I doubt this one would ever get in Fred Buller's book, but it's one I'll never forget.

I decided to have a day's Barbel fishing today on the Derbyshire Derwent. I hooked into a Barbel which looked to be around the five pound mark. I had to play the fish quite hard as it's a very snaggy swim with a sunken tree and ranunculus weed tight under the bank. After a few spirited runs I managed to get the fish on the surface ready for netting. It was at this point that there was what I can only describe as another thud on the rod and the fish suddenly became a lot heavier. There had been quite a lot of weed coming downstream and at first I thought that a chunk had got caught up on the line. It was only then that I noticed a large pike had come up and grabbed the barbel across it's flank behind the dorsal fin without making so much as a ripple. I managed to get both fish upstream within netting distance which surprised me as I thought the pike would have let go. I tried getting both fish in the net but it was impossible with the fast water dragging on a large landing net and the ranunculus in the edge. I did manage to get the head of the pike over the edge of the net but I just couldn't get it those last few inches so I decided to chuck the rod down and quickly try and get the net under both fish. I'd like to say this worked, however the barbless hook fell out of the Barbels mouth and the predator kept hold of it's prey. It remained in full view in the ranunculus weed with the barbel still clamped in it's jaw. I even tried netting them again such was my desperation, but the pike moved out into deeper water where it sank to the bottom taking the barbel with it.

The interesting thing was the pike would be in the upper teens at a guess, but the barbel at an estimated five pounds looked way too big for it to eat.

I couldn't stop shaking for about ten minutes. I've had pike take small roach etc... but never anything that size. If only I could catch Pike of that size when I was fishing for them.

Something similar but slightly less dramatic happened to me about 2 weeks ago. I fish a very small local river, which has some good sized chub and other big fish in it. I'd hooked a decent chub about 2.5lb from under a far bank tree where there is always a few lurking. Its hit and hold stuff as there not much room, its snaggy, and its fast in the middle. Chub shot off downstream, then shot back up, past me, with a double figure pike in hot pursuit. Looked an absolute croc in such a small, crystal clear river. I didn't want it to get the chub, so I was trying to bully the chub into the net and steer it away from Mrs Pike at the same time, as she was chasing poor Mr chub back and forth across the river. Pike followed it right to the net and just as I gave one last heave, the hook pulled out and a grateful chub shot off upstream, leaving Mrs pike to sulk in front of me.

Needless to say I had no pike gear with me, but I went back the next evening with my spinning rod. Flicked a floating Big S under the tree and on third cast hooked and landed a pike....but not the biggun, a smaller male about 6lb who had teeth mark all over him where he'd obviously come off worse from spawning with the big mamma, poor chap!

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Oh, I got another one from last night.... (well not "great", but fun)

Was down my local small river again, this time after some big bream which have been hagning around. Rather than my normal size 8 hook + bread chub set-up, I was on a size 12 barbless and redworms. No bream, but I was getting perch of various sizes by twitching the worms along the bottom. Last cast of the evening and hooked another small perch, which suddenly went very heavy under the rod tip, then ploughed upstream taking line Not massive, but a fighting fit 5lb pike which gave a great scrap on light gear. No sign of the poor little perch it had snaffled but the pike was neatly hooked in the lip on my size 12 barbless!

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Derby County have a 20 plus acre or so rainbow stocked pool right next to the Trent which regularly floods into the pool so it has a good head of coarse fish including pike.I had a rainbow of around 2lb on last year which suddenly gained a new lease of life, shooting off at a spectacular rate.As i got it into the bank , I could see a 30lb plus pike chasing it.I have caught pike into mid tweties so I am confident on it's weight.The pike lost interest when I beached the rainbow (sometimes I hand them out but for some reason decided not to just then ).
Each time I bellyfloat this pool now, I keep hearing the Jaws theme,I mean , she could do some serious damage to the bits hanging down couldn't she?
Regards
Rob

My first pike came from Bassenthwaite lake in Cumbria,it was a lovely warm morning in June,going back several years, i had been plugging and spinning for pike with no luck whatsoever,so out of boredom I rummaged beneath rocks and found a few worms,I thought I'll scale down,put a bubble float on and try for a trout.Half an hour later the bubble float popped under,striking I was attached to a fish that went deep and felt pretty good,after a few minutes a jack pike of around 5lb came up,had a thrash on the surface and promptly snapped me off at the float.With that being the only float I had I went back to spinning.A good ten minutes later I spotted my float,stationary,about 25yds out,cast after cast I finally snagged it with a plug only to find the jack still attached,this time it wasn't so lucky,and was eventually landed.

