Pages

Wednesday 29 November 2017

Winning a Pint Back

You might recall that Rob and I have this little angling contest going. The biggest fish of each species caught during 2017 earns a pint. The balance is still leaning Rob's way at present, but earlier this week I managed to nick one back...

The pike campaign has been a bit of a slog, with loads of eel aggro and very few pike. We've both chalked up several blank trips since we started back in early October, and feel that the venue is beating us up a bit. Mind you, with Rob doing a few overnighters he does manage to hear the odd bit of gen from other anglers and it sounds like we're not the only ones finding it tough going. The worse thing about not catching much is the feeling also that you're not learning much.

Anyway, back to the pints. Pike-wise, Rob has two 16-pounders to his credit this year, whereas my biggest is 14:08. I say 'is', but I mean 'was'...

23lb 8oz of exceptional jam

So, my second 20lb-plus pike in less than a year, and a different fish too. In fact, they were caught more than two miles apart, which kind of illustrates the challenges (and potential) of this amazing water.

In a way I'm a bit gutted for Rob. He's put in way more time than I have, and really deserves a big 'un. Doesn't mean I won't savour that pint though...

2 comments:

  1. Congratulations - that's a fabulous pike and in great nick. Glad to know that the eels are still giving you problems, they're bloody savage on the Royal Military at present! Take care and tight lines - Dyl

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Dyl. As you can see, it was caught after dark too. Our last visit was the first without any eel trouble. Hopefully they're easing off a bit. Last year we didn't start piking properly until December and didn't have any definite eel action at all.

      Delete