Chris Scally of Fish Tales had the pleasure of guiding two of his regular customers, John and his grandson Cal, on Lough Ree at the weekend. The pair had been on a few difficult trips with Chris already – having had their hopes dashed by terrible fishing weather each time – but they hit the jackpot on this occasion and had a day to really remember.
All day long the lures were attracting pike, but the fish just weren’t nailing them as you’d expect – swirling at them, thrashing at them and swiping at them, but missing them each time and just not getting hooked up.
Then, after missed take after missed take, a beast of a fish of 102cm and 20lb smashed the lure and bent young Cal’s rod in half. After a crazy fight, Cal expertly managed to bring the fish to the net and breath a big sigh of relief! His heart was pumping and his hands were shaking – he really did an incredible job of bringing this fish in.
Chris reckons that, as a guide, seeing young Cal’s reaction to landing that fish was the best feeling he could get, really making it worthwhile to be in a line of work where helping to make people’s dreams a reality is possible.
Granddad John managed to get in on the act too, with some decent fish, but nothing to compare to Cal’s fish! For a grandfather, to be able to watch your grandson catch a fish of this quality is probably the reason why you bring him out in the first place – so everyone’s a winner on a day like this.
