Summing up January. (COLD!!!!!)

Right so its February 2015 already!!! Crazy, what happened to January?? Time doesn't half go quick as you get older. The sad thing is I can some up my fishing from January in just a short post. I really didn't get out on the bank much in January due to a number of reasons. My main point to summarise January though was it was bloody cold!!

With the temperatures being up and down over the last month or so it does make it difficult to know what to fish for. With that in mind I always tend to stick to the more obliging species at this time of year such as Chub,Perch and Pike. These three species I have found you can catch on even the coldest of days. For some unknown reason though I have had a desire to catch a Carp over the last couple of weeks and have targeted them on a pond not far from my house.

The sessions I have done over the last couple of weeks for Carp though have not be successful to say the least. On the days when the pond wasn't frozen and I could actually fish bites were very hard to come by. Even though I tried a number of different tactics such as Zigs, Maggots and Single pop-ups nothing could get the fish going. When I finally did hook a fish it managed to tear off into a snag and ditch the hook! That's fishing for you and I guess that big Carp is going to have to wait for another day.

So the only real memorable session to speak of was one down my local river Exe in search of Pike. I always keep my sessions short at this time of year as find the best feeding time for the Pike is just before dark. So at about 3 pm one afternoon I jumped in the car and headed to an area of the river I felt certain would hold a few Pike. I wasn't wrong either because the very first cast was met with a savage take within just a couple of minutes of being in the water. A cheeky 9 pounder was the culprit and a welcome start to the session. I tried up and down the river for the next hour or so, dropping my float fished dead bait into any likely looking areas.

It was an area of slightly faster flowing water were I found my next fish. A slow an jagged take was met with solid resistance and I knew straight away it was a better fish. The fish thought really hard and deep for the time of year before giving up in the margin. It wasn't an absolute monster but looked a mid-double. I weighed the fish in at a little over 13 lb then slipped her back into the depths of the Exe. The session was not going badly at all. With about 15 minutes of light left I quickly re-cast full of anticipation. 

The next cast was also met with a take and the kind of take that just makes me love Pike fishing. The float just was sitting pretty on the edge of the flow then in an instant bombed under and powered off up the river. Classic stuff. The fish had some power too and battled out in the faster flowing part of the river for a while. It then shot a long my own margin before flying out of the water! Its quite unusual for Pike to tail walk like that at this time of year, but this fish knew all the tricks.  So after this crazy battle I got the fish in the net to reveal another high single. The light was now gone and it was time to go but it had been a fun session. 

So that's it really for January, lets hope February brings some nicer weather and some better fishing!

13 lb River Exe Pike

Tight Lines!!!