PIKE fans have been admiring one of the UK’s best braces ever, caught from a hush-hush trout water which allows very limited pike fishing.
Pike specialist John Rushworth was the captor of the giant crocs, scaling 40 lb 2 oz (pictured above) and 36 lb 8 oz.
The Preston, Lancashire-based angler smashed his previous PB of 29 lb at the venue, which only rarely gets a public mention for coarse fish.
Anglian Water sent out a Press release explaining the pike had come from their 100-acre Ravensthorpe Reservoir in Northamptonshire.
John, a 50-year-old engineer, explained: “I have fished the Lake District for a decade, massing 20s from all waters up to my PB from Lake Windermere.
“But realising that catching a thirty could take another ten years, I decided to travel south, and booked a two-day pike trial on a 100 acre southern trout fishery hoping for the possibility of a new PB.
“First day on the boat the weather was strong north-westerly winds with a -7 degree chill, and we headed off to the shallows and soon had a 21 lb 8 oz pike on a drifted float over ten foot of water.
“But somehow it didn’t feel like the big girls were in shallow water so we moved and found a good drop off with a 20 to 26 ft deep area which felt better.
“For the next two hours we had to suffer hailstones showers and strong gusts but I wasn’t disappointed when we slipped the net under a cracking 31 lb 4 oz pike, and was delighted with a new PB.”
But there was more in store for John…
“Next morning we knew where to head to and after quietly positioning and dropping anchor we only had to wait half hour for the deep water to produce the longest pike I’ve ever seen, a 40 lb 2 oz monster. It was awesome, elusive and seldom caught.
“Then at dinner time the deep water amazingly produced again another similar length pike, but this was slightly lighter at 36 lb 8 oz.
“What a brace, I could never have imagined being so lucky to hit it so right especially in such stormy weather,” concluded John, who used a variety of sea deadbaits.
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