This cold snap we are having in Britain now is only normal for November, however we have been getting used to milder humid winters thanks to global warming.  Standing outside my local doctors waiting for it to open in a queue. The cold was eating into my flesh so i started rubbing my arms and watching my breath condense in the chilled air. 

My mind flashed back to a very cold morning when i was 16, I was fishing with my late father.  We were fishing in a dis-used gravel pit in Nazeing which is on the borders of Essex and Hertfordhire, a very picturesque fishery.  Weeping willows lined the edges of the fishery.  The lake extended almost as far as the eye could see and took a good 40 minutes to walk around at a brisk pace, in the middle of the lake was an island covered in bushes, small birds made their nests there, all in all a picture waiting to be hung on the wall in the grandest of houses.

We were fishing specifically for “pike” a beautiful predator of a fish, at first glance the pike appears almost prehistoric, its long and sleek and very colourful, wonderful greens and golds and reds flashed down their sides.  The main armoury of the pike is their jaws they are extremely strong and are lined with 3 rows of backward pointing teeth.  Their saliva is a natural anti-coagulant so if it bites you you will bleed for hours.

Pike feed on sickly fish, they hunt from the back of a shoal of fish, when very hungry they will take small ducks from the surface of the lake, in a particularly cold winter when some fish hibernate at the bottom of a lake, therefore their natural food supply is scarce, pike have been known to take a bite at any unsuspecting dog going for a swim! personally Ive never seen a pike attack a dog, however i have seen a pike jump out from a river and try to catch a swooping Heron!

So there we were my father and me at 6.00am tackling up the rods by torch light awaiting the dawn when pike like to feed.  Having described the pike for you, you need to know how to catch one?  A small sea fishing rod is best because its stocky and stronger than normal course fishing rods.  Next is the fishing line, in Britain the pike record weight is 55lbs! so normal fishing line will break at a flick of the pike’s tail, we used Marlon line with a 20lbs breaking strain.  At the business end of  the line we attached a “Trace” basically a long lead of metal line as pike can bite through mono-filamentline line. Last is the hooks 2 hooks with 3 smaller hooks welded together called”Treble” hooks.  For bait we used sprats fresh from a fishmongers.