Pike fishing lesson with Tom

Tom came pike fishing with me on Coniston water a few months ago. We caught nothing but it was a nice day out. There were lots of small fish topping as it got light and we even saw a small pike chasing them. Tom learned a few things that day....the first being how difficult it can be to catch fish on the big glacial lakes of the lake district. We also tried making a wire trace or snap tackle as they're also known. Tom did very well and after I'd tested his trace for strength he kept his newly made pike trace. The method we used was Ledgering. We fished a deadbait (smelt/mackerel) and cast them a long way out to reach the drop-off where the lake gets much deeper. Pike like to hang around these places because its a good place to catch thier prey. Coniston is a massive lake and the fish can move around a lot so it makes sense to fish in many different areas to try and find the fish. We'd seen small fish rising all over so knew there were fish around and seeing the small pike chasing them only made us more confident. No bites came though, so we decided to move to a spot where I'd caught a nice fish the week before, but about an hour after casting in the farmer came and told us that we couldn't fish there and had to move. So we moved to another spot further up the lake for the last hour. Unfortunately this time we blanked....but I'm sure we'll be back soon.


Tom making a wire trace


Tom sets his drop-off bite indicator


Tom likes lamprey