Uncensored

April 13th, my Mum's birthday, which has no connection to what follows and is notable only to me and i record it because she's not around any more.  A personal self indulgence?  if so is there a connection to what follows after all?
In the spring of 2015 my favourite fishing paradise suffered a bloom of Prymnesium parva which resulted in the inevitable fish kill and this time it was a really bad one, I literally wondered if there was anything left.  But we kept going and found that there were still fish around but by God it was hard!  However the lack of other anglers meant it was idyllic at times and eventually the big fish started showing again.  Pike fishing being what it is (and has to be) the best stories can’t be told in anything but the vaguest terms and several years after the event.  ironic that I spend more time fishing for Pike than any other species yet it goes mostly unrecorded in this online diary.  So here are a few of the photo highlights along with some (edited) lines from the diary.

2018
A mild and breezy autumn day, I was fishing around a shallow weedy bay and had managed three small Pike by midday…

At 1245 I had a take on Bluey but this was dropped, this can happen in weedy water.  Within seconds another rod baited with dead Roach was rattling off and I managed to bring another Jack to the boat.  Another hour passed then the same rod was off again.  It was a steady take peeling line off the baitrunner, all I had to do was engage and the fish virtually hooked itself!  It felt powerful and heavy, kiting downwind then turned and had to be bullied away from the anchor rope.  The first glimpse told me it was a good 20 and it was a relief to get it in the net.  The scales told me what I already knew and then some, 24.04!! 

A few weeks later, I dropped onto a few fish in a different bay and the highlight was a fish that was a long time coming, shame about the photos;

At 1000 I was casting a Salmo Slider on the lure rod and by God it looked good!  A Pike agreed and walloped the lure and left me in no doubt it was a decent fish.  When I got a glimpse I was sure it was 18+…  I got in a bit of a tangle with the landing net but the fish just wallowed and soon was mine.  I knew this was a lure caught PB but was surprised and delighted when the scales went round to 25.06!!!!! At last a lure caught twenty, it’s only taken forty years and God knows how many thousands of casts!  Wow!  Blown away!  A fantastic long lean fish.  I put the lure rod down, too buzzed to fish any more.

2019

Autumn had started well and got better.  On this particular day I’d had a couple of doubles to 18.14 but the wind was throwing me around so after a while I moved to a more sheltered spot for a break and a brew.  While I was there I had two fish, the best took a herring, fought like hell in the tide and looked a clear twenty in the net but the scales said 19.15

A couple of weeks later I fished a different area entirely and over two days caught ten Pike the best being…

After checking the swim with a plumb rod I liked what I found so I spread four deadbaits , by now the conditions were as good as they’d been all day.  At 1340 I had a take on a Bluey cast into a clear area upwind towards.  I made a good contact this time and felt a decent weight.  But the Pike did nothing bar wallow on the surface as I dragged it in.  I netted it OK and thought ‘good double’, unhooked it easily in the net (‘that’s a big head!’) and plopped it in the Sladdle.  Zeroed the weigh bag and lifted, last time’s fish was just under but this was slightly over!  20.02 Pike!!!  A beautiful dark fish with vivid spots in good condition. 

Later in the season…

At 0840 a Herring cast upwind into a weed free area I’d found was taken.  I bent into a heavy weight and a fish that took line.  I thought it was a biggun!  Unfortunately there was about 10lbs of weed to go with the very welcome 15.08 Pike.  At 1005 I had a take on a sprat fished two feet below a float and allowed to drift around.  This fish felt like a Jack and I was surprised when I saw it.  On the scales it hovered around the mark but I eventually settled for 19.12.

2020

In between the lock downs I fished just seven times during this season but it couldn’t have gone much better.  I stumbled across two spots that had totally changed since the previous autumn and found fish there.  I fished the first of these areas on my first visit;

Around six o clock the close range float stabbed sharply and the baitrunner gave a short rip, a stabbing, jerky take on the Herring!  I wound down quickly and the rod hooped round, it felt heavy straight away but wasn’t doing much, just hanging.  Then it woke up and plodded up and down in front of me, first to the left, gaining speed and taking a bit of line.  Then she went to the right and threatened to kite into the reeds but I clamped down and turned it, she flared angrily on the surface and I could see it was a big fish.  Back in the open water she swam back in front of me passed the boat then turned and went to the right again, with growing momentum the fish came up in the water and leapt three quarters clear on the edge of the reeds.  It must have been some sight if I had been in any state of mind able to appreciate it.  I managed to drag the fish away from the reeds and back towards the net, she was done now.  It seemed to take ages to get the head right up but in she went.  I stood panting, getting my breath back, looking down at the Pike in the net, it seemed massive and I just knew.

