I will have to take you back to November 2009 to tell this story from the beginning...
Myself and JP were booked on to Esthwaite Fishery at the end of last November, and the prospect of either of us landing one of the larger residents on the water had us chomping at the bit to get on there.
Alas November 2009 will be remembered as the wettest November since 1914, bringing with it wide spread flooding to the area of Cumbria... Mission aborted!
We were disappointed, but in the grand scheme of things it didn't really matter, we had it all to look forward to all over again in January.
January 2010 is on record as the coldest January in the UK since 1987 and the eighth coldest since 1914. The coldest temperature that I recorded was minus 6, although some parts of the UK recorded a staggering minus 17. Esthwaite was frozen solid... Mission aborted!
Once again we were a little disappointed but, we still had the trip to look forward to, and we decided to wait until the spring, let things warm up a little. We'll have another go in March.
March 2010 was the coldest March on record since 1987. Once again Esthwaite was frozen solid. I was beginning to hate this trip, and when we finally got chance to go in the middle of March, I have to admit that mine and JP's enthusiasm had faded a little, for now it wasn't the weather that was our enemy, we were faced with the prospect of fishing this water right in the middle of the Pike spawning. A daunting prospect for any Piker.
Due to accommodation that we'd booked it just wasn't possible to cancel for a fourth time, so finally on the 21st of March we loaded the car and decided to chance our arm on the lake.
We arrived at around 5am and we were soon on the boat looking for prospective swims to fish. We'd been on the water around an hour when we the heavens opened and we got the soaking of a lifetime. I have coined myself a new phrase to describe just how wet we were, and that is 'Washing Machine Wet'
We fished two dead bait rods each and we also cast around with lures and spinner baits. Alas we didn't get so much as a take, in fact we were not alone as everyone else on the lake also struggled, we heard that a 22lb fish had come off from somewhere, but everyone we spoke to had blanked.
We gave it a good old go though, and we finally threw the towel in at dusk. We had planned to spend three days on the lake, but we were resigned to the fact that with the Pike being pre occupied with spawning, we were probably in for a hiding to nothing.
I turned the fishing trip into a family holiday instead and had a brilliant time in the lakes with the Mrs and the dog. Sometimes even I have to admit that there is more to life than fishing.
