Saturday November 5th and 3 of us were heading out to a new spot recommended by a pal, Damien McCann, because the water levels were way down for this time of year on the river we usually fish. What a tip it turned out to be.
Peter Freeman, Dylan Condron and Lenny
There was myself, Wayne (Lenny) Leonard and Peter (50 questions) Freeman.
We headed off at 5am, when we finally arrived at the venue, after a long drive and a tough hike, I noticed straight away the river was pristine, like a sheet of glass with a small mist rolling over it and a hint of frost on the grass. It felt like a perfect day for some serious fishing.
2 rods apiece were quickly set up to fish hard on the bottom on alarms, using smelt, mackerel and pollin as bait.
We were only set up between 5 and 10 minutes when my rod with the joey screamed off!!!!!
As soon as I struck she came flying out of the water and tail walked all across the surface.
“She’s a monster”, the lads yelled. After 7 or 8 big runs lasting almost 15 minutes, my good friend Wayne scooped her into the landing net, with the water filling his wellies in the process. As soon as I got a proper look, I knew she was well over 20lb.
Dylan with his 25lb 9oz
Unhooking her quickly we put her in the wet sling……..
Put it on the scales, already tared for the sling. 25lb 9oz Wayne shouted, I was very happy with that indeed.
Quickly released, she swam off slowly back to the depths.
8 fish in total between us for the day. Peter got a lovely double of 15lb 2oz and Wayne’s best tipped the scales at a nice 12lb 11oz.
Lenny gets in on the action
15lb 2oz for Peter Freeman
The rest were all jacks ranging from 6 to 8lbs. With darkness creeping in, we packed up and headed home, 3 happy men. Counting down the days now till we get back out in search of more river monsters, this pike season…
Ireland Fishing Diaries 