Pilgrim’s Progress will now be a weekly feature. Read it every Thursday!‘Piking In A Pembrokeshire Paradise’
The last half-term of the calendar year sees the Bloor family head for Pembrokeshire for our annual vacation there. It is, in part at least, a busman’s holiday, as the first couple of days see me in my ‘official’ capacity as the Rev Bloor. Once I get the speaking engagements out the way, then it’s down to the real business. Ok, so Mrs B thinks it’s a family holiday. But isn’t that real diplomacy and shrewdness on my part, that my family believe they’re on a vacation and yet all the while it’s my fishing holiday that they get to tag along with?
Over the last couple of years I have ‘discovered’ a water that I finally got round to trying last year. I did one session but really didn’t have the correct tackle to give the water a real run for it’s money. You know the sort of thing, you’re going on holiday so with limited space anyway, you try and economise on the gear you take. There is after all, only so much that you can get in a Rover 400, when you already have two adults, two children, a Bedlington terrier and clothes, etc, for a week’s holiday. But then when you’re out there at the waterside, you think to yourself ‘wish I had brought this’, ‘should have brought that’. So this year, I went well prepared.
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| Bosherton eastern arm |
The water in question is Bosherston lily ponds. The title is quite misleading really. On my first visit (non-fishing) there a couple of years ago, I expected to find a couple of tiny overgrown, lily infested pools. Actually the word ‘pond’ is, in this case, probably the most out of place word in the English language! I would estimate, conservatively, that the circumference of the water is a minimum 6 miles. So when does a pond become a lake? I don’t know, but suffice it to say Bosherston is not a pond!
Nestled in valleys, Bosherston consists of three long fingers of water, the Eastern, Middle and Western arms. The lake was originally small tidal creeks (it is literally on the coast), until the late eighteenth and early nineteenth Century when the Cawdor family flooded the valleys and created the present environment. It really is a picturesque place, hence the ‘Pembrokeshire Paradise’ in the title. It is now owned by the National Trust and the information board at the car park mentions the fact that otters are in residence. However, it wasn’t them, even though they are beautiful creatures, that had attracted me to sample the delights of Bosherston.
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| Bosherton western arm |
I was here in pursuit of pike. I had tried to do my homework as best as possible, in advance of visiting the water, by talking to as many different anglers as I could. I think the exaggeration factor of anglers is well known and so I didn’t believe everything that was told me, but took a lot ‘with a pinch of salt’.
However, I did conclude that there is every chance of a double and always the possibility that a ’20’ could show. I had scheduled three afternoon sessions on the water, so set myself the target of a double. If I reached that target I would be a happy man, if I didn’t I would still be a happy man! In any case, what better place to ‘fail’ than the beautiful surroundings of Bosherston?
I had chosen to fish the Eastern arm, which just happens to be the farthest away from the car park ! It’s a good 20 minutes brisk walk from the car park to the start of the Eastern section, so I’m glad that I’m young, healthy and strong…well I used to be 10 years ago!
I had brought two rods and intended to float fish, with the deadbaits hard on the bottom, the float being the indicator of what was happening beneath the surface. I personally find there is nothing more exciting than staring at a pike float, the anticipation of the float trembling, and bobbing around before finally disappearing is an incredible feeling.
The lake was still quite low, not much more than summer levels, so was shallow enough to floatfish comfortably. Fishing with reels loaded with suitable line and 2 1/2 lb test curve rods, I had come to do business with Esox Lucius. The wire traces were all home made, consisting of 25lb Drennan wire and size 8 trebles.
Day one, Monday, saw me fishing at 11.30 am. There was no surface movement and I leapfrogged rods, slowly working my way up the Eastern arm. By mid-afternoon I had reached a slight bay in the lake and noticed, for the first time, evidence of pike activity as small fish continually broke the surface, as pike attacked the shoals. I also noticed that the wind was blowing into the bay. This was a typical ‘text book’ scenario. The smaller fish were being ‘herded’ by the pike into an underwater larder.
