Enormous pike landed on a tiny trout fly

A TROUT angler experienced the fishing fight of his life last week after a 30lb-plus pike grabbed his tiny size 10 damsel nymph fly.

Gareth Griffith, from Barmouth, was targeting the stocks of brown and rainbow trout at Llyn Cynwch lake in Dolgellau, Wales, when he connected with the immense predator.

“There wasn’t a single moment in the 50-minute fight where my rod wasn’t bent double,” Gareth explained.

“It went on several long runs in that time and I tried to play it carefully so my 8lb line didn’t snap like cotton!

“I only had a small trout net with me, so I had to wedge its head into it and grab the tail with my hand – it was then that I could see my tiny fly was just nicked in the scissors. It was a fight I don’t think I’ll ever forget,” he added.

It’s not the first time this summer that an angler has landed a giant pike on an unconventional approach, as Spencer King (71) proved in June when he landed a 31lb specimen from a West Sussex lake after it snatched his floating bread off the surface!

Not quite the trout Gareth Griffith was expecting!