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Adventure with PikePIKE ON THE FLYWe look at the serious rock ‘n’ roll in fly fishing, tackling pike on fur and feather. Gilman looks at me, eyes wide, mouth open, hands visibly shaking. And those hands are holding one of the most magnificent pike I personally have ever seen. Neither of us can believe that the fish ‘only’ weighs thirty-two pounds. It’s a monster. Its head is as broad and as long as a shovel. But, true, it’s on the thin side, perhaps an elderly fish so we have a duty to get it back fast. Now we’ve just sitting, contemplating. It’s been a hard day until now and it’s only been our long walk up the lake to the shallows that’s saved the day. We’re both using identical fly fishing kit – Zane nine-weight rods and reels, floating lines, twenty-five pound leaders and big, madness-inducing flies. God know what they’re made of…our man Roc out in Slovenia ties them for Danubian salmon but they seem to work well all across Europe for pike. They’ve done the business here. It’s two thirty in the afternoon. Apart from jacks, the monster has been our first real fish. What a moment. Imagine. This is EXACTLY how it happens. Out goes the fly – six inches long, looking somewhat like a small, wounded perch. John retrieves slowly, then in fast, erratic darts. The fly is coming in towards the tree fringe when there’s a bow wave moving fast right to left. The fly is hit. Hammered. The line comes tight fast and the big fish tail walks, head shaking, not ten yards from us. The fly comes out, the jaws clamp shut. We’re done for! But no! Gilman retrieves and puts another cast into the epicentre of the foaming water. It’s barely under the surface when the pike’s back on it and this time Gilman is prepared and strikes viciously. It’s a ten minute battle and all hell is unleashed. The pike is more out of the water than in it and one run takes out the line and possibly thirty yards of backing. I’m quaking when she comes to the net but she goes straight in. She’s ours. My God! She’s simply massive. As we sit there, we think how lucky the day has been. We were meant to fish the Hampshire Avon but, on arrival, we found it high, swollen, impossible to fly fish. Instead, here we are on this superb lake with the river just fifty yards from us. We were told we might just find fish…nobody said anything about monsters. What we don’t know is that tomorrow is going to be better. Miller will catch a twenty-six pounder and, as the dusk falls, Stephen will hook into the leviathan. The thirty-six. That’s in the future. For now we’re content to chuckle, to whoop with triumph, to pull greedily at Gilman’s hefty hipflask. Can life ever be better? So you haven’t done pike on the fly? Just a few tips… Choose a lake with plenty of pike in it for starters. You’ve got to learn and build up your confidence. Choose good weather. The colder, wetter and windier it is the less the pike will be feeding and the more difficult you will find it to put out the big flies necessary. Choose shallow lakes for a start off. For the first few sessions you don’t want to be worrying about depths. You need to concentrate on casting big flies and making them work. Make sure your kit is always totally sound and you’re using a wire trace. Polaroids and headgear are essential with big, heavily-weighted flies buzzing around your head. And remember, pike are totally wild fish. Take care with your approach and put real sizzle into each and every retrieve. TACKLE SHOPThroughout the weekend John Bailey, John Gilman, Al Whitelaw, Neil Stephen, Tim Ellis and Ian Miller all used nine-weight Zane outfits, G-Tec and Platinum XD Saltwater rods. Some spinning was done with rubber, single-hook lures. Rods were Missionaries, lures by Storm. Clothing – for the most part – Hardy EWS and Greys GTXi. Outfitters – Casting for Gold (01263 860922) organises pike fly fishing expeditions to Hampshire and East Anglia.
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