Four
years ago Stephen Harper’s “Fine angling
books” published “Dream Pike”, a
selection of thirty or so stories relating to the capture of Thirty pounds plus
Pike, each written by a different author.
The books stated aim was to “entertain and inspire” and it most
certainly did. I reviewed it at the time
…
The talk
of a sequel to Dream Pike started almost as soon as the ink was dry on the
original and four years on “Extreme Pike”
is here.
Both the format and layout are almost
identical to the original and on the whole the stories are equally as good as ‘Dream
Pike’. It’s refreshing to see a lot more
of the less well known Pikers contributing this time around and fewer of Piking’s
‘royalty’. I’ve now read the book from
cover to cover and re-read more than half the stories, some more than once! If you are a Pike angler you will love
Extreme Pike, go and order a copy now (See the link on the right of this page). That last sentence was for the benefit of
anyone who can’t be arsed to read the rest.
A few observations as I flip through the
pages; I wondered why Malc Bannister didn’t fish his reservoir even with the
low water. I was faced with a similar
situation a few years ago and found that with less water to hide in the Pike
were easier to find and were fat having found their prey easy to find too! Nick Beardmore may have alerted the Pike
Police with his summer tale. I loved
seeing a father and son team share their stories, nice one Biggs senior and
junior! Ady Brayshaw is a person that I’ll
never see eye to eye with but that is one hell of a Pike. When I first heard about that capture a few
years ago there was a sub plot… but I like to believe Ady’s version of
events. It was nice to read the story of
Fred Bullers biggest Pike but a shame it wasn’t in his own words. Having caught that monstrous Pike I wonder
why Wyndon Coole felt the need to catch it again, but each to their own.
Terry Hazlewood’s
story was close to home, literally. A
thirty nine pounder must surely be a Suffolk record? I remember hearing about this capture at the
time and we wondered where it could have come from. We tracked it down in the end but found it a
closed shop, fair play. Knowing the
place I really doubt there were “several
different thirties…” but you never know.
Pat Henry provided a great snap shot of how a successful Piker goes
about his business in Eire. Like Mr
Henry, my friend Mark Skinner appears in both volumes and it is nice to see
that Mark’s sense of humour transfers to the page. You could feel the relief and elation of
Jonno Myles capture and it was great to read the story of long time Piker
Dennis Smith’s biggest Pike, one of two Chew forties featured in the book. Probably my least favourite chapter is Phil
Wakeford’s. For me it seemed out of
place amongst the rest of the tales which were out and out “success stories”. Ian Forde’s was one of the most inspiring
stories describing a brace of lure caught Irish thirties shared with his friend
the late David Overy.
As
always my favourite chapters feature Pike caught from the Norfolk Broads. Keith
Quantrill’s story very is well told, the capture well deserved but overall
tinged with sadness. I never knew Keith
although our boats must have passed each other, I have a feeling I would have
liked him. Paul Belsten wrote a very
personal story that featured several renowned Norfolk Pikers and a real dream
Pike. I find Martyn Page’s writing a
little flowery for my tastes but in this tale I felt like I was in the boat
looking over his shoulder as he netted a Broadland thirty. Finally I have to declare a bias. My favourite chapter in Extreme Pike is a
tale I’m well familiar with as its written by one of my oldest friends, Rich
Gostling. The trophy shot is an absolute
cracker and once again the words on the page reflect the voice and bloke that I
know well. There are also a couple of my
photos featured too.
Stephen
Harper produces and publishes the very best fishing books, they are
fantastic to read and beautiful to look at.
Extreme Pike is pure Pike porn. After
reading it I cannot help but feel the urge to launch my boat and set off on
another Broadland adventure in search of an Extreme Dream Pike. A thirty pound Pike is all the incentive an
angler needs but who knows, maybe there will be another book in this series?
Meanwhile, the adventure is well and truly under way for another year...
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