21, Dec 11

Autumn has arrived, bringing fallen leaves in all the colours imaginable and… pike!Anglian Water have been in the news recently since opening their waters for pike fishing, with fish of 39lb and 24lb coming from Grafham. You still have a chance, for even though Rutland Water is now closed, the other Anglian Water venues of Pitsford, Grafham and Ravensthorpe are still open for piking, the rules are:Boats can be used by two anglers, spinning with 15cm lures and plugs or deadbaiting with sea fish. Cost of the boat is £30 for the dayPike fishing at Pitsford will continue until 14 November and dead sea bait is now allowed. At Grafham the piking goes on till 7 November and at Ravensthorpe: 27 & 28 November and 4 & 5 December.Telephone 01780 686441 for more details.Still more for the pike boys – A reminder that Neil Depledge of the PAC Walton group has secured pike fishing at Thorpe Park. Fish at this prestigious venue from as little as £10 per day. The dates run weekends Nov 20-21, Dec 11-12, Jan 22-23, Feb 12-13 and Mar 4 -5. Contact Neil on 01784 243117 between 6 and 9pm to book your places. You don’t have to be a PAC member either.HAPPY BIRTHDAY!Within a week of returning home from Andros Island in the Bahamas, Martin James has started off his winter chub fishing campaign in fine style with a 5lb 5oz fish. The whopper was taken on his 62nd birthday, during a fishing session on the river Ribble with Martin Baker from Churn Pool trout fishery in South Cerney, Gloucs. Martin fished the river using 6lb line, size 4 barbless hook and breadcrust as bait, feeding with mashed bread. As regular readers will know, apart from a couple of barbel fishing sessions on the river Teme and Kennet this summer, Martin has spent most of his time fly fishing for pike, bass and brown trout. In between, he has had a couple of weeks fishing in Swedish Lapland, catching a few nice pike and some grayling to nearly three pounds on dry flies. During September and early October, Martin fished Florida and the Bahamas. Fly fishing the Titusville area of Florida, Martin caught redfish, tarpon, ladyfish, jack crevales and seatrout. While in Andros island, bonefish were his number one target and, despite the rough weather, fish were caught each day, the Gotcha fly being the successful pattern. The best fish during that week was caught by Bob Sterns of Florida which was estimated at about 8lbs. Martin also reports the following:ENGLISH ANGLER CATCHES HUGE MARLIN44 year old Chris Walmsley doesn’t have to talk about the ‘big one that got away’. The Leyland Lancashire builder was on a visit to Australia for a silver wedding anniversary and decided on a days big game angling out from Cairns in Northern Australia. Chris booked on the boat New Moon 2, skippered by Kim Anderson. The first part of the day was spent catching some live bait. They had Spanish mackerel, skip jack tuna to 20lbs and yellow fin tuna of 30lbs. One small marlin grabbed the skip jack tuna but sadly as an American marine fought the marlin it was eaten by a shark during the fight. It was now Chris Walmsley’s turn to fish. A 30lb tuna was put out as a livebait and trolled up and down a drop off. After some fifty minutes, the big fish grabbed the bait. Chris didn’t make a mistake and firmly set the hooks. The fight was on as the fish powered away. Immediately the crew were at action stations and for nearly an hour it was a game of give and take. Chris had to be hosed down and was given cold drinks as the battle continued. This was real Hemingway story book stuff. Time and time again the 16 foot black marlin leapt skywards in it’s bid for freedom. In true Hemingway style, Chris started to win the battle. Soon the fish was near enough for one of the crew members to grab the trace but as he did so, the fish made one last bid for freedom, leaping skywards and clearing the water like a Polaris missile.The fish was measured out at 16 feet, then tagged and released. The skipper estimated the fish at 1200lbs plus. Arriving back in port Chris was hailed as a hero, Champaign corks popped as several bottles were opened to celebrate this feat of angling on 120lb line. Chris isn’t new to catching big fish. Last year in Hawaii he caught a 200lb sailfish, a monster for the species.

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