Sat April 7th: Last nights anglers had mixed fortunes. Roy and Flano recorded very little on the gusher but John Stroud claimed about 80lbs including a Roach that went over 2lb. The bulk of other catches were made of mainly Hybrids.
This morning saw Tim Collyer and myself on the disabled swims and on this occasion I beat him 5-2 in the Tench department. Whilst the Tench were mostly smallish, I netted a very special fish. Tim had the bonus of a Bream close to 5lb. There were some real stonking bream rolling near us on their way out back to the lake.
The daytime fished extremely poorly, Pat Mulryan and his son fished towards the top end of the stretch and had an absymal session. By late afternoon, there were a lot of arrivals mainly intent on trying the lower section for Tench. There must have been over 10 in a very short area. To my knowledge, there were seven Tincas netted this evening, with a couple of 5 pounders, the best going 5lb 10oz to Seamus Moorhouse. I made a small contribution by catching a 4lb 4oz Male.
Sun April 8th: The night session was once again hit or miss. Five anglers saw it out until dawn below the bridge and I think there were seven Tench caught during the darkness hours. Four of these went to Dan from Cork. When I arrived two were already contemplating vacating their swim. It wasn’t too long before I was catching with three sub 3lb Tench coming bfore 8am There was curses when a bigger fish was lost! Seamus Moorehouse caught three during the night but failed to add to his tally. On the hot stretch, two lads saw an overnight session produce some small Bream and surprisingly, there were only four anglers present at 08.30!
By mid morning the four had been reduced to 2 and on the hot water swims were Mick and Doug on their annual pilgramage from Nottinghamshire. Mick did extremely well with about 60lbs of Hybrids and Bream with only 3 Roach. The Hybrids seemed much bigger than the last week or so.
We had some much needed rain in the afternoon which wiped out any potential casual anglers coming out for the evening. I caught my 21st albeit the smallist Tench so far at well under 2lb! Seamus and Mark Moorhouse continued their marathon by adding a few to their tally. The proportion of Male to Female Tench has almost returned to last weeks ratio of 5:1
A photo of my very special capture from yesterday, this fish was not carrying any spawn and in the next few weeks, should it stay in the area, could be very close to Nick Parrys record of 8lb 2oz 6drm
- Lanesborough Tench 7lb 1oz
Mon April 9th: Andy finished up with about 40lb whilst Big Dave had a bit less. Seamus and Mark eventually packed up whilst the weather brightened for an hour with 26 Tench between them. Seamus also had a 5lb Bream and Mark recorded the first Eel I’ve heard about this year.The rain at 4pm was a short, but very heavy shower and we also had a hailstorm just after 6pm. I still needed to get my daily fix so set up just before 7pm and got bites from small nuisance fish until I hit one which turned out to be an 8oz Rudd. As it got dark, I had two male Tench of just over 3lb a piece. The second had my hook I lost two day ago, so at least I have the consolation knowing it was not a huge fish afterall. Daniel Hoare fishing alongside me caught a female of 4lb 10oz which was showing signs of imminent spawning.
Tues April 10th: The temperature plummeted overnight so I considered it a wise decision to stay in bed until nearly 9am. my first lie in for a long time. When i did walk down the river, I found no less than five anglers below the disabled swims. I wasn’t surprised to hear they were all drawing a blank, and for the rest of the day they perseverence was not rewarded. Just a handful of Perch and Roach was all they caught. On the hot stretch Andy and Dave were catching but had gone long before I expected and I’m not sure of their totals.
Daniel and myself had aspirations on a successful evening between the trees. I had just one bite in two hours but thankfully it was a 5lb 2oz Bream. Daniel had 6 fish, but nothing over a pound. It’s going to get very cold again tonight and I pity the lads in their bivvies whose parts are going to colder than mine!
Wed April 11th: Possibly not as cold as the previous night, but still a very bright dawn which detered this individuals enthusiasm! The Dublin lads had very little action during darkness with a Bream of 3lb and an Eel being the only excitement. Two early arrivals had a pair of Tench within minutes of each other, one of these was the big female I netted last week, easily recognised by a nick in the dorsal fin. I was a wee bit dissapointed to see she had dropped in weight, albeit only by an ounce.
On the hot stretch, Brian Bohan started very briskly but as the sun came up, the overall stamp of fish went down. At one stage there were over 15 anglers fishing the river, but some went home dissapointed. As the day progressed, Alan Buttner and Jamie Shields shared nine Tench between them with Jamie getting a specimen of 6lb 1oz. His father Christy also netting a brace. Elsewhere, below the bridge it was grim. I suffered my first blank near the beer table, as did the two anglers above me. Larry Kelly and Shane Wrightson both caught small Tench as dusk beckoned.
The Tinca Tally now stands at 158 which is quite unbelievable for April 11th
Thurs April 12th: The bivvies had their occupants chucking up the zzz’s when I ventured out as dawn broke this morning, and within thirty seconds of casting, I hooked my first Tench for three days, I was starting to shake, such was my cold turkey. Anyway, it was safely netted and I added to my toll with a 3lb 15oz Male an hour later. Before 9am there were three other Tincas caught, all around the disabled swims. If they had arose an hour earlier, that number could have doubled.
On hot stretch above the bush was Dara Lynch who caught steadily throughout the night with an estimated 60lb mixed bag with a large Roach that is being weighed at this moment.
I’ve noticed this site is getting many visits from Australia and America. I’m going to set up a facebook page today. It would be nice to see the faces of regular readers.
Paul Waghorne
www.lanesboroughangling.ie
