Llangorse 2014 – finally a fish

Last year I spent two days on this lake without any sign of a fish but this year I was feeling confident. I had a cunning plan which was much the same as last year’s cunning plan except that this year it wasn’t going to be -8 so the fish would surely be feeding.

Friday I left home at 5am only to return home at 5.45 after realising I hadn’t put my paddle in the car. So Friday I left home at 6 am arriving at Llangorse for around 9. People were already there and launching so it was a quick hello to the familiar faces, set up camp and straight out onto the water to add the finishing touches to my tactics ready for the following day. Four hours later, not having had a bite it was looking like this year’s cunning plan would have the same results as last years. Time to head to the pub, after all I wasn’t here to catch fish, it was really just a chance to catch up with friends and talk about fishing, not actually catch anything.

Saturday morning the briefing and breakfast done I paddled down to the bottom of the lake more in hope than expectation. One deadbait went out for pike and the other rod was a light waggler with pinkies or worm as the bait, hoping for a roach or perch. ..nothing. Not a nibble for 2 hours. Eventually boredom set in and I paddled over to Ian ( Tanglefoot ) who told me he had had 3 pike. To be honest I didn’t believe him, but he was quite insistent so not fully believing it I headed 50m away and dropped anchor. Out went a deadbait and the float instantly disappeared. Obviously it was set at the wrong depth or drag from the wind was pulling it under. Winding in it suddenly pulled back and unbelievably I had a pike on – 66cm, not a monster but it was a fish. Fantastic ! Out went another deadbait and exactly the same thing happened. Another pike at almost an identical length. I now thought I was going to be getting one a chuck but no, that was it for a couple of hours. I was desperately still trying for a perch but nothing was happening.

With half an hour to go I moved closer to the launch site and decided to try the last half hour by the reeds for a perch but this just resulted in another small pike caught on worm.

On landing it became apparent a lot of pike were caught. 17 of the 43 anglers caught pike with many getting multiple fish, in total over 50 pike were caught, but because no other species were caught the prizes went to the largest fish. The winning fish was 88cm so mine were well down the list but that didn’t matter it was great to just catch some.

Pike fishing has never been one of my priority areas but the Cuda is perfect for these large lakes. Now I’ve had a few I’ll definitely be giving them more attention in the future and I am really looking forward to the Jackson Team Trip to Lapland in June.

Many thanks to Ed and the SWKA boys for organising another great event and thanks to Gus at Escape Watersports for providing a fantastic prize table. This event marks the start of the season for me and this year’s calendar is looking full to brimming with socials and competitions. Happy days.