Large pike, small stream

by david crespin
(new forest Hampshire UK)

It must have been October 1997, half term. I was using a mepps to try to catch some trout at the stream that runs past the Balmer Lawn at Brockenhurst, New Forest. It was not a successful day as there were so many leaves and twigs floating in the water and I kept hitting snags.
I managed a couple of trout which were returned unharmed. It was getting dark and I thought I would have a couple of last casts in a deep cut in the stream when I thought I snagged another log under the surface.
I wasn't worried about losing the lure as I was about to finish the day so I made a huge heave half expecting the line to snap when this huge pike head broke the surface of the water. Somehow I managed to get it onto the bank when it fell off the lure but I managed to stop it sliding into the water. I took a stick to measure it and returned the monster.
When I got home I measured the stick and it was just under three feet. Not the largest pike, but huge for the New Forest.

What a fantastic New Forest fishing tale David!
I know of a huge pike in a different area of the New Forest which we would worry about every summer as the stream it lived in got drier and drier. Yours at just under 3 feet is a whopper!!!!! Thanks for sharing.

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