east to get long periods of what the weathermen sometimes call anti

Novembers can be very mild though. We are prone here in the South-east to get long periods of what the weathermen sometimes call anti-cyclonic gloom. These are periods when a high pressure system covers the country but for one reason or another, instead of clear skies and frost, we get a blanket of cloud that just sits there night and day. This brings no wind at all and steady temperatures of around 8 degrees night and day. I have found these conditions to be superb not only for carp but for pike as well. In the late 80s and early 90s I used to hang up my carp rods in October and pick up my pike rods. October was always the transition period as October is superb for both species so I used to save a lot of my annual leave from work for October so I could get out fishing at the drop of a hat should conditions become superb. Then November was pike fishing 100% of the time. I think most stillwater pike anglers will agree that the best of the pike fishing is over by the end of November. This was when temperatures start to fall and December and January are very slow, so November was the time to get out there. At that time I used to pike fish with my long time buddy Gary. He was, and still is, a pike addict. We fell onto two superb pike fisheries during that period. I say fell onto because it was purely by chance that we joined a club for a stretch of the river Kennet for the winter chub and barbel. However, they also had an exclusive stretch of the Thames and a small very snaggy gravel pit. In, I think 1988, we were having a hard time with the Kennet so as a bit of light relief went to have a go on the Thames, really for the chub and river carp. However to hedge my bets on that first trip in November, I also cast out a ledgered sprat into a slack area of water. What picked up the sprat a few hours later made us forget all about the chub and carp. After a dull fight in the very deep water below us a pike finally came into view. I was expecting a few jacks, that was about all from the Thames, but here was a pike of immense proportions. It’s head was of the proverbial crocodile and its length longer that we had ever seen before. Given that Gary had caught pike to 28lb plus at the time, and the look on his face as the beast surfaced, I knew we were looking at a 30lb plus Thames pike here. Unfortunately we did not find out that day what the pike weighed because as it surfaced, it decided to go into a head shaking frenzy and the sprat and hooks flew free. Silence reigned between us for a few minutes before I broke the silence by suggesting it was time for a brew. The following year we decided to fish the snaggy gravel pit for pike, again in November. We had in fact started in October and had been fairly successful with several fish up to a satisfying 21lb plus. As I said, this pit was very snaggy, so snaggy in fact that there were no open swims at all. The whole bank was a mass of fallen trees and branches that lay like the fingers of witches out into the water. The swims were just gravel beaches between these long dead trees. The water was very deep, around 20feet in the middle and around 15 feet in the margins. The method was easy, a freelined deadbait in the middle and one in the edge. Takes had to be hit early to avoid the pike finding their lairs again. It was one of those overcast November days. Nothing unusual, we turned up as usual at just before dawn and squeezed our four rods into a beach about 15 feet wide. We alternated the rods, Garys, mine, Garys, mine. When a take came, around 8am, to my centre rod cast to the middle of the pit, Gary quickly wound in the other three rods. I hit the run after 5 seconds or so and slowly wound in to a solid weight. The pike did not do much. It just rose through the water and soon surfaced around 15 yards out. I wish now the pike had done something and fought hard out in the centre of the pit. However it soon was sat on the surface facing us at around 45 degrees to the bank. Gary went forward with the net, with me behind. The pike’s head was very wide and the fish lay at an angle to the bank. As it slowly approached the net, it went across the arms at an angle. Gary quite sensibly was waiting for the head to be at the spreader block. The pike though was still kiting at an angle across the landing net arms, and then… disaster! The pike saw the net and with electric acceleration it powered across the arms and into the left-hand margin. All I saw was a very long flank of a pike flash past with a smelt hanging from its mouth. Waiting for it in the margins was a mass of branches from a tree that had fallen in. The pike was still taking line off the tight clutch as the line was entering the impossible snags. I cupped my hand over the spool and hung on, then all went slack. The air this time instead of being silent was blue with my curses. Gary just stood in the water with the net still submerged. It was minutes until we spoke and I wound in what I expected to be a broken line. The trace though was still there, the size 8 treble hooks however were straightened. Never have I felt such power from a pike nor have I ever had trebles straighten on a fish. The pike was without a doubt every ounce as big as that Thames pike I lost the year before. Both pike were hooked in those anti-cyclonic gloom conditions. Big, 30lb plus, pike are hard to find and are to us the equivalent of catching a 50lb carp. They also look so magnificent, a fish worthy of a hunted hunter. I am happy to say that in the 10 years following those occasions above, we have both caught 30lb pike from the two venues, a 31lb Thames pike to me and a 33lb pit pike to Gary. Do you know those two pike also were caught in November in anti-cyclonic gloom days, so keep an eye on the weather forecast!We are both still sworn to secrecy where exactly those two waters are, and we are sure one day both venues will return to form and then 40lb pike are on the cards, now that would be the equivalent of a 70lb carp surely.

Have fun!