Five in the net

      It was a strange Saturday afternoon. When I arrived at the waterside and parked the car in the corner of the field by the drain there was a strong breeze blowing, then while I was unpacking my gear from the car the wind just dropped and an eery calm fell. It was all very spooky.
      The surface of the drain was like a mirror and not a fish dimpled the surface, having put the rod together I walked along the bank for a couple of hundred yards and as far as I could see in either direction the surface was simply a flat calm, not even a coot or duck busying themselves. On the walk back to the car I did see one of my favourite anglers, the kingfisher, hard at work and he was catching plenty of fry and if there are fry around you can be sure the predators won't be to far away. I decided to start in the kingfisher's swim, he ignored me and just carried on hammering the fry.
      

      Almost immediately a run was missed due to routine incompetence and rushing but the first pike of the day wasn't long coming and although it wasn't a big fish, five or six pounds, it heightens the expectancy and sharpens the concentration but after half an hour no more takes. Back to the landing stages and there's yet another kingfisher hammering the fry. A good sign.

      In the next hour four more pike were landed, two runs were missed and two pike tail-walked and shook themselves free. The biggest fish weighed just shy of fourteen pounds and all-in-all it was an excellent afternoon session, you have to be happy with that kind of result.
      And even Norwich City put five in the net. Now that really was the surprise of the afternoon.