PATSHULL PARK PIKE FISHING

I have fished patshull for the last year or two now and have caught very few fish.the biggest being 14lb.i normaly fish the lodge bay from platforms.live trout is best but never had a run on a deadbait.is this the best spot or should i try other pegs where nobody else ever goes? i have been told that the place is very overated or is it just that the pike have wised up to the same baits they get every day?

Jon,
I fished it as a boy and i fished it hard for pike later on, my best from there (whilst it was a trout water)was a shade under 28lb, but that was during the early days of it being opened "again" for pike.
It is now fished hard and whilst i don't doubt there may well be an uncaught fish or two i think you were told right!.....
Incedently, you get turfed off just when the big girls start to feed, so that may be one reason they don't show if they are there.

Jon

I fished it a couple of times a few years ago with limited success. We hired a boat and fished obvious pikey areas up the first arm. Try fishing jerk baits - plenty of follows - then drop a small live bait in the general area.

On my last visit a 20 was caught from the wooded bank opposite the platforms.

Dead baits !! Fresh or Foul ?

The question "of how fresh is best" presented itself again at the weekend.
While fishing the Foss in Lincoln I found to my horror that the frozen mackerel I had bought the day before was so old that I had to tie in on the trace.
Speaking to a group of guys from Sheffield who were pikeing there, the old question of how fresh is best was "de-baited".
The group agreed eventually, that fresh is best.
At the end of the session the result was:

On fresh mackerel, (6 rods) = 1 @ 5lb. 1 @ 15lb.

On foul mackerel (on 2 rods) 1 = 1 @ 6lb. 1 @17 1/2lb plus two fish lost during fight.

What is the general thought of you pike anglers, which is best fresh or foul.

I am new to pike fishing and I am looking for places where I have a decent chance of cathching pike.Can anyone tell me about Suffolk Water Park,or maybe Ardleigh resovoir.I live in Braintree Essex but will travel.