John And Stephen Wilson, Manchester, are just back home in the UK after their third fishing trip to Ireland this year.
We arrived at Grange Lodge, Strokestown after travelling overnight. From there we went straight to the shore of Gange Lough and started fishing, although we were very tired. The weather was great so we just sat down in the sun with a rod in our hands. If we caught fish it was a bonus!
We spent most of the time fishing a Strokestown lake, Lake Cloonahee. As you can see from the photo, this is a beautiful lake with easy parking and a walkway to 30 stands.
There we caught mixed bags of perch, roach, rudd and hybrids. These kept us truly entertained on what turned out to be real blue sky days. An there was also the pike that took a triple maggot on a #14 hook.
The 14 lb pike
This is what happened. I’d been fishing for roach etc. with a match rod, 6lb line to a 5lb hook length and 14’s hook on which I placed 3 maggots. I was casting in and as soon as it hit the water it went like a rocket. It felt at first like a large tench. However, tench don’t take bait in that manner.
I said to Stephen, my son, that I thought I had a pike on. Three more English fishermen were close by. One said, “It will be a small Jack pike”. After about 10 minutes into the fight, they all stopped fishing to watch me trying to land it.
It took me 25 minutes to net it. I was wondering who was going to tire first, me or the pike. As it went into the net, the angler who said it would be a small jack pike was the first to start the applause and the rest joined in. One of them weighed it with digital scales and it was 14lb 3.2oz.
Not bad for 5lb line and a 14’s hook. At least I had 4 whitnesses! What a good day at the office! Well, that’s it until next year.
John & Stephen Wilson
