Dodgy Pike - Pike Fishing

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

The day when Vadim and I, my constant fishing companion, went to Ladoga, turned out to be sunny, but cold and very windy. When we got out onto the open ice, we immediately felt how much it was blowing out. And although we were going to fish exclusively with jigs and spinners, Vadim suddenly changed his mind and said:

- I don’t want to freeze, sitting motionless, I’ll catch it on the zippers.

… Vadim and I never persuade each other to change their minds. We always act according to the principle: do as you intended. So I said nothing. While he was busy with live bait in the coastal reeds, I drilled several holes with an ice drill, including three for Vadim. When he returned, a dozen and a half brushes and perches were floating in his bucket. The largest of them was no more than an index finger. By that time, I had already caught the heels of ruffs.

Vadim, in addition to mine, drilled four more holes, placing them at a distance of 50-60 meters from each other. When he secured the next pole on the pole and went to the next hole, I, examining the already set tackle, noticed that a signal flag had risen on one of them. I shouted:

- Vadim, look, bite!

He looked around and ran to this vest. I saw how he made a sweep, and began to quickly sort out the line. And when he pulled it out, he showed me its end: the fish broke the line along with a metal lead and a tee.

Vadim tied a new tee to the remaining line, put on live bait and lowered it into the hole. After some time, an alarm went off on one of the distant holes. Vadim hurried there and pulled out a small pike - grass. Half an hour later, another pike was caught, slightly larger than the first. There were no other bites on the zherlitsa, and Vadim came up to me.

- Join, - I invited. - I have a small fish, but often comes across. And he does not bite the line.

- No, I … - he suddenly fell silent in mid-sentence and rushed to the hole, on which the alarm went off. Exactly to the one where the leash with the tee was lost. Alas, history repeated itself: the second time the fish broke off the tee and leash.

Seeing how upset my partner was, I advised:

- No wonder they say: God loves trinity. Put on a new zherlitsa, maybe you get lucky. Only this time do not leave her so as not to miss a bite.

Although not very willing, Vadim nevertheless agreed … Having planted live bait, he sat down on the box and bent over the hole. Twenty, thirty, forty minutes - not a single bite.

Finally Vadim could not resist, called me over to him and reasoned:

- Since you offered to put the zherlitsa in this unlucky hole, then let's sit in my place. Wait, as they say, by the sea for the weather.

… Nothing to do, and I replaced him. He took the line in his hand and froze in alert anticipation. Time passed slowly, painfully, and gradually my alertness dulled. In order to somehow diversify the monotony of the motionless sitting, I occasionally glanced around, and therefore did not immediately feel that the line suddenly twitched slightly. Rather, it was a gentle pull.

However, I caught myself in time and instantly hooked. And then he felt the fish rush into the depths. Holding the line quickly unwinding from the gutter with my hand, I waited for it to unwind to the end. Then he began to slowly pull the fish to the hole. She jerked a few more times, but I, keeping the line in tension, gave slack at the right moment, and in the end I dragged a pike onto the ice at least two kilograms. As soon as the predator was on the ice, I saw a line with a leash and a tee on the left at the edge of the lower lip.

Vadim came to the rescue immediately noticed this tee and, looking at the fish, said:

- If we assume that this place is the hunting grounds of one pike, then where is the other missing tee?

“Maybe it was ripped off by another pike, or this one managed to throw it out through the gills. It happens sometimes. You better see how deftly she cut the line. Wound it on the body, and when the metal leash ended, easily bite the line above it.

- And you, it turns out, did not give her such a chance, because you quickly hooked, - concluded Vadim.

I thought that no matter how cunning and resourceful the fish is, a person will still outwit it. And our case is a clear confirmation of this.