Epic pike take

I was out this morning with the ultra light lures, well one in fact. Just a simple white 2 inch Kopyto shad. I only had a couple of hours in front of me as I had stuff to do in the day and had to be home early. I just bundled the ultra light kit in the car and set off for the canal, no idea what condition it would be like after the recent rains. Often the canals muddy up and lure fishing can be poor when it's like this but when I got there it was ok, result. The few times I've been after perch they've seemed a bit finicky so instead of the usual 2.5 inch kopyto I went for the smaller option hoping the nibbles could be hooked easier. I started catching small perch and having a nice steady bit of fun.

Then it went a bit mental. I caught a small pike about twelve inch long and as it came to the surface a figure appeared. A giant compared to the tiny pike, another pike was very interested in this little fella. I quickly pulled the tiny pike away to safety and the bigger pike sank to the depths. Lucky escape for the little chap. Next I kept getting more perch but then every now and again a perch would get nabbed, they weren't so lucky. My ultra light rod went from steady taps as I brought in a perch to a solid bend. Twice this happened, my perch were getting taken. If you are lucky the hook transfers from perch to pike but with such a soft rod that doesn't always work. Both times I lost the perch and the pike.

With no heavy gear in the car I had to get my thinking cap on. I couldn't come up with much except I tied a new wire trace with just one treble hook. I lip hooked the first small perch that I managed to get through the gauntlet unscathed and lobbed it back in the spot where the perch kept being snatched. With no float I was using my finger as a bite detector. Being careful not to let the perch get to the bottom I only gave it a short run of line, and I kept the slack line tight so that I could feel every thing. A few twitches to keep the perch moving and then I felt the perch panic before the rod just bent and the line tightened on my finger. It was out less than twenty seconds.

Now there's no need to wait. No counting to three or five that's just daft. A tiny perch will be engulfed in one by a pike. So I just flicked the bail arm over and bent in to the fish. The pike was already off and the battle was on. It's not easy with an ultra light rod and a pike on the end. However I was confident I could land the pike, I've caught umpteen on this rod. I wasn't so confident the hooks would be in the pike though. There's no back bone in the soft rod to set the hooks in a mouth that's already full of fish. Then all of a sudden after a minute or so of the fight, it went slack and the perch shot up to the surface. My thoughts were right.  I froze and within a fraction of a second the pike was back on it. It hovered just behind the tail of the perch, I watched in amazement and then BANG! The pike engulfed the perch again and we were off once more. A truly awesome sight and one I can normally only keep to myself but thanks to the purchase of my GoPro I can now share with you all. Just have a look at this.

Link to video