Recipe for success.

At the start of the month I was invited down into the Scottish Borders to fish Alemoor Reservoir by my Polish mate Tomasz, a passionate predator angler who has a membership for the venue. Recently, whilst looking at what species I could target in the second half of the year that would be additions to my 2023 species hunting challenge, I realised that I hadn’t caught a pike for many years, and when I told Tomasz about this embarrassing fact he was keen to help me remedy the situation. We arrived early in the morning and would be joined later in the day by two of Tomasz’s friends, Zibi and Lex, who were bringing a small inflatable boat and a float tube with them.

Tomasz and I spent the morning and early afternoon fishing from the bank and whilst conditions seemed good, things were pretty slow. Eventually I hooked a pike but lost it when the angry fish went airborne and threw the lure as I drew it closer to the edge through some marginal weed. After a few more hours, Tomasz had caught a couple of small pike, and we’d both caught a few small perch as well. In the afternoon I had a take from a large pike, but when I lifted into it the fish dropped the lure straight away. Knowing that a large pike was in the vicinity, Tomasz started fishing a pig shad jnr lure. After a while it was taken by a fish that initially he thought was a pike but to his surprise his lure had been swallowed whole by a rather greedy perch of 46cm, weighing almost 3lb.

A cracking, and very greedy perch!

By the time Zibi and Lex arrived, we hadn’t enjoyed any more action, and I was looking forward to exploring more of the venue from afloat. Tomasz, Zibi and I headed down the reservoir in the SIB and Lex popped his flippers on and headed out in the float tube. The three of us did some trolling as we headed down the reservoir and then fished a few different bays up one side of it. Tomasz caught a perch on a Rapala Skitter Pop Elite which he was over the moon about, and Zibi caught a small jack on a Salmo Slider. I'll be honest, by that point I didn't think I was going to get a pike but I kept trying regardless!

By about 20:00 I still hadn’t caught a pike despite over ten hours of trying. The lads were camping overnight, but I had work the next day and had to drive back to Edinburgh, so we decided to head back to our starting point so I could head off. Tomasz gave me a Salmo Executor to try, and we slowly headed back, trolling as we went. About half way there we were chatting away, not really paying attention, when my rod was suddenly pulled round. “Fish!” I shouted, completely taken by surprise. It felt like a good one, so I loosened my drag a little and took my time playing it. The last thing I wanted was to bring it in too quickly only for it to go crazy at the side of the boat and throw the lure. After five minutes of steady pressure, a few short runs and some underwater thrashing about, a lovely pike was netted by Tomasz and was quickly unhooked, measured, photographed and returned to fight another day. 

My first pike for several years was certainly worth the wait! At 101 cm this pike was probably a high double, but we didn’t weigh it. Certainly the biggest pike I’ve ever caught.

I’d have settled for a pike of any size at the beginning of the day, but was very happy to catch such a nice fish. I think Tomasz was even happier though. Or maybe he was just relieved? I know what it’s like when you’re trying to put other anglers onto fish and whilst he was clearly happy, I think he was also relieved that I’d caught a pike, which was my only goal for the day. The pressure “guiding” brings is sometimes matched by the "relief" that follows when the target species is caught. Anyway, if Tomasz were to take up guiding, I'd certainly recommend his services!

Tight lines, Scott.