Let me be straight up here...

I've caught lots of Pike in my past, on waters big and small, ponds to raging rivers, on lures and bait (live and dead) but...

I've only ever caught 1 at night.  This was during a night session for Bronze Bream on a Nottinghamshire Estate lake where the Pike was pulling at the keepnet. It was maybe, 5lb, a little guy. Even so, like many have suffered with Bass, I didn't make the connection to actually fish for Pike in darkness because, we were led to believe, Pike didn't feed in the dark.

I'm older and wiser now and, for many years, one very worn out copy of Joe Buchers book 'Crankbait Secrets" has been firing my imagination with stories of huge Musky and Northern Pike caught on lures, under the cover of night.

I very nearly travelled to Muskie  country to tackle one in the dark. Musky/Muskie ? Don't know, don't worry about it either now because.....

Fellow breaker of the 'traditions and rules of fishing' Danny Parkins wrote a story on his forward thinking blog.

It was to open my eyes and make me sigh as I thought of all those wasted years.

So, over to Danny...

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Well i started Night fishing for pike 2008 with a serious passion, after my good friends Adrian and Martin introduced me to the method. They have been night fishing with lures for the likes of Chub Pike and of coarse Bass and Scad for almost 10years. BUT my passion is of coarse the fresh water side especially Pike. iv fished Lures for pike since the age of four and Seriously lure fished from 10years of age. due to the area im lucky enough to live in (deepest darkest Devon) i have lots of shallow, weedy warm watered venues that need a totally different approach to the Usuall Lure fishing approach you often see in the glossys. i have serious passion for the far eastern surface techniques and had countless items of tackle sent to the UK from japan and the USA. Adrian and Martins "new" techniques really opened my eyes to new styles of fishing my venues which i had spent 16years or so cracking! i cannot tell you the feeling when we visited various venues in the pitch black of night chucking lures on the surface and seeing the overwelming power and aggression of these Pike! on some venues it was literally like turning on the light switch from little or no reaction in the daylight on heavily fished venues to utter chaos in the dark of night! it felt like i was learning a whole new arm to my angling it sparked a feeling in fishing i had not felt in a long time...... you could say i was Hooked!

I have been lucky enough to have had some serious results fishing throughtout the summer months for pike through the days up to early evenings with numerous 20plus pound Pike landed and my friends also having simular results! suddenly venues that only produced 12-15 medium sized pike through a days fishing were now throwing up doubles almost every fish! i am certain Night piking unleashed a stamp of fish that we were not catching throughout the day, with the average weight going from daytimes 5-6lb to the night average of 14lb plus! we not only had to adjust our fishing techniques but a whole new approach to tackle and lures, my venues are very wild with trees and bank side cover almost covering every bank and swim and the warm summer water being filled with sun warmed weed and lillies talk about Bio soup! these venues are practically unfishable with standard gear and tackle. This is where between myself Adrian and Martin evolved our summer tackle to handle the conditions we were faced with!
Tackle wise, Fast 6 to 7ft spinning and casting rods (Adrian and Martin) using spinning rods from BassPro casting up to 15g. while i am a diehard baitcasting chap, i fish 6-6 to 7ft super fast torniment rods designed for aggressive fishing over in the USA/Japan etc. My rods tending to be slightly heavier casting to 30g or so. we generally use 30lb braid which is limp enough to cast a dream but also tough enough to cope with the snags and rough swims we fish. the braid is then tied direct to 30lb wire traces either Ti-wire or numerous brands or 7strand which gives a stiffer presentation, couple with 80lb snaplocks or direct to heavy duty split rings.

