The Wanderer Returns!

[blackwater]

Well after a busy fortnight of going to see Leeds United and then being forced into going to see Rangers i have returned to write up a few 'reports' from about 3 weeks ago and these so called reports are going to be very patchy and not contain alot of text . I have even managed to loose a lot of the photos of the pike!!

Well it was an early start of 5am a few sunday's back and the early start wasnt helped by the fact i had been out the previous night. This was to be the first time i had really ventured to the Republic in search of pike and i was confident... im not exactly sure considering the place had been frozen solid for a month!

Anyway... we got to the lake which is around a 160mile round trip before daybreak. It's a fairly large water at 120 acres although it is dwarfed by the near by infamous Lough Muckno (900acres) which is home to a few scarily big pike that if i dare say it could even make Lee's look small-ish! Tales of 50lb+ fish seem to pop up every year but 'mysterially' the photos dont seem to pop up along with the tales!! Although i do see how this is possible with it being one of the best natural match venues in Europe. Back to the lough we were going to fish! We were welcomed by a small skimming of ice but it wasn't worth getting worried about as it was even broken by blowing on it, rods were out, With 3 people fishing 2 rods each we were all hopeful and within 15mins we already had a jack on the bank which fell to freelined mackerel.







I had heard there were good bream, roach and hybrids to be had so i got out the feeder and fished at distance with maggots over a bed of red and brown crumb, i was getting bites but i wasn't connecting which was making me think they were maybe line bites. After an hour staring at the rod tip against the bright water i had developed a sore head that had nothing to do with the cider from the night before ofcourse . So i packed up the feeder and had a snooze!



After not waking up for a good 2 hours (you can tell how good the fishing was from that) i wasnt amused that we had travelled 160 miles to have such a poor days fishing, so there was no way i was leaving before sunset! In saying that it didnt help with the fishing but it did manage to make be feel ill for the next few days with the cold...



So Sunday 30th September i blanked!!




Wednesday the 2nd February i was back to were i belong, my local lough that i now appreciate, seeing as it has some hefty pike in it, its a 5 min walk down the road and very few people have permission to fish it

I had went on the Monday and Tuesday previous to the session and pre-baited with the most vile smelling ground bait i had ever came across!



It came to Wednesday and the 12 noon ending of school couldn't come quick enough, half an hour to get home and get out to the lough sounded good to me.

Well to say conditions were not ideal is an understatement, there was literally white water on the lough and the rain was beating down. The photos do not do the day justice!





Seeing as i lost the pictures of all but one of the fish i will keep it short and sweet! I landed about 6 or 7 pike all averaging 7,8,9lbs and then one smaller about 2. It may have been small but it was one of the nicest pike i have ever caught, It's bright yellow eye really was stunning.




(All you pike enthusiasts, excuse the glove, i was on my own and didnt want to risk my safety, i'm sure you can see from these photos it was caught in an area i dont often fish and its very hard to land them there so i didnt want to end up getting a couple of trebles in my hand!)

It's the only photo that saved for some reason. You dont get the full beauty of the fish cause it was taken through the lens of a phone camera!


Cheers,

JC

[pingu]

nice one justin
you have some lovely looking water arround you there

dave

[blackwater]

Cheers Dave.

Around me there is plenty of water, but see if you want LOADS of waters you can look no further than Monaghan and Cavan just over the border, i reckon there is more water than land down there

I will try and get out at the weekend aswell and get another report up to make up for my absence!

JC

[cuckoo]

Nice little pike there justin and some cracking pics

[blackwater]

Cheers Lee, it was a nice wee pike I must admit.

[Maddison_Twatter]

well done mate, nice looking lough shame about the blank. Im thinking about investing in a bank stick mod for my camera as ive had some crackng fish in the past while fishing alone including my PB barbel. cant imagine it being too expensive.

[blackwater]

Originally Posted by Maddison_Twatter

well done mate, nice looking lough shame about the blank. Im thinking about investing in a bank stick mod for my camera as ive had some crackng fish in the past while fishing alone including my PB barbel. cant imagine it being too expensive.

I have a tripod for my good camera, i usually dont need it though cause i have someone to go with but i must admit on occasions like those it would have been nice.

The bank stick mod is a good idea though.

[Baz T]

Justin, great report and pics - lovely looking waters, even in the strong winds. I learned a while ago not to fish with a hangover, it aint fun...lol, but I still do it (occasionally!!!!).
I too am thinking of getting a bank stick mod for my camera that I got at Xmas - fed up using the phone, as I tend to fish on my own quite a bit so would be handy for the rare occasions I land something worth photographing.

[Lman]

Another top report mate nice pics
A lovelly little pike

[blackwater]

Cheers for the comments guys.

There really is a gap in the market for a camera bank stick attachment!