ASH COSTA caught one of the biggest natural water pike of the season with this beast...
But if you want the full details – and we would love to share them with you here – Ash is keeping the location and the weight a guarded secret.
Ash told Angler’s Mail: “It has been really hard to keep this capture under wraps since I caught her, but as I’m done piking now till next winter.
“I know the weight thing seems a bit pointless but I think with a lot of the big fish that are caught are known fish, it is nice to keep a bit of mystery around a fish like this.
“She’s a very, very special fish considering she came from a Lincolnshire drain.
“A few weeks ago I was lure fishing for perch when out the blue I had a hit from something very heavy, she came up in the water very quickly then a couple of head shakes later she was gone – gutted.
“I returned but the drain was up with snow melt. Going against my normal tactics for pike, I decided to use a huge 2 lb mackerel from my local fish mongers with the idea of if I do get a run it should be of the big one.
“I cast my first rod out within a foot of where she threw my little tiny shad just a few days before.
“Within two minutes of me putting the rod down the float was away, I wound down and set the hook knowing instantly this was a very big fish.
“After a very short and mostly unromantic fight she was in the net.
“She’s a great fish for anywhere but to come out of a drain during all the negative press at the moment with poaching, predation and the big Witham fish kill it is great to have ended the season on a massive high,” added the 29-year-old wood machinist.
CAUGHT A BIG FISH OR GOT SOME NEWS? Email photos and details exclusively to: anglersmail@timeinc.com – you could star in the must-read print magazine.
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