A pike fishing trip to Co. Cavan with Gary and Dave bore testament to the old saying, “It’s not about catching but being there that counts”, or words to that effect. Rising at 06.00am to partake in the first of a number of planned “hopefully weekly” sessions after Esox lucius, we pointed the car northwards for the 130 mile journey to our chosen water. Equipped to both lure and bait fish the weather could not have been more clement, with the air temperature registering 10 degrees, blue sky and fluffy clouds, a marked contrast to the icy cold of January last.
Arriving at our chosen destination we quickly set up dead bait rigs and cast out to varying distances ranging from about 15 to 40 meters. Gary offered ledgered mackerel and a popped up roach, while Davy and I plumped for whole fresh rainbow trout. Fishing into a hole which dropped off to 30 plus feet the venue had been good to us last year with pike into double figures. Setting up a lure rig and leaving the dead bait to fish away I walked towards a likely corner and cast a rubber Storm roach towards some reeds. The lure hit bottom after about seven seconds and I commenced to sink and draw. Fanning my casts, on about the tenth attempt my jerk rod arched over. A hungry jack skittered across the surface, how he engulfed the bait I’ll never know, but what colouring, a beautiful fish.
By 14.30pm and with no more pike forthcoming we decided on a move to an adjacent lake. Shallower but with the water temperature registering 7.2 degrees we reckoned that fish might move in close. Casting a range of dead bait rigs up to fifty meters out into about eight to ten foot of water we waited for developments. Again fishing was slow, but as dusk closed in my bait runner started giving line. Gently lifting the rod I counted to five then leaned into the fish. My ten foot rod curved into a light resistance, shortly after another jack pike hit the bank.
Perfect in every way, Gary carefully unhooked the fish before slipping it back gently into the water. By now a glorious sunset was closing off the day, windless and still it was a joy to be out, the lake reflecting its surroundings, a beautiful setting. Only two jacks punctuated this trip, but hey they could easily have been doubles and at least we caught. The sky filled with purple, pink, and blue as the sun set behind the drumlins. Ireland maybe deep in recession but days and evenings like this help relieve the gloom. Fishing, you can’t beat it…..
For further reading click on: Pike Hatrick in Co. Cavan.
For further reading click on: Piking Afloat.
For further reading click on: Dave’s First Pike.
Tags: Angling, County Cavan, Dead bait, Esox lucius, Fishing, Ireland, Jack pike, Lure Fishing, Pike, Pike Fishing, shore fishing, Storm lures
