Thanks to Esox World editor & Drennan Pike consultant Steve Rowley for this exquisite and truly iconic photo of his first proper ‘snow twenty’ pike!

Steve pointed out to us that we don’t get too many opportunities to fish in real thick snow these days, and when we do, more often than not the lakes are frozen over.  He’d always wanted to catch a twenty pound pike in proper thick snow, and after forty years of pike fishing he finally achieved his goal last week, with this stunning 26lb 10oz specimen from a southern gravel pit.

“I love fishing in the snow, and this latest downfall gave me the opportunity to try and catch my first ever snow twenty. I tackled a large gravel pit with legered sardines on a new prototype E-Sox Pike rod and pre-production sample E-Sox braid, through to 28lb Drennan 7-Strand Wire. I managed to prebait a spot for a couple of weeks in advance, and the snowfall provided an ideal opportunity” said Steve.

“I started my short session with an 18.08, which was followed by a smaller fish of around 11.00, before I lost what felt like a big fish on the one and only large bream dead bait that I had. I felt sure I would get another chance, and a couple of hours later I had what felt like another big fish on a sardine, and after a dogged fight she slipped into the waiting net. I quickly unhooked and weighed her, and put her in a tube while I got my camera sorted. It took a while, as I had to wait for a slight break in the snow fall in order to be able to get the camera on the tripod, without the lense getting covered in snowflakes, and as I unzipped the tube there lay the bream that I had previously lost a fish on, a sure sign that this fish was the culprit.

This Pike was Steve’s seventh twenty pound plus fish of this campaign, and his second biggest of the year. 

For full details on the 7 Strand trace wire as used by Steve, click here