353days 12hours and some minutes

[pingu]

well ok its been a while since i last caught a pike

and as posted /drivelled on in other posts i was on a mission not to make it a year long blank ( ok so havnt fished for them dureing summer but that dont count )

after another blank daylight session my mate ( who used to be a jonah) said " what you up too tonight?"

i suggested pikeing again as where i wanted to go felt happier as a pair rather than alone

so it was off to the canal again, armed with some freebie bait from tackle shop in the form of 2 bags of 1 yr old freezer burnt lamprey , also some new bluey baits

set up in swim i had found recently away from most passing interuptions ( well ok a few cyclists and ciderheads but nowt bad), still fishing from car though


but i did find there was not too wide a bank here so had to seriously angle rods


anyways about 9 a couple of canoeists came out of no where and i had to quickly retrieve the lamprey baited rod that was on far bank, so i left it just hanging in margin below rod tip whilst i waited for their return ( which as it happens they didnt)

I had just got up and was over rod and thinking of moveing it when i noticed
the tip was jiggling, then the alarm went off as it re settled in rollers
grabbed it and within seconds there was a pike at the bank( well it was there to start with)
then the fun and games began

first i went to glove it out( that was a no go as bank too overgrown out to reach over
second get the net, now i only had stalker handle at 5 ft and it wasnt long enough as too far above water
third hand line in but i could see was deep hooked when cleared water and didnt want to rip stomach
evenntually managed without falling in to get in corner of net

after a struggle unhooked it ( had to snip off trace and feed out through gills as so deep ) and then photo for points


returning it proved difficult as well as it was still so green and it leapt into bushes rather than canal ( more hanging over bank edge for me ) but it eventually swam off strongly

ok so its not a monster but the curse is broken and i felt obliged to celebrate with a pint on way home as well

points learnt tonight
1: pikeing in the dark is fun
2: takeing hooks through gills was pretty easy
3: make sure rod is back in alarm rollers when resetting
4: bring the long handle for landing net here
5: there are still some pike in the canal

good night in end and guess i had better make it up to the lovely mrs p tommorrow by doing some jobs arround house at last this week, and maybe meet for lunch.............mind you wed night is always fishing night ...............................


dave

[Lman]

congrats to you dave
nice result after all that effort

[Norfolkboy]

Well done Dave, hope the next one doesn't take as long to come around

[Twiddler]

And about time too .....well done Dave, after all the trouble and time you went through to catch the critter

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Well done mate

[perch_king]

congrats mate well done in the end

[Banana Steve]

nice one Dave

[fishypaul]

very well done dave,you deserved that fish

[mithrandir]

Well Done Dave!!!

Funny how we spend all that time casting to likely spots, and they come in just under the rod tip!

[Greenheart]

Enjoyable report Dave. It just go's to show that sometimes it pays to try the un-orthadox... Oh & whatch what you're saying about Ciderheads, some of us may take offence......