Lures wise this is where i like to keep it simple...... there is literally soooooo much crap on the market that is "the best Lure" for different styles of surface fishing, i just stick with what i KNOW works, the proof is in the pudding! SwampFox's........ plain and simple and prob the simplest lures on the market today, with only one single hook to worry about and a naturally uprighting body keeping the hook out of trouble. all thats needed for this lure is a keen eye for features and a healthy ticker because you gotta have your nerves about you while twitching this bait back! short sharp downward flicks are all thats needed with the odd pause and even aim for the floating rafts of surface weed cleary visible in the low light of the night shining from the water. Pike just nail this lure with a vengeance biw waving at the lure like missiles its heartstopping action!
JitterBugs are another simple yet effective lure for Night piking and also Chub. this lure has had cult following over in the USA for bass and is even called the "night walker" its trademark popping wiggle is almost hypnotic and all is needed is a slow steady clean wind! this lure doesnt take to weed as well as the Swampy but in rivers of clear stretches is hard to beat trust me! and this lure actually turfed out two of the biggest Night pike iv had the pleasure to see both of which estimated to be high twentys to poss low 30's iv been lucky enough to have a couple 30lb plus pike and these fish were right up there! i remember winching at Adrian when he hooked one such monster on one of our snaggier venues his rod was making alsorts of shapes and noises! sheer panic as this fish charges off like a train to exeter! sickening power, and the fact you cant see anything adds to the excitement!
Spinnerbaits also came into there own later on in the season when things got a little quieter! various brands all working a treat fished on or just below the surface with a steady non-stop wind to really wind the Pike up! tandem or single blades didnt seem to matter as long as the blades created the disturbance on the surface. Lures such as Slug-go's and compitition froms will also work but no where near the class of the Swampys etc.

Headlamps and a decent Net etc are a must as you can get yourself into alsorts of pickles in the dark while playing fairly large aggressive fish like crazy summer Pike. remember not to shine ya headlamp in the water because your ruin your chances in clear water venues. also its good to have your tackle arranged so you can find everything nice and easy as its soooo easy to lose gear in the pitch black of night. i carry my Pliers on a lanyard around my neck so i dont drop them in the grass and weeds. tactical gloves are a advantage when handling braid under tention as Pike tend to charge off with such power when spooked if your guiding the pike to the net holding the braid you WILL cut yourself so the gloves just help make in more comfortable and safe! I would also recomend waders due to the fact pike in these heavily weeded venues tend to have there own agender as to where they head its kind of hang on for dear life sometimes! Perfect venues would be places where there is around 5-7ft of water with allot of cover like lillies or heavily weeded stretches of rivers. as the sun heats the weed throughout the day keeping the water very warm in the night making for amazing action when the sun goes down! i found clear water helped allot with hooking ratios, coloured water tended to result in follows and missed takes which makes for heart stoppingly frustrating fishing, i cannot get into words how you will feel seeing these fish react like this to lures! All this writing about Night piking certainly gets me all worked up and gagging to get back on the water when the warmer weather returns next year, i will of coarse follow up this exciting technique as and when the sport hots up next season. Untill then tight lines.

Danny Parkins .

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Another fish, and one that i have caught on lures in darkness is the Chub.

Danny seen here with a fine Chub.

Oh, how I wish i could be pitching, flipping and skipping Senko's under willow trees right now.

Danny has joined the moderation team over on

http://www.jerseybassguides.com/rockfishing/index.php

We are steadily but surely growing and getting some great discussion going. We have some very good anglers on board who are there to help guys out wherever possible and to further push boundaries. I think 2011 will see progress made at a steady rate but we'll have to go some top the impact JBG and the initial pioneers made regards LRF and HRF. Both have gained a strong foothold and aren't going away. 

Don't just sit back. Embrace this stuff and see what a blast it can be, especially in good company.

We are still getting in amongst the Bass despite the weather. Bookings for JBG are getting solid for the spring, loads of things to plan, look forward too and....

Even a project planned that 'might not of ever happened' . Watch this space.

Sometimes, we are forced down roads we should have perhaps discovered for ourselves but, change isn't always bad. It's just different.

Anyway, until next time.....

Thanks for reading.