The primary time Nick Gahagan fished Chew Valley Lake in Somerset, England, he caught a northern pike that set a brand new waterbody report and practically broke the British report. This was final Thursday, Feb. 16. The 43-year-old stone mason and father of 4 often fishes the River Avon, however he was searching for a change of surroundings that day. So, he introduced his gear to the 1,200-acre lake west of London, the place he rapidly discovered that he’d made the proper name.
“I had an enormous chunk, and I knew right away it was a giant pike,” Gahagan instructed USA Right now. “I picked up my rod and it virtually bent in half.”
Learn Subsequent: Let’s Get Actual About Catching Pike on the Fly
The heavy fish made a blistering first run. Armed with an Ugly Stik rod and 40-pound braid, Gahagan did the very best he may to maintain strain on the pike.
“It was the toughest preventing fish I’ve ever encountered, so sturdy that my [rod] was completely bent double,” Gahagan stated. “I actually did suppose she was gonna spool me on her first run as she went off like an absolute prepare. The struggle went on for an excellent whereas earlier than she rolled to the floor and succumbed to the online.”
Gahagan was utilizing a useless sardine as bait, in response to a Fb publish by the UK-based Holy Mackerel Fish Oil Co. This wasn’t your typical canned sardine, although, as he’d injected and sprayed it with the strong-smelling fish attractant. Gahagan additionally chummed alongside the shoreline that morning with chopped fish that he’d soaked within the stuff for a full two weeks. He figured the chum would convey trout into the realm, which might then draw within the bigger predatory fish.
A Big by North American Requirements
Gahagan weighed the 44-pound, 7-ounce fish in entrance of a number of witnesses. After snapping a couple of grip-and-grins with the large pike, he launched it into the lake. His catch will go down as a brand new lake report, and it’s solely two kilos shy of the British report—a 46-pound, 7-ounce fish caught 31 years in the past.
It’s additionally inside vary of the IGFA all-tackle world report for the species. That fifty-plus-pound pike was pulled from Germany’s Lake Grefeern by angler Lothar Lews in 1986.
Pike this huge are virtually exceptional in North America, the place fish over 30 kilos are a rarity. Most U.S. anglers consider Canada and Alaska as being residence to the world’s greatest pike, however many of the actual giants through the years have come from European waters. Wanting on the IGFA report ebook, Italy, Sweden, and Switzerland have all given up 40-pound pike. A 46-pound Northern was reportedly pulled from New York’s Nice Sacandaga Lake again in 1946, however the greatest pike recorded in North America since then is a 34-pound, 8-ounce fish that was caught in Alaska .
