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April 08
(these reports are displayed as most recent first)
30th April
My Boys from Somerset left at 4 0-clock this morning heading for Rosslare after having had a tremendous angling holiday and 5 Personal Best fish under their belts.
Dennis was in this morning with the latest from Lanesbough, A good few anglers were present on the Hot Water Stretch and were catching well due to the Pumps being On! Weights of 50lbs to 60lbs were had by many of them. Dennis decided to try upstream this afternoon only to score on a few good Roach with plenty of smaller fish facing a stiff North wind and Hail Storms.
April 28th / 29th
With the wind veering to the North over the last two days things were slightly slower on the fishing scene but the weather has been very kind with some heavy showers in between good sunny spells.
Having to search for the fish this day David and Keith found themselves further upstream just up from the Tang River with good Roach upto 2lbs with the odd Hybrid falling to treble Red maggots on the Stick Float.
Tuesday 29th was much the same but having searched further upstream this day, found the fish just below The Sunken Tree on the short stretch at a depth 5ft. David bagged up with a estimated 80/90lbs of specimens with several fish coming in at 2llbs + Keith came in second place with 50lbs of terrific Roach and Hybrids followed by a small Pike which I refused to publish as they've had their faces far too much this week on the web.
Chris and I were down on the river for a few hours at Malady's only to suffer a shortage of bites, so I returned back home to get the dinner leaving Chris to see the evening out. There are one or two anglers about now but I am awaiting reports to see where there might be other spots to fish.
The Whimbrel have begun arriving in earnest in the last week or two, they have been passing through lanesborough and today they turned up in Doonis with a flock of 50+ birds, the first cuckoo has also been heard at Dunamon Bridge.
27th April
Weather today was hot, sunny and clear with winds from a southerly direction.
Dave and Keith from Limington, Somerset were back down at Malady's today hoping for a repeat performence on the Roach. The first few casts suggested that this was going to be a great day, with four great roach over the 2lb mark and a couple of hybrids all falling to maggot. This however stopped shortly afterwards, the bites dried up and the fish moved on through the swim.
Not to be outdone Dave tried the old pike rod and was rewarded when his roach dead bait was snapped up by a 24lb Pike. This was a Personal Best in Ireland for Dave.
Keith managed his Personal Best as well today with a cracking Roach of 2lb 2oz.
After several trips up and down the river they decided that this was not going to be the best days fishing so they retired early to prepare for the music night down at Lizzy's, after a wee session on the old scrumpy they brought over with them.
25th - 26th April
What a difference a day makes, Friday saw David and Keith down at Malady's again, the roach were nowhere to be found but the hybrids did show and made for some good sport. The weather went from hot to cold to wet in short order, the boys were on the boat and had to make do with the changable weather.
Today was a different story altogether, the weather warmed up, the wind dropped and the fish came out for some great sport. Roach, Bream and Hybrids all helped to build up a great days sport. The largest Roach fell to Dave and weighed in at 2lb 4oz although most of the roach caught were upto the 2lb mark.
Denis came down for a spot of sport and had some good fishing on the float.
After all was said and done the net was pulled in and weighed in at around 150lb.
Unfortunately for Terry and the other lads from the Shefield area who left yesterday if only they had stayed a little longer they would possibly have been bagging up.
The May Birds have arrived in force, the Whimbrels have been coming over in groups of 20+. Our resident Red breasted Merganser is courting the female. Mute swan have been flying up and down the inny as well.
23rd - 24th April
Wednesday saw Dave and Keith back down on the Inny, the search for the big roach proved somewhat hopeless but there were plenty of small Roach, Perch, a few nice Trout and some jack Pike to act as consolation.
Today the boys were out on the boat and enjoying a great session on the Pike, Dave lost a good one when it decided to take the line complete with his Rapala but Keith made up for that with a supurb Trout which fell to his lure. I was left at home cooking and cleaning for them as they ran off with my boat...
This is all good news but alas there was a real twist in the tail today: The fisheries team was back , they have apparently decided to electrofish the Inny again, not for the Chub this time but for the Pike, they are supposedly trying to work out 'why the pike in the Inny are so big'. Maybe because there are lots of food fish for them to eat, or at least there would be if they could stop killing all of the smaller fish whilst frying the water. A whole team of dedicated 'experts' wasting days and what must be thousands of euros to kill the large pike so they can study them ??? This has of course ruined the fishing on the Inny again right at the time when the Roach and Hybrids should be making their way upstream. What can one say?
