Rob Love of lovefishingireland.com reports on a recent trip out on Carton Lake…
Long, long ago, while the great man above was working on the blueprint for this rather amazing and beautiful planet of ours his eyes fell on a lonely and isolated continent in the southern hemisphere. “Hmm” he thought “that place looks a little bit barren and desolate”.
Working on the tightest of deadlines, God thought hard until he suddenly banged a great fist on his table with delight “I know – I’ll just spruce it up a little bit”
Perhaps spurred on by those deadlines looming God got to work with enormous enthusiasm. He gave the continent fantastic weather, beautiful beaches, spectacular rainforests and remarkable features such as Uluru (more commonly known in these parts as Ayers rock), horizontal falls and the Great Barrier Reef to name but a few. Still not satisfied with his work God drew up a list of unique and amazing creatures that would inhabit the continent, kangaroos, koalas, the list went on and on.
Sitting back in his chair some time later the great man looked at his work contemplatively “oop’s! I might just have overdone this continent a little bit” he mused. “Those chappies in the northern hemisphere are going to feel a little bit put out when they find out about this place – I had better do something about it”
And so, a line was drawn through one of the most amazing creatures to feature on that list and it was moved to this part of the world.
“Now then, balance restored, perfect” smiled the great man.
I for one will second that – for the creature was no other than Esox Lucius or northern pike and thats why Joe Mammen with his two lovely friends Nicole and Paige, who while over here in Ireland for a couple of weeks holiday decided to go on the hunt for something which according to Joe does not feature in the land down under (I have actually searched this since and while I had my suspicions that man might have intervened since God made his monumental decision it appears Joe was right for all google searches seem to back him up).
We set out from the boathouse at Carton with more or less the least favourable conditions for fishing the Rye Lake – cloudless sky and not a hint of a breeze. Desperately hoping that my Aussie anglers would tickle the interest of a fish or two before the sun got too high we beetled down to the deeper water by the weir. Nothing stirred in one or two of the better areas and I was beginning to harbour serious reservations about the mornings fishing when all of a sudden (interrupting a rather hilarious conversation between the girls) there was a shout from Joe “fish on!”
A good old fashioned scrap ensued (between the fish and Joe) with several tense moments and one or two good runs. Some moments later amid screams of delight from the girls Joe had his fish – a nice sized pike with a taste for ‘Bullcats’.
After releasing the fish safely back to the water we slowly fished our way back up to the boathouse. With the sun now blazing merrily away high in the sky Mr Pike was proving extremely elusive although Nicole did appear to have one or two ‘hits’ to her lure, unfortunately nothing stuck, having said that she didn’t appear to be too despondent and was rather philosophical about it all. Laughing, Joe told me that the real reason that the girls were there was to get a glimpse of the Irish rugby team – and so, when we were saying our goodbyes I pointed the girls in the direction of the pitches hoping that they too would come across something which also does not feature in Australia (again google searches back me up here) the humble rugby international!
Rob Love
lovefishingireland.com
Go fishing…
Love Fishing Ireland have a small team of experienced guides available for tailor made fishing excursions for both wild brown trout and pike. While the standard days guiding on the River Liffey or Rye Water will appeal to many, for the more adventurous they offer guided trips by Canadian canoe along what are considered to be the best fishing beats of the River Liffey.
Web: www.lovefishingireland.com
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +353 (0)87 1947811 / +353 (0)1 6270353
