International Pike Festival
Take a 10,000-hectare lake, add a dose of mystery, a touch of adventure and a few legends, and you've got Ireland in all its splendor. And it was in this fishing paradise that Ciaran Mullooley, president of the local fishing society, with a good group of volunteers and the help of the Irish Tourist Board, organized the International Pike Festival last September.
The waters of the magnificent Lough Ree opened up to 320 anglers in 112 boats, all vying for the title of King of the Lake. The aim was to catch the biggest and most beautiful specimen of pike, all strictly no-kill of course. Two days of competition on the huge lake, starting in Lanesborough, a pretty little village of 1,400 inhabitants crossed by the River Shannon. With splendid weather, it was only at the end of the weekend that the weather reminded us where we were, and lots of pike in all sizes and colors.
A look back at the competition
The competition got off to an impressive start, with dozens of boats speeding off, like a Formula 1 Grand Prix start, to get to the best spot first. Whether trolling, dead-fishing (since live-fishing is forbidden) or luring, the pike were aggressive enough and willing to take a turn on the surface.
On the first day of the competition, nobody was expecting the sunshine and heat, details which apparently had a positive influence on the fishing results, with around a hundred worthy pikes making the trip to the landing net. There were also plenty of unmeshed pike, which nonetheless provided interesting indications of reproduction.
Sunday, which started out gloomy, reminded us of real Irish weather, with a series of showers that convinced more than one angler to return to port well before the end of the competition. Luck was on the side of the die-hards, who pulled out the finest specimens in the rain: 1.09 m and 1.12 m for the winners. The final tally for the second round was 182 pike. All in all, the final result was positive. Everyone caught fish, especially on lures, with little difference between hard and soft lures, even if for some anglers the mesh size of their catches didn't allow them to enter the top rankings.
A lot of work for the jury, who had to carefully examine the photos they received from participants, check the size of the fish and rank the best anglers.
A few unmeshed pikes took the bait, but in the majority of cases, the size of the fish was close to or over a metre, with the biggest being a metre ten. And the title in question, accompanied by a handsome cheque, remained in Ireland, won by Stephen and Andrew Powell. The two brothers were voted "King of the Lake", with a total of 592 centimetres for their 6 biggest fish.