14th - 22nd April
Weather has been cold and wet, winds veering from easterly to westerly.
The fishing has been very good recently though. Andy Ashcroft has been fishing down at the Bog Hole and had some Bream.
The canal at Abbeyshrule has finally started producing some good tench fishing again, meanwhile Dave and Keith have arrived for their annual fishing expedition. They arrived today and having only managed a couple of hours kip they might have been expected to slip off for a long sleep, but no; The river was too much of a lure so off they went armed with float gear and some pike rods. They met up with Chris down at Malleadys and preceded to bag up on small roach, perch and trout. Dave decided to test the water for some Pike and his bait was snapped up almost as soon as it touched the water. The Pike came in at 20lb+, this was still a lean fish or it would have weighed a good bit more. Keith then had a go for the pike and hit straight into a Pike of about 15lb. Dave managed a couple more small pike and several more got away from Dave and Keith. Chris stuck on the Roach and had a good mixed bag.
It should be said that although both Keith and Dave managed their Personal best Pike today they both took the whole experience very seriously:
7th-12th April
Peter decided to give Malady's a go to see if things have settled down after last weeks trauma, he had quite a bag full of fish to his surprise Sunday, proved to be quite the opposite as we had a tremendous Hail storm Saturday evening resulting to the river becoming very cold with the run-off, not a bite.
Frank trotted down there Monday evening but did mange a few Roach.
I did notice anglers around Monday but they didn't stay too long, they were at White Bridge also, but alas nothing doing there either.
Peter tried Ballymahon Bridge for an hour a caught a few Roach which indicates there are fish moving upstream at last.
April 6th
All things changed this day when a local man went missing and the whole river became a venue for the Search and Rescue from White Bridge down to Red Bridge. This continued for 4 days with the dredging and sub-aqua activity on this section until the remains were found on Thursday evening, just yards downstream of Malady's stretch, as one can imagine this caused and downturn on the fishing in our section.
Chris and I turned to the Canal at Abbeyshrule on 2 occasions in between having taken part in the latter activities. Here we did find a few fish and I had my first fish this year Chris managed some nice plump Roach just up from the Rustic Inn and along side of the Air Field.
April 5th
The first Roach of the season has arrived at Malady's at last ,all mighty female fish along with Trout and Perch with Huge Pike in the margins all this was experienced by Chris on his first attempt at this venue in the most horrendous conditions we have encountered, Northerly Winds that would cut your eyes out blowing directly upstream complete with Icy showers.
Even so a great bag of fish was had over a couple of hours in such conditions.
April 3rd
Chris made an early start today at swim 32 to find the fish in a great mood even without ground baiting fish came to the net, good Hybrids, great female Roach along with some cracking Perch. Peter turned up to join in but to no avail and left early.
Mid-day slowed off, which gave Chris time to look about for wildlife; House Martins were in attendance, Swallows, Sky Larks, Reed bunting, Stonechats, a breading pair of Greater Crested Grebes and a fly-by of a Hen Harrier topped off with a Merganser Duck. As evening drew in things went Crazy with fish, Hybrids, Roach but sadly no Bream this session.
According to the Forecast for the next few days it's going to be back to winter so I'll have to wait a little longer to get my first taste of fishing.
Last week I received the latest Book from Bernie Murphy (The Complete Guide to Coarse Fisheries in The Irish Midlands) Book 3 and it lives up to the last 2 additions with truly great spots to fish that I didn't know of.
To purchase this book Email: berniemurphy30@hotmail.com
1st - 2nd April
Weather has been a bit better the last few days, some sunshine but persistent winds.
The Inny has finally started producing some better fish, Bream upto 7lb and some good roach with plenty of small perch to keep the quiver tips rattling.
There was a good Rudd caught which weighed in at just under 2lb by David and Peter. The bog hole seems to be the spot to fish in, although the swims at 24 and 26 seem to be producing as well. We will hopefully soon have the pictures to prove these reports if the photographer is willing.
The local news is unfortunately not so good, one of the last of the local characters around here has sadly passed away. Pat Moran who turned 85 on St Patricks Day was found at his home today. He will be very sadly missed.
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