Shock 40lb park lake pike

A £2.50 a day park lake has thrown up a shock 40lb pike for a novice predator angler.

In a classic case of beginner’s luck, Rob Hall landed the massive specimen from Ringwood Lake in Chesterfield, having only fished for the species a handful of times before. The 28-year-old local man was targeting the council-owned venue for the first time in over a decade, having previously fished there for silverfish as a teenager.
He told Angling Times that the needle of his scales wouldn’t settle between 42lb and 43lb, with a 2lb 8oz net in place, so he settled on an intermediate weight of 40lb exactly.

“I was in total shock as the best pike I’d had before was about 5lb, this is the biggest fish I’ve ever caught and probably ever will! It had a massive head in relation to its body and I was physically shaking as I removed the hooks. I’m a bit gutted I didn’t get a better picture as I had to take it myself using the self-timer setting on my phone. I usually fish with my mate at weekends but I had a day free midweek and decided to go fishing, it’s typical I catch a fish of a lifetime while he wasn’t there to help,” he said.
Rob reported that he had heard of pike between 20lb and 30lb being caught from the venue, but nothing of this size.

Legering a hand-sized roach tight to a bed of lilies over a few pieces of chopped mackeral he received a positive take at about 12.30pm, with his bite alarm registering two bleeps before line started steadily peeling off the spool. But when he set his size 10 treble hooks he had no idea how big the fish he was attached to was.

He added: “I’ve had 10lb carp go off better than this but I suppose I’m not really used to pike yet. It took 10 minutes to get her towards the bank and then another five minutes to get her in the net because she kept making runs in the margins. My rig was a basic leger rig with 25lb braid and a strong wire trace. I’m genuinely still in shock!”

**Please note, day tickets for the venue can only be purchased in advance from local tackle shops, not on the bank.**

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