17lb and 20lb: Pike December 5th 1993

The weather on this December day was cold (3-4°C) but clear with a medium westerly wind. I'd had a grim start to my piking this year and was almost worn down to giving in (or finding water further afield). But I persuaded myself to pop out for the afternoon, tried an hour and a half or so in the NW corner of Jubiliee with no result. At 3:30pm I moved to the NE corner of Long lake...

I put on a floated kipper bait (really - I took a kipper fillet and folded it in half and sewed up the open ends and attached it to a 2 VB hook rig) fished about 3 feet down drifted up against the reeds at the end of the lake and a popped up sprat cast out and to my right. There was probably about 30 yards between the baits.

I settled in for the last hour and the right to left of the wavelets foxed my eyes, and every time I switched my gaze from the orange stick in the reeds to the bobbin on the sprat bait, the ground rippled and appeared to travel under my feet.

At 4:15pm after almost 30 minutes of waiting and giddy watching the float stabbed once, sharply enough in the gathering gloom to make me think I'd imagined it, and then popped out of sight. I hate it when that happens. Imagining an 8lb pounder, a regular out of this corner, I tightened and struck firmly but not wildly. I got a large swirl near the reeds, putting paid to the 8lb pounder in my minds eye, and my carp rod arced over. The fish took a short run away from me along the east bank past the reeds and after 20 yards wallowed, and I then landed it fairly easily. There were no more long runs, but the fish was sulky and un co-operative right up to the net…and as the net went under in the corner of my eye, the bobbin on the other rod bobbed and jerked, and line started paying out. Now that I really hate.

So this is how it went. I landed the fish, noted its '20 potential'. I put the rod down, put my foot on the net handle. Closed the bale arm on the other rod and stuck the fish, not small I noted at the 2.5lb tip action curled over. I held it long enough to be sure of the hooking, and opened the bale again. Took the first fish into the long grass, unhooked it (mercifully, bottom hook in the scissors 'VB doubles'). Back to the other rod, net in hand, expecting to have nothing. I tightened in, and discovered the fish on and moving steadily, but not urgently, away from me, so I battened down and the fish increased pressure and so did I. After 30 yards it was ground to a halt, and reversed tack towards me, and just as I imagined a fierce battle over the reed beds' sanctuary, it glided towards me and into the net. Handy.

With a measure of calm descending with the dusk, I weighed both fish, with the 'kippered' Esox going 21lb and its second-in-command going 17¾lb. I took pictures, but an old film camera and a flash have made a less that perfect job, but still beating my minds eye on this occasion.

I had no other run all day, and certainly have not had such a good brace of fish since. The right hand picture shows the larger of the two, with the tackle box and flask end to end to show the rough size. The tackle box is a foot long with the flask being about the same. I suspect that they might have been the same 2 fish as caught on separate occasions given the similarity of the sizes.

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