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Fen fishing for pike


fenboy
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Fenboy.....Terry Martin was talking to Mark Barrett the other day down Manea Pit he is a professional fishing guide (Pike & Zander) secretary of the british pike club, done loads of guest spots on tv (mr crabtree etc) author of a best selling book,etc. I had no idea what those drains had in them....Monsters.

Also the amount of people who come to fish the Fenland drains is vast. We are very lucky to live in such a great area for all kinds of wildlife.

As an ex-Trawler Skipper I can still admire a very nice fish, but had to pay the mortgage....so needed more than one.

 

markbarrett1.jpgmarkbarretz1.jpg

markbarrettzander.jpgmark_ouse_9-10z.jpg

Edited by The Ghost
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I must admit I never joined the PAC there was lots of politics and backbiting going on there and I diid not agree with some of their policies at the time .

I have always been someone who is happy doing my own thing .

 

When I had the brace of fish I had a very well know fisherman keep phoning me up trying to find out where they come from

 

I also had another one phone up and accused me of killing the fish , as his mate had seen me do so apparently , even though I was a mile from anywhere and all alone and the fish went back safe and well.

.

I also had someone who said they were a journalist working for one of the angling mags at the time asking to come out with me to do a feature , a quick call to the magazine at the time and there was no one of that name working there.

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Crazy the lengths some people will go to , I never joined the PAC either just went for a few beers and listen to some stories

I'll have to dig out the picture of my grandad an the pike he caught from the trout lake he was balif at , it cant remember the exact weight it was in the low thirtys , ever heard of whittle lake

Edited by bigman
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Crazy the lengths some people will go to , I never joined the PAC either just went for a few beers and listen to some stories

I'll have to dig out the picture of my grandad an the pike he caught from the trout lake he was balif at , it cant remember the exact weight it was in the low thirtys , ever heard of whittle lake

 

no cant say as I have .

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As its such a awful day , I was sitting looking back at some of my old photo albums .

I used to be mad about my pike fishing and back then the fens could offer some fantastic sport , unfortunately those days seem to be gone .

Though there are still good fish to be had , there are just not the numbers , without starting a debate we all know why .

 

My best season included 20 fish over 20lb .

 

The two photos are of my most memorable catches

The first was a brace of fish caught within ten minutes of each other and at the time were put in angling times and anglers mail as the biggest brace of pike in a single session ever caught in the uk they weighed 28.12 and 27.4 , this was long before trout water piking days remember.

 

pike002_zps333b0a54.jpg

 

 

The next photo was my one and only 30lb fish from the fens weighing 30lb 6oz and took me 15 years of targeting big fish .

What was really remarkable was the fact this fish was caught at the beginning of november, it would have smashed the fens record had it been caught Feb / March.

 

Also as you can see the fish was so long and lean it was like a torpedo and gave the best scrap I have ever had from a big pike.

 

pike003_zps41c05733.jpg

 

Sorry about the quality but they are photos of photos.

Nice fish mate, gotta agree things aren't what they where, even the lads who know what they're doing are scratching for for a 20 these last few years...

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Do you think Otters could have had a major role to play in the decline of big Pike as you describe ?

 

Though there are otters in the fens they have not really taken hold yet so most of the drains dont have them visiting , so no I dont think otters have played a major role.

The thing that is having a major impact ,is typically 5-6 ft tall and has two legs and speaks in a strange language !, only a couple of weeks back a net of 100 yards long was removed from one of my local drains.

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