Martin Smyth from County Meath was doing his best to catch a pike on a very miserable Sunday afternoon, 29 March. It was a dreadful day on the Royal Canal with rain, hail and strong gusts of wind making fishing difficult. Using a perch deadbait he was hoping to tempt a pike or two as the fishing has been reasonably good in the last few weeks.
Casting and walking as he fished along his section of water, he spotted a likely looking spot and cast his bait into it. The deadbait had no time to settle before the rod was nearly wrenched from his grasp by a ferocious take. As he played the fish it was soon clear that this was not a pike. For a while he thought it must be a salmon from the shadowy shape that could be seen beneath the wind ruffled waters from time to time. Then as the fish tired and came to the surface he saw it for what it was – a huge trout! Before he had the net under the fish he had visions of the trout in a glass case – it must surely be a record of some sort! Once he had the fish on the bank and the hooks removed, he understood the enormity of what he had acheived and the importance of the fish and realised that he could not kill this trout.
He had a scales on hand to weigh the trout which came in at an incredible 11 lb. Satisfied he had the moment captured on his camera he released the fish once it was fully revived in the cold canal waters and wins our Catch of the Week.
After taking some time to regain his composure and settle his nerves he began fishing again, but never saw another fish for the rest of the day.
Martin hopes to get a replica of his fish made up, based on the photos he took.
