Limerick fisherman catches monster pikes on outing in memory of his late friend
EVERY fisherman loves a good tale and Clive Gallagher from Askeaton is no exception.
Happily for him, 2021 has proven to be an excellent year. Back in June, he set out to catch a few trout up in County Laois but instead landed himself a whopping 10lb carp after an heroic 40-minute battle between man, rod and fish.
Now, Clive has added to his repertoire, having landed four, extremely large pike in one four-hour session. “It was a great day’s fishing,” said the man who likes to go fishing at least once a week.
But it was a bittersweet day out on the Shannon for Clive, his friend Leslie Woodland and Leslie’s uncle Noel who had just refurbished his boat. “It was our first outing since Joe, Leslie’s father and Noel’s brother, died,” Clive explained. “Joe was a good fishing buddy of mine and he was a great pike angler. I don’t usually fish for pike but the day was a tribute to Joe.”
“We had a lot of talk about Joe and we shared a lot of stories about pike,” he continued. “We started about 11am, launched the boat and almost straightaway I caught two pike over 15lbs in weight. That was only about 30 minutes in. We then went upriver and I caught another two, over 20lbs at least.”
For the day that was in it, Clive was using a new lure, a Miura Mouse and it proved its worth. And for the true anglers out there, he was using a Daiwa Whisker 11ft rod. “I do well with the big fish,” Clive laughed. Other anglers, fishing from the bank, couldn’t believe how lucky he had been. “It is normal enough to get one but to get four big fish in a four-hour session is unusual.”
In addition to his four whoppers, Clive also caught a few jack pike i.e. male pike much smaller than the female fish, while Leslie caught some jack pike too.
But said Clive: “Everything was released back. We release them all. We don’t believe in killing our game.”