Starting up: Pike

I did some pike fishing in Crummock water and Loweswater, although some times unintentionally! To explain, I was targeting perch with a spinner in Crummock one afternoon in June, using a tiny N1 spinner on my ultralight setup and after a while I was surprised at the lack of perch at that particular spot. That spot had given fish almost every time I fished it! On the next cast and with the spinner nearing the shore, I got the answer.. A nice pike attacked my lure and after a monumental fight on my gear was landed.This was the first and last pike I caught in that lake! I had more success in Loweswater, were with the proper pike gear I managed to get some more around the 8lb mark.
All came from spots near lilly pads and at stream mouths..


Its a jungle down there!

The equipment I use for pike is: Shimano Beastmaster 8-9ft, 14-40gr casting weight paired with an Abu Garcia Soron 40, filled with Berkley Nanofil 0.12mm and finished with a titanium trace from Dragon (9kg). The most successfull lure was the Savagear Soft 4play at 13 cm.

Thanks for reading

Starting up: perch

Later in summer when the trout were starting to become hard to catch, I started focusing on the perch of Crummock water and Loweswater and the results were pretty good with some sessions seeing more than 15 fish caught and at times I was caching them at my feet! The fish weren't very big, as should be expected from these deep glacial lakes but plentiful and topping 600g.

 

The most successful technique was the dropshot. And the most productive lures proved to be the Lake Fork 2.25" live baby shad and the Dichoso 2.25" Umiushi Worm. The hooks I used were either size 6-4 mosquito hooks or size 4-2 sickle octopus on 3lb fluorocarbon mainline. Due to the very snaggy ground I didn't use standard dropshot leads but incorporated the special swivel with a weak-link to a standard sinker. Moreover, at the end of the season I switched the lead for a mini-pilk as the fish needed some persuasion...

Thhe dropshot rig I used.. Not so dear...!
 

 

I will finish with some more photos of these beautiful perch..

Thanks for reading!