“I took George out pike fishing with me the other day. His biggest catch previously had been 11 or 12 lbs and when I put the net under his 21 pounder his face broke into a thousand suns! The fishing had been incredibly slow before then but the day, suddenly, went from to zero to hero. It made me appreciate the sport’s glorious unpredictability.

An interesting point was what was in the pike’s mouth: a barely-digested water bird. Seems pike will eat pretty much anything if given the chance!

A cautionary tale too. In George’s understandable excitement, his handling technique rather went to the wall and soon we were looking at a deeply gashed, heavily bleeding thumb. Remember, it always pays to wear gloves when you are dealing with pike and if you’re in any doubt at all about pike handling, it pays to get the basic rules from more experienced angler. You can also check out the Pike Anglers’ Club who are always keen to recruit new members and very good when it comes to pike handling education.”