In words and pictures

Cambridge Region of The Pike Anglers Club of Great Britain

With kind permission of Waterbeach Angling Club the Cambridge Branch of the Pike Anglers Club of Great Britain held a “Fish In” on Leland Water on Sunday 11^th February.  The purpose of the day was for a number of like minded pike anglers to have a fish during the morning and then to reel in at lunch and have an hour or two socialising, before returning to their rods in the afternoon.

The event started at dawn, and as the overnight rain began to ease about a dozen anglers started their day’s campaign.  Having drawn a peg off they dashed to their swim to get a line in for the morning feeding spell For a number of them it was their first look and chance to fish on this picturesque and lovingly maintained little water.  At the off conditions appeared to be challenging with ice cold, gin clear water following the hard spell of weather in the proceeding week.  However, it was not long before the bite indicators screamed into action and a number of small fish were landed in the first half an hour, the exception being what proved to be the biggest fish of the day, 15lb 2oz caught by Neil Strain, well done Neil!

As the morning wore on a few more small fish made an appearance along with one or two late rising anglers still showing the effect of the night before!  As the fishing began to slow down attention turned to the smell of roast pork wafting across the lake.  This indicated the arrival of "Hammy" (Chris Hammond) who is becoming famous for his waterside spreads he lays on at fishing events.  Not much persuasion was required to get everyone to reel in and head for the hut to make a start on the perfectly cooked Loin of Pork and Newmarket sausages along with a cup of soup and a nip of Digger’s (Dennis Moules) scrumpy.  The spread was topped off with barbequed bananas with chocolate and marshmallows.  You excelled yourself Chris, well done!  Around 25 people were there for lunch and we took the opportunity to run a raffle to raise funds for a digital projector, thanks for everyone’s generosity.

As lunch finished we were greeted by the afternoon sun and the anglers waddled back hoping the pike would feed as well as they had.  A couple more small fish came out later in the day the last being to one of the juniors present Tom Culpin, ably assisted by his brother Jack with the landing net.  The day drew to a close at 4.30pm with the draw for the raffle and a presentation for the largest fish of the day.

According to Digger Moules, a stalwart of the club this is the first time Cambridge PAC has held an event such as this and it was considered to be a resounding success.  Our thanks firstly go to Waterbeach Angling Club for allowing us to use this superb venue, you really have something to be proud of in Leland Water.  Secondly thanks to Colin Brett for the suggestion of the event and the venue.  Thirdly thanks again to Chris for a memorable feast, we really do appreciate your time and generosity.  Finally thanks to club members who supported on the day both fishing and spectating.  Hopefully this is something we can make a regular occurrence.