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May 05
(these reports are displayed as most recent first)
28th to 31st May
With the weather on the good side for a while at the moment after some good heavy downpours put a different light on fishing.
I and Chris had several forays up the river over the last few days not finding much fish in the upper reaches but odd pockets around Tommy's (39/40 swims) then having tried the Mouth of the river produced some good Hybrids on the latter end of the day with a few Roach and Perch.
We also gave "The Cut" a few hours but produced nothing. Peter and Frank were at the local pond tidying things up in the swim and fished on to enjoy good sport on the Roach from there Peter found fish at Ballymahon Bridge, Small Bream, Roach and a host of Trout during a few hour session.
Frank did Malady's Monday evening and was delighted to find a response from "More Small Bream" small Hybrids and Perch. Things were looking good out on the Lough with reports of good catches of Trout to Fly with some Mayfly still hatching as well as other fly hatches.
Pike reports were only of Small Pike being taken this weekend with plenty of Boats afloat around Inny Bay.
18th to 27th May
Weather has been on the Chilly side for a while now but the winds have changed to West/Southwest with milder conditions and an additional rain in the river can only do well.
While things have slowed right down here on the Inny the Canal has made up for the lack of fish with great catches of Tench, Roach and Rudd to be had on most sections of the Canal. Boat fishing for Pike has been good out on Lough Ree with loads of small Pike to be had even large Perch taken on Lures.
Our own Chris Martin has made the headlines with his Great Pike from the river at Tommy's on swim 32 weighing in at 17lbs.
The Hertfordshire Boys had a trip across to the Upper Suck at Dunamom Bridge and were very happy with their catches of Roach Bream and Perch. Frank and Peter has been bagging up with Roach on the local Pond with a showing of some good fish rolling around, now that its warming up some-what we may find out what they are and hopefully Lally's Field may turn up a few Tench.
Myself and Chris fished most of the river in all known spots and failed to find any fish until we returned to The Barge and found plenty of small fish of which were small New Bream to our surprise, are we seeing a new breed of Bream which were showing at White Bridge a few weeks ago.
Robbie along with Martin Keenan
& Rob McKee had a successful night session again with
good Hybrids and
Perch down at Tommy Foxes.
14th to 17th May
Weather; the odd showers and the wind is still in the North/North East with more hard Frost, the river is in good condition but devoid of Fish willing to participate in the art of Angling.
The Somerset Lads are still at it with reasonable catches of Roach above the Old Mill (this is strictly permission only) Also with the evenings spent Piking out on the Lough with plenty of small Jack Pike and a few of around the 7/8lbs they are enjoying their holiday.
Of Course for Dave it all got a bit too much .......
Things on the Canal are doing well with the Tench at St Patrick Street at the Roundabout and the Harbour at the rear of the Hospital. 4 lads from Hertfordshire Tony, Malc Bill and Jim staying at Tommy's started their stay with 17 beautiful Tench from Mullingar "The Grange".
At Tommy's there are a few odd pockets of fish and above "Red Bridge" small fish can be got after a little searching beyond at "White Bridge" things are very quiet only the odd Perch and Trout.
After all the mayhem of the last
few weeks I have failed to notice much in the way of "Spawn" from the Roach, as
last year the whole system was full with every piece of weed festooned with
eggs. I must add the importance of Fish Care and Handling which plays a crucial
role in our future fish stocks with the stocks dwindling all the time, care
must be taken!!
(Keep nets are one of my main worries)
11th May /13th May
Weather has been very cold and windy even the odd Frost has been seen early in the day, with the winds in the North now veering East/ South East things have been tough for the Float anglers with gusty downstream winds.
Just to recap on previous anglers returns.
Rodger Burrow's and Crew from Rotherham rounded off their patchy holiday at "The Hot Water Stretch" with some great catches of Hybrids and Roach, Alan Winkley (Big Al) 123lbs, Rog Burrows 79lbs and (little Al) Alan Beedham on 52lbs.
We have now got loads of anglers from near and far descending on "White Bridge" and over the last few days it's been difficult to keep up with things. There are only 2 swims at "White Bridge "that's doing the Biz and they are just over the stile from the Road. Essex Men; Peter lester 69lbs. David Loaring 25lbs. and a pal on the other bank 38lbs. the rest boys shared in with the sport taking it in turns to have a chuck.
