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September 04

(these reports are displayed as most recent first)

26th- 30th September

Conditions are still fishable although the weather is getting worse in the way of Winds and Heavy rain that’s forecasted for the remainder of the month.

Peter and I are still enjoying reasonable catches of Roach, Perch and Hybrids but nothing on the scale of last week. There were 5 Lads from Plymouth staying in Athlone with Mark Eagan, after 2 days of frustration fishing on the Shannon they ended up on the Inny at Tommy Foxe’s. Learning of the plight we did our best to pass on tips and methods to get results on our patch, It did work for most of them at least they caught Fish and were very grateful.

Dave and Mike from Plymouth

David and Mike fished “The Gravel Bank” the other 3 were at 31,32 ,33 and did so-so. Dave was only too pleased to see a fish and Mike enjoyed his catch of small Roach etc and to take in the peace and quiet that is abundant here. As things got slower they were itching to try elsewhere, as this was the end of their holiday, so we gave them 2 venues that might be good out of the wind and rising water; The Canal at Mullingar and upstream at Correen Forde, on the river Suck near Ballinasloe.

I hope they had results.

25th September.

Many thanks to Mick Carroll who emailed us his report for the 25th of this month.

"Just a quick report of my session last Saturday 25th September. I fished number 22 down on Tommy Foxe’s. The Bream didn’t show but I had a great day catching Roach and Perch. I fished 6 meter pole to hand and it was a bite a chuck for most of the day and I ended up with a good bag of fish.

I did lose 4 fish that I reckon were biggish hybrids. Best bait was worm which winkled out the bigger Perch and caster which accounted for most of the Roach.

Red maggot also produced, but a smaller stamp of fish. There were a lot of Trout rising throughout the day. "

24th September.

Perfect autumn weather today with little wind and good sunshine, that lasted throughout the day.

The 3 lads had their best day at “the Bog Hole” yesterday with great catches of top quality Roach and Hybrids and 4 Bream (smallish) only to wish they had fished it earlier in their holiday, maybe we might see them return to our patch next year.

It was our turn today; Peter and I made it to the swims by 2pm, (I had fully dried out from Wednesday’s exploits) and was raring to go. Outstanding is the only word to describe what we encountered, the whole river was alive with fish of every description, Large Trout, Pike, Bream 4/6lbs, Hybrids 2/3lbs and Roach to 1lb 8ozs. Peter even brought a Keep net (the first time in 10years).

Peter was into a good Bream within minutes, I settled into classic autumn Roach with one-a-chuck within an hour Peter had 4 Bream as well as Great Roach, this continued all of the session with a slight lull when the Pike decided to interrupt and grab your Roach. This happened to me 7 times, so I baited up a Pike Rod with a dead Perch (The Roach were too big for Dead Bait) Only to have only 1 take, this was not successful.

We finished the day with a good 50lbs of fish besides 6 Bream and 4 good Hybrids 2/3lbs.

19th to 23rd September.

The Wind has been the greatest problem over the last few days along with heavy showers. The Inny has raised 12ins in a few days and has put plenty of Life back into the fishing.

Chris and I were at swims 32/33 after spending time in the boat trying for Pike all the way up to “White Bridge” without success and pulled into “The Bog Hole” for the remaining couple of hours and found to our delight the fish were on song fishing with Red Maggots to a 12 hook on a rolling lead and in no time we had a good catch of fine Autumn Roach and Hybrids along with our friends the Perch.

Tuesday my guests had to depart, leaving as the weather was on the up and the wind dying down, so it was back to my dear friend Peter Wood and the dog (Scully) Frank being on Parent sitting duties for a few weeks and is raging about the upturn in the fishing.

Two lads from Dublin have been braving the weather Pike fishing from one of Tommy’s boats over the last 3 days, day 1 was not too productive but day 2 landed them a pair of great Pike from the upper reaches 12lbs and 15lbs with the odd Jack Pike thrown in, day 3 turned out to be on the lean side.

