Oxford pike

[j_shem]

Hi there.
New to the forum. My names Jamie and have started up course fishing from around June this year. Used to go lots when younger with my dad but in last few years been sea fishing ect.
Done lots of small lakes using method feeder and had some good days. Now it's getting colder. I have been pike fishing 3 times and not had any out.
3 of us went to milton pools in oxford, an my mate had a 15lb pike out. Which was good to see how to unhook ect. But only he caught that day.
I've been buying bits an bobs, got floats an lures an boom rigs ect.
Just wanted to ask if any one could give me a bit of advice where would be good to go. I walked up an down the iffley lock with lure last week but not sure if pike are in that bit. Also went to port meadows dead baiting. Walked right up from car park an fished on the corner past boat place.
Any help for a newbie piker would be nice please.

 

[dangermouse]

Hi Jamie, welcome to FM.

 

[agamemnon]

st. johns at linear is a great pike water and very much underfished. me and mate did a day session last year fishing with sardines we had 14 pike out before lunch time. the best part was the carp anglers coming over as our alarms kept going mental, the carp lads would see we was after pike and walk away in disgust

 

[j_shem]

Sounds good mate. Do you just pay on bank there?
Also did you have dead bait on the bottom or poped up? I did get some pop up sticks.
Thanks for the replie

 

[agamemnon]

just turn up and fish. the ballifs will come around to collect your money.
Richworth Linear Fisheries
the ballifs here will also give you decent info on how to catch unlike some waters.
i tend to fish with 2 baits hard on the bottom and 1 on a float. most of the pike from linear i have caught have come from being hard on the bottom though some times a red polly ball just above the bait works really well

 

[Jim Crosskey 2]

Jamie

Welcome to FM. There's stacks of pike in the thames, and fishing for them there will cost you a lot less than linear!! In fact, I think a littlemore AS ticket from Fat Phils will cost you less than a three-rod day at linear.

The difficulty with pike in the thames (pike anywhere in fact!) is finding them - which makes a mobile approach (certainly on your first few sessions) really effective. Also, my most productive method for locating pike is by not actually fishing for them... well not with one rod at least. If you use a static deadbait on a leger on one rod, fish a maggot feeder a few yards upstream of where you've case your deadbait. Pike will be attracted to the small fish that your feeder is drawing in, and will often snatch a small roach or perch as it's being retrieved... which lets you know that the area is worth giving some time to with the deadbait rod.

On the other hand, if you fish the maggot feeder rod for twenty minutes or half an hour without a twitch... then there's obviously less in the way of prey fish around, so what's in the location for the pike? Better to move on.

Some areas I'd have at around Oxford: the boat yard at the very bottom end of Port Meadow, on the Jericho side (or as close to it as you can get) by Rainbow bridge, in the winter here the silver fish congregate out of the main flow and the pike follow... Port Meadow has some MASSIVE pike in residence, when the river is running fast then I'd check out the slacks on the Binsey side, anywhere where the water runs slower than in the middle.

If you go with a mate, so much the better as you can cover a lot more ground with the mobile approach and maybe alternate where the maggot feeder goes (if you both kitted out, then maybe use three pike rods and one feeder rod and alternate where the feeder rod gets cast)

After a few really mobile sessions, you should build up a picture of where the pike tend to be located... then it's worth concentrating on different presentations and tweaking things.

One last point on bait.. for deadbait on the river thames, I'm a big fan of sprats. They're cheap (a bag of 20 costs about £1 in the supermarkets), they work well when they're frozen and despite being a small bait, i've caught some really big fish with them. Also, i think they mimic a dead bleak very closely which I'm sure is a staple for most thames pike.

The other thing you'll find about pike fishing is that eveyone's got their own ideas about it, so I suspect you'll hear more on this thread. However, i'd close by saying there's something really rather special about a big thames pike!

 

[Jeff Woodhouse]

What Jim says.

And - holes and slacks. At the moment the Thames is hammering through so a good chance to see where there is slack water, good for now, or if there is a huge boil in one particular area, usually a sign of a hole slightly upstream and a sheltered spot below it. Pike are lazy and will lie up a lot of the time behind weed or in a hole just waiting for an opportunity.

The Thames holds some magnificent pike though so no need to go chucking money at Milton pools. ODAA has lots of the Thames at a very affordable season price, ask in Fat Phils. You might also ask about the Weir's Mill Stream, Phil has day tickets for there or drop me a PM and I'll send you a freebie.

 

[j_shem]

Thanks for the posts.
Did try St. John's on Sunday. Had one small pike on a smelt all day. Was fishing on the bottom leadgering an did try a pop up stick too. Weed was a joke there. Getting caught up init loads.
As for port meadow. When I went, I parked in car park and walked right up the field past boat yard, an fished near the bend. There was a guy feeder fishing in the bit near car park where cows are. Is this the bit you mean? Stream comes under bridge there?
Defenlatly will try the feeder rod while dead bait on others.
Also what rig would you use? I caught on St. John's with just a float with a smelt 2 foot under, but with river this would just float off. I have got a couple of boom setups. One grays which has a up trace an the boom spins 360. Had a lead on bottom an float at top with a float stop.
Would this be good for river?
Thanks for your time an comments

 

[binka]

If you want to fix a bait in a flow under a float look up paternoster, it's a great method and don't be afraid to use 5oz leads on a rotten bottom (a separate, lighter link of line in case it gets snagged) and big bulky floats that won't get dragged under by the flow if that's what the swim dictates.

You'll soon know when a pike makes off with the lot.

 

[Alan Campbell]

Cheers Jim for the heads up. Membership for Littlemore Angling Society can be found at Littlemore Angling Society-Oxford's biggest angling club

Oxford & District AA

Medley, Wolvercote bathing (Port Meadow) Sandford and Iffley are the places now that I would target. Folly also holds big pike but the river is horsing through now. Just below Folly Bridge (Where the Salters Steamers hook up for the winter) and opposite Christchurch Meadow.

Just a thought

Alan

 

[Jim Crosskey 2]

Alan, how much flow if there through the lock cut at Sandford at the moment?

(Makes me laugh, we spend all summer saying stuff like "it's be better with a bit of flow and colour..." and then all winter saying "it'll fish better when it cleans up a bit and stops charging through, try to find a slack..." Never happy are we? )