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THE
FENLAND THIRTIES Voted 'Pikelines Article of the Year 2000-2001' by PAC members Some time ago I had a long and interesting chat with Stephen Harper. Stephen had almost completed his excellent book 'Broadland Pike', a history of the largest recorded captures. Stephen asked me how many Fenland 3O's I knew of and after a bit of thought I came up with the figure of about 20. Not many compared to those of the Broadlands. I then began to compile a list of Fenland 30's and spoke to many of the captors. Some of the material I have used in my 'Fenland Pike' slideshows and many people providing me with photographs and graphical accounts of these magnificent captures. Many of these epic tales have been published before and the captors have become Fenland legends. David Malin's '33' that topped a huge catch of pike from the Delph by the Coventry Circus Group is now part of Fenland history, as is Bob Church's 31.08 from the 16-Foot also the first two of Barrie Rickards' five entries. These captures are all backed up by excellent photographs and were properly witnessed. These two factors are vital when disclosing big fish, particularly those over 30lb. If you have caught a big pike and tell a mate I'll bet the first question is: "Where's the photo then?" In fact, in the case of Stephen's book, in the absence of photographs and witnesses, the pike are recorded in a chapter titled: 'Mysterious Monsters'. I do not propose to separate such fish in the Fenland list, just printed 'warts and all', and leave it up to you the reader to draw your own conclusions. The list is, I suspect, far from complete I would think, but if any reader knows of any other 30's, or locations of photos that I have not listed, please get in touch. This is not a money-making exercise but purely a record for information to PAC Members with an interest in the Fens. In recent captures I have not named the water for obvious reasons, unless the captor has publicised the venue themselves. Many friends and I fish some of these waters and an influx of pike anglers would not be popular. Neville Fickling wrote in his last book PikeFishing with Neville Fickling, "During the late 80's and early 90's several different Fen Drains produced pike over 25lb up to fish of 30lb. Such a fish is really the fish of a lifetime and anyone who has had a '30' from a drain should be sitting on top of the World". Neville is dead right, I am still waiting for my own first Drain '30'! I am not the only one, Bill Chillingworth had banked 235 Fenland 20's when I last talked pike with him some 2 years ago. A Fenland '30' eludes him still. Likewise Alan Ward, Steve Rodwell, Colin Hall and John Clements. Four modern-day pikers who are really 'on the ball'. Their day I hope will come, although Steve has captured a stillwater '30' from Swangey Lakes in Norfolk.
The list is kept up to date on the Ely/Fenland PAC region's website at www.elyfenlandpac.co.uk This
article first appeared in Pikelines 90 (November 2000) - on this website 6/9/02 |
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