Traditional rods for pike

[Mr B]

I have a nice 9ft Dawsons Of Bromley Burley.
I haven't landed a fish on it yet but lost a good one a few weeks ago (got my hook back)
Its a powerful rod and quit stiff but I was surprised by the nice bend it took on before the Pike come off. Only hadnit on for about 5 seconds.
Nice rod to have in your armoury
Mr B

There's my Burly in the foreground with my other favourite behind it, both Pike fishing..
The classy un named rod in the background will be reviled with a Pike as soon as it is christened.. coupled with a nice DAM reel
Mr B
A good moody day.

[Riparian]

I'm intrigued by the traditional rod rest in the foreground. Have you had it long?

[Mr B]

I'm intrigued by the traditional rod rest in the foreground. Have you had it long?

No, not that one its first season... I have quite a few like that, dead easy to find...Ash, Hazel, and Cherry , or whatever takes your fancy, I like a big V or a U at the top.

Mr B

[Silfield]

As the topic has shifted to the size of pike a rod might have to deal with, here is another aspect of the matter that has long puzzled me. For about 50 years, I have fished for pike (though not exclusively) in almost every winter, here in the fens. In all that time, I have encountered just one 20-pound fish, and that was from a gravel pit. I'm always intrigued as to how others seem to catch these monsters in some numbers.

Admittedly, I'm happy with any pike on the day, and perhaps that's my problem. But it does seem odd!

I have fished the Fens nearly every winter since the early nineties and have had six twenties best 22lb 7oz from three different drains.My mate has had a 27.Fenland twenties are very rare creatures especially since the Eastern European invasion.
The Fens are a vast network of drains large and small,I'm sure there are some huge Pike lurking in some isolated drains.Location,location,thats the name of the game.If I ever get a Fenland thirty that would be the pinnacle of my angling life.

In my late teens I remember getting a call from a friend who's parents had a large garden that was virtually surrounded by dykes leading to Ormesby Broad, which at the time was the place to go Pike fishing. He stated that there was a huge Pike in the dyke and I should come and try to catch it. On getting there we went to its last location and there it was just wallowing in the water. It was certainly the biggest I had ever seen and looked as long as the dyke was wide. I didnt cast a line to it as it seemed a bit like shooting fish in a barrel but found out later that it weighed a shade over 26lb, the temptation being too great for my mate!
After capture it did move off but only about a hundred yards nearer to the Broad, still in a small dyke but at least it could turn round more easily. Whenever I saw it over the next couple of years it looked in lovely condition so had not taken up residence in the dyke due to ill health or because of damage which was my concern.

[Grumpy]

Pike can be found in the strangest places,I have seen good ones in water that barely covered their backs,tucked tight to the bank in shallow,fast flowing rivers,even under small beds of bankside nettles.If undisturbed, Pike will take up residence where their needs for food and shelter are met.
I remember reading in Fred Bullers book "Pike" about their dietary requirements.Apparently a Pike only has to eat its own bodyweight a year to maintain that weight and condition.So a 20lb one only has to eat 20lb of food a year which equates to approx one 2lb Bream a month.Obviously,to put on weight this amount has to increase.
Pike really are an enigma at times,that's why I enjoy fishing for them so much.

[Greentura]

LRH, close range dead baits and bigger lures, Chapmans Two piece Dennis Pye is a monster stopper but only lightly more than the Dennis Pye 700 or basic 700. Dawson’s ‘Burley’, shorter but still a formidable weapon. Some of the Milwards spinning rods, Finmaster and Spincraft Major. I find Mk4’s, even S/U versions a bit soft for pike. J B Walkers of Newcastle made some great salmon rods that are nice too.

[Riparian]

The posts from Silfield and Grumpy bring back memories for me. I grew up on the edge of the Cambridgeshire fens, and as children we were allowed to spend the days wandering the fields. I was a fisherman by the age of ten, on the Great Ouse at Ely. One day I discovered there were pike in a small land drain by one of our favourite droves. Spotting them became an obsession for me though the other kids soon lost interest. Sometimes I would find several in an afternoon - I suppose they weighed up to five or six pounds. The drain was so small and shallow - a few feet wide and eighteen inches deep at the most - that I could never approach them without spooking them. I was completely mystified as to what they fed on; the only other fish I saw were sticklebacks and a dead eel.

Then, in the savage winter of 62/63 the drain was frozen solid for weeks on end. Sure enough, after the thaw there were dead pike, dead eels and, to my amazement, dead roach. I had never seen a roach in that water despite many hours looking into it.

Every summer an old man came and cleared that drain by hand, throwing the black smelly mud up onto the banks. To me he was almost as fascinating as the fish. A few years ago I found myself nearby and went to have a look. The drain hadn't been cleared in many years. It was overgrown and what water remained was foul and polluted by decades of agricultural run-off and blanket weed.

I think it was George Harrison who sang, "Isn't it a pity? Isn't it a shame?"

[Grumpy]

I know this is way off topic but yesterday I had the same experience as Riparian.I went to fish a small river that I had not been to for at least fifteen years.The swims I used to catch Roach,Chub and Gudgeon from were completely overgrown with scrub willow and alder.In places I could not get with twenty feet of the bank.After looking at three stretches I gave up in despair.I like overgrown places but this took the biscuit.
Off to another small backwater tomorrow,here's hoping.