When I get up each day I never really know where I will end up fishing or what species it will be Today was no different , I sat having a coffee thinking will it be out in the boat for Lough Trout , down the river for the wee ones or out for the Pike ??
Well I stepped out side and right away the air just felt like Pike to me so Pike it was ........
Did the usual drifts and was finding it slow going to be honest even though I picked up a Jack within the first 10 mins the next 3 or 4 hours only produced another 2 Jacks and a couple of pulls . Still I was happy to avoid a blank and keep the 100 % track record for this venue going ..
I felt a change of scene was in order and as it turns out the drift direction fell right today for the first time since I been fishing this Lough for a spot I been dying to have a go at . I got up there and had a look around in the water , it drops off from the bank straight into 15 feet of water and just shelves off from there down into 50 plus or more There is some weeds in the area until it reaches depths that are to great for anything to grow . I don't know what the weeds are but they come straight up in single strands with small leaves on them ?? Anyway this is where I would fish , in amongst and around the edge of all this ..
I starting fishing and was catching the weed but soon found if I just kept pulling it was not going to be an issue . After about 10 mins I felt "something ?? " thought it was the weeds again but gave it a sharp pull just incase , sure enough rod hooped over and a fish tore off , nice and strong and heavy but on this place they play tricks on you , you think it could be a double only to be rewarded with a 5 lb fish !! But first sight I got I could see it was indeed a double , gave a great fight and it stayed on even after a bit of surface action .
Dropped it on the fox digitals and it went 14 lb 6 oz .
Was more than made up with this as it was now 3 doubles from 3 sessions but there was more to come ....
I carried on fishing this area as it really has the look and I thought there was more than enough room here for more than one good size fish . I fished on for about another hour from time to time just changing the distance from shore and the depth of water I was over . Sure enough it worked , I felt a wee pull that I thought was a Jack acting the bollox so just kept pulling , twitch twitch with the fly , pluck pluck from the fish so I stopped the fly dead then gave it a really fast pull and that was that , BANG all locked up solid and then off it bolted and as it started to go up the gears I could tell it was no Jack but how big was it ?? took the chance and went to get it on the reel to let the reel do the work as I couldn't stop it ! As I was doing so it bolted and this sprung the line up in the air and it wrapped all around my hand , the rod and the reel I had one hell of a job undoing it and getting it all back in order as the fish was pulling so hard it had all locked up !! But once sorted I had her behaving and soon in the net ....
On the scales again 14 lb 4 oz this time .
Couldn't believe my luck !! A nice brace of doubles , I was made up !! I like to end my day finishing where poss on a high note and thought that will do , so I sent a txt to someone ( you know who you are
) to let them know what I had just had and was then going to pack up and go home BUT ...
BUT I couldn't do it !! something was making me stay , it all felt right all looked good , no one else was in the area and the drift was still right so I thought what the hell make the most of it while I can so I fished on ..
I kept the drifts short and worked the same small area back and forth , after some time I felt the electric tingle from a Jack on the end of the line but he didn't commit , "**** you anyway" I thought Carried on fishing and then it happened , thud on the end of the line that is the unmistakeable feeling of a nice fish sucking the fly in , I jagged the hook home and off it went with enough thrust to leave orbit !! I didn't have to worry about getting the line onto the reel with this one as it got there it self VERY quickly !! The drag was well screwed down but the reel was still losing line all be it at a nice steady pace by now . I thought how lucky am I ?? can it really be a trio of doubles in one day ?? Well after a lot of gaining some and having it taken back from me I started to realise it was a good double even though I hadn't seen it yet . When I got it up and had a wee peek at it
Thats no double !!! Thats a 20 !!
I think it was as surprised to see me as I was to see it because it just tore off again like it did at the start of all this !! I then suddenly found faith and was talking to him up stairs a fair bit and now have all sorts of daft promises I must keep
I didn't want it thrashing up on top and lucky enough I slid the net under it the first time I had its head up , think I just caught it off guard as it was still trying to beat me up once I had it in the boat and on the mats .
Out with the scales and this time was 24 lb 13 oz
Lucky for me a Trout Angler had happened by so I called him over to take a snap , best not repeat what he said as I lifted the fish up for the picture
I really enjoy my fishing , infact those who know me will tell you I live to fish but I do also like to set goals for myself . I first started to target Pike with the fly around the start of this year and one of these goals was a 20 on the fly and now its done .....
So what next ?? Well I would like a 30 from this water ( well any for that matter ) but I aint going to hold my breath waiting on that one happening but at some point in the future happen it WILL ..
So for now I am going to enjoy the fishing as ever but would like to see how many 20s from how many waters I can manage in the next 12 months , I have venues and plans in place but it is all about the timing ...
Cheers all , be lucky , stay cool
It all fell into place ....
Danny
SKB tackle supporter. I love Furled Leaders.
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