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May 2010
(these reports are displayed as most recent first)
26th May
The wind is still in the North and very chilly after the last weeks Mini Heat Wave.
On my rounds this day, I noticed things are sliding away from last Thursdays influx of fish with the fish moving away from their spawning grounds, but I failed to find any signs of fish anywhere.
Red Bridge was empty, not an angler in sight….White Bridge had a couple of fellows, 2 fishing from the bridge and 1 in the middle of the river with a Fly Rod. No reports from anywhere else up to now.
25th May
The spawning fish was still doing their thing over the weekend but anglers found it very difficult to temp them to feed.
There are quite a few anglers around at the present all tying to attract the fish the latest were 3 staying at St Marks were they fish local in Lough Ree on their first evening, netting 1 Bream and some small bits I bumped into them at Red Bridge and had a chat about the lack of fish at this venue but they were determined to give it a go!!
There were plenty of good size fish around the pillars of the bridge upstream and some of these were spawning and topping so I left them, I hope to bump into them later and get a report.
A report came my way from John Chambers of their pike competition on the Woodford River Cavan were it was won with 7 pike weighing in at 85lbs and mentioned that the river was alive with spawning fish to which a couple of English anglers had good sport towards the evening.
A evening trip to the Canal at Abbeyshrule turned out to be very poor where Chris became top man with a dozen or so Roach, I only caught a few. The condition of the canal was very grim with Mats of weed drifting by and the water colour was very stale looking.
The fish at White Bridge have thinned out now, so where they've gone it's anyone's guess, there were anglers there but they didn't hang around, which tells you something about our fishing here.
May 22nd - 23rd
What a difference a Day makes, White bridge is Black with Spawning Roach…on my way to town this afternoon I called by the river to find a van with 3 anglers from Birmingham fishing the fast but shallow water below the bridge.
I was directed to look over the bridge upstream and to my amazement the whole river from bank to bank was full of Roach spawning, after a chat with the 2 of the boys who are on their annual fishing trip and staying in Balinasloe, they were finding it very difficult to get the fish to take their bait.
Our field trip last evening via the boat up to where the 2 lads from Essex were fishing last week found the fish but only smallish Roach, Perch and Hybrids, these were soon on their way after a few hours so we dropped downstream to The Bog Hole and took several Perch and small Roach, moving then to The Entrance hoping for some good Hybrids, Wrong!! Only average size fish with the exception of 1 good Roach and a good Perch, no big Hybrids even showed their heads all the time we were there
The wildlife is still in full swing and the latest addition to the wildlife is the hatching of Hummingbird Hawk Moths which are lovely to see and virtually impossible to photograph.
May 21st
May, has been not too good in a lot of venues around us with water levels at their lowest for weeks now and the pure lack of fish movement due to the severe cold from the ferocious North Winds which has gone on throughout the normal migratory of fish.
My two lads from Yeovil, Dave and Keith had a reasonable holiday with small catches dotted with the odd good Roach and a mighty Pike but compared with 2 years ago it was poor. The 2 lads from Essex, Dennis and Derrick did a lot better being slightly later this year, most of their fishing was spread between The River Inny, The River Suck,(at Coreen Forde) near Shannon Bridge and the Canal between Ballymahon and Abbeyshrule…. We had snippets of information throughout their stay which we have mentioned but on their last day they arrived at my cottage armed with all the pictures of some really good bags of fish and weights.
Chris was away for a week in England so the pages fell behind but all will be revealed in the following pages.
Frank and Myself sought a couple of hours on the Canal only to be beaten back by the wind and floating weed, just a few small Roach and Perch were had.
Now the weather is completely opposite, light winds, Warm and Humid, Frank's had a few hours over 3 days a Doonis Lough pre-baiting as he pulled out each evening only to be disappointed with the result, a couple of small Perch. Now I have got my vehicle back and Chris is home things might be on the up!!!
Wild life is in full swing now feeding young and the dawn chorus is outstanding, hope to catch up with that over the next few days and display more pictures.
Some Red Kites seen in the Chilterns, near Oxford:
May 11th
Weather was cold and mixed with sunshine and showers in waves, winds still Northely.
Chris and I headed off to the canal again tonight to see if there was much to be had, out first choice of spot was already occupied by Dennis and Derek who were in the process of setting up, so we will await the results. We headed on to Abbeyshrule and had a good bit of sport at the airfield with Tench and Roach, the only downside was the continued presence of a pike that delighted in snatching the bait or float and heading off at speed. I was top man with 4 Tench and a good smattering of Roach probably the result of a new haircut.
