Mark tried spinning a few lures and plugs upstream in the quiet canal and managed to pluck out three jacks on a copper and silver spoon, but I persisted with the dead baits in the hope of fooling something larger, but to no avail. When the water level rises, or for that matter, drops so quickly, the fish almost always refuse to feed. Using float-legered paternoster rigs, our dead baits remained un-touched, and after several bite-less hours, Mark noticed that the river had actually deepened another six inches! Previous experience on the Lower Bann told me that we were wasting our time. This seemed like an excellent ambush area where Pike might take advantage of smaller fish looking for respite from the strong current. With no choice but to give it a go, we set up at the base of the lock gates, and fished into an area of slack water out of the main current. The optimum water level on this stretch is about fourteen feet and a quick check showed the height to be twenty- one feet deep, and coloured. However, most anglers know only too well that not all adventures go according to plan, and unfortunately this was one of those trips! We arrived at the riverside by first light to see the Lower Bann in full flood. Stories of Salmon anglers taking large Pike whilst spinning were common knowledge, and I could hardly wait to give it a try. He had been asked to survey some game angling beats on the Lower Bann during close season to determine the prospect of winter piking, and was kind enough to ask me to join him. With this in mind, I was delighted at a chance offer from Mark Patterson, an angling aquaintance that I met on a guiding course last year. The large females should be feeding well, before moving to shallow bays to spawn, and this is usually pre-empted by numbers of smaller males that can entertain an angler while waiting for that “lunker” to come along. River record: 42lbs taken on the River Barrow in 1964 by M.Watkins.Īrticle 2 of a twelve part series, originally written for Irish Angler magazine several years agoĪfter last month’s Skate adventure, I wanted to seek a freshwater species this time, and February is an excellent month to target Pike. Lake record: 42lbs 12oz taken in White lake in 2005 by Larry Kelly.
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