Perch lead to pike for Barrow lure anglers
Dan O’Neill, fly casting instructor and angling guide reports on a pike session on River Barrow…
Ended up doing a rushed unplanned lure fishing trip with Anthony over the weekend. As usual they end up being the best trips.
With lure fishing on the mind since his perch trip, I am pretty sure wild horses were not going to stop Anthony going on a quick fishing trip before returning to school after the mid-term break.
The weather was wet and windy and slightly cooler also. It was one of those trips that very little planning went into, just taking the bare minimums it was away to the river bank for some fishing.
As we got to the river it had risen slightly but still looked good. Walking along the bank I asked Anthony to point out different locations and features, then throw a cast or two as we had our final destination well set in our minds. As we walked the canal small fry shoals were visible just under the surface. Every now and again there would be sprays for freedom as a hungry jack pike or perch made lunge at them. We fished near the fry shoals getting knocks and inquiry’s from what I’d imagined were small perch until my first fish was hooked. A nice sized dace surprisingly thrashed around on the surface with the lure in the corner of its mouth.
Anthony was next, it was clear he had been watching some of Marcin’s videos on you tube as he was changing his retrieval, which worked very well for him in the end. First perch went to Anthony, a nice little perch full of energy. Tt was time to move on a little to an area where I have got some pike in the past. At a bend that looked like predator heaven Anthony began naming and pointing out features. Plenty of medium sized perch took the lure and some followed inquisitively.
Moving a little downstream we moved up a size or two in lure and began trying for something a little larger. Watching some dace boil on the top we fished nearby and within 15 minutes Anthony caught his first pike of the trip. The pike put up a great fight and eventually came to the net. A nice fish of 5/6 pounds. Carefully removing the barbless trebles the fish was then ready to return. With a slow steady almost swagger the fish returned to the river. Beaming with excitement Anthony returned and had another 4 pike from the area, all returned safely and carefully.
A wonderful session today, quite unexpected and unplanned but a great trip before school life and “normal life” kicks back in.
Go fishing…
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A fish like that would have most of us on cloud 9 for a year, but Danny hardly had time to register his good fortune, as 5 minutes after re-casting his bait, he was in again. When the fish jumped a couple of times, it became apparent that this pike could actually better his previous one… So, the fish was netted and put in the weigh sling and all crammed around again to see the weight settle on 29.02lbs. Two pike for over 56lbs landed in the space of a few minutes is something most of us can only dream about, so congrats to Danny on catching two fish of a lifetime in short succession.
