Friday, October 12, 2012

Secret squirrels and red herrings

I've never met a pike angler I don't know worth his salt when out fishing who has ever caught anything more than 'a couple of jacks'. Not even when I've watched them from a distance as they landed a good fish or the weigh sling is drying out beside them. Come to think of it I can't recall admitting to much more when quizzed myself!

Keeping quiet about what you are catching is part and parcel of pike fishing because of the nature of the fish. For one thing there are never as many pike per acre of water as there might be other fish. For another they don't all feed every day. You can have a good catch of barbel from a swim and do equally well in it the following day. Try that with pike and it's a case of rapidly diminishing returns. Either the pike move, or they stop feeding.

If you find feeding pike, on a daily basis or over a period of time, it's a good idea to keep it as quiet as you can or someone else will undoubtedly plunder your horde. Some people see this as selfish. I suppose it is. But when you've put time and effort into finding the pike it seems equally selfish for someone to take advantage of your efforts, and catch 'your' fish - thereby preventing you from catching them.

Given the growth of blogging among anglers, and pikers using forums and Facebook there are more prying eyes on the lookout for titbits of information about where's hot for a few pike. That's why some old school pikers who blog post a lot less during the winter months, and why many pikers never post photos of fish (unless they'd photoshopped out the background). As a blogging piker there are two ways to try and preserve your fishing. The simplest is to say nothing at all. The other is to tell the truth, but not the whole truth!

In other words, as I have my pike head back on, there might not be much to read here until spring. And what is posted might need to be taken with a pinch of salt!