The first time Nick Gahagan fished Chew Valley Lake in Somerset, England, he caught a northern pike that set a brand new waterbody report and almost broke the British report. This was final Thursday, Feb. 16. The 43-year-old stone mason and father of 4 normally fishes the River Avon, however he was on the lookout for a change of surroundings that day. So, he introduced his gear to the 1,200-acre lake west of London, the place he rapidly discovered that he’d made the correct name.
“I had a huge bite, and I knew straight away it was a big pike,” Gahagan informed USA Today. “I picked up my rod and it almost bent in half.”
Read Next: Let’s Get Real About Catching Pike on the Fly
The heavy fish made a blistering first run. Armed with an Ugly Stik rod and 40-pound braid, Gahagan did the perfect he may to maintain stress on the pike.
“It was the hardest fighting fish I’ve ever encountered, so strong that my [rod] was absolutely bent double,” Gahagan stated. “I really did think she was gonna spool me on her first run as she went off like an absolute train. The fight went on for a good while before she rolled to the surface and succumbed to the net.”
Gahagan was utilizing a lifeless sardine as bait, in keeping with a Facebook publish by the UK-based Holy Mackerel Fish Oil Co. This wasn’t your typical canned sardine, although, as he’d injected and sprayed it with the strong-smelling fish attractant. Gahagan additionally chummed alongside the shoreline that morning with chopped fish that he’d soaked within the stuff for a full two weeks. He figured the chum would carry trout into the world, which might then draw within the bigger predatory fish.
A Giant by North American Standards
Gahagan weighed the 44-pound, 7-ounce fish in entrance of a number of witnesses. After snapping a couple of grip-and-grins with the large pike, he launched it into the lake. His catch will go down as a brand new lake report, and it’s solely two kilos shy of the British report—a 46-pound, 7-ounce fish caught 31 years in the past.
It’s additionally inside vary of the IGFA all-tackle world report for the species. That 50-plus-pound pike was pulled from Germany’s Lake Grefeern by angler Lothar Lews in 1986.
Pike this large are virtually extraordinary in North America, the place fish over 30 kilos are a rarity. Most U.S. anglers consider Canada and Alaska as being residence to the world’s largest pike, however many of the actual giants over time have come from European waters. Looking on the IGFA report e-book, Italy, Sweden, and Switzerland have all given up 40-pound pike. A 46-pound Northern was reportedly pulled from New York’s Great Sacandaga Lake again in 1946, however the largest pike recorded in North America since then is a 34-pound, 8-ounce fish that was caught in Alaska .