Last year (2005) after a 10 year break - I started fishing for carp and I've managed to catch fish up to 14lb - a personal best for me.

As the weather cooled off and the carp were few and far between, I wanted to try for a pike, so with my mix-and-match tackle, I visited a 10-acre lake in the Welsh borders.

Armed with a 8 inch pencil float and a trace borrowed from fellow angler and friend Daniel Stevenson, I followed the instructions on the back of the float packaging, hooked on a section of lamprey and I was away!

I cast into the margins at the end of the old small jetty feature and waited about 3 hours, I didn’t see the float go, just the scream of the buzzer. When I struck into it - I thought it was snagged at first, then the pike let me know it wasn’t snagged - and put a nice bend in my budget carp rod, an arm-pumping experience I will remember for some time.

Dan showed me the correct procedure for handling and releasing this beauty - a new personal best.

I can't wait for my next adventure for the green goddesses and I don't mean fire-engines.

Best wishes

John Lewis

Just to prove the catch wasn't a fluke, John went on to catch another 18lb'er on his next session - Ed