LAS Esthwaite Pairs Pike Cup

The last sunday in June and the beautiful location of Esthwaite Trout Fishery played host to the LAS pairs Pike Cup which was being sponsored by Tackle Discounts. Nestled in the Lake District Esthwaite is renowned for its superb Trout fishing and for the first time was to play host to a summer piking extravaganza and become the venue that one fisherman will certainly remember for the rest of his life.

Andrew had taken the weekend off from his hectic work schedule to present the prizes and hopefully to let his blood pressure return to normal and so the two of us set off on the saturday arriving at the hotel late saturday afternoon and almost immediately joined several LAS members in the beer garden. Yes, before you mention it I had managed to book us into another pub. An evening of banter, angling stories and wind-ups was soon underway as we all settled down to our evening meal of crisps, nuts and pork scratchings.

An early start the next morning and a help yourself breakfast of cereals and coffee did nothing to satisfy the hunger of the crowd of fishermen and we made the short journey to the venue with the sound of rumbling echoing in our ears. It wasn't thunder but the sound of our stomachs but all was soon forgotten as we reached the venue to be greeted by a stunning, flat calm water.

There is always a spanner in the works when a fish-in is organised and this proved no different as a text message from Phil Tonks informed me that he had broken down and had to be towed home. I broke the bad news to his boat partner, Rob Smallbone, and with that the pairs set off with Rob up against it from the start as we tried to figure out how we could score it should he get into the top places at the end of the day.

With some of the best Lure anglers in the country present we were certain that it wouldn't take long before the fish were being landed and sure enough we spotted John Cheyne into a fish. With Andrew and myself motoring around taking photos and enjoying the scenery we were not part of the competition but it would have been nice to have landed one of the Esthwaite giants and while

motoring over to the action we received our one........and only hit of the day and I totally failed to connect with our adversary.




The scenery was stunning and after an overcast start the sun burned through the morning cloud and onto the necks of the competitors around 10am, opening up the vista surrounding us.

Stories soon started filtering back to us that some nice pike had been landed which the pair of us put down to chinese whispers as we had only seen a couple of fish landed and the way we were fishing we were unlikely to see any around us

We managed to get to the last 10 minutes without any fish so to uphold my honour I decided to get the light gear into action for the trout and with a small Bete spinner which had proved deadly for trout in the past I cast out and within seconds I had a 4lb rainbow in the boat. Honour upheld we headed home.

One thing which is as certain as not eating in a Lake District hotel is that every angler will have a golden day which will live in the memory long after the event and the unbelievable had happened. Rob Smallbone had managed to catch more than any other pair of anglers, a brilliant acheivement and when his best 3 fish were weighed they came to an amazing 51 1/2 lb. This included breaking his personal best twice over and landing the biggest fish of the competition.

All 7 of his fish came to the net by 10.15am which gave him time to recover before the competition end.

Just behind in 2nd place came Steve Wade and Andy Surgey, a popular result among the other anglers and if they caught as many fish as they gave people laughs over the weekend they would of surely won. In 3rd place came John Cheyne and Steve Bates leaving the Welsh challenge just behind in 4th after months of them promising the cup was bound for Wales.

Alex from the fisheries staff presented a very nice trophy to Rob and which we will be returning next year to fish for again. Thanks to the staff at Esthwaite for putting on a super days fishing and for saving my waistline with a well timed buffet at the end of the day. The predator season at the fishery is from October 1st to March 31st and if you've not been before then put it on your to do list.

RESULTS

1st Rob Smallbone........Best 3 pike.....51 1/2 lb

2 Greys spinning rods

2nd "Wadey and Sharkey"......Best 3 pike.....41lb 2oz

2 Okuma spinning reels

3rd John Cheyne and Steve Bates....Best 3 pike.....38lb 6oz

2 Savage Gear 4play lures of choice

Best Pike.......Rob Smallbone.....19lb

A Flextec Pike Fly rod

Well done to all the lads who showed up and showed me up and a special thanks to Andrew Train from Tackle Discounts (no, he doesn't tell me what to write) and so it ended that the 1st LAS pairs cup was won by an angler fishing alone. Lets hope that we are still fishing for it in 20 years time when the legend of "Golden Rods" who won it on his own is still chatted about over a beer.

Confessions of a mediocre angler!

The Fleet had all we needed. Good beer and a quality english breakfast.

