Hard going on the 7th and 11th Jan

Martin had been wanting to go fishing for pike ASAP. The rivers though had other thoughts. Band upon band of rain came west and unloaded it’s moisture over the west country. I have seldom been so frustrated at watching the levels going up and down.

January the 7th provided a short spell of the river clearing in colour. The flow was still quite strong but I think we will endure this for a while.

Martin and I set off ready to meet the dawn on the river bank. We fished one stretch where there are some good pike to just over 20lb. He fished well using a dead bait and wobbling it through the swims looked very tempting. However the pike were not that interested. We saw one small pike take the bait but dropping it after Martin gave it line.

Then a little further downstream he hooked a pike of about 8lbs right under his feet. The fish fought well in the strong current and I was just about to net it when it dropped off.

We decide on a move to another stretch and again little came to investigate the dead bait.

At last Martin got a take and landed this small jack of about 4lbs.

Martin and his 4lb pike

We moved again however the pike gods were not with us and we ended the day at sunset.

Martin at sunset

With the continuing dry spell the Dorset Stour level was beginning to drop but very slowly. Andy and I decided to give it a try as the colour should be about right. Throop was the venue and we arrived at about 7.30am just as it was getting light.

Throop and a January sunrise

I showed Andy a banker swim where normally you get a good chub or 8. I’ve caught 6 chub or more in a couple of hours on most visits.

However this time after float fishing for 2 hours Andy had one chub of 4lbs 7oz and a trout to his credit. We decided to move after 3 hours to another swim. We had a good look around the stretch and decided on the Wendy House swim.

Wendy House swim

The weather was warm and layers needed to be removed as it was getting warmer.

Unfortunately the chub didn’t play ball at all on the float or swim feeder tactics. Hemp and maggots were bait droppered into both swims we were fishing to try and get them feeding.

Some good fish were caught a 18lb pike and a 12lb barbel so someone had a great days sport but sadly not us.

The only saving grace was me catching a pike of about 1lb on a boilie at dusk, still no blanking.

It’s been a difficult couple of months. I’m not alone many others have been finding it hard.