Hurricane or not....
Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2014 10:03 pm
With the Irish winter fast approaching its becoming more difficult to get fishing on the coast. Swells, winds and general s*** weather make it very hard to get any time on my usual grounds in Dublin Bay. So like a lot of other kayak anglers I turned my attention to the midlands for some lake fishing especially a go at Pike. Today I decided to do a 200km round trip to a small lake located in the midlands. A 5am start seen me meet Macker and John at the venue for 7am.
Hard to believe by looking at the above pic but it was soon blowing 30knots which kept us fairly busy around the reed beds. It was a nuisance drifting as this is a fairly small venue and we were being constantly pushed in to the reeds. I had even dropped an anchor only to find I couldn't hold the bottom with the strength of the wind although it did slow the drifting down to a workable pace. It was a fairly quiet day as the water was very murky from the recent storms, after about two hours I headed in to meet Macker at the shore who had produced a crocodile of a Pike, Congrats mate that's a beast !
After seen this swim back off into the deep I set about catching him although at this particular stage I had only two bites for the whole morning. Deciding a change in lures I chose a very bright variation of a Savage Gear lure and start casting again. I had a gut feeling I wasn't going to blank today especially after driving 200km all in. The wind drove me in the reeds again so I decided to fish very tight in, in 6ft of water. I felt a nice tug followed by the line ripping off the reel. Thank fook it was a fish !
I had some craic taking this fish in, I had to try paddle to keep from been over turned as the wind was lethal but at the same time I needed to get this fish released ASAP. I managed to get to the shore where Macker gave me a hand and showed me how to unhook a deep swallowed lure from a Pike. Their teeth are razor sharp and the strength of the bugger is unreal. It was a treat seen this fellow swim away unharmed and ready to fight another day!
Its only my second time to target Pike and again I wasn't disappointed. I can see how this type of fishing can become addictive!
Thanks for reading
Tight Lines
Anto
Hard to believe by looking at the above pic but it was soon blowing 30knots which kept us fairly busy around the reed beds. It was a nuisance drifting as this is a fairly small venue and we were being constantly pushed in to the reeds. I had even dropped an anchor only to find I couldn't hold the bottom with the strength of the wind although it did slow the drifting down to a workable pace. It was a fairly quiet day as the water was very murky from the recent storms, after about two hours I headed in to meet Macker at the shore who had produced a crocodile of a Pike, Congrats mate that's a beast !
After seen this swim back off into the deep I set about catching him although at this particular stage I had only two bites for the whole morning. Deciding a change in lures I chose a very bright variation of a Savage Gear lure and start casting again. I had a gut feeling I wasn't going to blank today especially after driving 200km all in. The wind drove me in the reeds again so I decided to fish very tight in, in 6ft of water. I felt a nice tug followed by the line ripping off the reel. Thank fook it was a fish !
I had some craic taking this fish in, I had to try paddle to keep from been over turned as the wind was lethal but at the same time I needed to get this fish released ASAP. I managed to get to the shore where Macker gave me a hand and showed me how to unhook a deep swallowed lure from a Pike. Their teeth are razor sharp and the strength of the bugger is unreal. It was a treat seen this fellow swim away unharmed and ready to fight another day!
Its only my second time to target Pike and again I wasn't disappointed. I can see how this type of fishing can become addictive!
Thanks for reading
Tight Lines
Anto