Pierre Monjarret Pike Fishing on Lough Derg: October 2013

After many months of preparation for what is easily the most exciting competition on Lough Derg if not the entire country.....the day finally arrived...Predator Tour Ireland 2013 was here!

The best thing about this competition lies in the challenges it presents..three species have to be caught (6 pike, 3 perch and 1 trout) over three days. The cumulative length of all of these fish decides the winner. The catch is that you have to reach your quota in that order for the next species to be considered. Predator tour operates on the principle of Catch - Photo- Release where competitors are provided with a measuring board each day and undergo a series of checks to ensure all is fair. The variety of species to be caught makes for very interesting fishing....you might be a handy pike fisherman but if you can't catch that trout you are finished. I fished with Jason Molloy under the Strike Pro banner for the tour and we had an incredible three days. Tensions were high, competition was fierce and above all we had a great time! Below is an outline of how it went...

Monday 23rd September (Day 1)

Objective : Find a decent Pike

Day 1 was very windy so the organizers decided to close the lake until 12pm. As cause of this we were restricted to fishing on the river around Killaloe - not very good news if you want to find a big fish...fortunately this lasted only for a few hours.

Jason and I tried two spots but no luck outside of missing one small fish.....fishing on the river wasn't the ideal ...I normally focus my fishing on the lake. As the morning passed we knew we needed to do something......then the thought occurred that we could try an area near the front of my house. Maybe just maybe we might have a chance to meet some small fish. Within minutes of our first cast BOOM our first fish on the net 71cm .....not a monster but a fish nonetheless...one down five pike to go!. Throughout the morning we caught 3 more pike in this area and missed 7, of these the biggest was 81cm. Not a bad morning considering.

As soon as 12pm came along the race was on with all of the Predator Tour competitors speeding off to their chosen spots. It was still quite windy but now that we had access to the lake we had more of a chance to catch the bigger fish. Jason increased our speed to go directly on one drop-off where I had caught some nice pike 2 days before the competition. We made it to the drop-off but the direction of the wind gave us a bad drift for casting. To overcome this we decided to try trolling along the drop up with two big 30cm swim baits. On the first pass our lines tightened and we knew we had hit the right spot..after 10 minutes we had netted a 97cm pike....before long we caught a beauty...a 102cm pike!! This was the pike that went on to becoming the largest pike of the competition. Soon after we caught our last pike of the day which measured in at 84cm.

Day 1: 102cm Pike

Day 1: Herman & Paul de Wal passed and caught a snapshot of our 97cm catch

So that was Day 1.. 6 pikes ( 3 over 80 and 1 over 100) and the next day we learned we were in the lead. After a good dinner and a decent rest day 2 arrived..

Tuesday 24th September (Day 2)

Objective : One more nice pike, 3 perch and finding that trout!

Day 2: Predator tour organiser Herman Molenar and PT Controller Buddy Rose

We decided the night before to try the same drop-off for 1 more nice pike...unfortunately we weren't as lucky as we had hoped and only managed to catch one fish over 80cm. After 2hrs we decided we needed to give time to the other species.We were relatively ok for the pike and there was a decent enough margin between us and the next team (Belgians). The best thing to do at this stage was to focus on getting 3 perch and the trout. Clearing the perch competition quota was no problem where we quickly caught 3 perch (on trolling with small crank bait). But no result on the trout ;( big BIG problem and memories of last year came flooding back :(:(..

Wednesday 25th September (Day 3)

Objective : The Trout!

So here we were leading into Day 3 ...6 pike, 3 perch and NO TROUT! Our position moved to second place after the Belgian team found their trout...(while fishing for pike!)...they had achieved their quota and were spending the last day trying to increase their average scores for pike. We on the other hand were desperately searching for trout! No stress...none at all...arrrgh!

Jason had put in two months of training so we were more confidant to catch one .we knew which bait to use but the big question was WHERE! We tried Tipperary shore for an hour but nothing! so plan B was put into effect - Scariff Bay. After four hours of fishing and still no trout a tug hit Jasons lines...we both looked at each other hoping, praying that this was the TROUT!! With lot of stress and a great deal of care Jason pulled out a lovely 36cm trout..We finally had the trout in the net.....you couldn't have seen two happier fishermen...dancing like idiots on the boat..Oh my god I don't I have ever been so happy to see a trout in my life.

Day 3: Jason Molloy - with his 36cm TROUT! Woo woo!

We had a few hours left so we went back to one of our top spots from last years competition to try and catch some bigger pike. Unfortunately we had no success as conditions were so bad (no wind and sunny). Upon failing this objective we opted to try and catch a bigger perch. We managed to find one bigger perch ( maybe 2 or cm more than we already had)...not much but maybe 2cm more could be the difference.... We returned at 5pm on the marina to submit our measuring board...we knew we had good chance to win but we had to factor in the success of other teams on the final day. If the the Belgians caught their desired larger pike they would win...if the Roscommon team (3rd place after Day 2) caught a trout and some nice pike they would have a good chance to win as well. We just didn't know and no one was letting on a word! Win or lose we were happy to have completed the three species. Last year we only managed 2 species ....the trout being our nemesis numero uno.

Thursday 26th September (Day 4 - The day of reckoning)

Objective : Keep Calm and go fishing

We had to wait another day to for the final result...what is one to do....go fishing of course! Over the course of the competition we met some fantastic fishermen. That is another great element of Predator tour..It presents the opportunity to meet like-minded pike enthusiasts and exchange experiences of our work on Irish Lakes. To pass the day we linked up with the Roscommon Team: Bodo Funke and Brendan Sharkey (angling service Ireland) to fish Lough Derg. We had a brilliant day chatting and discussing fishing techniques and caught four fish over 90cm on Strike Pro Jerkbait. We also got to test Bodos boat on the big waves typical of a windy day on Lough Derg. We concluded that the boat was well able and Bodo had made a good choice in buying this boat:). We also came across Paul & Danny from Irish fishing tours who were guiding in the area. We stopped for lunch and passed another hour talking about Predator tour. Bodo and Brendan had caught their trout and a good pike the previous day so the final result really was up in the air.


Day 4: Quick stop for lunch with Danny, Paul, Bodo and Brendan


Day 4: Nice fish on x buster for Bodo the day after the competition

The final results were to be announced at 7.30pm. The atmosphere in Flanagan's was fun and relaxed with all competitors receiving a sit down meal prior to the final announcement. Herman took to the stage and made the announcement....with a total measurement of 638cm we were the winners!! We couldn't believe it. We were thrilled. We opted for the trip to Sweden as our take home prize....the home of the pike!

Sweden here we come!

There were also trophies for the largest Pike, Perch & Trout. Our team were awarded the trophy for Pike (102cm) and Bodo/Brendan took home the trophy for the biggest trout (39cm)

Congratulations to Bodo and Brendan who came 2nd overall. It was great to meet such like-minded and skilled fishermen. Many thanks and well done to Herman and his staff for the excellent organisation and attention to detail. And of course well done to Jason my fishing partner for all the training put for the trout and netting the winning fish!!

So there you have it Predator Tour 2013 is over..looking forward to 2014