Sussex bass lure angler Peter Brown decided to have a go at lure fishing for pike now the winter months are upon us.

Pete very wisely chose to try the Hart Artic touch lure as his lure of choice for the day, which was actually his first day ever fishing for pike.

Here is Pete's description of what happened:

The WMD was the Hart Artik Touch as recommended by George. This is a big articulated swimbait and looks amazing in the water. I'd eat it. It swims very subtly below the surface and is a slow sinker too so you need to let is stink a bit if you want to explore that depth. It's also got some beads in it for that rattling effect.

Cranked SLOWLY this lure looked fluid and very attractive.

So, back to business, I found a corner of the mark protect from the breeze and with hanging branches and deep water: shaded all along the casting area of attack. I cast the 45g Artik and it landed nicely,cranked it in few times and it was running 6 inched from the surface. I tried leaving it at the margin to see if it sunk, it did very slowly.

So, I cast again to the same spot that just looked like lurkio city, and wanted to pull the plug past the tangled subsurface structure at a lower depth. I left the plug to sink for 30 seconds, and cranked her in real slow with the occasional tweak (as advised by my resident gurus) the air was menacing and dead calm, the chaps were down the way plugging and then hell broke loose. WHALLAP!!!!! The Touch wasn't touched a fish it was savagely attacked by an angry and mighty beast. I've not been dragged by a run-away freight train but this I think was similar. The fish was pulling like an anvil dropped from a cliff, the rod arced into the fish like nothing I felt or seen before. Making a run for the middle of the lake there was no issue at present.

FISH ON I hollered to the boys and they downed tools and came to my assistance with mats, pliers, scales and nets.

Rob came over and I whispered in his ear, "I think it's a nice fish Rob" I had no idea, I've never caught a pike before. "Take easy Pedz, keep your rod up and crank her in nicely"

She had't surfaced yet but I had seen a flash of her flank after the take before she dived and belted out to the black lagoon.

Then as I worked her in feeling the full power and weight behind this fish, she appeared...

Cut to three blokes with jaws dropped to the floor...It was a massive pike in wonderful condition.

Rob netted her and placed her on the mat, I was shaking too much to do anything useful so Iain and Rob removed the plug and washed her down ready for the weigh-in, photos and release.

20lb 2oz of Sussex Pike.

What a beautiful fish and very well done that man. That's one pb that'll take some beating!