Belfast angler Frank Donnan underlined the stunning predator potential of Northern Ireland’s stillwaters last week by banking a stunning pair of pike scaling 35lb and 31lb.
Both fish came within a few hours’ fishing, but even more remarkable was the fact that Frank had caught another, different, 35lb fish just a few days earlier, making his haul one of the best in pike fishing history.
Targeting a private lough an hour-and-a-half’s drive from his home, Frank floatfished mackerel overdepth on a sloping ledge.
“The first fish didn’t seem that big until it neared the boat, when it woke up and started taking some serious line,” he told us.
“I was using a 6ft rod, and my friend Desy and I were laughing at the bend in it!”
After landing that fish, the 31-pounder, Frank was over the moon as it was his second ‘thirty’ in the space of a few days – but things were soon to get even better!
“I was getting small pulls which I thought were eels, so I decided that the next time it happened I’d hit it.
“After striking, I still thought it was an eel, as the fish came straight to the boat, but that’s when it turned and all hell broke loose!
“When the needle on the scales went to 35lb, I was gobsmacked.”
