This is the story of a great day’s fishing, based on the report that was published under my name on page 90 of the Roscommon Herald dated Tuesday 19 September 2017.
It is the story of an unusually successful day’s fishing on Monday 4 September 2017; a day to be remembered in fishing history on the Shannon!
The day began with heavy rain. However, I was scheduled to go fishing and nothing was going to stop me; I have been fishing for more than 60 years!
My loyal gillie, Pat Healy arrived spot on at 09:30 a.m. with rods set up in the boat. We set off soon after that with sufficient refreshments to carry us through the day.
With a combination of skill and good fortune, it turned out to be the most successful day fishing ever for me and Pat Healy on the River Shannon, close to my home, Annavale Manor on Lough Boderg.
In a period of four hours, I caught five specimen large pike, ranging in weight between 20 and 27 lbs, 110 cm long, and I also caught some smaller fish. A fisherman reading this might like to know that I noted the time of catching each of the five large pike … 10.52 a.m., 11.57 a.m., 12.46 p.m., 14.44 p.m. [the largest fish!], and 15.09 p.m.
It was a big struggle for us to land the large fish. However, we released all of the large fish back into the water and I hope that other fishermen can experience the same thrill that we had with our catch!
Later that evening, I hosted a monster BBQ to celebrate the magnificent day’s fishing. My special guests were Pat Healy [my gillie] and Joe McDermott, who won the World Cup title at the Lough Ree International Pike Festival and World Cup, held on 26-28 April 2017. Their World Cup was for their superb 3 fish, total 330 cm in length, made up of pike 108.25 cm, 112.25 cm, and 109.50 cm. As you can see, Pat and I on Monday 4 September on Lough Boderg were well up to World Cup standard!!! We were also joined at the celebration BBQ by my lifelong friend, Donal Conlon, owner of Carnadoe Marina.
Here below is a photograph of Pat with the largest of the five pike that I caught on 4 September:
