So last year a couple of friends and I headed down to the river Endrick for a spot of Pike action. If you were a reader at that time you will now remember that “action” is the opposite of what happened. We did not in fact see any Pike at all and my and the Endricks reputation was on the line.
Well, Alex and I went back yesterday for another bash and this time it turned out slightly different.

Our main plan was too hit the river with the fly and to that end I had bought outrageously priced Pike Flies from the Glasgow Angling Centre. What I should have done was head over to eBay and pick up some pike flies from there

However, we decided not to use the fly because of the bright sunny conditions, instead using some giant rattling pike plugs bought from the Glasgow Angling Centre, I would like to say we chose them because of the fishing technique we had planned however if it had a pretty colour, rattled and had a name like Fat Dawg or Little Gem we bought it.

It was quite sad when we got to the river as farmer that owns the land had sold it to a neighbour to rear expensive racehorses, the neighbour does not want plebs like us tramping across his land and catching “jumpy” on the back cast. Anyway, as I knew the farmers wifes family we were allowed on for this last time.

When we got to the river we were quite optimistic, the place reeks of Pike, we could sense there presence¦

I got into a Pike within 15mins, it was around the 6lb mark and fought well. The banks were very steep being of the 4-5 foot vertical variety so I sent Alex down to get the fish out while I expertly played the fish. Unfortunately the Pike shook its head and was away. I was not too bothered as we had at least seen a Pike this session. This was a definite improvement on last time.

Later, I was retrieving my rattling “Little Gem” with what I thought was a particularly enticing retrieve “ quick quick, slow slow imitating an injured fish, when my line went dead in the water. Then came the immortal words that I shall say time and time again when I tell people this story.If Alex is present I shall look to him to back me up and to nod wisely in respect of the momentous occasion..

Alex, I have either hooked the bottom or a very big Pike

You may insert a slight note of panic, boredom or hopefulness into that line I am not sure exactly how the hallowed words were said.

It was then I realised it was a Pike, I called out I thought it was a fish, Alex at this point thought I was kidding on (you do that when you get snagged, you kid on you are into a big fish for a bit of excitement)

Alex walked over and we realised I had hooked a monster from the depths. Instantly I was glad it was me purely for the fact all the pressure was on Alex to get down the embankment again and try and get what looked like JAWS out the water. It was like a particularly manic torpedo, every time it got close for him to lift it out the water it would scoot off again taking line off the reel.

We have never been so scared of a fish as we were at that point. I mean we know it is a lot of rubbish that Pike dont actually bite you, but the sheer size of it was pretty intimidating.

Eventually, the Pike was landed, the hooks removed a quick photo opportunity and then the Pike was safely back in the water- immediately swimming off with a flick of its tail. I did not want to lift the Pike up as you see most anglers do as I am certainly no expert in Pike handling, anyway, it was damned heavy. It was one big fat Pike. I would be interested in knowing what peoples guestimate of its size would be. We reckoned it was between 15-20lbs- it was by far my biggest fish and I think I have caught this little Pike bug for the winter months- at least until the start of the trout season.

[tags]Pike,fishing,spinning,sexy man in waders [/tags]