In an amazing co-incidence, two anglers fishing from the same boat both hooked 30lb-plus pike at the same time, writes Peter Stone.

Trout experts Bob Church and John Emerson spent a day at Grafham Reservoir, where they decided not to fish for the trout but the big coarse fish which inhabit the reservoir instead.

After starting the session catching perch to 2.4.0, they moved to an area where they immediately hit fish.

Bob said: "It happened almost simultaneously. We both struck into big fish and, after about ten minutes, we were able to lift them high enough in the water to get a good look at the pike clearly 30lb-plus.

"But mine took one more dive and came off, while John played his for a further five minutes and netted the fish at 30.8.0. "I've never heard of two huge pike being hooked and played from the same time."

The news will be welcomed by predator anglers, who can fish the 1,500 acre reservoir for pike during October and November.

Where huge pike are concerned, there are no better waters than trout reservoirs, where the pike feeding on the trout put on weight quickly.

It is a pity that no pike were taken at Farmoor II when they opened it for pike fishing a few years ago, but I hope anglers get the opportunity to fish for them in the near future.

Orchid Lake at Dorchester is fishing well, with some tremendous catches of carp taken during the last two weeks.

Brother Shaun and Pat McDermott made the long journey from Cheshire and were rewarded with six carp between 16.4.0 and 27.9.0.

But an even better catch was taken by Dave Fudge, who, in four days, banked no fewer than nine carp between 21.8.0 and 32.6.0.

That is fine fishing by anyone's standards.