Chub Invasion
It is now official, the Irish Midlands has a new coarse fish species. After reports over the past two years of chub being caught in the River Inny, the Shannon Fishery Board decided at the end of June to do a survey of the river.
The survey, which was carried out on a half-mile stretch of the lower Inny, showed up over 40 chub. The heaviest was touching 2lb. I am not too familiar with the chubs spawning habits. However I would have a guess and say they have already spawned. If this is the case then Mr. Chub is here to stay.
Lough Gowna
On a recent visit to Lough Gowna I met up with two Welsh anglers, who were having some excellent fishing to bream roach and hybrids. (Photos below) The lads were fishing along the Dernferest shore.
This stretch is a favorite with visiting anglers. You can park alongside the lake and fish from a comfortable shoreline into weed free water.
John Wilson
John Wilson a Visiting English angler just loves coming to fish in Ireland. John was over in June and had some great tench fishing on the Royal Canal. (Photo Below)
John is coming over again in early September, this time to join up with some Dutch and Belgian anglers whom he met on his last trip. John has invited me along for what will be a multinational fishing trip and hopefully afterwards a nice drinking session. (Could be interesting)
Shannon Pot
At 386 km (240 miles) long the Shannon River is the longest river in the British Isles. It starts as a spring known as the Shannon Pot (Photo below) in the foothills of the Cuilcagh Mountains in northwest county Cavan. In my fifth angling guide book I will be covering this mighty coarse fishery from Carrick-On-Shannon to Athlone.
On a recent day trip I decided to call around to check it out. When I arrived I was delighted to observe some small trout rising in the source of the River Shannon.
Lough Killylea
Up near Cloone in county Leitrim lies a nice little coarse fishery by the name of Killylea. On my visit to the Shannon Pot I had to pass by this lake which is situated close to the roadside.
I noticed two anglers fishing the lake, so I decided to pull in and pay them a visit. They were over from Scunthorpe in England and were catching some small bream and roach. (Photo below) They were not long fishing and were hoping to entice some bigger fish into their swims.
Wild Brownies
Since starting work almost six years ago on my series of guide books to coarse fisheries in the Irish Midlands, the one side of my own fishing that has suffered badly is the pursuit of those wild Irish brownies.
At the end of June I decided to head off on my first trout-fishing trip of the season. The destination was the River Inny just above White Bridge. Fishing worm downstream similar to the wet fly I hit a total of three trout and lost all of them. The hooks were barbless and in the fast turbulent water the brownies broke free.
I didn’t bring along my fly rod so I decided to change over to a spot of spinning. On this method I had a total of seven trout, the heaviest going to around half a pound. (Photo below) I am determined to get in some more trout fishing trips. Upstream worming on the small rivers and a spot of wet and dry fly fishing will do just nicely.
Short Round Up
I received an email from an English angler by the name of Pete, who was over here in the Irish Midlands with his friend during the month of June.
They fished Loughs Gortermone and Cullies both lakes from my second book. Pete reported some fabulous bream fishing on Gortermone, with fish slightly over the 6lb mark. On Cullies the lads bagged up with hybrids and roach.
Great reports coming from the Hillstreet Lakes up near Carrick-on-Shannon. Seemingly the angler who is willing to put in the effort will be well rewarded. English anglers by the name had some nice bream fishing on Lough Toomore. This lake is divided in two by a short drain. It is rarely fished.
Lough Garty, which is situated in the town of Arvagh, was fishing well to big roach. Some British anglers staying at Hilda Sheridans, guesthouse near Gowna Village, discovered the quality roach fishing by accident. Despite its prime location anglers rarely fish Garty.
Pike fishing on Lough Ree has thrown up plenty of 20lb plus fish as well as wild brownies over the 10lb mark. The killing bait was dead roach trolled behind a boat. That excellent coarse fishery Lough Sallagh that lies on the border of Leitrim and Longford, was also fishing well to pike. During late 2005 I was filming on Sallagh with Jason Dowler. This can be seen on my new Dvd. On the day Jason caught a total of 11 pike (Photo below) the heaviest going to around 15lb. He also hit a much larger pike, which was attacking the pike he was playing.
Secret Lake
During the middle of June, Kevin Lyons who runs the Melview Guesthouse just outside Longford Town invited me along to do some filming of himself and a Newcastle angler by the name of Dave Barret. The one condition that Kevin laid down was that I must not name the lake. Kevin gave me permission to say that the fishery is one of the Strokestown lakes. In my series of guidebooks I have given all the information that I know about each lake, so it is hard for me to keep a secret away from fellow anglers.
However it is only fair that I do not name this lake. Kevin, who hails from London, puts so much effort into giving his guests a top class-angling holiday. He prepares swims and ground feeds them for days prior to their visit.
This particular fishery is in my opinion one of the top coarse fisheries in the Irish Midlands. It holds some of the biggest bream, tench, hybrids, roach and lovely golden rudd. The secret lake also has large perch, pike and trout. It is in fact part of a three-way lake system, with each lake divided by a couple of hundred yards of high reeds. When you enter the third lake in the system the water suddenly becomes crystal clear.
The good news is that this fishery will be coming up in book 4. Then I will give all the information on the secret lake.
That’s it for this month.
Cheers,
Bernie Murphy.
