First Proper Pike Session of the Season

 With the weather being somewhat variable, by variable I mean drizzle, light rain, heavy rain, I decided to stay close to home so popped down to the local gravel pit. I was rather surprised when I got there to see nobody else about. I wasn't early arriving just after nine. I( was even more surprised to see it hadn't filled up since summer, being about two foot down. The final surprise was the ice. I'd not expected any ice at all as it hadn't been particularly cold for a while. A couple of swims were not fully frozen and one had a couple of good spots free of ice. The other only having the one. The more open swim was one of my favourites so I opted for that.

The ice wasn't that thick at all close in so shouldn't prove to be much of a problem. I was soon joined by a robin as is usual here. I had brought some liquidised bread so sprinkled a bit on the ground. The robin didn't look impressed I think they prefer maggots. never the less it tucked into the bread popping back through out the day.

I bit of plumbing about showed both spots to about three and a half foot deep. One in a little bay and the other near an over hanging tree. The float were set so the bottom shot just touched bottom. I'd not looked to see what baits I had in the freezer bags. first out was a slightly freezer burnt headless sardine which went in to the bay. next out was a small rainbow trout which went out under the over hanging branches. I tossed out some of the liquidised bread as well in the hope it would attract some bait fish.

 

After half an hour the float in the bay bobbed and shot away a couple of foot before popping back up. I contacted with nothing as expected. I'm convinced bites like that are either liners or tiny jacks. On this occasion I think it was a liner as there were no marks on the sardine at all. A couple of hours, just after the rain had started, later the trout bait was away. I didn't really strike as the fish was moving away from me. After  a brief but hectic tussle in the shallow water I had a nice looking tubby pike in the net. It was in near perfect nick. This surprised me as the pike in here get some hammer and some end up quite tatty. At 88cm and 11lb 1oz it was a good start and very welcome.

There was no more action until three when the rain stopped. I'd decided to move to the other swims there was now quite a large clear area in front of it. I wound in the sardine and dropped it in the margin. As I wound the trout in I saw the tip of the other rod whip over. I grabbed the rod and felt  some thing small on the end. A tiny little jack had firm hold of the end of the sardine but had missed the hook. The sardine came adrift and the jack shot away with it's prize.

I fished the other corner swim until I could no longer see the floats but failed to elicit any action. Still a double was I nice start to my pike campaign proper.