Weekender

The Pike Anglers club of Great Britain is without doubt a wonderful organisation. Aside from 35 years of preaching Pike conservation and sticking up for the rights of all predator anglers, the club has provided hundreds of anglers young and old the chance to fish for big Pike in beautiful places. It has raised thousands of pounds for charities and it has a great social side with regional meetings all over the country. The biggest social event of the year is the annual convention, not just for the event itself but also the chat in the hotel bar. People of all backgrounds from all over the isles talking about Pike fishing in all sorts of waters. It was through this kind of chat that I got to know Steve and Rob. These guys done most of their fishing on waters very different to the ones we know and love but they loved the same things and fished for the same reasons. Last summer Steve and Rob took my Barbel fishing in a wonderful place and this winter Rich & I had the pleasure of their company for a bit of Pike fishing.

A little different from the norm, waterside digs with boats laid on. I arrived first and had time to go out for a couple of hours fishing and a look around. The weather was grim and grimy and no fish crossed my path. I met up with Steve and Rob and after all getting settled in the digs we adjourned to the nearest pub for a couple of pints and a plate of grub. The food was great, the beer was excellent but unfortunately the music was not quite duelling banjos but it wasn't far off.

Rich joined us the following morning and ahead of us were three days fishing in a wild and beautiful place. The weather was typical winter fayre, with a bit of everythingWe fished long and hard over those days and travelled far and wide. We fished the narrow places, the open spaces, ditches and boat yards. We chucked everything at the Pike but the going was very tough. We did manage to catch a few fish up to low doubles on a variety of methods. The wildlife didn't let us down though with virtually the full set putting in an appearance.

The company was great though, with laughter often echoing out. We talked about the Pike we've caught, the Pike we dream of catching, the places we've fished, the near misses and the disasters. Along with this we talked music, cricket, football, TV totty, moments of sheer lunacy and all the usual bloke banter with the world put to rights once again. The evenings followed the days, banter flowed along with a little booze and lots more laughing. We all planned to meet up again for another weekends fishing soon. So the company, the banter and the setting were all first class it was just the fishing that was under par but as Rob said, we always felt we were in with a chance.