Great stories !

I can just hear the ''JAWS'' theme tune now !!! lol

Cheers

Davie

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My first pike. I was around 11 or 12 and my father took me down to portlegnone bridge on the river bann. It was a roasting day, i remember all the locals fishing in shorts and not many wearing a teeshirts, it was in its mid 20's. I was usuing a bright orange spoon, i kept casting underneath the bridge and i remember my dad kept saying, it was as good a place as any for a good pike.

After 10 mins of casting, the next thing i knew i was caught on the bottom! I pulled back and the next thing i seen was a pike rising out of the shadows of the bridge. Obviously the pike, didnt even know he or should i say "she" was hooked. When the pike realised it was hooked, it nearly pulled me in, river pike on the bann are very very hard fighters due to the very heavy flow they have to put up with during floods and espically winter. After a great scrap, i dragged her in, my father unhooked her and laid her back in the water. Its hard to beat, watching your catch swim away to fight another day...this may sound stupid but that moment definatley made me into the man i am today.

Well I went back to the Derwent with my pike gear determined to get the pike that made off with my barbel. After a few casts a decent fish followed in my replicant. It looked about 10LB, but not the battle scarred fish I was after. A few casts later and I hooked a good fish mid-river. This was definately the fish I was after. I recognised the scars along his flanks as he came to the surface. Just as I was starting to think I had him, the hookhold gave way. Cursing I returned to fishing for Barbel. I figured if I left it for a couple of hours he may have another go, and so it turned out because I hooked him again and this time managed to land him. It wasn't as big as I thought it was going to be. It weighed just under 15LB. It was a long lean fish with a huge head as you can see from the photo. I'd be interested to know what the marks are on the side of his body if anyone out there has any sugestions.

I was fishing for chub one October day on the Wye at Monmouth, home of some very big pike. I was playing a chub when it started to take line. Now very few chub take line off me and this one was not stopping. After ten minutes or so I was making slow progress and had got the fish to within a few yards but could not lift it to the surface. I figured that the record had to be mine when it suddenly got easier and a 4lb chub came to hand pretty easily.

It had a bite mark across it that was fully 5" wide and clearly it had been taken by a very big pike during play. I decided to come back the next day better equipped and have a go for it. I caught a few dace and small chub and headed for the spot where the pike was. This was a big back eddy and a perfect pike swim.

I rigged a bait under a float and dropped it in a few feet out to test the depth and whether the float would cock. It slid straight under and I cursed thinking I'd over leaded it. I lifted the rod to find a pike attached and it turned out to be one of about 10lbs. It was quickly landed and a new bait put on and the process repeated. Again the float went straight under and again there was a pike on the end.

To cut a long story short I had seven casts in the same place and caught seven pike over 10lbs and those who know the Wye will know that this many good pike in one pool is quite unusual, to catch seven from one spot in a pool is amazing. The largest was about 17lbs and its mouth was a couple of inches narrower than the bite on the chub the previous day so something huge was in there that I never caught.

A 29lber was found in a poacher's net in the same area the following year and I found another dead in the same pool a couple of years later that was just over 30lbs so it was clearly a pool favoured by big pike, maybe one of those two was what took my chub. My biggest Wye pike is still only 19lbs so I would have loved to make contact with either of those two fish.

On another occasion my brother hooked a pike whilst we were fishing on the Shannon just above where it runs into Lough Derg which towed the boat up against the current - it came off so we never saw it but it was a very good fish.

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“There is no more lovely country than Monmouthshire in early spring. Nowhere do the larks sing quite so passionately, as if somehow inspired by the Welsh themselves. There is a blackbird on every thorn and a cock chaffinch, a twink as they call him there, on every bush...... It moved me profoundly. I had been spared to see another spring, and I thank God for it.”

Oliver Kite
“A Spring Day on the Usk”
A Fisherman’s Diary

Two of my three pike over 20lb have fallen to salmon flies in the spring but they hardly count as great pike stories as they both came in like wet sacks, well very heavy wet sacks! Both were on nylon leaders too but we had better not go there.

What wieght range would you reckon for a mouth that wide?
Pictures below are of a pike with a mouth very close to 6 inches wide, I just wish I had met it when it was in better health.








Andy

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