Pike virgin

[Charlton Smoothhound]

Fed up with wasting money trying to catch non existent cod so I'm moving to the darkside (freshwater that is) in search of my first Pike. I'm thinking of trying Llangorse but not really sure where to go. Is it any good there? The Wye has been mentioned as being good but what's the score on permits etc? Any other good venues / advice welcome (dayticket preferably). Would rather spin/plug than deadbait but open to anything.Ta.

[steve w]

Try Symonds Yat,good piking there up to 10 pike a day,I've been told you can buy a day ticket from the pub,by the canoe hire shops carpark.I used to fish it on a Newport season ticket,which was very reasonable,my best day was on plugs(orange Big S)with 7 doubles.

[blankerman]

the severn is supposedly good for them,though never tried myself.around tewkesbury area you have mostly season and day tickets,but there is a few free areas.one area that is free is uckinghall/ripple.you go through the village and into a car park on your left.the free stretch runs up to the m50 from there.there was platforms made by the environment agency,but some have slipped or gone in the summer floods.you can get some decent zander there as well.
for day tickets try danters in tewkesbury,this will allow you to fish tewkesbury ham (which has many platforms) and weir,plus a part of the avon and the back avon.
if you go to lower lode,you can fish a small area in front of the car park for free.to the left is the boat house,which charges about £3 a rod,but do know a few come off there and know of 2 good doubles this year.further to the left is a guaa sign saying members only,it is an old sign and they don't have that field any more.their swims don't start until the next field.beware though,it is very snaggy in places and still tidal,with the water rising up to 5-6ft in a short space of time on spring tides,but has many good holding areas for many species.the fish seem to have more fight in them on this stretch.

[mogon]

try wobbling a dead bait?cast it out and slowly retrive it letting it rise and sink stand well back from the water and always retrive right up to the edge you can use a small amount of bait elastic to sercure them on.ive had pike upto 24lb using this tactic,also if the waters got some colour in it a large ondex spinner is good.
bri.

[Charlton Smoothhound]

Thanks for the suggestions. Keep em coming. Symonds Yat sounds good.

[SuperBassMaster]

come down to pembs, ive just got back from a days piking on a 5er dayticket water, had 5 pike to 14lbs, had 5 on thursday 2 14lb10ozs too!!

and bosherston is even better if you catch it right. best to go with some1 who has been before to avoid deephooking and killing fish tho and to avoid gettin hurt urself. drop me a line in the new year

[mountain man]

llangorse can have its day, fairly easy fishing off a boat wobbling dead baits, m8 has had loads of doubles recently all on dead baits, used to fish it regular years ago, biggest was a tad short of 20lb, used to find the best places were in the bays in about 17- 20ft deep with either live- dead baits 3-4ft off the botom

[Black bart]

there is an article in this months boat fishing monthly about fishing llangorse using your own boat, you can get a day ticket from the adjacent camp office , call them on 01874 658226 according to the article , a very good article , showing the slip way and how to fish the lake , the slip is spot on , the author is using his own sea hog samuri and says the cost is £4 per day , pike have been caught up to 25lb . it also has a bar , shop and tackle shop on site , sounds too good to be true , wish i was a bit closer, i would be there every weekend,
got me thinking about the same thing as you, i have done a bit of fresh water pike fishing from the bank but would like to try from my own boat, checking out the lakes in north wales at the moment,
if you try it let me know how you get on, might travel down there for a weekend with the boat,
p.s nice pics mate,

[glandyman]

Thanks for the suggestions. Keep em coming. Symonds Yat sounds good.

Try Ponsticill at Merthyr, info on website


www.mtaa.co.uk

[SuperBassMaster]

went piking fri an sat at bosherstone, had a 14lb 11oz fish friday and 2 jacks,
sat had a 15lb 9oz pike and 1 of 8lbs ish. it fishing well at mo, had doubles every trip since october.

went to llangorse 5 of us on boats, had 4 jacks best 4lbs it was pants. all had on wobbled dead brown trout near the bottom. beware if you go and hire a boat u have to supply your own engine they got none

[Rob]

beware if you go and hire a boat u have to supply your own engine they got none

Oh yes! The best fishing is at the other end of the lake from the slipway, away from the waterskiers and it's a VERY long way to row a boat, an outboard is a must have if you fish Langorse. There are pike at the near end but they are small as you discovered. ;)

[SuperBassMaster]

no we had engines i knew this, but the bigger pike were not to be found, we fished all the hotspots inc the deeper water with the dropoff on the point and near all the reeds. they just werent playing that day. benn pike fishing since i was 4 and was part of an experienced group, we even had portable fishfinders to locate preyfish and deep areas, we could see the big arcs on the finder of big pike under balls of roach or bream but they cant of been hungry :nono: