met a pike 'expert'

i had a couple of hours to burn on sunday whilst the wife took the kids to a party, not ideal weather (hot sun - but a good breeze), but i fancied it so had a crack with the lures at a couple of smaller gravel pits in the midlands, after fishing for ten mins i get approached by a chap walking his dog who immediatley announces that i'm wasting my time because pike dont feed until autum he was smirking and trying to contain himself from laughing !!
i did try and explain that pike do feed all year, but he was having none of it, they starve themselves apparently

realising that he was a fool i carried on fishing, he then started spouting tales of his record of 40lb pike from canals, and how he kills any he catches less than 12lb.

total moron

on the plus side, i have just started using polarised sunglasses - wish i had done this years ago - amazing the difference it makes, i saw several pike follow in, but not take, one sat for a while letting me try different lures, all of which he ignored until i tried a battered old 'zalt' in pike pattern - he took that straight away. ended up with two pike over three hours, not huge but enjoyable non the less (well - apart from the moron dog walker)

lol that bloke sounds like a total nob, i dunno whats wrong with some people

Yep, ive come across those "know it all's" as well. I baffle them with info about piking etc and it soon shuts them up when they know that you have more knowledge !!

Total dickheads most of them !

Lol he sounds like a guy who me and me mate bumped into along the river a few weeks ago on the way to a lake we like to fish during closed season. He stopped us and said:

Him: "what you after lads"
Us: "Carp"
Him: "You wont catch carp here in the river, their not a river fish, some big perch in here though, had a 7lber last year"
Us: "Well we've caught carp out of this stretch, but we're fishing the lake anyway, its the closed season on the river"
Him: "Hahaha they weren't carp, prob chub"
Us: "def carp they were all between 12lb and 23lb"
Him: "sure you were fishing the river"
Us: "without doubt mate"
Him: "So what you going to fish the lake for then if their in the river"
Us: "Its the closed season on the river, we're not aloud to fish it till June 16th"
Him: "Hahaha Yeah ya can, that's just a tradition thing, if ya wanna fish it ya can. for guys with such fancy looking gear you sure don't know much, good luck anyways "

Then he walked off laughing, me and me mate just looked at each other as if to say what the hell just happened there, was he winding us up!! Couldn't have made it up, proper strange bloke


Polaroids are to me one of my most important pieces of kit. There is so many fish of a few different species i wouldn't have caught in the past without them. A Must have

@Pilley - Like

I thought it was only me that was a numpty magnet.
Walking the local canal, with a #10 wt fly rod, 36" telescopic landing net & a 8" chunk of tinsel/lurex on a 2/0 BlackCat hook and I usually get the titterers telling me `you'll not catch any trout in here mate' titter ye not

what about people who let there dogs go in the water wright next to your swim ......just dont get me started on that one

I had that happen a few months ago, barbel fishing on a small thames tributary and these 2 dogs ran into my swim and then out again. Thought nothing of it as dogs run into ur swim all the time when fishing in public areas. What annoyed me was the owner, some stupid woman came in holding both both dogs by their collars said afternoon and then led them both into the spot where our lines were we warned her I lines were there and she told us we dnt own the river and to move them till her dogs had had a drink and a swim, I managed to control meself from saying something bad and just moved to another spot, but what a joke!!!

i have dogs myself but would not dream of letting my dog in the water if there was somebody fishing close by ........some people are so stupid they cant even see it.

Ha ha, love the stories. Luckily i've managed to stay away from most people while fishing. I do remember as a kid being constantly told by a local "expert" that I was wasting my time as there were "no bigguns in there kid". I'd already had a few doubles over a few years and then bagged a 27lb beast. Silly old sod.

I can't tolerate that type for more than 2-3 seconds. I'm usually pretty cheeky once that nonsense starts.

"Very good mate, now I'm getting back to learning you go on your way and 'teach' someone else how to catch fish eh"

I once had a guy who thought he was the best thing since sliced breed telling me I wouldn't catch anything decent on a certain water 15 mins after I landed my first 20lber.............

Jog on ya tool!!!!