News - February 07
Sunday December 17th was the third round of the Predator Cup and what a successful day it turned out to be. Making our usual early start we headed up into the fens again , and we had chosen a venue which we hadn’t fished before and it turned out to be a tough one. Especially after a very cold snap and a heavy frost the night before, we had expected a very slow start.
With no fish for our efforts we moved on to another drain, but this time we did manage to catch a couple of small Pike . The afternoon session fished much better as the weather warmed up, and we fished a drain that we were more familiar with, and finally ended the day with 13 Pike.
The Pike Anglers of Cambourne set off on New Years Eve and made our way into the fens once again to find that our chosen venue was still free from other Pike anglers . This gave us the pick of the swims which we had hoped for, so now we were more optimistic about the day’s fishing ahead. The weather was all we had wished for as well; mild ,overcast, dry and ,at times, a strong south easterly wind so everything was looking very promising for us.
The start of our session was somewhat slower than we had first anticipated , but after a number of coffee breaks something finally picked up one of Nigel’s Roach dead baits and took off. After a short fight the fish was finally up on the surface,
it was on its way to the landing net when we had realised just how big and bold it was . The fish was unhooked, photographed, and then weighed at an impressive 16lb, what a great start...
After more fishless hours a decision had to be made on whether we moved on to a new venue or stayed , but soon after making up our minds a fish picked up my float-fished Roach dead bait and trundled off upstream with it at great speed.
The hooks were set and the fish was on ,and after a short fight the Pike was brought safely into the landing net .With great anticipation the fish was quickly unhooked , photographed , weighed and returned back into the river. Yes we had caught another fifteen pound plus Pike ,this time the fish weighed 16lb 8ozs.
Unfortunately, we were unable to catch any more Pike but we didn’t mind , because not every day you get to see two sixteen pounders in a session do you…!
Having a day off work I decided to try a new venue that a kind gentleman had given us information about. This was during a recent discussion, concerning a particular stretch of river that has held some big Pike in the past. My first couple of hours went by without so much as a sniff, so a quick adjustment to my terminal tackle was carried out, and within minutes of changing, my smelt dead bait was taken, VOILA!
On winding down and setting the hooks I soon realised that a powerful fish was on, and knew it wasn’t going to come in easily after its first initial surge. So, after a hard but enjoyable fight I finally landed the fish and put it straight on the scales, great… a fish of 15lb 12ozs . After a quick photo and with a big smile on my face, I slid the Pike back in the margins to recover.
Shortly after I was fortunate to have another take which also resulted in another fine fish which again had snapped up my smelt dead bait, this time the Pike weighed in at 13lb 5ozs, so within an hour I had taken two Pike for a total of 28lb
12ozs , well pleased…
Until next time , Good Fishing, Stuart