Fishing Forum

I went out for an afternoon with Tartantuber on an Irish pike lough last week.

Bank access is impossible here so we had to carry our tubes over a couple of fields, and launch in a stream which flows into the lake, and tube downstream to the main venue. It's one of the things that makes fishing here that little bit extra interesting.

Tartantuber was cruising high in his ODC420 and I was aboard my lower profile Bucks Bags Bullet.

Anyway the fish let us know they wern't cooperating for a while, despite Tartantuber's fly fished offerings. Fly fishing is his preferred method of catching pike.

I tried casting dead silvery shiner type minnows (smelt & sprat)with no results. The sonar showed that the deep areas were pretty devoid of life this particular day. And the shallows had not warmed up much.

So a change of tactics saw Tartantuber casting pike flies along the weedlines, which had got him three pike last time here. And I switched to rubber tubes with an improvised lead head as shown in the photos.

Eventually we persuaded a small "jack" pike to chase away the skunk. The finicky fish took short, dropped the lure, I gave it another twitch and he nailed it again and dropped it again. A 3rd take occurred next twitch in the retrieve and I wasn't for waiting long this time, instant strike. Esox did battle and was unhooked and returned to fight another day.

Here's a few photos from both of us to give a flavour of the day.
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[cool][#0000ff]Thanks for the report and pics. Always interesting to get reports from different perspectives. I am sure you shake your head in wonder when you read some of our reports.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Glad to have you aboard and always appreciate your comments and participation.[/#0000ff]
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Well some of the fish species might be different. No catfish or freshwater bass here. Mostly coldwater species.
And generally I'm dealing with double the wind strength you've got, force 3-4 is nice calm weather for me.

But the rest is all fishing and tubing experience of different types and styles ... and all interesting.

Wouldn't be without it. []
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Irish..

first off loved the pictures and accompaning story of your day. but have one question..

the picture of you in your tube with rod in hand.. what type of rod is that.. is that the one you use for dapping.. speaking of which. have you tried that yet....

what lough were you in.. Id like to look it up on a map..

thanks again for the great report and pictures..

MacFly [cool]
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Macfly: the picture of you in your tube with rod in hand.. what type of rod is that.. is that the one you use for dapping..


Nope. It's a 10 footer double handed carp-salmon-pike rod. TC 2.25lbs. The reel fitting are sliding type and can be set low-ish for tubing. In photo #12 I have it at the longest handle that is possible in a tube, but allows playing good fish with support from the lower section of the handle. Cumbersome ... unnecessary with the fish caught this particular day, but for big doubles a practical compromise.

Macfly: speaking of which. have you tried that (dapping) yet.... what lough were you in.. Id like to look it up on a map..
Not yet this season. Dapping (for me) is mainly a trout tactic, and on the big loughs here the water is still 57-62 degrees F, too cold for much surface action. Will do some later on.
The rod is heavier than the one I'll dap with.
That will be a longish fly rod rated # 6-8. not sure how the dapping from a tube will work out. Our float tubes don't like wind, but dapping needs a breeze to get the floss blowline out. So much remains to be seen. Will post when I do some.
The lough is on the R Shannon system. Google Earth to the dead centre of Ireland, look for the big lake called Lough Ree, north of a town called Athlone. About 16miles long and 2 - 4 miles wide, you won't miss it.
We fish inaccessible bays from tubes using cross country access. Would like to be more specific but we have certain people here who like to use longlines and nets.
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Norm...

thank you for the info and clarification on the rod..

ever since you first posted about dapping I have been curious how it will go.. look forward to your postings on the results when the weather and water conditions are more suited to that type of fishing..

MacFly
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Great report and photos, Norm. I enjoyed the water entrance series of shots. Fish was nice, too. Hope you'll post more as the water warms.

z~
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Great Post and great pics. Aside from the fishing, the thing that was most interesting was the challenge you have in just getting to the water you fish. Here we take access to our waters for granted, yet you have to put up with all kinds of garbage/crap just to wet a line. Do you have any silly regulations like having to kill all fish that are hooked to minimize their pain ???

Late reply:

Not really on the rules thing ... .the most attractive thing about this place is because it's hard to get to, so no bank anglers, and very rarely another boat.
We have it completely to ourselves and that makes it a much more fun place to fish!

Here is a fun video to watch ... hope it uploads.[:p]
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that is a great video.. []

MacFly [cool]
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