PJ Maguire and his daughters Annie (9) and Rosie (6) were out on Inchiquin at Corrofin in Co Clare at the weekend for a bit of trout fishing. The trio were only trolling 10 minutes when the rod Rosie was holding buckled over. At first PJ thought Rosie’s 7cm Ryuki lure was stuck in the bottom because the line was screaming line off the reel. So he took the rod from Rosie to try free the lure. When he suddenly felt the head shakes he quickly handed her back the rod to let her play her catch.
The fish made several long runs and they were all was convinced it was a big pike. PJ was ready with the net and when the fish came under the boat he could see it was a huge brown trout the biggest he’d ever seen. He tells us that at this moment his knees went weak. It took 4 or 5 attempts to net the fish and on the 6th attempt they lander her. With the fish in the boat it was clear the little Rosie at 6 years of age had defied all expectation with what turned out to be a 9lb brown trout measuring 66cm. After a few photos the fish went back strong to fight another day.
As PJ told us, “A day we’ll all remember for a long time.”
I’d say so!
