Visiting US angler, Christopher May, was back again in Ireland in search of big pike and perch. Last year, Christopher was on Lough Derg with Damien Culliney of Anglers Paradise Guiding and netted a cracking 114cm pike in May and caught pike to 112cm, trout to 53cm and perch to 33cm in September. Determined to improve his PB perch he was back in Ireland again this month, fishing again with Damian.
The pair caught perch large and small but the biggest was a very impressive 44cm and so Christopher returned to the US very happy but not before booking his trip with Damian for 2026!
On another trip out for Damian, he was guiding a father/son pair who wanted to up their game as both were novices. To get them started Damian brought them out after perch which were taking well at the time. He set them both up with drop shot rods and they were enjoying themselves getting these eager fish. Unfortunately only a couple of casts in something much bigger than a perch took young Nathan’s lure. The light rod and light line were going to be sorely tested, but also under pressure was the young angler who had to learn on the fly how to adjust drag, keep up with a big fish and play an over sized fish on under sized gear. The little drop shot rod was a very light 5-10g model.
Luckily Damian was on hand and talked him through the 7 or 8 minutes it took to play the fish to the boat where it was swiftly netted. The pike measured in at 91cm. A new PB for Nathan and a memory both he and his father will have for a long time to come.
Go fishing…
