The East Coast Fishing blog had an interesting report last week which included this capture of a particularly fat pike. David and his angling pal Dawid were specifically targeting big January pike and was fishing mackerel dead baits. On a particularly cold and frosty morning he had his bait deployed in a favourite swim. After a long wait Dawid finally had a bite. The fish was definitely a big one, but was netted after a very short fight of a few short minutes. When they got the pike ashore there was no mystery for its sluggish behaviour.

The pike's belly is stretched around its last meal
The pike's belly is stretched around its last meal
At 9.2kg this specimen pike is Dawid's personal best
At 9.2kg this specimen pike is Dawid's personal best
What may be the tail of a kelt was sticking out of the pikes gullet
What may be the tail of a kelt was sticking out of the pikes gullet

The pike was literally stuffed to the gills! What seemed to be the tail a large salmon kelt was sticking out of the fishes gullet and her belly was stretched tight as a drum around her unfortunate prey. The fish weighed in at 9.2kg, but without its recent meal would probably not have broken the 20lb marker.

Video of the release

Find out more

For the full story and more photos see David’s blog at ecoastfishing.blogspot.ie