Saturday morning didn't start as planned. My new neighbour showed me a spot where the bass hoard up on the tidal River Afan 2 hours before high tide. There I was, but the tide had already spilled over the obstacle allowing the bass to head upriver and despite spinning for an hour, I didn't get a touch. Drove on to Treoes lake instead for some calming coarse fishing. At my favourite swim I had commons of 7lb 2, 8lb 2 and 5lb 6, a lovely 12oz roach, a bonus 1lb 14 tench and a handful of bream of around half a pound. Putting one back in the water, a pike grabbed it and almost had my fingers off! Right, I said, I'm coming back on Monday with pike gear.

Monday. The forecast said no rain today, so I was a little perturbed driving most of the half-hour trip to Treoes with the wipers on double-speed under an immense shower while questioning the wisdom of forgetting to pack my umbrella. It had stopped by the time I arrived and to my surprise and relief it stayed dry, though I wore my waterproofs all day to keep out the chill of the steady and unpleasant east wind. I feared this would hamper my chances of success. Put a deadbait out to my left, and a wafter out to the right, hoping to hedge my bets. The wafters proved popular, luring commons of 11lb 13, 8lb 10, 19lb 8 (my new pb!), 8lb 2 and 4lb 12 followed by a single mirror of 4lb 4. 

My pike float stood steadfastly untroubled all day before with 5 minutes to go, it bobbed twice and went under. For a not great pike, it fought well, performing a full-body tail walk for me before coming home at 7lbs. Unhooking it, I looked down its throat to see that while my mackerel section might have been lost in the fight, a recently consumed roach was peering up at me through dead eyes. 

A better day for me than it had been for him.