good day turned very bad :(

[***simon***]

well i went out with a few mates today not even intending on going fishing. anyway we went to my mates house and got a few rods and set off to the river. started off slow but we had a few small roach and the legendary minnow :)

hooked into one pike using livebait but didnt manage to land it but i still had high hopes. anyway the day went by and i spotted another pike so i hooked a live roach through the mouth and cast towards the pike. it took the livebait straight away so i was happy.

this is when it started to go bad. the pike put up a very good fight and i was really happy. managed to land the fish (nearly broke the net :P). i then noticed that it actually swallowed the hook really bad. i couldnt even see it. this is when my heart dropped. after looking through the gills to see if the hook was visible. as it wasn't a decision was made to cut the wire trace as close as possible. got as far as i could with out hurting it.

well i put it back and was holding it for quite a while, i got my feet very wet. it finally kicked very hard out of my hands so i thought it was fine. but no, it just floated down river after that upside down until it came to a stop. i considered going in the river to help it but as there was too many needles around so i decided not to risk it. after about another 10 minutes it finally came back to life again and it just sat on the bottom, like the others i have caught did.

happy with its condition i went to sainsburys for a maximum of 5 minutes only to come back to see the pike back on the bank. a stupid bunch of chavy scum had foul hooked it. i was absolutely furious so i unhooked it for them, as carefully as i could, didnt let them take pictures or anything and released it again. this time it didnt do too well but it did kick hard out of my hand and it did give regular kicks in the water. the stupid scum was not happy with all there tn hats etc.

they tried to intimidate me by keep using words such as "oi bruv wot u doin" etc. typical thuggish behaviour. there was 3 of us and 3 of them so i really wasnt worried about what could happen.

after this i saw a bigger pike but i said to myself that i am not going to catch that one until i properly know how to deal with them, for example if the same situation arose.

to top the day off some little kid stole one of our rods and took it all the way home. we managed to persuade his sister to give it back but he proceeded in following us for a half hour walk to the bus station. he was convinced that he had given us £2 for a whole rod, reel etc. he was so little we couldnt do a thing but he was getting very boring. we manaaged to lose him in a shop for a bit but he found us again. this time he started punchin and kickin us when he realised we were getting on the bus.

after a cr*p day i've decided i wont go there again for a while.

i dont know the weight of the fish either so i'd like an estimate from the pics please.

id also like a bit of information before i go piking again on how to deal with situations where the pike swallow the hook, or even better how to avoid it happening!

i know im probably going to get some stick for what happened to the pike but i deserve it and at least im trying to learn before i go again. dont forget that i actually decided not to catch another pike before i knew what i was doing!

heres the pics, a guess on the weight would be appreciated thanks

[baitmaster]

firstly it seems to me you did not intentionally deep hook it and it was a matter of not knowing when to strike this comes with experience and you have today learned a valueable lesson that you not going to leave striking that late again i hope .i avocate striking early regardless and normaly if i missed it a small one more often or not
its very hard to explain how to deal with deep hooked pike and i suggest you try and find good local pike angler who will be more than willing to help you with handling pike and show you how to deal with deep hooked pike if its ever happens again.
sadly again you have learned another lesson not only cause of the pike being deeped hooked but cause in warm weather they fight hard and are
more fragile so i hope you have learned from fundamental mistakes that could have been avoided with giudance .i congraulate you on being honest and willing to learn from your mistakes and many on here will tell you the same and this reason is why the forum was set to help youngsters like you learn and to go and enjoy ,catch and handle fish the right way and then post up your adventure for all to enjoy with you .
also from how you even though you felt bad about thew pike you went back and then even tried to protect it from less educated idiots and they shows a level of angling whcih should be helped not slated for and accident i hope this make you feel better about what happened and another thing you know we allwere young once and i know i was in a similar predicament with a deep hooked fish but i was lucky to have experienced pike anglers on hand to help all those years ago but i was still a worry and i,m glad there was helpand if i can help or otherv we gladly will .
from what i,ve read you are going to turn out a good predator angler as you have learned a valueable lesson today
loks about the 7lb to 9lb range hard to really tell
tightlines
kevin

[gullyworm]

Well done Simon.
I m afraid there are scumbags everywhere mate,i think you did your best with the pike.

[pingu]

agree withn others guess 7lb plus(as looks like what i hooked saturday) understand how you tried to save fish(again same as saturdaty) and well done on trying your best!!!!

unfortunately here are muppets everywhere who ruin what should be a good sport, its yhese people who ruin it for all

well done on the report as well, did enjoy dave

[BaggieRich]

Well done Simon. I wouldn't beat yourself up about the pike mate, I'm sure you did all you could. It's clear to everyone who read the report that you care about the fish, and that's the most important thing of all.. Like Kev say's the only way to stop deep hooking is to strike early, before the fish takes the hook too deep.

You'll never stop learning in fishing mate, there's isn't an angler alive who know's it all....

Sorry to hear about the morons, but you'll get these kinda folk in all walks of life. The trick is learning to ignore them.....

Good report mate.



Rich

[PlanktonBoy]

Barbless treble hooks are the way to easy unhook em Simon.
If you cant get any barbless trebles crush the barbs with a set of pliers.
And get a decent set of long forceps for unhooking.
Nice fish by the way and well done.

Chavvy scum bags freeze well for bait you know lol