Good start for the pike season

[dan the fishing man]

i headed out to suffolk water park big fish lake yesterday in search of some nice pike. the only method that is allowed at the venue for pike is lure fishing until 1st october.
i focussed on three types of lre throughout the day; a small jelly pike lure, a floating/diving lure and a medium sized spoon.
i started with the spoon for the first couple of hours in bright weather, but after no takes or follows, i decided to put on the floating/diving lure in the hope that the pike were near the surface. another good reason for this is because there is a lot of weed at the bottom. about 30mins after changing to this lure i had a small jack pike follow my lure all of the way in, but it resisted the temptation of taking it.
another hour passed with still no pike banked and i switched to the jelly artificial pike lure, however i did have to keep it high in the water so that it did not pick up any blanket weed.
on my very first cast i had a take about 15meters from the bank and hooked into a 3lb jack. however i lost the fish about 3meters from the bank when it came off the hook. another hour passed, and one more fish hooked and lost and i started to think that it really wasnt my day. but, 15mins later, i had hooked into a third pike and tempted it into taking the lure and i banked it at about 1lb 12oz. small but relieving because i know knew i had not blanked on a lake that isnt the easist 2 lure fish.
now, with a bit more confidence, i moved round to a peg that had produced many pike for me last winter. within minutes, i had a very niced size pike follow in my lure but refused to take it. i was gutted that this had not taken my lure because my previous best lured caught pike was only 4lb 8oz, and this pike looked to be at least 8lb. about 1hr and 30mins later, myself and a mate decided we would give the peg another 20mins of fishing and if nothing happened, move to another peg. but, my fiirst cast had a storming take on it and after a good few minutes of fighting a good looking pike surfaced and it was landed with ease. after unhooking, it weighed in at 10lb 4oz and looked very similar to the pike that i had earlier seen, maybe it was the same one!
a good days piking for me, but a shame the same couldnt be said about my mate, who blanked for the day.
sorry about no pics, you will just have to trust me on the fish until i can get a picture available, hopefully for the next comp.

[Magik]

A cracking good day. I hope the winter brings a few more good results and who knows maybe a P.B.

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Sounds a great day and I hope you did not rub it in that he blanked

[Norfolkboy]

Nice one Dan

[mikey-1001]

To Dan the fishing man (i wasn't gonna do a quote 'cause of the size of post m8 ..lol!) there is no close season on pike on my local water which obviously makes alot of pikers jealous.....through the summer months (close season on most waters ) i take extreme care with any pike i catch as do the rest of the pike crew up here at Edgelaw res. (read my posts on summer piking!) But like most pikers i love a good winter session......roll on the cold frosty mornings......i love being huddled up in my bivvie with the thermal camo suit on and a nice pot 'o' brew on the stove!! HEAVEN !!

[mikey-1001]

I just had an afterthought Dan( the fishing man, not norfolk boy !!lol) pike go crazy for large copper spoons on ANY water,in fact the bigger the better although you may find that you hit alot of 2-5 lb jacks before you get a good 'un. The big lures seem to attract the smaller jacks-----dont ask me why its one of the mysterys of fishing !! Thats why we all love it boys eh !!