You're right I was amazed too, like most I normally use wire traces for pike, even perch I use the flexible thin wire (a sod to stop kinking). But the previous session I'd had some great Perch on mono (up to 4lbs) so stuck with it. Like most I have dozens of rods and reels, this time I took a 10' 3 piece float rod and a 9' quiver tip with 1 oz tip for ledgering, caught the Pike on the quiver, both with Shimano 2500 reels, 8lb main line, 5lb traces. I would normally fish size 10 or 12 hook for Perch, but tried the smaller hook as experiment. I only had my small landing net too, everything went against what should be normal.
I took my wife fishing on our honeymoon as a 'surprise' holiday to Inverawe fisheries in Scotland, she's never forgiven me.