esox lucius

Over the past week i've been doing a lot of fishing, for pike, on the fly no less. Rather than write a seperate post for every trip i thought i should wait and lump all the days in together.

I've been hammering a wee water nearby that has a good head of pike, reputedly up to the golden 20lb mark. Not concerning myself with looking for the BIG fish, i was happy to get anything daft enough to snap at my flies. Unlike last winter the weeds have died back really early, to be honest this put me off at first because the number of features to cast to had been dramatically reduced, also, the water had coloured right up which id never seen there before, so straight away, things didnt look good.

However, within minutes a mini pike bulldozed my fly but managed to wriggle off, this would happen several more times before i got one to stick, in short, i managed 3 pike up to 3lbs that day, with loads and loadd of follows/ takes. it was such an exciting days fishing, every time i cast at scattering baitfish, my line would tighten and id feel that shudder up the line that we all crave.

Bizarrely, all the pike seemed to be concentrated in a tiny corner of the loch. This was my first real success with pike on the fly and was enough to force me out the next day. The biggest fish of the first day.

The second day saw me start in exactly the same fashion, same corner/ fly/ conditions but no fish. I had to cover a lot of water before the first pike had a go, at about 2lbs the fish put up a surprisingly strong fight on a stiff 9 weight pike rod. Another one would follow soon after then there was a dull period.

I wandered along to another water nearby which is one of the most popular pike waters in my area, after a long walk with no success, a green torpedo shot out from the marginal weed and very casually nibbled the fly and spat it out, then just the faintest nibble.....and he was stuck. I set the hook with a subtle lift, then in amazement, just watched him sit there. And sit. THEN, he realised there was a big pike fly in his mouth and tore off for the far bank, for the next 6/7 minutes i enjoyed the best scrap ive ever had from a fish, constantly running this way and that, waiting till i had some sort of control then ripping yard after yard of line from my reel.

Because i had left my net at home ( having not planned to fish here) I had to jump in up to my knees to unhook the bugger. No picture unfortunately but i put about 8lbs on him. That would be the perfect end to a perfect day.

Today, i hit the same water, with decent if not ideal conditions i struggled a bit, not getting any interest for the first half hour or so, i noticed some roach leaping free of the surface in unison. This can mean only one thing... PIKE ATTACK!!!!

After a few fruitless casts, i landed the fly around the area of the initial disturbance, as soon as the fly hit the water my line tightened and i met solid resistance. Typically, any pike over 5 or 6 pounds takes a minute to realise they are hooked and start fighting, this fish was no different.

Once he woke up my drag was put to the test, even with the brake on full the fish tore line with ease. The fact that the fish didnt show itself for a while only added to the excitement, was it 5lbs? was it 15lbs? Its impossible to tell. After another minute or two of spirited scrapping the fish rolled, betraying its true size, i would say about 7lbs. Once he finally came to hand he was very simply unhooked and was off like a shot. It just goes to show that heavy fly gear is essential to tame even these modest sized pike. I only managed shots of the fish during the fight as it swam away so quickly.

The rest of the day was pretty dull truth be told, one more fish about 10 inches which took a fly about 6 inches long! as you would expect it wasnt much of a fighter.

Over the 3 trips i managed to get 8 pike, a respectable total i think, and fingers crossed there will be more and more through the coming weeks!

the wee man. The big man.