A freezing day on the Erne Jan 2010
Weather forecast was for freezing conditions, but at least there was not a strong wind expected. So my fishing partner and I headed to our favourite water, the erne system. On arriving at the jetty we were confronted with ice in the shallows and a thick fog, we had to break ice at the jetty to get the boat into the water. At this stage we were wondering if the drive was worth it. Once out on the main river the ice was no longer a problem. We started searching the deep water and ledges trolling and bottom bouncing dead baits nice and slow but didn’t get a touch. When we started we noticed a shallow bay that had a sheet of ice covering it. As the morning went on we noticed an area of this bay where the ice was disappearing, melting. To get to this we had to break through about 50 metres of ice. On reaching this area the echo sounder indicated the boat was sitting on 2 feet of water, we cast out shallow float fished sardine, almost immediately the float disappeared, and a great fight started, the fish made great runs, when we got the fish close to the boat we couldn’t believe the thickness of the pikes back, biggest we have ever seen, talk about getting excited. We finally got the fish landed, photographed (mobile phone, both of us forgot are cameras) and weighed, the fish touched the scales at 28 1/4lb. Was the drive in freezing conditions worth it, you bet. That day we brought 4 pike to the boat smallest a jack pike the other two over 10lb.
The following week we returned to the erne system, again in freezing conditions. We put the boat in at the same slipway but decided to fish a different area, again in the shallows, which did not impress my fishing partner as he had to sit at the bow of the boat holding an oar in the water using it as an ice breaker as the boat pushed through. Again there was only a slight wind so we drifted the boat and cast our dead baits towards the shore and wobbled them back towards the boat. First fish of the day was another big girl just over 24lb. Over the next 3 hours we brought a total of 9 fish to the boat. One around 8lb, seven between 12 – 14lb and the big girl at 24lb. A great days fishing and well worth the trip.
words and photo's by
Ronnie Kirk