A masterclass in fishing for big pike

We had terrible luck with the weather. The wind stood straight across the water, which made it colored and threw up high waves. We decided to go anyway. Chris was on his own and has plenty of experience, so we could just about get out. That made it all the more interesting for him to see how we had to adapt to the conditions, something you sometimes have to do daily on the river.

After a long run and a soaking we reached calmer water. The first spot stayed suspiciously quiet, but that did not spoil the mood. We talked away and found a spot holding a shoal of bream. I explained to Chris how you fish a spot like that and where the pike tends to sit on that type of structure. It paid off straight away and a beautiful pike came for his swimbait right in front of the boat. That gave us a lot of confidence for the rest of the day, but after that fish it stayed quiet for hours, apart from a small pike I caught on a jerkbait.

The bag of tricks came wide open and I decided it was time to troll. If casting will not do it, then we crawl the drop-offs with planer boards, small boards that carry your lure out wide beside the boat. We had about two hours of fishing time left, so I ran the planers tight along every possible hotspot. Nothing. Not a tap, nothing at all. We kept our confidence, and in the last few meters over one of my favorite spots it happened. The rod with the biggest swimbait, almost 40 cm, folded double. This had to be a serious fish.

A short, violent fight in the waves and the wind followed and I got the net under the pike. We were beside ourselves, what a fish. In the water she looked a lot bigger than she really was. It was the girth that was enormous. A proper river pike, exactly what Chris came for. This one was well over ten kilos, and that in October.

Another day that came good, and how nice is it that a few weeks later you get a message from Chris saying he is catching pike over the meter on the river himself now. That is what you do it for.