As soon as October 1st arrived, I was ready and warring to get on with some serious predator fishing. I had experienced some fantastic fishing the season before from a certain Drain, but wanted to try and fish a couple of other waters this year to mix it up a little. My first chosen venue was another small drain which I had fished in the past, but had never really caught much from. I had a rough idea where I wanted to start, and I was extremely lucky on that my first session of the season I managed to land a 19lb 14oz fish, along my first Fenland double to a lure at 12lb 6oz.

From there on, my season started getting better and better. Fishing another drain, I had decided to take friend, Andrew Gifford, to try and catch him a personal best. With his PB being around 14lb, I was confident a fish of that size could be caught, and even though I had yet to land a 20 from the water, it was always possible. The day in question was extremely overcast and windy, a perfect day, and not only for Pike! With two rods fished each, I had decided to switch to a large float and suspend my dead Roach about 6 inches off the bottom, in hope that the windy conditions would add a little bit of movement to my bait. Whether this was what gained me my first take I do not know, but before long the float was sliding away next to some rushes. As I struck I felt a lot of head shaking, a lot more so than you usually receive from a Pike. As soon as the fish hit the surface I knew why, it was a decent Zander, and one that weighed in at over 9lb's, making it my largest daytime Zed.

This capture pleased me no end, but we didn't have long to wait for the next run as Giff soon struck into another decent fish. Straight away looking at the rod tip jerks, it looked as if Giff had also hooked a Zed, and as it hit the surface, we were proved right. Unfortunately however, the fish managed to throw the hooks, and left us both wondering just how big the fish had been. As the day was coming to an end, i had our third and final bite. Once again my float suspending a Roach deadbait began to slide away. A firm strike was made and a solid resistance was felt. A good fish followed and an exceptionally long Pike was landed and weighed at nearly 21lb's! A Result, but it should have been Giff's!

A couple of weekends later we returned to a different stretch of the same drain. This time we were to receive a lot more takes, but the fish were smaller. Herring's were to be the most successful bait, and after a few fish to 14lb, I once again hooked and landed a decent fish, this time weighing in at 22lb 5oz. Happy as I was, I really wanted Giff to get a good'un, and luckily just as we were thinking about packing up, his herring deadbait was snatched. After a strong fight, a perfectly conditioned 17lb 8oz fish was landed, leaving us two very happy pikers.

I had a few more sessions after this landing many Pike to 22lb 2oz, but after Christmas, I had only one thing on my mind - Chub!