The rods and lures were packed and I left excited. I was confident I would land some fish. I soon arrived at the marina and wasted no time. I threw the tackle onto the boat and headed out into the vast blue landscape, with butterflies in my stomach caused by sheer excitement at the thought of catching some pike teeth shredding my lures. My tactics were going to be simple - Monstrous lures and monstrous paravanes! Savage Gear XL paravanes are a great kit for spreading huge lures out and fishing multiple rods at once, which is a great tactic for large glacial lochs.

Strong gear is essential when the pike teeth slice through the rubber

My set up for this kind of fishing is the 1DFR Swimbait rods (170G) Okuma Komodo 463 multiplier reels, loaded with 70lb Silencer Braid. When the paravanes are fishing there will purposely kite the large lures to the left- and right-hand side of your boat, keeping your rods vertical. Fishing in this manner, will keep your braid in direct contact with the paravane and stop unnecessary drag on the water’s surface.

Keeping your rod high present water pressure on the line 

The lures I was using were the 37cm 48cm Line Thru Pike. These are huge profile lures with large silhouettes that appeal to big pike as they think it is a substantial meal and are willing to come along way up from deep water to intercept them. As I trolled along a steep shelf the ratchet on my Okuma Komodo burst into life with a loud clicking and my reel gave line. My fist bite was instant euphoria! This fish took line and gave a great scrap with deep lunges as it tried to battle its way back to the dark water, as the pike neared the boat the first thing I did was unclip the XL paravanes from the braid and put it carefully out of the way. 

Then the next sight was beautiful and worth spending months on end for, there she was my first Scottish wild pike in as long as I can remember. She wanted the 37cm line thru pike in the firetiger pattern. I carefully unhooked the pike and admired her for a minute before giving her a kiss on the head and watching her swim slowly back to where she belonged. In that moment, nothing else existed and waiting that long because of lock down made the experience even more special.

Go big or go home – When fishing 37cm pike through the water, you know something big will eat it.