Lanesbough is on Fire at this moment, The Canal around Mullingar is now producing good bags of Tench (wind permitting) I have been informed that the Water Temp, on the lake is down 5 degrees from this time last year. Two Somerset boys begged me to take them in, so I did, and they've had terrific sport upstream on the Roach for 3 days now and are looking for More!!
Things overall are not too good elsewhere, "The Bream have not showed" just the odd one or two in "Ballykeeran" with a few small ones up the Inny. Any Time now after the Spawning all will be "Gone" from the river overnight and what will we do then!!!
With many anglers chasing too little fish and the Fat Cats in their offices at the RFB are still saying there's plenty of Fish in the System, "Where??"
5th to 10th May
Things have been on a slow down for this period due to Northerly Winds Frost, the river conditions are just right but very Cold at this time.
Things were on a high until the 5th May when great catches were had at White Bridge and upstream beyond Ballymahon. Unfortunate to my way of thinking those fish that were had and Stuffed into Keep nets for hours reacted by swiftly leaving White Bridge and moved upstream, leaving it minus of any sport.
At a spot further up great catches were had by Colin, an English angler who's celebrations were overpowered by the Black Stuff and he failed to convey all of the details to me at Lizzies. Mike Westbury and friend also fished above White Bridge on the Private Land of The Old Mill had good catches in the early stages of their holiday but fell off towards the end with the fish splitting up.
Elsewhere things are really rough even at "The Hot Water Stretch" with the hot water being switched off for a while not to much coming to the net. Ballykeeran has produced fish (no reports on weights) yet on "The Point" The Canal at and around Mullingar has little to report with this cold wind and frost, same for Abbyshrule. Reports back from Ballkeeran were that the catches were middling, 40lbs to 50lbs fell to Bernie and Phil who didn't really care as long as "The Dog & Duck" had a good supply of Guinness.
4th of May
Move over Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and make way for Katy,
who made a drop in on her way from the Isle of Man, with owners Jackie and Cliff.
1st to the 3rd May
The odd heavy shower and mild conditions, river is in a great form with it running off slowly.
2nd May
Martin, Chris and Mark had a great day up at “White Bridge” with the Roach coming fast and furious along with Hybrids even a Double Pike fell to Martin on a 14 hook duly landed after a great battle in the fast water.
Bristol boys were also in the upper reaches of the river to have their Best days fishing with very large Roach to 2lb. Trout, Hybrids to 3lb. and even a Chubb thrown in.
The Birmingham boys split up today with Martin and Darren fishing Doonis with a good supply of Roach, after a slow start the Roach came in at a fast rate; fishing the Pole which was difficult enough in a stiff westerly. Mark and Chris had a slow day fishing different venues.
The Bristol Boys had a brilliant day up stream at “The Spot” all Roach and Hybrids fishing from the boat, after a morning session at Drum Lake, here they had a good stamp of Roach, Small Bream, Perch and 1 Tench of 4lb 8ozs. More Night Owls were fishing the Tommy’s at 32 swim with an impressive 100lbs plus of Hybrids and Large Roach.
Rodger Burrow’s crew has been in the Hard Rock situation with very little showing, visiting “The Ponds” “The Cut” and a session near the Entrance to the Lake Frank and Peter was well out of the way at Doonis fishing from a spot on Pat Serry’s Land, here they had a good bad of Roach on the small side but it was a fish-a-chuck.
Lanesbough still remains to be the Crush Zone for though who like fishing from a concrete slab with huge Bags of fish well over the magical Tonne.
3rd May
“White Bridge” is very popular today with dozens of anglers festooning the bank all the way down past the 2nd Bend, with the sport being very swift all bagging up on Roach and Hybrids.
Rodger Borrows and Pal had a better day in the upper reaches with a net of fish which made things a bit more interesting for them.
The Large Roach are mainly Female fish with very few Males at this moment but it will be all hell when the Boy’s arrive.
Reports from the Birmingham Boys on this day was outstanding With Martin bagging 150lbs. of Roach followed by Mark also netting 150lbs. of Roach and Hybrids closely followed by Chris and Darren with catches of 100lbs.plus.
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