pike and perch.co.uk

I went out 4:30am saturday to try my luck on the river.  On my arrival it looked low and not exactly full of life, i chucked out a handful of maggots and a few silver fish had a nibble.   So on went a worm to trot down the far margin to see if anything good was out there.   On the forth or fifth trot i managed a nice chub to about a pound, and shortly after another followed suit and then all went dead.  Not even the maggots were catching.  So i thought it about time a deadbait went out to a very tasty looking spot. 

An hour later and i was on the move as it just looked dead where i was, barely any movement and i was questioning myself as to whether or not i was in the right spot.  I went down river about 80-100 metres where i’d seen quite a few tiddlers jumping clear of the water.  Out went two deads but again to no avail.  They were cast in different locations throughout the morning but i couldn’t buy a bite!   So unfortunately i went home later that day totally deflated.

Not to worry too much though as i went out last night and managed a jack on the first cast of a dead on ‘the’ lake, shortly after my buddy managed a perch of about a pound and then i bagged another pike around 6-7lb.  Not bad considering we’d only been there for 3 hours in the evening and the day before i’d wasted about 8 hours chasing not very much on the river.  Fingers crossed we’ll get some decent rain soon and bring the river back to life.  Until then i think i’ll stay on the lakes!  Not many stripeys were about but it was very windy down there so maybe that is something to watch out on future trips… never thought to much about the location of stripeys when there is strong winds, but thats twice its happened now!

Hmm!   

Pike Floats working out expensive for you too….? Well a few months ago i thought to myself about following others and making my own pike floats for deadbait fishing and also for bob floats for when livebaiting.

First up were deadbait floats, and i even impressed myself!  I purchased a few strips of balsa doweling 3/4″ from the local art and craft shop.  I think 3 strips were £1.80.  Enough to make six floats as each was 12″ long.   I cut them all in half and with some fine sandpaper began to round off the ends.  This took little more than 5 minutes per float.  After half an hour they were all ready for painting.   I drilled a tiny hole in each and inserted a size 8 swivel ( next time i will try 10′s ) Then after supergluing them tight I painted the entire float with white exterior glass that we had lying about in the garage and left them to dry for the night.  The next morning i masking taped them at the approxiamate half way point of the float, and proceeded to painted orange tops to them with some day-glo acrylic paint i found for £1.50 for a tube.  I barely used any in painting them all.   Another day went by to let them set and i coated them from head to toe in exterior gloss varnish £4.99 a pot ( plenty to easily do atleast a 100 floats ). 

I was astonished at just how easy the whole process was.  And cost savings that are unbelievable!  A normal pike deadbait float retails at around £2. 

My costs were :
- Piece of balsa required for float 30p
- Swivel 10p
- Paint   5p worth of dayglo orange (estimated – probably even less)
- Exterior Vanish 5p (estimated on amount used)

Total cost – 50p  

I think you will agree that it is more than worthwhile to try it yourself!  Let me know how you get on and i will try to post pictures soon! 

Next week i’m going to try making my own pike bob float, for paternoster and roving livebait rigs!!!