The photograph was taken ten years ago on the middle Severn. I went through a period of several years where I fished the river on a regular basis during the winter.
Fishing with dead baits, I caught a few fish over the 20 lb mark. Pike will thrive on neglect and setting off for a long walk from the car park swims will often turn up some good fish.
When the bait is picked up and the float starts to tremble, at that stage you don’t know whether the fish is 3 lb or 30 lb. Once you strike, of course, then you have a better idea of what you’re doing battle with.
I haven’t done much winter pike fishing in recent years. Sometimes the rivers have just been out of sorts – usually in serious flood. Other times, work has come in the way, as since 2014 there were big changes on that front.
However, I’ve never forgotten the joys of fishing the Severn on a cold winter’s day after pike. Even though I fish a lot though, I still can’t do everything that I want to do, but I’ll be back, of that I have no doubt.
I started doing angling memory blog entries during the recent lockdown. Now that the rules have been lifted, and I’m actually fishing, this will be my last one.
I may return in the future with something though, after all, memories play a big part in our lives.