Second trip of the year to Penton Hook, Dan couldn't make it so Darren and myself were joined by Wandte guru Stuart - after his first pike. The early morning water looked great although a little fast. We found a nice looking spot and quickly set up.
Darren & Stuart fished the slacks in the side I aimed for a far side feature, but without enough lead my sprat was quickly swept away into the fast water. I decided to leave it and see. About 20 minutes later I had a run (to be honest I thought rubbish had caught on the line but I wound down to check).
Cracking fight in the fast water and my old friend the bitten pike, the third time I've caught her - going to have to think up a name if I see her again. Didn't weigh her but she's probably still about
8lb 9oz. Pike first cast - fantastic!
Next cast and the ledgered sprat held against the feature and it wasn't long before I was in again. Another superb fight and a fat
7lb 10oz pike, I'll have to check if this is a new fish or a recapture [Edit: New pike]. Pike second cast - this was going to be good!
Another hour or so fishing around the features both close and far side but no more runs so we decided to go exploring.
A walk around the island revealed we had the place to ourselves, so we set about ledgering a variety of baits around the island, but we couldn't find any more pike. We got to some tighter swims so I swapped over to float fishing to present a bait a few feet off the bottom, giving the pike more choices.
A cast to a feeder stream was met with a bob on the float before it gently moved away - a typical 20 pounder run. I struck and was met by an enthusiastic but tiny pike about a pound. Still, I love catching them on the float.
We continued round the island without a touch and we were running out of time. With only a few minutes left there was a bang on Stuart's rod, he wound down and struck - a sprat head was retrieved... But I think that run was enough to make him come back - another piker is born!
We gave it a little while longer to see if the pike would come back, but no more runs. We left the island, Darren cursing his luck, Stuart wondering what might have been and me, the jammy bugger, eager to explore further... We'll all be back!