Went down to Stanchards Pit again this past weekend for a few hours in the early evening hoping to entice a Pike or two. With me was Mike, my brother. I know I go there alot, but the place is swimming with Pike.

"I'm not feeling very optimistic at the moment"

Arriving at Stanchards Pit in Tewkesbury on Monday 30th June was beautiful. A very hot summers day, only a few clouds in the sky and a very slight breeze. After netting a 21lb Pike here just recently, my dad and myself were hoping to catch a few more.

First things first, we needed some bait. Fishing here recently proved very difficult catching bait, the little ones just didn't want to feed, however today we were getting a lot of little skimmers and some fine perch and roach on single white and red maggots. With enough bait to go, we got the cork bung float out with a roach on.

Nothing happened for a while, then the float started moving rapidly. Next thing we knew the float disappeared under the water. Dad raised the rod, reeled in the slack line, and lifted the rod to hook the fish. I have always been curious on just how he hooks these big fish, as he only ever lip hooks the bait he uses, and he only ever uses single size 2 hooks. Nonetheless, the fish was on, and it was putting up a good fight. After diving through the lily's a few times, the fish soon tired and we got him in. The little fat fish weighed in at just under 8lbs, not too bad at all, Dad said he was very powerful for his size.

Not a bad start to the day, 8lb Pike and still catching bait. I soon hooked into a decent sized perch which was the next bait Dad sent out with the bung float. Time went by and nothing took the bait, so it was cast a little further out. Within a matter of seconds the float slammed under the water. I remember thinking that a bait the size of the perch we put on must produce a nice sized fish, and man was I right. Dad began to play the fish and it was very powerful. Hearing the line whizzing off the reel as it went on a run was incredible, I love it when a fish puts up a good fight. After about 5 minutes we landed the fish, and it weighed in at 14lbs. A perfect example of a Pike. Both I and my dad were very happy.

We continued trying more baits but unfortunately we didn't net any more Pike, however using a small skimmer on our simple ledger rig, I hooked into a nice Zander. He didn't fight as much as the Pike, but even still, it was an ok sized fish and I was very happy. It weighed in at 5lbs exactly.

All in all, a good days fishing, even though I did get pretty badly sunburnt (hence the reason my cap is on sideways to protect the side of my face from more burning).

My dad said during the first couple of hours of fishing "I'm not feeling very optimistic at the moment." I guess you really never know what's going to crop up when you go fishing. Two nice pike and a nice zander. Can't go wrong.

The pictures above show the 14lb Pike, the 8lb Pike and the 5lb Zander.

"Today, one of us is going to catch something big"

At 10am, on a somewhat sunny Thursday morning, myself, my brother Mike and my Dad, Ken, arrived at Breakingstone Meadows in Tewkesbury for a spot of predator fishing. A beautiful location, a stretch of the River Avon a little upstream from where it joins the River Severn.

We tackle up the rods, and cast in the float with a single white maggot to catch some bait. The weather being quite breezy, and the choppiness of the water made it a little more difficult to distinguish a bite, but we coped just fine. First fish in the net, a nice sized chub. Not bad, possibly a good bait for a nice sized Pike, but we were mainly after Roach for the Pike, and Bleak for the Zander. Unfortunately, there were no bleak around, just perch after perch, after perch, after perch......after perch, some of which were pretty big. Things weren't looking too good in terms of bait, how were we to catch some predators with a lack of bleak and roach, the two fish we have found to be the strongest baits in this area?

Luckily, my father, Ken, went to fish on the other side of the bridge and caught a few bleak, which soon went onto our ledger rods, and cast underneath the bridge. First bleak cut in three, the centre piece used as the first bait. Soon enough, the tip of the rod bends, strike! A little jack pike. Not bad, not bad. First predator of the day. Second knock on the rod, strike! A nice little zander. The breeze picks up its pace, the sun goes in, and soon enough, silence. Not a bite. Anywhere.

We decided to cross over the road and fish in Stanchards Pit on the pub side. Being early evening now, the sky coloured grey, and the rain drops beginning to fall, and all hope for another fish gone, my father Ken decides to put a small perch on the bung float rig and cast in next to the lily pads. Soon enough, the float goes under and wham! A HUGE fish swirles near the surface. That is some pike! Unfortunately though, the fish being intensely powerful, runs into a snag, and the fish comes off. Hearts a racing, we decide to try again. Another perch goes on, and soon enough WHAM! FISH ON! This fish is massive!

I have never seen a fish so big. It was doing its thing near the surface, adn the sheer power of the creature, it could swim so fast. Then once again, all hope is gone when it takes another dive into the lily pads and the rod tip stops moving. Try reeling, pulling the rod up, nothing. A snag! But then, just when we least expected it, the fish swam to the surface and created a huge splash just to let us know he was still up for a fight. Turns out the sneaky fish swam underneath a large branch in the depths of the water, probably washed into the swim from last years floods, and so we could not lift the fish out, or get the line free.

We went through hell playing this fish, the landing net was put straight into the water to try and unlink the line from underneath the log, and this was a hard task due to the 3 to 4 foot drop to the river level from where we were standing. Things just went from bad to worse, the landing net broke! We no longer had a net large enough to grab this large pike, as it would no longer attach to the pole. After more prodding with the rod, the line was soon freed from underneath the log, and the fish went on another swim. After about 15 to 20 minutes of a hard fight, the fish soon tired and came to the bank, but how were we to net it? We had no net capable of screwing onto the pole. A friend of my fathers, Justin, was with us luckily and he swiftly led over the edge of the concrete, facing the water, with the net. The pike swam straight into it, Justin curved the net around it, we helped him up, and the pike was in!

I am 22 years old, and I have never seen a fish of this size, only of course, on television. We weighed her in at 21lbs. Not bad at all, when all hope was lost, Dad catches a whopper on a bung floated small Perch.

In the late afternoon, when all was quiet at Breakingstone Meadow, my Dad said to me "one of us is going to catch something big", and man was he right.

All I can say is, what a fine way to end the session.

(Photo is of my Dad holding his 21lb Pike)