In search of the river monster

Norfolk may be short on sharks, but another predator - the pike - lurks beneath the water. Catch one if you can ...

At first light, we are sitting in a boat, engine cut out, waiting in the calm chill. A ripple suddenly materialises - something turning, fast, in the water below.

"We've got a run," says my guide, Mark Watson, seizing one of four rods protruding from our boat. He quickly pulls it in. The bait has disappeared. The hooks and the titanium "trace" which attached them to the line - designed to haul in an 80lb fish - have been bitten clean off. "Shitbag," exclaims Watson mildly.