The River Suck is producing well according to reports from Dennis and Derek with 35lb of fish being caught between the two of the them.
One other thing of interest was a photo sent to us by email of a fish taken below the weir in Athlone, this fish which weighed in at 4lb is clearly a Chub and shows that they have now moved through into the Shannon system.
The wildlife at the local bog has gone into overdrive with Kingfishers feeding the young as fast as they can, Dragonflies and Damselflies are emerging at a good rate. The Orangetips are starting to show well as are the Green Hairstreaks which are around in very large numbers this year. Whimbrels are present in good numbers as are the Pheasants, and all of the Bog Ponds are crammed with Tadpoles.
May 8th
Winds from the north were not enough to deter us from a trip to the Canal at the (newly christened) Hobbit swim after Dave and Keith reluctantly returned home. We found to our delight that the boys pre-baited swim turned out to be heaving with Tench, Roach and Perch. I was first off the mark with a young female Tench closely followed by Chris with a lively male Tench. This action continued all evening and into the dusk.
We both got broken up once by larger fish that were unwilling to come to the net, but were delighted with 11 fine Tench in a few hours of fishing until we were beaten by the cold.
Our local Bog is alive with life, the Kingfishers have had their first clutch and are feeding them sticklebacks continuously, cuckoos are singing away and the Warblers are in full song with Sedge and Willow Warblers filling the area with lovely song.
May 6th - 7th
David and Keith on their last day slipped into the swims at Brannigans Harbour, where they were sheltered from the cold northely winds only to find good sport on Roach and some good Tench. Keith was Top Man catching a good bag of Tench.
The Inny looked as though it was coming to life at last but the cold weekend ahead may well set that back again, White Bridge had no fish present today, not even a trout under the bridge... Chris and I had good sport for a few hours on the Roach with some fine female specimens falling to maggot and float tactics.
There have been some nice Perch starting to show this year at the River Inny which must be a good sign for the water quality.
John had a nice Pereguine Falcon circle the Garden only to be mobbed by a large group of swallows.
The entrance has been amazing with the sun setting through the trees:
May 5th
David, Keith and Chris ventured down to the Inny today for a quick fishing trip, the fish were slow to respond with occasional shoals moving through. The Roach were for the main part smallish but the odd bigger one was a nice edition, as evening descended a few Hybrids appeared but overall the situation is still poor.
The swallows were busy today chasing off a persistant Merlin that was scouting the area.
May 3rd - May 4th
Dave, Keith and I have been out checking around the area for fish, Abbeyshrule was the best of the bunch with some fine Tench being caught on Maggot and Worm. Dave landed a couple of lovely females and I managed a nice young Male fish. Above Branigans some good sport was being had by a couple of Irish lads with Bream upto 4lb and Tench, Roach and others. The only down side was when the belt snapped on the Jeep making the ride home an interesting experience.
The Inny has started producing again with some better Roach being caught among a lot of smaller Roach, Perch and eels but alas no Hybrids, the entrance at Tommy's seems to be the spot for an evening of decent Fishing.
May 1st - May 2nd
Weather was sunny but wind is from the north and cold.
Dave and Keith are over from England again for their regular fishing trip. The first days proved to be less than ideal; with very few fish being caught. May Bank Holiday has finally seen an improvement as the Roach have started to run. Keith landed several Roach weighing 2lb 6oz and Dave not to be out-done caught a good bag of Roach but failed to produce any pictures as the camera batteries were dead.
After a quick trip back to base to get fresh batteries the camera was back in working order and just in time for Dave to catch a mighty Pike weighing in at 28lb 6oz
Today didn't go quite as well with Dave, Keith and I catching a few Roach along with the odd Perch, Hybrids and Gudgeon, but the keep net was not in use as the breeding season is now starting, as always preceded by the coming of the swifts and cuckoo, they did stick a few of the fish they caught into a keep net just to show a sample of the type of fish being caught, all were released shortly afterwards. Keith did have a good 2lb Roach which was taken by a lovely Pike
Wildlife has seen a big rise in activity Cuckoos are calling around the area, swifts have been seen flying up the River Inny along with the Whimbrels. The Hen Harrier was being seen off by the rooks down the river along with various Mink and Pine Martens.
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