Monday 29 November 2010

River Dee Crocs

Finally winter is here! Happy why I hear you cry! Because I can finally start catching fish!! I’ve reached that stage in my angling where what ever species I want to target I know a venue that suits my specimen needs. Some far away and some on my very door step, and on my door step is where I have been the past couple of weeks on Dee.

I do love fishing my local venues and my aim this winter is my first 20lb Pike out of the Dee, now this is a very realistic target because there are plenty in the Dee its just catching them.


Mink tracks


To get my head into the Pike fishing I decided to fish a non pressured area away from most people so I could get to grips with avoiding the trebles and the Pikes teeth. The Dee was just coming down in level after a flood though and the banks were very slippery, learning from my mistakes boots were put on straight away.

Apart from its Pike, Dace is the firm favourite of a lot of the anglers in winter on the Dee, as there’s plenty in the area.


Perfect for live baiting

To be honest I was enjoying fishing for the Dace more than the Pike, keep hitting that same spot with the maggot feeder and they crawl up the line, even put up a half decent fight if you let them.


Surprise Grayling catch on the maggot feeder


So the Pike, I had a really good first session managing to bag one of around 7/8lb


7/8lb Dee Pike


Which also gave me a bit of bother which resulted in this


Hazards of the job


And for my troubles and pain I was rewarded with this


13lb8oz, I’m always happy to catch double because they do put up a great fight.


The following week was once again going to be spent out on the Dee in search of the treasures it holds. Unfortunately Wrexham was hit with snow on the Friday evening and I wasn’t sure if I would have to give up a weekend on my quest.


Sure was a cold start

As you can see from the picture above I did go out fishing!! I,ve always wanted a really nice photo of a Pike in the snow so I couldn’t just sit back in the house. Although I think that’s what most people did because this very popular area was deserted.


I’m starting to hate swans more than cows now! Nasty little devils

I wasn’t alone for long though and sure enough the place was getting very busy. Match men lined the far bank and went about drawing peg numbers (“IT’S A 6, NNOOO ITS NOT THAT’S A 9, IT CANT BE A 9 BECAUSE I HAVE 9”…..) I do hate sharing.



Dace live bait doing its job perfectly

I spent the morning enjoying my Dace fishing with a float out in the margins for the Pike, It’s rather tricky to watch the quiver tip for the Dace and the float for the Pike and when my Pike float shot away from the surface its all hands on deck! For its size it put up a fantastic fight, but my aim for the day was a Pike in the snow and irrelevant of the size here she is.


That’s what we like!! Smiles from me and the Pike


Not long after catching this Pike I ended up moving to the area I fished last week hoping that less angling pressure could mean some extra fish, but as soon as I arrived it just didn’t feel right and I felt I should have been back where I started. I gave the area a couple of hours anyway because you never know, had some dinner (which I’ll tell you about later) and went back to the other stretch.


Lovely deep margins for the Pike to work their way up and down

I fished the last hour of daylight in a tasty looking swim with some overhanging trees and listened to the match men’s antics a little longer. Interestingly the match was won with almost 30lb of silver fish!! Why stay in bed or at home with weather like this you should be fishing!

Well I didn’t catch anything else, the Pike just didn’t seem with it. The week before I was constantly getting runs and this time around it’s as if the Pike stayed in bed.

Right next week! My mate Chris is coming up from Portsmouth to visit his family so he’s getting dragged onto the banks Pike fishing!! Haven’t decided were we are going yet because it all depends on conditions, lets just hope the fishing continues to be just as good and I can get my hands on a 20!

Until next time


A new found winter warmer! Chicken soup and a packet of super noodles, Quality

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