I have hardly had chance to get out fishing for weeks now but the Christmas break has brought an opportunity for me to get out with my son, Joe - a rare event these days. Joe is home from university for Christmas and just for once, I'm not working so we snuk out at five this morning with the boat and a big bag of deadbaits.
It was so cold that we stuck to everything we touched and the line constantly froze in the rod rings, yet by dinnertime, clear skies and the lack of any breeze saw us stripping off layer after layer of clothing with sweat running from our brows. These are just about the worst conditions for pike fishing (or anything-else fishing for that matter) but we were still hopeful as we were fishing deep water. Surface temperature was a fairly mild 6.9 degrees.
I guess it was a fairly slow day with just three runs to show for our trouble but we had lots of fun together with the usual father/son banter that only a father and son would understand. We took along a couple of Christmas hats to reflect the season and we were lucky enough to get some good fish. Joe had the first run and caught a 16lb 10oz pike on float-legered joey mackerel but the old man soon showed who was boss with a 20lb 14oz pike on the same bait and method. I was very pleased that this fish was the first pike I had caught on a new rod - a loch tamer which I had built up myself using components obtained from Dave Lumb. Christening a new rod with a twenty pounder is great but it's even better when you've made it yourself.
Joe completed the day with a ten pounder and though we stayed until after dark, no more fish came our way. A celebratory pint in a local pub brought the perfect end to a perfect day.
Merry Christmas to all.
Footnote;
I managed another day out, on my own this time, just before Christmas and took a 16.14 and a nine pounder. I lost a good fish when the hooks pulled free.
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