Pike on the Feeder

A strange thing happened on a days Barbel & Chub fishing on the River Swale near Topcliffe, Thirsk.

Just out of Topcliffe (near Thirsk North Yorkshire) and on the River Swale is an old converted mill that sits on the banks of the River Swale and a superb weir pool.

The weir pool is renowned for excellent fishing and Great Days of Barbel, Chub, Roach, Perch, Dace and many other river fish.

There are also a good number of excellent Pike, but on this particular occasion, I was targeting the Barbel & Chub.

My method was a nice sized dendrobaena worm with an open end plastic feeder stuffed with a nondescript ground bait that I'd added a good collection of chopped corn & maize, chopped dendrobaena and a little red colour just for good measure. Normally on a river like the Swale, I'd use a wire cage feeder, but I only had the one with me and I'd already lost it to a snag...!

After a brace of Chub of 2lb to 3lb, I missed a clonking good bite. A real 'wrap around' of the rod tip. Muttering to myself as to 'how the hell did I miss that?'. I wound in, only to have my feeder hit by a good sized pike. After a brief tussle, it let go and I retrieved my rig.

The same thing happened on the next two retrieves, so I set up another rod with a lure and tried my hand... Zip, nothing, it simply wanted the feeder which was light translucent green in colour.

It should be noted that I did not lose my hook on any of these attacks which further confirmed that the Pike had a Feeder Fetish...!

So, not to be out-done, I spent a little time rigging the feeder with a wire spinning trace and a size 8 barbless treble hook.

With the rest of the rig pretty much unchanged, I cast out to where I'd been before and just before the rig 'touched down', retrieved at about the same speed as before... Nothing happened and nothing happened for another three or four casts.

Then a thumping good good bend in the rod signified that the Pike had returned. After one good attempt to bury itself in the very snaggy area near the weir head, I turned the pike and fairly quickly played it out to draw it over the net a few minutes later.

Not massive at just over 9lb's (I had thought it was bigger earlier) but certainly a turn up for the books. It just goes to show that a little innovation can often make the difference.

Didn't get any Barbel, but a good day none-the-less...