Although my personal best pike is 20lb 2oz and I’ve had a few doubles since starting piking last winter, I am in no way an experienced predator angler. So it was good to witness what I saw in front of me. Anyway, I had located the fish, so out went both rods.
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| Stewart waits for the run |
At 3.30 pm I struck into the first fish of the day, a fine looking specimen which tipped the scales at 7lb 9oz. This was quickly followed at 4.15 pm by a smaller fish of 5lb 4oz. By now there was a lot of activity in the swim, things looked good. I struck into the third fish just after. It broke the surface and I saw it was a double, but unfortunately, to my left was a submerged tree, and it was in that the fish was lost. No more runs that day, but ‘the one that got away’ was motivating me for the next session. Day two, which was Wednesday, saw me on the lake side at 11.45 am. Like so many of us, I returned to the scene of victory, but the bay showed no sign of activity this time. The wind had changed direction from the previous visit, and a walk further down the lake revealed the shoal fish had moved further on. And the pike had relocated with them. So without further ado, I set up and cast out.
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| Not the double, but a nice pike |
At 2.45 pm, I hit a pike, which put up a good fight. As the fish slipped into the net, this was mission accomplished, a double. I estimated at 11lb-plus. However, as I was zeroing the scales ready to weigh the fish, it suddenly had a massive burst of energy and shot from my grasp into the water. Watching that fish swim away before I could weigh it reminded me of the time I threw some bait into a lake and my wedding ring came off at the same time. I wanted to stop it, but there was nothing I could do. I settled for 10lb, for my records (because I did land it after all), but somehow felt annoyed with myself that I had allowed it to escape before correct verification. I managed to catch another two pike at 3.15 pm (5lb 4oz) and 6.00 pm (4lb 12oz), but nothing to match the earlier ‘lost’ fish. I also had another run, but failed to connect.The final day, Friday, I arrived a little later, setting up at 12.15 pm. I had noticed a pattern that the fish, apart from one, had all fallen between 2.45 – 4.15 pm. In fact, today was no exception. Again, I located the feeding pike and caught my solitary fish of 6lb 4oz at 3.15pm. Despite fishing from mid-day until 6.15 pm on each of the days, out of the six fish caught, five were taken in the period just mentioned. There were another couple of anglers on the third day, both blanked in the time I was there. As I left the water behind, heading back to the car park, I was already wishing the next twelve months away, so that I could return. And this time weigh and photograph the double I am going to catch!
There are clearly a couple of disadvantages with Bosherston. Firstly, the geographical extremity of Western Pembrokeshire. Although it’s only 170 miles from the West Midlands, where I live, due to the nature of the roads it’s a good four hour car journey. Secondly, the long (and not flat) walk from the car park is not suitable for everyone. Although the lake does start more or less at the car park, it is very shallow here, and a good walk (20 minutes) is required to reach the deeper water. Ironically, these two disadvantages also become advantages. Bosherston is not a pressurised water. While I was there I encountered only two other anglers on each day. Secondly, as an advantage, there is a lot of bankside that is out of reach to the angler, thus, again, not putting pressure on the pike.
Day tickets are £ 5 on the bank (£ 4 in advance) with a season ticket costing £ 28. The traditional close season is followed. Rules are sensible. For example, no livebaiting, no night fishing, semi or barbless hooks only, no gaffs(!).
If you’ve ever fished there I’m really interested in your observations and comments. Or if you’re off on a family vacation to Pembrokeshire and you’d like some information, contact me on Stewart Bloor.
There are also some BIG tench in there, but that’s another story………..
The Reverend Stewart R Bloor
Sedgley International Christian Ministries
PO Box 1216, Dudley. DY3 1GW.
Telephone : 01384 – 828033
Web site : www.sicm.org
e-mail : missionscentre@sicm.org
