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March 05
(these reports are displayed as most recent first)
15th to 27th March
The weather has been what every angler wants, Mild, Sunny periods and Westerly Winds and the odd shower with a good downpour on the 21st which brought the river up slightly making Peter Wood smile.
Things were only Luke warm on the fishing front in the earlier days of this report and made great headways after the rains with good catches of Hybrids, Bream (smallish) Roach and Perch. St Patrick's Day was a slight hold up in the fishing for a day or two, what with Parades and consumption of large quantities of Porter, which made staring at quiver tips impossible. After this hold-up things got back to normal, Peter doing well, Frank had great moments in between his gardening and I had more fish for the first time this year with the presence of a couple of guests over from the UK.
On the 20th we were out on the Lough in one of Tommy's Boats and had a great time dragging Lures behind and secured 4 small pike and one of about 6 lbs. which delighted my guest Chris from Brighton, he is heavily into Birds (Featured Type) We saw the first of the House Martins arrive and all sorts of birds which I had never heard of or even seen, also a pair of "Mad March Hares" on Arnee Point, it was a great day.
With warmer conditions things began to waken up more fish came to the net in various swims up alone the river number 28 and 32 were in good form and the odd fish topped to view the sunshine. Visiting angler Dennis, staying in Abbeyshrule fishing in swim 28 handled some super Hybrids, best being 3 lbs and Roach to 1 lb also netting a mighty Bream just ounces under 6 lbs after we had left without taking a picture.
Chris and myself fished 32 swim and had a great few hours with 2 Bream of around 3/4 lbs hybrids over 3 lbs and some great Roach well over the pound mark only thing was that Peter had to fish elsewhere which proved to be "Not so Good" with small Perch. He did try the Canal again at Mullingar but only managed a few small Roach.
Out on the Lough in the latter days the Pike seemed to be in good form with catches of multiples of small fish and a good helping of Brownies falling to other boat anglers, Chris and I found ourselves out once more to great delight from Chris with 11 small Pike up to 4 lbs and the usual big fellow that got away topped off with a good Brownie of 3 lbs (the first ever Trout for Chris).
Although the weather has stayed dry it has become very chilly again and the winds from the East, let's hope it's short lived, leading up to the beginning of the New Season with anglers arriving shortly.
March 1st to the 14th
The start to the new month has been very fruitless on the fishing front; we still have those Northern Winds which have been extremely cold, but very little rain.
February has been the driest month for many years which has been affecting the fishing due to lack of rain and the levels of the river. Still plodding on regardless, Frank and Peter have had very little to report back, just the odd bite here and there and a couple of small Perch and the odd small Trout.
Time was spent on The River Suck only to find the same results and the water levels down leaving a quag mire of Mud around the approaches to the swims and a great chance of disappearing to your waist, anyhow the two returned unscathed from this trip. Peter has ventured to the Canal at Mullingar for a look'see just in case he's missing something, sure enough, he found Tench milling around just below The 2 Bridges with Carp in attendance also.
Armed with his Tackle, Seat and Pipe the following day applied a very small amount of Crumb with chopped worm into the swim after a Raking, tackled up and lit the Pipe. 3 small Roach and a good sucking on a Worm/Maggot baited hook was all that happened, But! This is a venue that must be revisited soon.
I myself ventured out to Tommy's for an hour with a friend over for the Bird Watching Scene, Lots of Birds "No Fish" I did manage my first fish of the year a Small Roach.
Pat Rhattigan and friend from Ballymahon having taken a boat out from Tommy's on the 1st March for the beginning of "The Trout Season" fishing the Lake around Saint's Island had a great day with catch of 3 fine "Brownies" 5/6 lbs. each. Sunday the 13th Pat and friend were after "The Pike", Fishing was around "Bethlem Point" on Lures, boated 2 fine Pike one of 16lbs. and the smaller 6/7lbs only to be beaten by the Cold and back to a warm Tot or two by the Fire.
Lambs are the order of the day with many new births coming by the minute !
Forecast for the next week is Lots of Rain, higher temperatures and winds for the West, "Yippee" was the cry from Peter Wood still smarting over the price of his new Tyre €49.
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