Ireland: a great start on Corrib lake

We finally  managed some boat fishing on Corrib Lake. The season opened on Feb 15, however water temp. was only 4C and nothing was happening on the lake. Finally the day came, ideal conditions - light wind, water temp. 7C and air at 12C. We drift fished for a few hours without any hits and started to have mixed feelings. Were doing everything right, were the lures the right size?  The logical solution seemed to be to troll shallow water from 4 to 8m, in an area of raised water bed. Still no results.  I decided  to add more weight above the lure and we moved to deeper water, 10m to 20m. Right on the first pass, Peresada had a hit on the Executor 12 RR and we landed our first Ferox Trout. It was 80cm long and weighted 6kg.

The fight wasn’t too impressive as the fish swallowed the plug all the way and hooked herself in the gills. Thanks to reviving action this Brown Trout regained her strength and swam back in to the deep abyss.  I decided to troll the same area and did not have to wait long. The next fish hit on the Executor 9 T. This time the fight was fierce, long 30m runs and deep dives. After 10min I had the fish by the boat. She was 78 cm long and 6kg, like the first one. Big joy! We caught 2 big Browns in first hour of fishing.  We had one more hit, a little guy of 35cm and that was it for the day. Last season we lost a lot of fish due to stiff rods and using no-stretch braids, but this time we came prepared.

Unfortunately I had to leave for Poland for a few days. On Saturday I received an sms from Peresada, informing me that together with Mariusz they caught 2 more Feroxes, more than 70cm long each.  I was angrily disappointed that I couldn’t be there with them. On the way back I devised a plan and already imagined all the trout was going to catch. The next day I got on the water again and the weather was excellent. I started from old proven spots and I had a bite with the Whitefish 13DR T, on the second pass, after a beautiful fight I had a Ferox hen by the boat -  an even 70cm long.  This bodes well for the day!  I had the next bite after 30min, with dead bait fish on the hook.  This one must be a huge one, I thought, but a few beautiful runs later, and  to my surprise, it was a Pike, about 90cm long.  It really makes me wonder what this guy was doing at a depth of 20m?!??  Nothing else happened till the end of the day.

We planned our next trip for the coming Saturday. The weather didn’t look too promising - temperatures dropped overnight to only 4C with local snow patches - generally cold, but it didn’t stop us because of the latest successes we had.  Mariusz decided to take a second boat out . We had a simple plan - we fished the same runs with a distance of 200 meters between our boats.  We had our first bites after about 2 hours - this time the bait was dead smolt.  A few excellent runs and the next Ferox hen was in the boat. This one was 70 cm as well.  Our optimism running high, especially after Mariusz phoned us that he just lost a fish of a similar size.  But nothing happened for the next five hours.  We approached the spot where Peresada caught a beautifull one a week earlier.  He assured me - “You will see, we will have a bite in here!” Suddenly, I tell him he had 2 hard tugs on his rod, he looked at me with disbelief as nothing happend when he looked, but after a few second a solid hit on my rod with the  Executor12RD as a terminal tackle. The fish peeled 40m of line in a matter of a few seconds. She showed herself for the first time about 30m from the boat, with a huge splash of the tail and sudden dive to the depths.  We looked at ourselves and together exclaimed..” Oh chit - what a monster!”  I became afraid as I knew she might be a meter long.  The next few minutes she engaged me in an up and down tussle war.  After a few rapid dives  she finally gave up and we had her in the boat!  She was 90 cm long and weighted 9kg. A few fast pictures and the vigorous Ferox went back to the water. We didn’t have any more bites this day. Despite the bad weather, the day turned out excellent. Two Feroxes to our boat ( 70cm, 90cm), and Mariusz had 2 good hits on his rod, Bigos caught one of 80 cm long fish. The next two days I manager to land one more on a Whitefish 13T. It was a plump hen of 71 cm.

Courtesy of www.salmo.com.pl