Peter and I settled into swims 32/33 Wednesday for an afternoon session and before we settled we were into good size Roach and small Hybrids, this continued until dark. All was going well for me when I had a Hybrid that was worth a snapshot, so Peter dug out the camera and was about to take a snap when the fish leapt from my grasp and landed on the reeds, I made a Grab lost my footing and Plunged in the river up to my waste but I had the Fish.

Peter had to wait for a while to calm down from a Fit a Laughing and took the picture, still chuckling away for the rest of our session we managed to complete the rest of day without further incident and a good bag of fish.

Three English anglers were on pegs 21/23 and found things on the lean side only managing to catch small Roach and Perch, after spending days on The Shannon without a bite. Peter bumped into them this morning and suggested they try “The Bog Hole” I met Tommy on the way to town and he informed me that they were up at 32/33 swims and catching away quite happily.

More to follow!

5th - 19th September.

Weather has been very patchy over the last fortnight with severe Winds and Rain bringing the river back to life and a much better flow and a great improvement in the fishing.

Peter’s nephew, Alan and Dean had their last session on the Canal with some success, finding the Roach obliging along with Rudd and 4 Tench towards the evening. Peter and Frank fished Tommy’s for five day running with great catches of Hybrids and good size Roach all coming from swims 32 and 33 “The Bog Hole” the fish falling to maggots on a rolling lead down the middle line. Peter had the edge over Frank with a gift from his nephew of a “Sidewinder” mark 3 (Wow!) but I must say in the windy conditions it worked a treat with the catch rate much improved.

Six lads from Switzerland took to the river in 3 boats hired from Tommy due to the Lough being to rough in search of Perch, 1 Perch fell to their lures but they encountered 8 Good Pike from the Upper Reaches with several fish topping over the 15lb mark, this made their day and they will be back.

I had my guests over from Brighton for their autumn trip, Chris and Sommer enjoyed 2 good days on the Canal with fine catches of Roach and Rudd (No Tench) before the weather turned too Grim. Chris and I had a few hours on the river whilst Sommer groomed Scully back home, we found the fish were full of joy and there was the best of sport with good Roach /Hybrids with very few Peach.

Our second attempt was not so good with the fishing tailing off towards the end of the day we also had the company of Peter Wood for the latter part with his new Toy but this did not encourage the fishing to improve.

The remaining days was spent touring around to other venues seeking information and anglers, little was found. A visit to Donamon Bridge on the river Suck proved to be very interesting, the new Disabled staging was impressive but the river is currently over the top of each staging making it impossible to fish.

The forecast for the remaining days is not too bright so we’ll have to relax at Lizzy Murray’s with a few pints and a prayer for the weather to ease off somewhat and may be get a few hours in with a spot of Pike fishing.

30th August to 5th September

Weather all-together perfect, good warm temperatures the odd shower
and ideal conditions for fishing.

The fishing has gone back to very few at Tommy Foxe’s at the moment with only small bits and pieces… the father and son had great Tench fishing in Lally’s Field in the latter part of the holiday only sad thing was that there were no Pictures.

Frank was on the scene the next day to find little action so he moved up to Malady’s and had a great session on small Roach and Hybrids for a few hours.

Peter had guests over in the shape of a nephew and friend for their annual trip. Fishing at The Two Bridges near Mullingar, they bagged good Roach, Rudd and Tench that came to the net on the late evening, all were very pleased with that day. Further trips to Malady’s where the two had reasonable catches of small fish on 2 occasions. Ballykeeran (Dog & Duck) also provided good sport for the nephew Alan Norrish, Peter had a struggle on to find fish and Alan’s friend managed some good Roach and small Hybrids.

The best Roach weighed in at 1lb 8ozs with several around the 1 pound mark. I spoke to them after this session and they were on their way to The 2 Bridges for their last session this evening before heading back home tomorrow.

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