A hard piking week

      Not the easiest week of pike fishing thanks to the extremes of the weather but at least some fish were caught but at times I felt sure that there wasn't a single fish in the drain. On Wednesday it was the calm before the storm, it was windy but the wind died away to a flat calm in the late afternoon. Despite the conditions two pike were teased out of the water on paternostered deadbait and another fish simply spat the hook and bait out before I saw it.
      The fish above was the first to be caught right in the marginal reeds and its was quite a chunky little number and the other fish was a very feisty pike of about three pounds. There he is below showing his best side.

      Saturday afternoon saw my son and I back on the drain but he'd forgotten all his warm wet weather clothing so it turned into a two hour session but he simply had to fish despite almost contracting hyperthermia. The waves on the drain were almost a foot high, it was windy and the wind was driving icy cold rain horizontally, not a good combination if you are not wearing the right clothing.

      We managed one fish each, neither of them large but I think they were a triumph given the prevailing conditions, never mind there's always next week.

      The toothy portrait below can be credited to Michael taking shaky photographs because of his shivering.

      Strange that there's still a boy's obsession with toothy fish twenty five years on.