A pb pike of 24lb 15oz - stunning river fish!

I've been exploring more of the river this autumn, marking up OS maps for stretches i can fish etc. After chatting with a mate last night, i decided on a stretch that i'd not fished before for this morning. The initial aim was to do some trotting for anything that came along, but i was also going to try this new stretch for pike as well. Although pacey, i was reliably informed that there were some deeper holes that may hold a pike or two.

I got there and the river was near normal level but very coloured still, shame. After flogging away at the float for two hours or so, all i'd caught was a dace, so i changed my plan of attack. In came the float rod, and I set a pike rod up cast to an undercut bank. First bait was float fished Pollan, a bait i've not tried much. After 5 mins or so, the float moved to one side, bobbed and then dissapeared. I hit into it, and realised it was nothing special....a 3 1/2lb chub that had spent a while chewing the head of the pollan before getting hooked (not the first time this has happened to me!).

Next cast to the same place i put out a small smelt, my favourite bait. After 30 mins or so, the float bobbed, and disappeared again. This time, my strike was met by absolutely solid resistance. You know the difference straight away between a jack and a big girl with practice and this just didnt move. After 30 seconds or so it decided enough was enough and absolutely tore off, completely unstoppable, straight into the flow. It took me 5 mins to recover this run, but it tore off again. The fight lasted a good 10 mins before i got it into a netting position, and thats when i realised i was struggling with my 42 inch landing net. I thought i had it, but the pike had other ideas and went for another run. Eventually i was able to get the pike upstream of my net, and the let it sail down into the waiting net. I lifted it out and knew she was a 20. The scales were wavering around 26lb, and the sling was wavering about 1lb. I could have called it 25lb, but i'll be honest and say 24lb 15oz, a river dream come true.

Sorry about the dodgy self takes...