After huge anticipation the 16th had finally arrived and at one minute past midnight myself and two friends, Steve and Phil cast our lures blindly into the dark night of the Warwickshire Avon. The only indication that we had of the lures hitting the water was a distinct splash. Unfortunately it was the only splash we heard and after half an hour we retired to our beds in the Fleet Inn at Twyning which was to become our base for the next couple of nights. It was pure coincidence that we had chosen a pub to stay in........honest guv!

Steves perch looked like being the biggest.

4.00 am and we were up and rearing to go, boats were loaded and the new Minn Kota pulled us powerfully upstream. The rods were out as we trolled to our first chosen swim and at just after 5 am Steve landed the 1st fish in the shape of a small zander and then a couple of minutes later he followed it up with another. It took me a couple more hours before I landed a fish and Phil had been struggling as well.

Phils huge pike upped the ante!

The day continued in the same vein with fish coming slowly until the evening when we retired to the bar for some well earned drinks and food. It had been a beautiful day with the sun burning down on us which we blamed for the low number of fish caught and we staggered off to bed and the promise of a better 2nd day

The zander were not going to get any bigger for me, no matter how close I held it to the camera

Day 2 and that was certainly it for the sunshine. Overcast skies and persistent rain promised much better fishing, especially when zander are concerned. The fish were not having any of it though and we struggled all day to get fish into the boat. After a couple of hours totally fishless the rod finally bent into a........bream. I dunno, you lure fish for 20 years with no sign of the slimy dinnerplates then two come along in a month. This time it had taken a small rapala and was landed with the treble firmly embedded in its mouth.

Why!!!!

The highlight of the day was Phils personal best zander of around 5lb. He never weighed it so I'm allowed to be generous. The evening session was the most fruitful and once again I managed to land a good perch to confirm my "Perchmeister" tag and I landed quite a few fish before we retired once again to the pub.

Tonksys best Z

Come to daddy. 2lb 4oz, my best perch from the Avon

Day 3 and the weather just got worse, rain and a cold forceful wind meant keeping the boat on a good course which required all my concentration. The fishing was poor and we finished our little adventure with very few fish on a very poor day. It had however been a good laugh and much more fun than sitting in front of the TV watching "Pets do the funniest things". We had managed to land about 50 fish between us over the 3 days which by sheer coincidence was about the same number of pints we had downed. I hope my doctor doesn't read this!!!!!

Llangorse with the Lads

The beautiful scenery is a huge bonus

Upon reflection it was a great days fishing


Hold up, this feels like a good fish.


Great fun on light gear, this pike just kept going....and going....and

A cracking 15lb'er ends up in the boat

Andrew tried his best to emulate me on the day

But the true beauty of fishing doesn't lie in the size.

On we go to the glorious 16th when we can get back on the rivers.

Bad luck and big fish!

It's been a stressful last couple of weeks, something that I don't normally associate with fishing. It all started at the Gloucester canal where I landed a huge bream on

a lure which was a first for me. Harry and I went down to the Kennet and Avon canal where Harry hooked into a perch of around 2lb when a boat promptly started its engine, reversed and chopped the fish in half with the prop. Harry was not amused and a few choice words were directed at "Captain Meldrew" as he was nicknamed.

An evening session with Michael was a disaster from the start. First cast out with a Savage Gear 4play and a pike of around 16-18lbs was on and just as I bought the fish in, the lure which was only lightly hooked came flying out and ended up in a tree. A swift tug resulted in the 4play snapping off and ending up in the bottom of the lake. I leaned back against the wooden landing where I was fishing and then managed to tear a hole in my "very expensive but worth every penny" Airflo fishing suit. I'm sure Matt Hayes has had similar days, he just doesn't publicise them.



The last weekend of May and surely my luck would change. I checked over the boat prior to setting off and in a scene which closely resembled Basil Fawlty attacking his car I had noticed that the wheel bearing on one side of the trailer had collapsed. So instead of joining a couple of friends at Llangorse http://www.llangorselake.co.uk/lake.html on the saturday I spent half the day up to my elbows covered in grease and dirt.
So it finally conspired that with the curse still intact I took the boss, Andrew, and a mutual friend, Marcus, out to the most beautiful lake in Wales for a days piking. With the sun doing its best to cook us it was not going to be the best days fishing but it will always be remembered as one of the most enjoyable. We ended the day with a total of 14 fish but the biggest laugh was when my seat broke with an enormous "CRACK" to leave me floundering in the bottom of the boat doing my best impression of the "Dying Fly" while Andrew hastily took some photographic evidence which he has agreed not to post on the blog......yeah right!
Shortly afterwards my luck had changed and I finally got to land a ferocious 15lb pike. I slipped the fish back into the water together with the curse which had hung over me for the last week. Happy Days!