Bye Bye 2007

Well the year closed quite well with a twenty pounder and a 16.10 for me on New Year's Eve. I was fishing with Denis and while I managed to convert both of my runs into fish, Denis lost two pike before finally boating a fourteen pounder at the very end of the day. The twenty was a really nice fish, showing none of the handling damage I've seen on so many fish lately. Surface temperature was 6.7 degrees

2007 in a Nutshell

It wasn't a great year pike-wise but there have been some highlights which bear mentioning again. The early part of the year produced a lot of double-figure fish, many of them over 15lbs but big fish just didn't come. March brought a twenty pounder from The Lake of Menteith but the best part of that trip was the fact that I had managed to persuade my wife to come and fish with me - and she caught!

Another twenty came in April but by May I had switched to other species and the pike were put on hold. The "other species" fishing was good, and while I didn't catch anything spectacular (no personal bests), I did get good quality tench, bream and barbel from northwest waters and was well pleased with them.

Autumn brought the rush to the trout reservoirs and with one exception it brought disappointment for me. Llandegfedd was very hard and I doubt I'll be back while Chew produced lots of pike but again failed to turn up the big one I wanted. Brenig did produce a twenty pounder though and I was absolutely delighted to catch it.

I flirted with river piking for a little while and will do a lot more when I can but it seems every time I have a day off, it rains and the rivers flood. Not much time left now before the rivers close so it may be next autumn again before I can catch a river pike.

December was kind to me with a biggish roach and some good pike. I got the boat out and was able to fish with my son Joe for a couple of days, which was a joy in itself but also got two twenty pounders and a few good doubles.

Things are looking up, welcome 2008!