During the early part of April the weather has been cruel, with constant east to northeast winds making life difficult for even the hardiest anglers. Remember that old saying, When the wind blows from the south or west it fishes the best. When the wind blows from the north or east it fishes the least.
On a visit to Lough Gowna on Sunday April the 9th I met up with my first angler from Hungry by the name of Zoltan Bodnar, he was fishing along Dernaferst shore. Despite the cold weather Zoltan was catching some nice roach and hybrids (Photo Below) on ledgered maggot. This part of Gowna proves very popular with visiting British anglers it is easily accessed with comfortable shore fishing.
I decided to have a look along the shore on the opposite side of Dernaferst, where I encountered a now resident English angler by the name of Kevin Norcliffe. This part of Gowna holds good stocks of 3 to 4 lb Bream. ( Photo Below) When I arrived Kevin was just starting to get rightly into a nice shoal of bream, using ledgered maggot, fish were coming to the net on a regular basis.
Church Shore is another very popular part of Lough Gowna, it is only a short journey from Dernaferst. This part of Gowna holds good stocks of quality roach, hybrids and bream. There is plenty of nice easy shore fishing along this area which can accommodate quite a few anglers. I decided to mosey up as far as Church Shore to check out the fishing.
When I arrived I found a match was in progress among a group of Dublin anglers. When I am out and about scouting for news I have found that when a match is in progress it is best to tread very cautiously, luckily I meet up with a very friendly angler by the name of Ambrose Devlin. Roach were the order of the day, no bream or hybrids but plenty of nice silver roach. (Photo Below).
The Roach Run
On April the 27th I paid a visit to Paul Foxes Inny Bay guesthouse. At this time of year large shoals of roach make their annual spawning run up the River Inny from Lough Ree. Paul’s land runs down to the riverside, I meet up with two visiting English anglers Peter Thorpe and Andy Ashcroft who were enjoying some fabulous roach and hybrid fishing. (Photo Below) The lads had some nice roach to 1lb – 12 ozs, taken on ledgered maggot and worm.
Black Lake
This small lake lies just outside Strokestown in County Roscommon. Black Lake offers up superb tench and bream fishing it also has nice size rudd. Guesthouse owner Kevin Lyons (Photo below) regularly prebaits this lake for his angling guests, the prebaiting gets the tench and bream on the feed and ensures good bags for the anglers.
Annaghmore Lake
A short journey from Black Lakes lies Annaghmore Lake, both these lakes can be found in my first book. Annaghmore is a strange fishery, in the middle of the lake the water is crystal clear and only goes down to less than three feet. However on either side of this shallow area the lake drops of to over 50 feet. In this deep water the big pike can be found lurking in the depths. Annaghmore is a fabulous rudd fishery with some fish going over the 2lb mark. One big draw back on Annaghmore, you will need a boat to get out to the best fishing swims.
Derries Lake
Right beside the Gowna system lies a lovely lake by the name of Derries. This fishery proves very popular with visiting British anglers. On a visit to Derries to do some exploring for book 3, I meet up with a group of English anglers. They were having excellent sport to mainly bream, hybrids and roach. This lake is not too deep averaging between 6 and 8 feet, however there is a short deeper section which goes down to 18 feet. It was while I was doing a bit of exploring for Book 3 in my small boat Adventurer, that I discovered this deeper section on my fish finder. Guess what, the fish finder was packed full of nice sized fish, which I presume were shoals of bream and hybrids resting in this deeper water.
Hotwater Water Stretch
As I write these notes it’s the last day in April and the fish are moving into the Hot Water Stretch at Lanesboro. The arrival of the fish mainly large roach, hybrids and bream brings out the anglers in their droves to enjoy this fishing bonanza. (Photo’s below) Anglers can quite easily bag up to 200lb of fish in one session. The best method is float -fished maggot. In recent days there have been reports of lots of large pike being caught in the deeper water just off the Hotwater Stretch. These pike follow the shoal
s of coarse fish up from Lough Ree and lie in the deeper water waiting to ambush the passing fish.
Red Bridge
On Tuesday May the 9th 2006. Guesthouse owner Kevin Lyons, asked me to check out the Red Bridge section of the River Inny. Kevin had some visiting anglers over from England who fancied some roach fishing on the Inny. When I arrived, I found the roach had not reached this far on their spawning run. So I decided to ramble down river as far as the wide bend. (Photo below) The tell tale signs were evident, with fish rolling on the surface, plenty of bubbles about and some double figure pike splashing around as they attacked the shoals of roach.
I reported my findings to Kevin who said he would be bring over some anglers to have a go at the roach. I am planning a fishing visit myself, a spot of float fishing for the big roach and who knows, maybe I can sneak out a couple of those large pike.
Let you know how things worked out in my next angling update.
if you want to contact me to obtain copies of book one and book two in the Guide To Irish Midlands Fisheries, or to order the new DVD, you can contact me via email at: berniemurphy30@hotmail.com
Cheers,
Bernie Murphy.
