Oktoberfest has started

Barely any wind was forecast, for about a week and a half in fact. That is far from ideal for pike, and I rarely see the river that calm, certainly not in autumn. During my pre-fishing it was the same story and I managed only two pike. Big ones, granted, but the rest simply did not show. We started fishing fairly small, just to see whether we could get a reaction from a predator. Sadly that came to nothing. Secretly I had hoped to catch them on light tackle.

So out came the big guns again. It is unbelievable how effective large lures can be in autumn. The men needed a moment to get used to casting a baitcaster, but they had it in no time. Jeffrey soon hooked a beautiful fish right in front of the boat. On the measuring board it fell just short of a meter, but the ice was broken. We fished on for a while without a reaction and I decided to run several kilometers to another spot.

There the men spotted a nice stone point and were convinced a pike was sitting on it. I normally skip that point, because I have never pulled a fish off it, but it is always good to double-check now and then. I said that I catch all my pike out on the flat, not towards the reeds. Some people find that odd. Most anglers know pike as a fish that sits tight to the edges. That can certainly be true, but I always fish the zone further out first so I do not spook them.

Danny only had to make two casts onto the flat and immediately caught a pike of 115 cm. What satisfaction, it had come off again. A fat new personal best went into the net. We fished on happily and caught two smaller pike. The day was already made. October is on.