Blackwater Park - Pike on Fly

During a free weekend, without making too many plans, I decided to go out for a few hours to check my backyard for some pike. A few days ago I tied some streamer hoping to catch the first fish with the new  9-weight rod. Two months ago, while fishing in Ireland, the local situation made catching pike with the fly rod impossible so I had to create new opportunities cause only those who go fishing, catch fish.

Temperature fell under 10 degrees Celsius, fog veils had become increasingly more persistent and the leaves turned yellow and red. A cup of hot tea, a cigar, warm clothing and my fly fishing equipment was everything I needed to spend a few unforgettable hours on the Danube banks. I couldn’t choose something better to listen in the car than ‘Opeth - Blackwater Park’ on such an autumn day.

After I reached the parking place on the waterfront, an elderly fisherman who was preparing his gear for some coarse fishing looked at me indignantly with eyes wide open while I was preparing my fly rod. He asked me with some hesitation:

- Do you want to catch trout, here in this area?

The question awakened me from my sweet mental slumber and till to get the cigar out of the mouth to respond, he gave me also an answer.

- I think you have little chance.

Amazed I looked at him, took out of the bag a box with streamer, non smaller than 5 inches and said:

- I would suck to catch in this water a trout that is eating such monsters!…showing on the lures with my finger.

Wonder let him speechless. I cleared that I was going to catch monsters with teeth that are commonly called pikes. Then he ended the dialogue with a contemplative…ohhh…looking at me like to an alien.

Water was cam and clear. Casting the 9-weight rod proved to be not very comfortable but my stripping basket eased the task enormously. After about 20 minutes of fishing, I was thinking about changing the spot while stripping the line at a constant speed without breaking the rhythm when I saw how the line stretched and went sideways. Suddenly I felt movement on the other end. The fish caught was a jack pike but at least the curse was broken.

The following hours were found to be less prolific but the time spent outside brought me inner peace. Just need to learn how to animate bigger pike to attack my lures.