Nothing for ages, then two come along at once
I didn’t think today’s session would be up to much; my last two sessions at Gingerbread Lake turned up just one 8-9lb pike (though it fought well, which bodes well for the start of the traditional Pike season in October), and at about 4:30 I’d run out of bait and time, and I was packing up.
Like many anglers, I always pack up everything in order, leaving the rods until last, but in this case I’d just phoned my wife to say I was packing up, when the left hand rod had a screaming take. I struck and was into a very lively fish. After about 5 minutes I was thinking about getting it into the net (the fish wasn’t thinking about that at all), when the right hand rod had a similar screaming take. Rather than lose the new fish into a snag I turned the baitrunner off, the fish was hooked and I slackened off the clutch just a bit to give it some room to run.
I managed to bully fish number one into the net, and left it there in about 2′ of water while I wound down on the right hand rod to find the fish still there, then after about five minutes got that one into the same net.
When I pulled them onto the unhooking mat, both fish were around 10lb and in great condition. They fought like fish twice their size, and fell to critically balanced particles on semi-fixed lead bolt rigs.
And it all goes to show, always pack up your kit, landing net second to last, and rods last!
