GeneralCoarseSeaTackle
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Guide’s diary
Fly
Looking to keep the wolf from the door,
Jim Hendrick
takes up winter pike guiding, but can he handlethe cold after all those summers on the beaches?
T
here’s ice in the bottom o the boatthat’s an inch or more thick. I cansee around 20 eet, at most, in ronto me through the dense og. Every now andthen I hear ghostly voices that sometimessound as i their owners are sitting next to me,while at other times they could be miles away.I have never experienced eeling so cold inmy lie ever. The air temperature measuresminus 2°C and I have just been told that wewould be trolling lures or the next hour or so.This piece o inormation, initially, lled mewith a sense o optimism that can haveonly sourced itsel in my somewhatertile and vivid imagination.The momentaryunderwater vision o a huge sh lunging ater mytiger-striped lure gave me ashort shot o adrenaline.For a short while this made meimpervious to the cold and lledme with a small amount o hope.Just 20 minutes later I elt like I would berather be peeling my ngernails back using asharp lollipop stick.“Why don’t you diversiy Jim? Oer asummer guiding service based on bass andsea trout and other silver species, and thenduring winter you could guide or pike on theMidland lakes” said my boat partner AengusO’Shaughnessy through the biting cold.Perect!“We’ll work together during the winter andI’ll show you how to manage the boat andshnder, the saety aspects, sh handling, allo that stu, no bother to ya.”It sounded great to me, at the time,and my enthusiasm knew no bounds as Ilooked orward to this new experience. Thepossibilities o learning something new anddeveloping a new aspect o my business eltlike it was a great idea.It was now 28 minutes since that rst pieceo inormation regarding trollinghad been relayed to me andthe icy cold continued topermeate my bones. I eltthat some vital organs hadalready shut down, and Iwondered how my companionsmiled and went about his task with such eagerness. I noticed thata new oe had entered the ray. Its namewas the northeast wind.“We might catch a sh or two now, Jim. Itmight have been a little too calmer earlier.”I re-adjusted mysel minutely on the boatseat to keep the edge o the wind rom cuttingmy ace o, and made two attempts to speak coherently beore nally asking quietly,“What time is it?” “Ah, tis early yet Jim. Onlytwenty past eleven. We’ll pull in at an islandat hal twelve to grab a bite to eat.”
“Tht’ notwht i wlookng fo.”
50
Irish
ngl
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