Rotherham & Sheffield PAC

[richard clarke 2]

Hi,

For anyone who might be interested please note that the first meeting of the year for region 99 (Roth & Sheff) will be held at the Green Dragon pub, High St, Kimberworth, Rotherham on the 20th September KO 7.30pm

Guest speaker for the evening will be the legend that is Nige Williams.

There will be a small entry fee to cover Nige's travel expenses so please come along for a few beers and a slide show from the most succesful modern day Pike angler - a true living legend.

Richard

 

[Ron Troversial Clay]

I live not 100 yards from that pub Richard so I should be there.

If you need any help let me know.

 

[Ron Troversial Clay]

Just got back from Nige Williams presentation. The enthusiasm this man has for pike is infectious, and this shows in his catches.

Wow, has Nige caught some great pike. And what impressed more more than anything was the simplicity of his techniques. Fish location is the most important thing to Nige. Not only that but he knows how to enjoy himself when he is by the waterside.

And all conducted in the most delightful and hilarious Brummie accent.

Most enjoyable!

 

[David Tovey]

Bang on Ron, anyone who passed up the opportunity to attend Nige`s talk and slide show missed an excellent couple of hours.
Nige was thoroughly entertaining, hugely informative and completely down to earth.
His tally of big pike just rewards for a guy who has put time in on the water and obviously enjoys the crack while piking.
Thanks Nige, we thoroughly enjoyed the session.

 

[sash]

"Fish location is the most important thing to Nige" - you surely must mean as in jumping into the swim the 30 was caught from previously? The man is obviously very good but not my cup of tea.

 

[jason fisher]

it's the rest of the 30's that are the thing sash.
he has actually caught more than one.

 

[David Tovey]

It`s easy to form an opinion based upon articles in mags and hearsay, I had imagined Nige to be a standoffish type, full of his own importance. My assessment could not have been more wrong, Nige is actually a nice guy, totally engaged in catching and protecting his chosen quarry.
That he has caught many 30s, numerous 40s and more 20s than most other pikers is undisputable. That he is prepared to share his enthusiasm by driving hundreds of miles to help other pikers is evident.
He may not be your cup of tea Sash, but after meeting and speaking to the guy, he`ll do for me.

 

[sash]

Jason,
I'm not just talking about the 1 30.

David,
I'm not saying he's not a genuine, nice guy who knows his stuff about pike and has been extremely successful in targetting them but I am disagreeing with Ron's statement about the way he goes about fish location. To my mind it doesn't take much skill to follow known 30's around the country. Take the Mason's fish out of the equation and you're left with a lot of 'chased' fish.

End of the day, if you soak a deadbait for long enough in a known pike's lair it will, eventually take.

 

[sash]

PS I don't count sacking a fish for a number of hours while the cameras arrive as "protecting his chosen quarry" do you?

 

[Ron Troversial Clay]

Nige Williams is obviously a very big pike fanatic.

But this is nothing new. I remember only too clearly of one Webb and Rickards in the 60s who also chased around the locations of big fish. In fact in "Fishing for Big Pike", Ray actually tells you of how to keep your ears to the grapevine in order to locate big pike.

I wonder. If I caught a 30 from The Old Coarse of the Nene and told the world about it, would Nige or Neville be in the next swim the next morning?

 

[Ron Troversial Clay]

Sorry - course.

 

[jason fisher]

no ron they'd be in about half hour later, but he still aint done that bad catching all them fish.

 

[Phil Heaton]

He said that he had 70+ 20's and quite a few 30's from Masons over a 3 year period with only 2 repeat captures, that dos'nt seem like a lack of skill, determination and sheer effort to me.
As for targetting known fish, we are all 'guilty' of that to some extent as each part of the country holds its pockets of better fish we would all like to catch....thats one of the facets of specimen fishing, be it for carp, barble, chub or pike

 

[sash]

Phil,
I did say "apart from Masons". No probs at all with that, fine piece of opportunism in my eyes and the three of them certainly put the time in. It's the deliberately targetting a water/swim for a fish the week/day after it was caught by someone else that bugs me. Again, fair play to the man but I don't believe angling skill comes into it. Pike are not difficult to catch.

 

[Ron Troversial Clay]

"Pike are not difficult to catch".

I think there might be a few people on this website who could disagree with you.

 

[sash]

Possibly. But I stand by what I say. They are easy. Sure, on certain days or on certain venues it can be a struggle but as a general rule they are easy. I'm not saying the bigger than average pike are easy to catch either.

 

[Phil Heaton]

'must be Kamekaze pike in Lincolnshire Ron

 

[jason fisher]

so how many 30's exactly have you caught then sash to comment that they are so easy.

personally i count my self as unbelievably lucky at having caught 2 of them.

one was a fluke capture, the second one only took me a whole winter of fishing one water to catch it , i personally would say that it was quite a difficult fish to catch.
more so than say the 30lb carp which took 4 sessions.
small jacks are easy to catch dangle a livebait in a water containing pike you will catch them, but not large fish, they are a quite different proposition all together.

 

[sash]

Jason,

Please read my comments before commenting. I did say a mere paragraph or two ago "I'm not saying the bigger than average pike are easy to catch either". All I'm saying is that relative to other species pike are easy to catch and that doesn't make a blind bit of difference as to the county they're in Phil. At no stage have I said 30's are easy, indeed I count myself very lucky to have caught one.

Which other species gets caught so regularly at such high weights by so many inexperienced anglers? Answer, none. Anyone can chuck a deadbait out and catch a pike. Indeed it is one of the reasons why they are mistreated so often due to the relative inexperience of many of the anglers fishing for them. With which other species can you get away with such a basic approach to catch them on most occasions?

 

[Ron Troversial Clay]

Sash,

There is a great deal of sense it what you say.

I have a friend who is a very experienced pike angler. He has caught virtually hundreds of double figure fish and lots of twenties but never a thirty.

He was helping a youngster catch a pike one day. He put on the deadbait on his own rod, cast out the bait and told the beginner to sit and watch the float. The float took off, the young angler shouted for him. He advised the youngster how to strike and play the fish and even took the rod for a while.

The pike was landed - 30 1/4 lbs!!

All his life this angler had hoped for such a fish but a complete novice of 14 years who had never caught a pike in his life before had beaten him. And on his own tackle!