The downsides of fishing solo

Fishing alone can be nice every once in a while. You can do what you want, go where you want, fish the way you want and quit when you want. Also, there's no buddy that annoyingly catches all the fish right in front of you, spooks all the fish or - even worse - frustrates, just by being there, the possibility to brag about your catches the way you normally would do.

But there are downsides too. There's no one to talk to, no one to share the excitement with, no one who will share his sandwiches with you and no walking fly shop to provide you with the stuff you once again forgot to bring yourself. And what about pictures? Who's there to prove it when you actually do catch something? Or even worse, a whopper? Who's there to convince the unbelievers that there's big pike even in ridiculously small waters?

In my case, the answer was: no one. Well there was someone around, but she obviously thought I wanted a picture of myself with the building and considered the pike to be nothing more than a pet and of no significance at all:

Actually, it was quite an interesting catch. The small canal this one came from is only 30-40 cm. deep, and the area to effectively swim and feed only a couple of hundred meters. The fish just cannot possibly go anywhere else and couldn't come from anywhere else. I knew it had to be there, but couldn't catch it before (or even find it, for that matter). But this time it was different.

In a shallow canal like this, when there's no wind, the big fish often will show themselves: you'll see a wave from shore to shore rolling through the canal, which really adds to the fishing excitement. When I first spotted the wave I thought it was just a big bream or carp. But those fish normally cruise in groups, and this really seemed to be just one fish. I still didn't think of a pike though, as they usually are quite static. But what the heck, I gave it a cast anyway.

The fish didn't hesitate for a single second, swallowed the 15 inch streamer and put the small canal on fire. A funny thing about these waters is that the fish doesn't have much options when it wants to take off. So the fish swam back and forth and the only thing I had to do was follow. And hey, it's still a pike and not a carp. But nevertheless, it did put up quite a fight before it surrendered.

And then, luckily, this nice woman walked by to make a photograph of the fact that I actually have been in front of that awe-inspiring building. And when it comes to the fish, well, you know the drill: "yeah sure, prove to me there was another half........."