Ross Macklin of Lee Reservoirs Angling Services was out on a day with Fly Fish Ireland and pike legend Alastair Rawlings, fishing a West Cork Lake. Conditions were tough with gusty and changing winds. Mike Quirke made a good call to fish a nice looking corner of the lake. Ross notice a change in the depth as his fly began catching weed. The anglers were about to shift position but he held back to cover a small patch of water so he could cast near the plateau. Without warning, his rod collapsed under a weight of a massive pike that nailed his fly; a brightly coloured Danish Pastry fished on a Hi-D line.
This huge pike was full of spawn and very thick across the back – a new Personal Best for Ross! After a few photos she was carefully released and swam away to fight another day.
Make a booking
Lee Reservoirs Angling Services have started a new angling guiding service for pike, ferox trout and any coarse fish of your choice on the Lee Reservoirs.
Boats will be available for rental on previously untouched water as no boat rental has been available to the public before now.
Be sure to visit their new website www.leeangling.com for a range of guided angling options in the Lee Sytem that will commence this March.
The Danish Pastry, the Lee system and more
Ross had this to say about the fly that did the damage…
‘It was great to have met Mark Houlihan who has studied pike fishing on the fly for years. He provided a pattern that I saw working first hand on the Lee a couple of weeks ago while fishing with him and we decided to try the pattern on another water.
We are hoping to open up fly fishing for pike on the Lee Reservoirs, Co. Cork in a big way given the huge potential the method has on both lakes. Not only are we promoting guided pike angling on the fly but all sorts of coarse angling for big bag weights of coarse fish including specimen rudd, roach, bream and hybrids all of which exist in the Lee.
Our team has had bags of rudd bream hydrids over 200lbs on a regular basis, rudd to over 3lbs, roach up to 2.5lbs, bream to 9.5lbs and pike to 30lbs. We have also recently discovered big perch and ferox trout on the lakes. The system is fishing better than ever and is comparable to back in the mid 90’s when it was considered the best mixed coarse angling in Europe.
With the world championships arriving back on the lake it certainly is worth a visit again. We have self drive boat rental and professional guides for any type of angling you like.’
For bookings with the Lee Reservoir Angling Services email [email protected] or visit the website www.leeangling.com’
