At last, I get the chance to join in here! After several months of not being able to go fishing, I eventually made it out yesterday with the intention of bothering a few perch. Saturday is a good day for me as far as driving is concerned. Living where I do, just inside London's South Circular road, it can be a nightmare to get out of London any time after 06:00, during the week. On a Saturday, it is not until later in the day that the traffic builds up. I left just after 07:00 and got to Beaver in under an hour, even after a stop to fill the van with fuel.
I had every intention of fishing Eden Pond which is a nice small, natural looking pond with a good stock of perch. I decided not to when I discovered there were several people fishing it already. It is only a small pond, and it is best fished when nobody else is there. My second choice had been Tuscany Lake. This is the catfish lake, but during the winter months, while the moggies are asleep, it is open for fishing silvers. Having never fished it before I made some enquiries only to be advised that it is very deep in places and is more suited to feeder fishing, so that is for another day.
I ended up back in what is rapidly becoming my default swim at the shallow end of The Major's Lake. I had fished there back in September and caught a good number of perch, so I know it can deliver. It is full of features and has good 'perchy' looking areas both along the margins and near the reed beds. The only problem at this time of year is the mass of submerged lily pads. Know the water; I have a good idea of exactly where they are.
I decided to play it safe and fish in the near margin. I had made some red paste that I intended to try, once I had located the fish, but to start with I was fishing with known bait; worm. I set up my old float rod with 4lb main line and a similar hooklength sporting a No.6 hook. On to this, I impaled a lobworm and a single red Maggot used to help prevent the worm wriggling off.
I dropped the baited hook into the margin an no sooner had I done so, the float disappeared, and I had a fish on. It was then that it all kicked off. This was no perch. I saw a flash of something big, and it was off. At this point I thought I had chanced upon a carp cursing the margin. It did not take me too long to realise this was no carp. I had hooked a decent sized pike.
Now I am kicking myself for taking the minimal gear approach. For the first time in years, I only had one landing net with me, a 20 inch spoon. I had no intention of landing anything over a couple of pounds if that. The pike put up a good fight, and I had to be careful as I was only using light line. Eventually, it was on the bank with help from Andy, who just happened to be passing by on his rounds. He also managed to get a picture of it.
This was something special for me. I have been talking about going pikeing over the past few months but had decided to wait until I could get back to the Great Stour in Canterbury with fill carp gear. I have not caught a pike before of any size, let alone one that Andy estimated to be around 8lb!
After all that excitement, I blanked for the rest of the day, but went home happy and thinking about how I am going to approach my next session at Beaver in this cold weather...
Ralph.