Pike Lure fishing — Grafham Water, Cambridgeshire

From the boat, drift or use the electric motor to work the well-known bars and drop-offs (e.g. Savages Creek, G Buoy, the Church/Ladies Wood area) where depth changes from 3-4m onto 6-8m. Cast slow-sinking jerkbaits (10-15cm) and paddletail soft plastics on 30-40g jig heads across the drop, letting them sink to just above bottom, then work them back with a slow jerk-pause retrieve or a steady swim-and-pause for the softbait, pausing 3-5 seconds on each drop to trigger following fish. Pike at Grafham in November are following the smelt and roach shoals off the bars into deeper water as the surface cools, so covering the depth change methodically with repeated casts fanned along the contour is more productive than blind trolling.

• —Early November on a reservoir like Grafham typically sees water temperature dropping through the low-to-mid single digits Celsius, pushing baitfish and pike off summer shallows onto bars and drop-offs
• —Pike become more aggressive feeders pre-winter to build reserves, but are less willing to chase fast lures in cooling water, favouring a slower, pause-heavy presentation
• —Grafham's known deep-water features (bars, old hedge lines, the dam wall area) concentrate both baitfish and predators in autumn, making structure-focused boat casting more efficient than random searching
• —Mid-morning to early afternoon often gives the best light and slightly warmer surface temps after a cold November night, which can trigger a feeding window
• —No live EA or lake level/temperature data was available, so this plan relies on typical seasonal patterning for Grafham rather than a confirmed current reading