The Fishing bug, caught again

So, it's been 10 years or so since I went fishing last. I used to go with my old mate Ginge but due to changes in life and circumstance we drifted away from going. A while back I started bumping into an old work colleague quite frequently and discussions about homebrew, rugby and fishing ensued. My friend is a keen and accomplished angler and as I showed a keen interest in taking up the sport again he suggested a Winter fishing trip for pike. My previous angling experience was a couple of Trent barbel caught at Colwick Sluices and various small carp from commercials. Needless to say I was very interested in the prospect of piking. So it was a trip on a cold March Saturday to the Finger Ponds near Nottingham. Old gravel pits dug for the building of a nearby road in 1956 they are quiet, picturesque and notably difficult to fish. The water is about 4 feet deep and there is a small drainage pipe out to the nearby River Trent. It's a Notts Federation water and the bailiff tells my friend that when the water has been netted in past times there aren't many large fish in there apart from Pike.


So armed with frozen sardines as deadbait we fished quite close in on the corner of one of the 'fingers' surrounded by trees. The fish were certainly out there and were definitely having it. We had 6 runs and unfortunately due to my less than robust striking action we lost them all. Undaunted we moved to a peg towards the back end of one of the 'fingers' and again fished quite close in to the trees right and left of our location. The afternoon was drawing to a close and we thought we'd end up blanking, having to rely on the experience of losing the fish and the knowledge that next time I'd need to be a bit more tenacious when the fish was on. Finally, a fish took the bait on one of the rods we had out. This time I left the strike to the pro and we were in. As it was my first fishing trip my mate very kindly passed the rod to me so I could play the fish. And what a great experience it was. Nervous and eager not to lose the fish my friend gave me advice on what to do, how to present the rod and when to let the fish have some line. We were using my mate's gear and he favours Shimano baitrunner reels, these were a godsend and allowed me to let the fish run off when it wanted. After playing the fish for a good while and letting it tire itself out it was eventually landed. Weighed in at about 6.5lbs and it was a superb experience. My first fish in 10 years and the bug had bitten again.