Due to work load and a broken internet connection Mike has not been able to update the blog since we returned from Ireland so he has entrusted me (Gulper) update you on the past months catches. A full report on Ireland will follow soon but in the mean time i just returned from my yearly trip to Spian and although we did'nt have the numbers of fish of prevous years, between us we did manage to take some good lumps. This years trip was quite a family occasion as myself and Dawn were joined by my dad Geoff, my brother Jeff and his partner Paula who had never held a rod before so her first fish of 8lb was bound to be a PB. About two hours after she almost trebled this with a magnificent fish of just over 23lb. Not finished there, later in the week Paula also took a nice big double. Jeff managed to boat a fine 15lb specimen which was quite an achivement if you consider that the bulk of fishing took place on a boat with all the beginners luck on board. Geoff had a good fish of 17lb 4oz but the luck was not with him this week as he did loose two much larger fish. I struggled at the start of the week only taking a few fish to low double figures, this all changed on Wednesday afternoon when trolling lures through an area more renound for smaller fish the rod buckled round and i knew that this was a good fish and it was'nt long before i boated a fin perfect 25 and a half pound Spanish monster. The next day i hooked what looked like a mid double as i brought it towards the boat, it was'nt until i had chinned it into the boat that i realized it was larger than first thought and it sent the scales round to 21lb 8oz.
On the last day i finally got to fish with Dawn and with lady luck on board we set out to try and get her 20. First fish was a jack, this was soon followed by a mid double, by this time the previous nights excess had caught up with me and so ihad to pull to shore for a much needed half hours kip. Back on the water for about 3 o'clock, the hottest and oddly the most productive part of the day. I covered a large arc on the sounder and just as it disappeared from the screen Dawns rod loaded up in way that could only mean one of two things, it was a snag or a good fish. Being that we were trolling lures at 28ft deep in 40ft of water it had to be the latter and no stranger to big pike it was'nt long before Dawn boated a new PB of 23lb.
After another hours trolling we decided to call beer o'clock and i turned the boat for one last run into shore. Just as the depth reading crept slowly towards the point where the lures would run into the bottom signaling the end of our trip the clutch on my reel screamed and i was into a fish that was very reluctant to come of the bottom. It finally surfaced and came straight to the net. Into the sling and onto the Avons the needle settled at 26lb 8oz, quickly photographed she was soon returned to the depths from where she came.....
