I thoroughly enjoy autumn and winter pike fishing and relish all the changes of method pike fishing includes: streamers and poppers, plugs, soft-baits, jerkbaits, spinners, spoons.... I always learn from that variety, and have come to have a great respect for the pike over the years.
I've also loved fishing some the of Irish loughs for pike. Fly-fishing for Irish pike from a boat or float-tube is one of life's great experiences, and I've hooked (though not landed) some improbably massive fish in Ireland on the fly-rods. I lost one absolute giant of a pike on the fly on a small lough in Leitrim - I had it on for a good ten minutes, and saw it just before the barbless hook pulled away - and that dwarfed my largest pike to date (118cm). The lost fish was quite a handful, even on a 10-weight. I'll always remember it. I've written about this pike in Fishing and Pike Lures (2009) and about another magnificent fish lost on Lough Derg in 'The pike of the storm', which appeared in Waterlog and was reproduced in Sketches with Fishing Rods (2008).
|