The only other addition I made was to add a Mepps Spinner to the trace as an added attractant right in front of the deadbaits nose. The rig was finished off with a 2ft length of 12lb mono as a rotton bottom attached to the other end of the JR Boom and a 3oz lead attached to that.
Drop the whole lot over the side and count it down. You can verify the depth on the finder but its not the end of the world if you haven't got one. If your in 40ft of water let more line out this ensures that your line isn't straight up and down and that it is situated off the stern of the boat. As you move into deeper water you will notice that the angle of line from the rod tip to the water becomes steeper and as you move into shallower water the line points further back towards the back of the boat. With practice you can gauge the depth using this method and just use the finder as a confirmation. Depending on what the line is doing on this rod governs the action you take on your lure rod. Reel it in a few feet if your dead bait line is shallow or let it out a few feet if its on a steep angle.
With both methods its wise to set your baitrunner so that it just stops turning. That way should you pick up any weed or debris then you will get a couple of turns and an audible noise. You will not confuse this with the ZIP..ZIP..ZZIIIIIIIIIIP! from a "fish on" lol
These rigs are not the be all and end all and like all fishing there are many variations. If this numpty can do it I'm sure other trolling novices can. Its not hard and can be very rewarding.........and there's always that thought in the back of your mind that the next tug can be the hawg of your dreams!
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| Richard "El Capitan" Gibson. |
"Where are you?"
Fecking Bewl Water thats where Larkins now jog on lol. Cor he should know thems the rules and not to give your pike fishing secrets up. Didn't work though as it wasn't long before we spied a boat with a dodgy looking driver edging closer and closer to us. The boy Larkins had found us! Still there was bags of room down that end of the lake and as we had found a huge shoal of coarse fish we wasn't going anywhere. The day ended all to soon with Richard getting a fish that saw him shouting at me to get the net then getting me to reel in the rods then telling me to put em back out again as it wasn't as big as he thought it was lol. In all fairness though on a lake I can generally tell what a fish goes long before I see it as can most of you but I had no idea what was on the end half the time. They certainly fight differently on a "ressie" thats for sure.
On the way back towards the Jetty we saw Andy and Nick and found out from them that they had a couple, I knew that Andy Larkins had had one. No one had heard from the Griffiths boys or Pete and Mike but by this time I had had 4 and lost 1 and also had a 2lb trout so I was in with a shout for the cup. Nah! surely not lol. We carried on and I threw my lure out for a last ditch cast before we returned and got smashed by another pike. I have to say it wasn't the biggest fish but was by far the scrappiest little bleeder I've ever had, it would not come out from under the boat. Fish landed, surely that would be it.
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| The "Champ" (Ed's Note: Wrong "C" word IMHO) |
Back to the Jetty for the count up..............Yep I had it! A years bragging rights which I fully intend to use (mainly at the boy Larkins for the hell I had to endure over his 27lber) It was a great day which I think was enjoyed by all. It was good I think for some of us to come out of our comfort zones and try something different for a change. I hope to get back there soon and certainly wouldn't complain if it was to become a regular feature for us as a region.
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| The motley band of pikers! |
The Rigs
I have no idea what everyone was using on the day but have included for anyone's information the two rigs that I was using. No guarantees that it will work for you but on that day it worked for me but that's fishin'!!!
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| The Trolling Lure Rig |
For this rig I used a Trolling vane. Its important that the vane matches the lure being used. In this case the 30g vane matched the 5" Professor Lure perfectly. The vane is an important bit of kit as it keeps the lure down where you want it. In my case on that day it was fished between 30 and 40 foot. The length of flouro was used so that as we were trolling along I was able to work the rod forward in a jigging sorta motion. This allowed the lure to flutter back into position under the normal troll. it is important to note that the length of line from trolling vane to lure must not exceed your rod length by any vast amount or you will have trouble netting your fish as the vane isn't going to pass through any tip eye I have ever seen lol.
There are several ways that you can achieve the depth that you want. The first is to mark your line every 10ft and feed it out to the depth that you require. I added or subtracted line as I saw fit using the depth finder or by looking at the angle of my bottom rig line as it left the rod tip and entered the water (more about that later)
Dont forget to add more line than required as the lure will rise in the water the faster you go. Depth plus 20% worked for me.
 | |
| Dead Bait Bottom Bouncer |
This rig is the main one that I used to get the depths and also to enable me to effectively fish the lure rod at the depth I wanted. It is simplicity itself. Mainline attaches to a John Roberts boom and off the end of that I used a quick link attached to my trace which was 30lb Carboflex. The business end consisted of a large single hook that the large deadbait was mounted to through the bottom of the mouth and two size 4 trebles mounted in the tail root and the flank. I used a single as the baits are large and soft and it was more secure and gives a better action as its moving through the water. The only other addition I made was to add a Mepps Spinner to the trace as an added attractant right in front of the deadbaits nose. The rig was finished off with a 2ft length of 12lb mono as a rotton bottom attached to the other end of the JR Boom and a 3oz lead attached to that.
Drop the whole lot over the side and count it down. You can verify the depth on the finder but its not the end of the world if you haven't got one. If your in 40ft of water let more line out this ensures that your line isn't straight up and down and that it is situated off the stern of the boat. As you move into deeper water you will notice that the angle of line from the rod tip to the water becomes steeper and as you move into shallower water the line points further back towards the back of the boat. With practice you can gauge the depth using this method and just use the finder as a confirmation. Depending on what the line is doing on this rod governs the action you take on your lure rod. Reel it in a few feet if your dead bait line is shallow or let it out a few feet if its on a steep angle.
With both methods its wise to set your baitrunner so that it just stops turning. That way should you pick up any weed or debris then you will get a couple of turns and an audible noise. You will not confuse this with the ZIP..ZIP..ZZIIIIIIIIIIP! from a "fish on" lol
These rigs are not the be all and end all and like all fishing there are many variations. If this numpty can do it I'm sure other trolling novices can. Its not hard and can be very rewarding.........and there's always that thought in the back of your mind that the next tug can be the hawg of your dreams!
