Paul 'The Gwyniad' Gratton

Legendary Esox hunter Paul Gratton adds another lump to his tally. Formerly known as the 'pike slayer' and now referred to as 'The Gwyniad' due to his un-natural and mystical talent of catching this little known and understood fish that resides in Bala. Paul has not caught these little very rare fellas in Bala though. He has managed a number of them many miles downstream on our beloved river Dee. What the hell they are doing this far from home i fail to fathom??? Maybe they just wanted a day out in Chester and are now safely back home in Bala. Who knows???

On the river at the 11th hour

Eventually Darren and i got out on the river after many unsuccesful recent attempts. Darren skippered his landing craft on a beautiful almost summers day in March. the big girls eluded us but a number of feisty jacks entertained us on a day filled with story telling and laughter.

Mally gets his first Zed

Connahs Quay Piker extrordinaire Malcolm Hough took time out from sending me his usual selection of dubious jokes to send me these pics of his trip last weekend to the drains for the pike doubles match. Sadly in the match the Zed didn't count but he managed a pike on the saturday of over 14lb's pictured above.