Last Pike Of The Season?

In a once in a blue moon event Friday saw two mates and myself all have the same day off. As Steve had been doing quite well with the pike it was decided that's where we'd head. The only problem with the area he'd been fishing was it was a long, muddy, trek in from either end.  Thankfully he'd become friends with a local farmer and was allowed down one of the the tracks to within 300 yards of the river. With the tackle piled on the back of his Landy we bounced down the track to the river. It was clear no other anglers had been this far as the only foot prints in the swims where his. The tactics he'd found best was to spend an hour or so in each swim until the fish were found and then stay there another hour or so. He'd normally catch three or four fish from swim. His best being nine, including four doubles.

We settled into the first three swims. While the other two opted for lamprey and roach as baits I went with sardine and trout. We'd fished three swims before the first fish was caught. A tiny jack to Mark on lamprey. Steve and myself both hooked and lost  a small fish. Mark had three more little jacks in quick succession all to roach. I lost a decent fish when it snagged a branch and freed itself. I got the branch though, along with my bait. We moved along. The wind was getting quite strong by now. Waves were occasionally breaking on the river as the wind was blowing upstream. The willows were also creaking and groaning. As we sat and had lunch Steve wasn't perturbed as it had fished for him like this before. The only problem he could see was that the river had been higher when he'd fished it. It was current;y two foot up, but he'd been fishing it when it was four to six foot up and the slack areas had been a lot bigger

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It was very quiet after lunch. By four we were back at the first three swims and it was starting to rain. These swims, though, would be more comfortable than the others in the rain as they were out of the the wind. They also had large flat areas so sliding into the river on the wet mud wasn't as likely. Within a few minutes of casting out the float popped under. It didn't go anywhere, just sat a couple of inches under the water. I wound down and was into a very spirited fish which took longer than it should to land. A typical long river fish of 7lb 6oz and 90cm length. The other two soon followed with fish of similar size. I then lost one when a branch got blown out of the overhanging tree . and hit the line with the float getting temporarily snagged in a vee in the branch. Meanwhile Steve had a series of dropped runs and/or fish falling off the hooks.

Mark had a really good hours fishing with four more fish to 9lb. I then had a searing run with the fish out near the middle of the river before I could set the hooks. It took a bit of getting in as it attempted to get round the back of the fallen tree upstream of me. Eventually a lovely fish of 17lb 3oz and 107cm was landed. The frightened look on my face in the picture is because of an almighty crack from the willow above me. Steve then managed a fish of exactly 10lb that came in like a wet blanket apparently. 

Around six the rain stopped so we took the opportunity to pack up in the dry and get back to the Landy in the light. On the way back the strap on Mark's bag broke causing it to roll into the rather deep ditch we had to walk alongside. Been 7-8' deep we couldn't quite reach it with a landing net. Like all Landy owners Steve had a length of rope in the vehicle and so we were able to lower Mark onto the ditch and retrieve him and the bag.

Not a bad days sport was had by all. Strangely only the one fish came to lamprey which had done so well for Steve previously. While all my fish and runs had come to sardine all theirs had come to roach. I should imagine the rivers will be busy this weekend with the end of the season near and the river s been at a reasonable level for a change. Monday is the last day and I'll be out again, probably not pike fishing though. I don't know why as I never do particularly well,