Casting Around Esthwaite Water
Venue – Esthwaite water trout fishery, Ridding wood, Hawkshead, Ambleside, Cumbria, LA22 0QF
Prices – £24 per day
Tel Number – 015394 36541
Website – www.hawksheadtrout.com
Target Species – Pike
After a 3 hour drive I finally arrived at Esthwaite Water, set in the heart of the Lake District it must have one of the most beautiful backdrops of any lakes anywhere in the UK.
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A lake in the heart of the Lakes, Totally stunning.
The first port of call for anyone fishing the lake is the onsite tackle shop, this stocks everything you could possibly wish to buy, and it also holds a wide range of dead baits which must be bought from here if that is part of your plan of attack for the day. One of the best things you can do when fishing a new water and one as big as this is to talk to the guys in the tackle shop and find out what baits are working and more importantly, what areas of the lake to fish.
The next decision was bank fishing or boat fishing, I decided to get a boat so I could cover as much of the 280 acres as possible. The lake itself is made up of several intricate bays, appealing reed beds and has acres of open water that need to be explored and with a lake record of 39lb8oz its more than worth putting that extra effort in.
With a small outboard motor fitted and all the tackle loaded up it was only a matter of minutes before I was casting out into a small bay where the tackle shop lads had told me was doing the business. The set up on both rods was identical, due to the depth of the lake being over 20 feet in the bay I used a float stop and an inline slider float set up. The bait was the only difference, on one rod was a smelt and on the other a whole herring, both rigs had a 2oz egg sliding sinker above them just to help get the bait down and pin it to the bottom.
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Covering water on the boat,
After an hour of no action It was time to move, another few minutes along the bank was a stunning looking reed bed that just cried out pike, a quick change of baits and they were re-casted, one bait tight to the reeds and the other about 15 yards away on a slight shelf.
Whilst I was waiting for some action I took the opportunity to take in the scenery and it really is mind blowing, snow topped mountains surrounding you that really make you feel so small and insignificant and if you are lucky you might get a glance of some ospreys that nest around the lake. I can honestly say when you fish a venue like this blanking is not all that bad and a fish is just an added bonus.
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Clare loving her days fishing with me, with a backdrop like that, a book is criminal.
After another hour instead of moving I reeled the rods in and decided to have a go with my lure rod and see if the pike would rather chase moving baits than to take a static dead bait. I had a decent selection of lures deep divers, shallow divers, soft lures and some big spinners so I was confident that if the pike were feeding I would get some action on them. Casting out in a fan shape to try and cover as much water as possible was the aim. After switching to a Savage Gear Alien eel I finally got a slight result that resulted in a follow by a good sized pike that looked a 20lbr all day but no matter how slow I reeled in and dangles the bait she just wouldn’t take it, I even got one of my dead baits and tried to tempt her with that but she just sat there before diving down to the depths and out of sight.
The rest of the day was spent doing the same routine an hour with dead baits and then a session with the lure rod trying to tempt a bite from a pike or even one of the huge trout that are regularly caught by pike anglers with some over 10lbs.
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Catching a fish is purely an added bonus.
The lake also offers coarse fishing between November 1st and February 28th, this costs £10 per day but it is home to some great specimen roach, rudd and perch all running to over 3lbs, feeder and waggler tactics both work very well.
If you are travelling up and plan on staying overnight then on their website they have a good selection of recommended bed and breakfasts that are all in the area and ideally situated for you to take full advantage of this most stunning venue.
I know I will not be the first to go home empty handed from here but I think if I had of caught a fish it would have topped off a really amazing day and one thing is for sure I will be back on here before long and I am already saving for a cottage nearby.
Heres hoping for 6 numbers on lotto.
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