My thanks go to Junior Member Kieran who sent me this piece about Pike fishing at Barnwell Lake

Pike fishing in Barnwell has been very popular in the last year and i myself have been many times with one double figure pike and many jack pike ( small pike.) One of my favourite methods, on which have caught a lot, is lure fishing especially using my favourite blue plug (which caught me a pike in my second cast!).   Dead bait has also been very successful as my double figure pike was caught on a smelt plus the little ones take to them to! The best place to fish for them would be in the margins and near the lily's or wherever Roach Rudd or any small fish are lurking.

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Our thanks goes to member Kevin Cruickshank who has sent in this excellent summary of CFPAS predator fishing on all of our waters.

River Cam

This water is literally stuffed with Pike of all sizes with a good head of fish in the low to mid double range any bigger than this and you have had an exceptional day.  The biggest authenticated fish I have heard of is a 29lb 1oz beauty caught this week from A Section.

The best places to fish on our stretches would be downstream of baits bite lock where there are loads of double figure fish to hit and immediately above the lock again a well known spot for doubles.  The motorway bridge is another hotspot and I have heard of a 23lb fish being caught here in recent seasons.  As with all pike fishing find the bait fish and you will find the pike, follow match reports etc to find out where the bream are showing and you shouldn’t go far wrong.  There is not any place on the Cam where I would advise you not to go but Chesterton around the Pike and Eel public house gets a lot of pressure from locals so I would not personally fish this area but I have heard of fish falling to 19lb on deadbaits in the winter.

I also fancy the Clayhythe area to produce the odd big fish as it is much quieter and has the odd deep hole I have had good bags of fish to low double figures on lures in the winter. The methods I have has success on the Cam with is trotted deadbaits slowly trotted through about 1 foot form the bottom this is a killer method on the Cam.  Use fresh baits that are not too big I have found sprats, sardines and smelts to be very good.  Lure fishing is also very productive for those wishing to stay active on those colder days.  Lures I would recommend would be Shakespeare Big S plugs in orange, mackeral and red head, Halco sorcerer plugs in firetiger are exceptional when the weed dies down (they dive a bit deeper) as well as Creek chub pikies (particularly jointed versions) in pike colours and red head and any of the Rapala originals in bright colours. In the summer months surface lures are very good fun and the Heddon meadow mouse is highly recommended (I have just caught my PB on this lure a 23lb summer fish from a local pit).  As far as spinners go I would go for Ondex, Mepps and Vibrax and Northland reed runner spinnerbaits again in eye catching colours and you never know when you will pick up that monster chub or perch.  I have heard of big fish of both species falling to lure fisherman on the Cam with big Perch particularly numerous. Baits Bite lock will definitely hold a big fish as will the Clayhythe stretch along the trees.

Burwell Lode

This is THE place to head for locally for your first 20.  Each winter a few pike over 20lb are caught from this venue upto nearly 30lb if the rumours are to be believed.  This is a shallow and weedy venue and my tactics for this venue would differ from the Cam.  I would fish 2 rods with ledgered static deadbaits and I would keep moving along the Lode. The fish tend to move around a bit following prey fish I presume.  All deadbaits seem to do well but use coarse fish if you want to get the zander which frequent this drain.  I have not heard of any monsters and I would say an 8lb fish to be a very good catch but they are quite numerous.  There are also some monster Perch and I have on good authority that people have caught 4lb plus fish usually to small live/deadbaits and big lobworms around Upware.  For some reason this water (well for me anyway!) does not fish so well to the lure but if I was lure fishing this stretch of water I would use any of the lures I mention from the Cam with the emphasis on spinnerbaits because they can be worked dead slow and will also tempt Perch and Zander.  The hotspots on the Lode would be Upware end around the bridge and boats, the cock-up bridge and behind the factories at the opposite end, the area where the 2 lodes meet is also worth a look.

River Lark

This river has really surprised me in recent seasons for all fish! As well as being first class for the bream and tench it is a predator anglers haven. The biggest pike last season was massive around the 32lb mark. There is also good numbers of double figure fish as well as good Zander and good Perch. I think the Prickwillow end is the area to try for a whopper (I think they move in from the Ouse around Feb/March to spawn). I have heard of double figure Zander falling to fresh coarse fish and the Pike will take the usual, although lure fishing is productive for bags of fish, try a Rapala Super shad in firetiger to try to tempt a really big fish at the back end of the season. The usual spinners will tempt the Perch as will small lives and deads. I expect this river to throw up a really big Perch in the next 2 years as well as a big double figure zander.

River Ouse

We have limited fishing here but all our stretches are worth a visit for predators. Both the stretches at Barway and Ten Mile Bank are brilliant predator waters and the fact the water can be very deep gives these venues an element of unknown about them.  These stretches are best known for their quality pike and zander and I think static deadbaiting is the best method on these waters because of their depth.  I have been told of numerous twenty pound pike in these waters and double figure Zander so both are well worth a visit especially around the outfall which attracts big pike and zander.

Old West

I love this little fishery and it is a very lightly fished predator water and I really rate it for it’s Zander, not huge fish but plenty of fish upto 6lb with the odd fish going a little bigger. Hermitage marina is a very good starting point but there is plenty of scope for the wandering angler.  There is also plenty of pike, again not massive but plenty of fish going to mid-double figures.  This water responds well to lure fishing because of its depth and clarity and is very weedy in summer making it ideal for surface lures. I would rate this fishery in the top 10 venues for zander in the country but very under exploited. Fresh coarse fish deadbaits will sort out the fish on this venue, but keep moving until you find the fish.