How to find the pike in the Fens..?

A plan formed last night, as I went through the lure boxes. Sort them into those I've caught regularly on (this does not require a very big box...), the ones which have done the business once or twice (big box not required again...) and those which have never caught anything (big box could come in handy here...).

I tell myself it will greatly increase my chances if I only use lures from the first box - even if it isn't a very big box. I have read and re-read a few things I read when I first got interested in lure fishing. Most were written by people who knew a lot about lure fishing, which convinced me at the time that all I needed to do to emulate their success was use similar lures, in the way they described.

When the twenties failed to follow this logic, I went back to bait fishing and caught a few. This convinced me that either lures didn't work on the waters I was fishing, or I was so crap at using them it was pointless carrying on.

Life's moved on since then. What I now need more than anything is a means to cut a few corners when it comes to locating pike.

Common sense says use the lures and spend the weekend touring a few stretches to see if I can get a handle on where the fish are. Then I've got the week to go back and give the more promising options a  thorough work-out with the bait rods.

I have no idea whether this will work, because I've never approached pike fishing like this. I've always been a bait angler who's relied on some of the old, accepted wisdom when it comes to finding them - with varying degrees of success.

I have plenty of time to fish, for once. So I'm going to hit the reset button, try something new for me and see what happens. Maybe it's the answer.