With all this foul weather of recent weeks there hasn’t been much opportunity to get out on either the rivers or lakes. Indeed the Eden has been running at a steady 5 feet above normal and the lakes are threatening to come into the fields. However, a brief window in the weather seemed on the cards last week so I gave my old mate Ric Sagar a call. We trailered the boat to Windermere and were on the water around 9 am. Up at the north end there was one other boat out trolling around. and by lunchtime neither they or us had touched a fish. So we went for a mooch to a couple of other sometimes productive spots. Now it seems the standard tactical repertoire on Windermere seems to be either trolling lures or fishing static on specific drop offs. As many of you know, I prefer to cover water on the drift and with the breeze settling into something steady we set the boat to drift a long shelf in around 30’ of water. One dropped run on a dead bait reassured us we were in the right area then Ric had a gentle take to a lure fished deep and slow. Quietly and unhurried, the fish came towards the boat, then rolled and set off powerfully back to whence it had come. Three times we got it back to the boat and three times it went away again. but on the fourth it leaped towards us and landed straight into the waiting net! At a fat 24lb.8oz it is Rics best to date and a lovely fish. We had another around nine pounds on a dead and that was it. While two fish in a day might not seem much, it is a great cure for the winter blues. As I write this, we have severe gales and snow forecast. But regardless of it all, I’m ready and waiting for another window in the weather.

Ric Sagar and a cracking January Pike