Friday february 20th

Earlier today i headed out for my first fishing trip for a few week's. I had been thinking about it all week at work, the temperature's have stayed fairly mild for the past week and i knew we were in with a good chance of a fish. In fact scotland has been caught in the grip of the coldest winter i can remember for quite some time and my local water's have been frozen for the best part of two month's, so this window of opportunity was not to be missed!

I left the house a little later than planned (as usual) and made a quick dash to the local tackle shop to buy some fresh deadbait's. Got to the waterside within the hour and got to the task in hand!

It was actually bitter cold and pretty windy but we persevered for a few hour's without a touch, then five boats ploughed through our swim in quick succession and it became clear that something had to change. Luckily there is another prolific pike water a mere 200 yards away so our choice to move was made all the easier.

The new venue is quite well sheltered and felt a good few degree's warmer, at last i felt almost confident. Within an hour of re-locating my float legered sprat was intercepted and my baitrunner began to lose line....rapidly! I struck quickly though and felt that unmistakeable sensation transmit through the braid, down the rod and into my hands. The fish felt quite hefty but the water was still really cold so it was fairly lethargic though it didn't give up without a few short runs and really held deep. After a short fight of maybe three minute's i had this beauty in my clutches

I got quite a pleasant surprise with this fish. At first sight in the water i guessed maybe seven or even eight pound's but once it was in the net i noticed it was a really chunky, thick-set fish. We popped it in the weigh sling and it read 5.1kg. Convert that to pound's and I was holding a fish of just over 11lb's!

Now this might not sound like a massive fish but despite the amount of hour's i spend chasing pike this is the biggest I've ever caught! My first fish of the year, a double and my new PB. Victory!

Whilst i was slipping her back my mate was the lucky recipient of another screaming run, his fish slipped back into the water before we got a photo but we guesstimated it to be around 5 1/2lb's. Unfortunately it had another (idiot) angler's trace stuck in it's mouth but we managed to remove it fairly easily.

It's hard to describe the buzz that surround's a few angler's when some nice fish have been caught but all of a sudden our crew seemed much more upbeat in spite of the wind and the nasty temperature's......

About half an hour later my float slid away again.... I struck and was met with slightly less resistance than last time but i was glad to be into another fish, despite being about six pound's in weight this fish actually fought pretty well, it even jumped clear of the water, quite rare for pike, especially at this time of year! We managed a photo of this spirited chap, here it is

I look exceptionally chuffed with myself here, it's not often i blow my cool when i catch fish.....honest...............................

Anyway's it was a grand way to kick off my fishing in 2009, i'm heading to the same spot tomorrow, hopefully to repeat today's success!