I got the scales and camera out of the bag then somehow I manhandled the fish from the net into the Sladle and removed the hooks with seriously shaking hands.  There before me almost four feet of mottled monster, a mass of spots and loops, fins and teeth.  The moment of truth arrived but I had no doubt and the scales confirmed it, 31lbs 12ozs a Broadland thirty, my Dream Pike!

Trying to do a self take in a boat is a challenge at the best of times but this thing was just too big!  I have a shot that has the whole fish in but I like this one.

Next time out it was the other spot;

After half an hour I was in action with a take on Lamprey.  The fish felt decent and fought hard close to the boat, trying hard to get underneath and away.  Eventually my luck held and I pulled a good Pike into the net.  She was a pale fish but in cracking condition and weighed 20-05, I was well chuffed.  After a couple of self takes she was back in the water and the lamprey was back out into a clear patch just short of thick weed.  With a big fish under my belt I decided to sit it out here for a while.  Just over an hour later the same rod was away again and I hooked a second big Pike.  It was another good fight and in the net I was sure it was another twenty but I couldn’t be disappointed with a nineteen pounder.  This was a beautiful dark fish, distinctive belly markings made me almost sure it was a Pike I’d caught last season when it was a fat twenty pounder. (it was, check if you like :) )

Then a week later, things didn’t go to plan at first, a swim i thought would have been a dead cert didn't produce;

The move was obvious, the spot I’d taken the 19 and 20 the week before is in an area where I often catch fish in the early afternoon.  By now a breeze had sprung up from the north and this had blown the drizzle away for a while at least.  By 1145 I was fishing again with four deadbaits laying in clear water in an area surrounded by thick weed.

Only fifteen minutes had passed before I noticed the line tightening on a bluey that had been cast upwind.  As I bent towards the rod the baitrunner began to click out the sound of a steady take.  I wound down and bent in, the fish crashed on the surface on contact but I was looking at the bend in the rod so only heard it, looking round there was a big swirl of disturbed water.  Next the fish surprised me by running straight towards the boat, for a moment I thought she’d come off but I wound quickly and made contact again.  With the rod hooped well over again a heavy powerful fish circled in front of me.  Pulling it to the surface I could see it side on and it was a big fish, a clear twenty and without too much further fuss I dragged it gratefully into the landing net.  I looked down on a huge barrel shaped Pike and said out loud, “That’s a fucking thirty!” 

In the Sladdle if anything the fish looked even bigger, none of the leanness associated with autumn Pike, this one looked like a trout water fish.  She was a beautifully marked Pike, very dark in colour with a mass of pale yellow spots.  For the second time in two weeks the scales went to a place they’d rarely been before and a weight of 30lbs 8ozs was recorded.  I was totally gobsmacked but for once remained calm.  I got the self takes done quickly and with much better results this time and once again I had the privilege of holding onto the tail of a Thurne monster until its strength returned and it kicked away into the weedy waters.

A couple of weeks later I moved into a sheltered spot so I could get dinner on the go and got lucky.

The wind was increasing and bouncing the boat around so at 1315 I anchored up in a sheltered spot which though not prolific has turned up a few decent fish in the past.  With the fresh wind whipping in rain I put the cuddy up.  This job had hardly been completed when a herring dropped just around the corner was on the move. I hit into a fish that took line off the clutch straight away then gave me a right good run around by the boat, including going round the anchor weight which had to be lifted.  I shouldn’t have landed this Pike but I’m bloody glad I did!  I could see it was a decent fish but was still a little surprised to record a weight of 20-10!  Half an hour later the same rod was away again and this time I boated another hard fighting fish that was just into double figures.