Saturday morning dawned, beautifully grey with very little wind, and pike fishing thoughts crossed my mind almost instantly because the conditions were what I consider to be near perfect. A high speed trip to complete the weekend's shopping for vegetables and Sunday dinner and the car was packed with the necessary gear.
I'd decided that the chosen are was to be the mooring and boats in the village rather than my usual beat. Boats and moorings mean shelter for the silver fish and in turn the predators are there trying to decide when it's mealtime. As I packed the car the inevitable happened, the sun came out and a stiff breeze gradually built up. Damn and blast. Then the getting down to some of the moorings in the village made my knees hurt, it must be the weather after all how does titanium and carbon fibre hurt?
After an hour a powerful run and the bait dropped by the pike after about four yards, well it's better than nothing, although ultimately frustrating those moments sharpen the focus, expectation and awareness.
A new deadbait is attached and out goes the bait and float close to the reeds, I tighten the line put the rod in the rest, look up and the float has gone. When my eye finds the float it's about three feet down and fairly steaming away, this time the fish sticks and is landed it's not a massive pike but the colours and markings are stunning. I measured the fish and from the nose to the fork of the tail it was thirty three and three-quarter inches long. That'll do for me.
A couple of dog walkers with their chihuahua type of hound look on with horror when I show them the pike's set of teeth. Their dog has a bad case of tooth envy.
I don't think that they'll be tossing any sticks in the water for their little dog to retrieve anytime soon.
Nice catch, John. Compared to some of the fish I catch in the salt, those are baby teeth.
ReplyDeleteI love fishing around the docks for Snook, at night, down in Florida. I release almost all of them but I keep one, each holiday, for a very tasty meal. I understand Pike are tasty, as well, but near impossible to fillet. We have Shad that are bony but the pro's can fillet and market them.
ReplyDeleteAfternoon John, I had pike quenelles cooked for me in Ireland and they were delicious, all the meat is flaked from the bones and made into a very tasty small fish-cake. I always put them back and hope to meet again when they're much bigger. Regards, John
Nice to see some left in the town stretch TT. I might be passing Wed or Fri, I'll let you know if I am
ReplyDeleteNice to see your back on the fish John. well done mate
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ReplyDeleteThanks George, That was a lovely pair of posts. Regards, John
BB I'm OK for Thursday or Friday, me know and we'll do a safari! John
Friday afternoon? Depending on Beast from the East?
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ReplyDeleteIt's bloody cold here, 2 degrees and drizzling, it won't take a lot for the roads to become truly horrible. Email is the way. John