Catch Report: Wednesday 5th February, East Anglia Fly Fishing 
I decided to take a day off so I could get a quick job done at my club’s lake and then finally get some bank time in. The last time I went fishing for myself was Christmas Day morning for a few hours before the usual lunch and presents!
Having spent a lot of my spare time working at the lake the club leased back in November to get it fly-fishable for the members meant I didn’t have much time to myself, and I was itching to get out.
I seldom leave the house before dawn, as when I started out targeting Pike on fly and the few years into it, I rarely netted fish before 9-10am, and I know that the river doesn’t tend to switch on until around 10am anyway.
Before I could think about casting a line, I needed to get to the lake and move our new floating jetty into its main anchored position and get the new anchors set up and roped off. Once I finished the jetty positioning, I was ready to get my gear set up and wet a line.
My go-to pike fly fishing kit comprises of:
- 10# Green Predator fly rod that was custom made for my online shop
- 9/10# Redington Bemouth reel
- WF10 Floating or WF10 Intermediate aggressive weight forward head fly lines
- 25lbs Fluorocarbon leader x 4ish ft long 30lbs, 7-strand stainless wire that I can knot
- 75lbs fast link clip
Fly selection and fly line always depends on water conditions and time of year. The lake has gin-clear water with no flow and is about 5ft deep, so I use my floating line and unlike what many may assume, I don’t use natural fly patterns like Perch or Roach. At the lake, all the pike I have caught were on a 4-5” long flash orange and white type flies (yes, I know that many would opt for something more natural in those conditions!) But we all know Pike doesn’t follow the rules, and when they’re switched on, will hit almost anything that moves.
Wanting to christen the jetty with its first fish, I set to fan-casting from the very end. This is where you cover all the water from left to right, starting with the first cast tight against the jetty; each next cast is 4-5ft over from the last until I am up tight against the other side of the jetty. Having just moved the jetty, it was unlikely there would be any pike sitting under it waiting to ambush anything that came past. But it won’t take them long to find it and start using it.
I spent maybe 30 mins covering various areas, mainly to see what can be reached from the end of the jetty, but also mindful that I want to be getting down the stretch of river the club manages, and I reel in to set off down to the river.
The river is a Fenland Chalk river that, in our area, has high flood banks and typically looks like most drains in the Fens. The club has been managing and fishing the 1.5 mile stretch for the last two coarse seasons and it’s produced for members even when other drains are running hard and coloured up.
Now back to fly and line selection.
The river is a different animal to our lake. Clarity today was 12” and had a medium flow, so any fly needs to be big and long to push water and create a silhouette for the pike to see or feel the fly line.
I swap my spool for my WF10 Intermediate which has a sink rate of 1.5-2 inches per second, and since the river is only 5-7ft average depth, there’s no need for a faster sink now. For the fly, I clipped on an 8-9” Bulkhead copper/green flash pattern. The bulk from this will push water as well as offer up that silhouette I need.
I met up with one of my club members at around 11am. They’d been fishing from 8am and he told me he had netted 4 Pike and lost 2 more using a low and slow retrieve. We set off together, fishing alternate swims and covering each swim for about 10-15 minutes before moving again, which let us cover a lot of ground.
Netting the First Pike
At about 1pm we moved to a new swim and I was on my second cast up close into my left margin on a slow retrieve, when I felt a solid take.
I set the hook with a strip strike before I raise my rod into the fight, we don’t use Trout raise rod strikes for pike as doing that will often result in the hook being spat or not set. I can feel a good fish on the line and give no quarter.
It did try to go for a couple of runs, locking that fly line into the cork handle and holding the rod over opposite to the run helps stop it. I unclip the net from the back of my vest and flick it open with one hand all the while fighting the pike with the other.
In less than a minute, a mid-single, well-fed pike slides into my net. Yes, I “bully” pike in by hand (not put them on the reel) so I can land them quickly and safely. I make sure the net isn’t going anywhere and set up to get my unhooking gear ready while the pike is resting in the net.
Once I’ve set out what I need, I lift the pike out of the water, keep it on my wet net while I get my chin grip and open its mouth to stare down at over 600 razor-sharp teeth.
I spot my fly deep in its mouth, so I use the long nose pliers to move some of the material aside to see where the hook itself is, grip it with the pliers and remove the chewed-up fly.
I take some photos while I still have the chin grip. Usually, I do them on my own using my phone in a bank stick cradle, but luckily today I had my club member come over and take the photos for me. A couple of photos and back into the net and the water it goes to rest after the unhooking. A quick weigh saw the scales go 9lbs, minus 2lbs for the net. The pike has recovered and swam off strong, letting me know it was a smooth process for us both! Typically, my pike are out of the water in less than 3-5 minutes because I use a single hook.
Onto the Next Swim
As I move on to my next swim, I spot the chap I am fishing with is into a fish. We always ask if anyone needs a hand netting – even though I know he is plenty experienced to do it himself! Like me, he’s netted his pike quickly after setting the hook. He quickly sets about unhooking his fish and then it’s my turn to be the photographer. The Pike was quickly back in the water and after a rest, was swimming off out the net.
I carry on to my next swim, as I turn and start to clamber down the flood bank, I realise that this swim is the one that has a steep, muddy and short foot hold area. I knew that if I landed anything in this swim, I’d unhook it at the top of the bank so it’s safer for me and the fish.. that’s if I land one here. I do a nice long cast that almost reaches the other bank and wait for the flow to swing my fly round to my margin before I start my retrieve.
This time I opted for a slightly faster retrieve and within 2-3 pulls of the line I felt a big thump! Again, I strip-set before lifting my rod and straight away I could tell I had a bigger fish latched onto my fly!
She took the fly almost a full cast down the bank, which meant I had more line to get in, and the flow of the river meant I had a bit more work on my hands to catch her. Each time she tried to run, I just locked that line into the cork to stop her and only a couple of times did I let her take some of the line off me.
She slid into my waiting net and confirmed she was a bigger pike than my first one. Because I already planned where I would unhook before I even cast, meant getting her up to the top of that bank wasn’t as awkward. She hadn’t sucked the fly down like the last greedy fish so was easier to spot the fly this time for unhooking.
After I took some photos, I decided that the bank wasn’t safe to be clambering down with a pike and instead headed to the next swim over to release her after a nice rest. She weighed in at a solid 12lbs (14lbs with the net).
A Successful Day of Fishing Pike on the Fly
At that point, I decided that my fishing itch was scratched, and reeled in my line. I walked with the club member as he fished his way back to the cars and the very next swim he cast from saw another pike bump his fly, but it didn’t stick.
He cast again into the same area; the pike hit his fly a second time but again it didn’t stick! Usually, when this happens, we would change the fly to something completely different looking and cast again into that area, but even he though he was satisfied with 6 pike landed, he decided not to switch flies. A few more casts saw no third attempted take, we both knew that pike had wised up to that fly and wouldn’t come for it again.
We called it a day at that point, chatting as we walked back to the cars. A total of 8 pike landed and 3 lost… Yep, we were happy with that.
Hopefully it won’t be as long before I can go out again!
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