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Years ago I read an old adage to the effect that more pike were found within a yard or two of the bank than anywhere else. You might laugh but the margins have become so neglected on many waters these days they're worth a serious attack.

Many people would say angling pressure drives fish further and further from the bank. But drifter fishing, bait boats and modern rods, reels and lines gave us the ability to get out to them and on many waters nowadays, there are few if any areas beyond reach. So now we can fish almost anywhere we want given the right wind or approach on the day, where can the pike feed unmolested - I've often found the answer's right under my feet.

Let's start with the Cut Off Channel. A familiar water to many up in East Anglia. For several seasons, stretches around Denver, Fordham and Hilgay have been heavily match-fished. Matchers pole out 10 or 15lb nets of roach and skimmers, usually from within a rod length or two of the bank. Beyond concentrating the food fish within a narrow band a few yards out with constant baiting, the end of each match heralds a weigh-in, after which a net-full of disoriented pike chow gets slung in the margins.

I've fished it midweek and found the pike scattered all over the shop, spread out in the hunt for the roach and skimmers, who in turn are swimming around wondering where all the grub's gone. Pop down there and hour after a match finishes and wobble deads through the margins and you get fish after fish. Better still, turn up before the final whistle and you can ask the maggot drowners whether they've suffered pike attacks. I've often had them put me right on them. You might dismiss a heavily match-fished drain like the Cut Off as a bit of a one-off but it isn't.

Match fishing is so pole-oriented these days that the end result's the same almost anywhere the would-be Bob Nudds of this world get together on a Sunday. They concentrate the small fish within a few yards of the bank and the pike have wised up to the fact. So what about your typical gravel pit. Somewhere you've got more fellow pikers to contend with at weekends than maggot drowners..?

One pit I spent a lot of time on last season was hard work when there were a lot of other anglers on the bank. A few got caught most Saturdays. So everyone headed for those areas on a Sunday and there were so many drifter vanes going up and down the place it looked like Cowes Regatta. Pop down an hour or two before dusk on a Sunday and what did you see..? People packing up slinging all their left over baits in the margins. When I could, I mooched around the place for an hour and watched where people were fishing. Come Monday or Tuesday, I'd be down there first thing sitting well back from the bank. Nine times out of 10, I'd have the place to myself. Drop a bog standard sea dead in the margins and I'd often catch more fish in a day than the entire pit had produced all weekend. Tackle and method wise it couldn't be simpler. On the match-fished waters, a wobbled dead takes some beating. It's just like the dozens of disoriented or injured fish you see swimming around after every match, that the maggot drowners have kindly pre-baited for you with.

On the pits I lay on with a light sliding waggler float set slightly over-depth and a couple of swan shot on the trace to tighten up to, for instant indication. The area to aim for is either on the slope of the marginal drop off or near the base of it. Weedbeds and overhanging trees which give cover are also worth a shot. Disturbance is definitely an issue. Fishing close won't work if you make too much racket or there are people clumping up and down the bank all day asking if you've caught any.

Where you can, it makes sense to sit down the bank from any fancied spot like a hole in a weedbed or an overhanging tree. Plop the bait in with a gentle underarm flick and quietly creep back to your pitch. Another word of warning. At this time of the year the margins are where you find a lot of the weeds on many waters, not to mention a lot of the other tackle snagging junk that finds its way in. It pays to fish just as heavy as you would anywhere else. A lively pike hooked close to a weedbed is a more likely candidate for trouble than a beaten fish played in from 50 yards.

They don't automatically head for the clear spots just because you've hooked them under your rod tip. Margin fishing can also spring some spectacular surprises. A week or two ago there was an angry swirl as I lifted a dead roach out of the water to change swims. I gently dropped it back in and as I watched it flutter down through a hole in the weeds, expecting a jack to snaffle it, a 16 pounder appeared in a great flash of green and gold and smacked into the bait so violently I almost ended up in the river.

I can still feel the way the rod went round now. Thank goodness I didn't just turn up and sling my baits into the middle distance like everyone else who fishes the place.