Reeling in a record-breaker
Shooting Times & Country|March 11, 2020
Helping to land a friend’s personal best pike makes for a memorable outing on the Great Ouse
RICHARD NEGUS
Reeling in a record-breaker

For some, the end of the game shooting season can induce a bout of melancholy so complete that only the poet WH Auden could be more wretched. I am of a more positive persuasion. Therefore, rather than displaying my angst by stopping clocks or cutting off the telephone, I simply went to my shed.

Among the array of hazel rods, mole traps and camouflage nets hangs my fishing tackle. My salve to allay any end-of-season blues was to try my hand at pike fishing. I undertook a stocktake of my current kit. This revealed I own three fly, two saltwater rusty ringed spinning, and one float rod.

To take on toothy aquatic leviathans, I believed I would require some meatier equipment than I currently possess. I planned to fish with the sort of vintage tackle that is found festering away in the sheds of many Shooting Times readers. To achieve this, I placed a pitiful request for help on social media. This resulted in the generous loan of a 10ft Hardy’s fibralite spinning rod and KP Morritt Intrepid reel — both circa 1972 — by Calum McRoberts, the head gillie from the Meikleour fishery on the Tay. Another kind soul, Peter Lowth from Somerset, posted me a bundle of vintage pike plugs. I added to these some eBay purchases — decrepit lures and cork floats — and I was ready.

The best pike fishing is to be had in late winter and there are fewer places more wintry, gnarly or pike-y than the Fens in February. By a bit of luck, my gunstock guru pal, Adam Bragg, is an arch pike fisherman and owns a boat that he moors at the Twentypence marina near Wilburton. Adam readily agreed for me to tag along with him.

River cruiser

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة March 11, 2020 من Shooting Times & Country.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة March 11, 2020 من Shooting Times & Country.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

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