Successful reservoir piking, a time to think tactics. By James Gardner

I hate being proved wrong -who doesn't. However this season I've been forced to eat humble pie and have a rethink. The venue is Bough Beech reservoir in Kent, a place many will remember from a decade ago when it was producing some monster pike to over 40 pounds. Despite not having received any stocked trout for over 5 years, through some excellent fishery management it has become one of the premier venues in the area.

The fishery suits my methods. I like big waters and boat fishing, especially trolling with livebaits. I've always thought that during autumn and early winter trolling is unbeatable and thought on the odd day those on terra firma may catch more, overall my results would be much better. The warm water at this time of year combined with good visibility should give my searching methods a strong edge. I believe in taking the bait to the pike rather than setting a trap. I'm also a terrible fidget and soon get bored of sitting quietly waiting for the buzzer to sound. My great friend Andy Lush once described me as being like a caged tiger, incessantly walking up and down behind the rods waiting for something to happen. He says it gives him a headache just watching me.

My first season in the syndicate saw everything go to plan. A dozen twenties in as many trips and numerous doubles -a happier man would have been hard to find. I love it when I'm proved right.

So why do the pike have to be so bloody minded and kick you in the teeth when you're certain that you can't fail. The water conditions were perfect at the start of this season. The fishery had been opened a few days before I arrived back from sturgeon fishing in Canada so a call to “Walkerman” Andy Walker was made to see what had been happening. Apparently the opening day had seen gale force winds blowing so strongly that boat fishing was impossible. He had been forced to drown deadbaits from the bank near the jetty. Two good twenties to 28lbs as well as other fish were his reward, with another twenty the following day to the same tactics. And he wasn’t the only one catching as others near him and also on the dam were “doing the business”. Such was my confidence that I reasoned that the big girls would be queuing up to say hello to me. How could they resist a trolled livebait if they were willing to pick up a smelly old dead lying on the bottom?

Well I was partly right as there were no end of pike waiting to intercept the trout livelies. Ten to twenty takes a day was the norm. However the average size was much lower than I either expected or wanted. Jacks and mid doubles came to the boat with a total lack of bigger fish and to rub salt into the wound “the bankers” (I think that's what I called them) were still getting twenties, although their catch rate was much slower.

So did I swallow my pride and join them? I just couldn't bring myself to do it. The thought of having to compete for the going swims and ending the day caked in mud were sufficient deterrents to keep me in the boat. Also I couldn't see how I could do things any different to those already bank fishing. I would just be joining the crowds with no "edge" at all.

The situation continued for about 3 weeks until slowly the scales swung in my favor. The runs to deadbaits slowed right down with blanks becoming normal and while my catch rate was also reduced some of the bigger fish came my way.

So why did this situation happen? The area of bank from which the fish were being caught has a very obvious feature, being deep close to the bank with depths of 30 feet a gentle cast away. The prey fish were packed into this area along a stretch of bank of about 150 yards. There were so many fry that often my sounder was unable to pick up the bottom, showing only 10 feet when I knew I was in 20 plus. They must have been packed in like sardines. At one time there were over 40 grebes working this small area and even coots were diving in the margins and eating the fry. No wonder the pike were resident. The fish that were caught were mostly extremely fat and spewing up 1-2 inch roach and perch. Certainly not all the pike were in this area as I was catching plenty of fish from elsewhere, but the bigger fish were present in greater numbers here than elsewhere and didn’t seem to stray very far.

When you're being consistently out fished it's important to stand back and work out why. Look at what you're doing different and try to “think like the fish”. At first I reasoned that since there were always bank anglers present I couldn’t get close to the really hot area and so was not fishing where I should. This was proved wrong after a couple of midweek sessions when nobody else was on the water. Fishing near the bank saw great action, I even had a fish on each of the three rods at the same time, but again only doubles. It's amazing that the pike could target my bait in amongst tens of thousands of others, but they obviously have no trouble finding the weak and injured. Other obvious differences were the fact that the bait was moving and also the use of livebaits. Fishing dead slow on the troll just reduced my catch rate and trolled deads they wouldn't touch at all. Bait size went through my mind but I could see no reason why doubles which were fry feeding would take 6 inch trout and no bigger. It may have just been that there was just so much food around that the fish weren't particularly hungry. A static dead takes no effort to find and eat so was more acceptable than my baits, rather like after Christmas dinner there is always room for one more chocolate but I wouldn't eat it if I had to walk to the shops to buy it first.

After the first few weeks I suspect that everybody’s catch rate reduced due to the pressure we were putting the fish under. The first 4 weeks saw over 50 twenties and two thirties caught. The pike were still present but falling water temperatures and sore mouths making them more cautious and less active. Perhaps I still caught as the livebaits looked far more natural. The reservoir doesn't see too many runs of mackerel, sardines or smelt! Who knows the answer but I suppose the moral is that at times it is better to copy others and always be flexible in how you fish. It's either that or just ignore everybody else and fish as you enjoy most. It's up to you.

James Gardner