John Cole reports from the Inny:

May 20th – May 21st: At least it’s dry for a change but still chilly. Chris and I were determined to face the River Inny, so we entered in to Anagh at Tom Foxes at the mouth of the river, not a bite!! There, so other swims were chosen as far as The Big Bend with no results at all. Red Bridge came next from below The Willows, and then up stream to Malady’s without a bite on Float tactics and on Bottom Rigs, there were the odd Trout taking Olives in the shallower waters.

We have been fishing the Inny for weeks now and as nothing was being caught there was nothing to report.

Next to White Bridge, viewing from the bridge into the shallows there were no sign of fish any side. Here we met 2 anglers, Basil and his son Gary, who were after Trout. Neither of them caught a fish at the time we were there, also Bernie Murphy put in an appearance after making his way up from the Sand Bar and reported that he had seen not one Fish the whole way down and back.

So a great chat was had by all and Bernie produced his latest writings with book 4, this time it’s on a CDR disc format and can be purchased here, this is the last of his 4 excellent books and well worth the price.

After our long chat we moved on to the next venue, a section on the canal known to us to produce something in the way of fish. The swims were Raked and baited lightly and we sat hoping that something might happen, and it did. It started with smallish Roach falling to maggots and a good helping of Perch, the Roach size got better as the evening progress and I managed to tempt a number of Tench around the baited area to which I landed one and was delighted, Chris caught a Cadisfly larva but I said it didnt count….

Two lads turned up from Athlone and once again it was all talk, but we had great banter amongst ourselves which brought that outing to a close so I could get the heater going in the Car and get back home………….

With better weather today Chris and I ventured down to Doonis Bog with the cameras and had fun photographing the wildlife. We saw various Spiders , Moths, Butterflies, a Snipefly and a female Horntail.

23rd May: The long awaited Roach have reached White Bridge !!! I was out at 10 this morning having a look over White bridge and spotted a few fish moving about, I mentioned it to Peter and Chris, Peter went down to have a look and started catching large Roach immediately, he rang to say there are good fish leaping everywhere. It is a relief that there are still some fish in the river even if the weather has got them running several weeks behind their usual schedule.

So any and all anglers who are in the area head to White Bridge and try for some 2lb+ Roach !

I went down to join in the fun this afternoon and myself and Peter had good sport on the Roach with both males and females showing up in good numbers.

As the weather was nice and sunny we decided to go back to the Canal, our first choice of spot was taken so we headed on and set up a new swim where we caught lots of small Roach, Rudd and Perch. A very enjoyable few hours.

We heard from Wayne Russell and Steve Collins, from Reading, who were over here two weeks ago, they had some good sport on the upper Inny and around Lough Derravaragh and Lough Iron. They were kind enough to send us over some of their catches. Many Thanks lads.

Meanwhile, down at Frank’s house the Song Thrush decided to nest right on the birdtable just outside the Kitchen Window. So I sat having a cup of Tea and taking a few shots through the window of the chicks and Mum.

24th May: Rather chilly first thing but warmed up later (that’s when I turned up on the bank) wind still N/W.

Two lads from Dublin, Mick Dalton and Phillip Fox, were on the Inny when I showed up, had a great chat and left them making their way downstream where there’s plenty of activity.

Peter was in attendance later and made his way to his freshly cut swim on the other side downstream.

Two English Lads on the end of their stay mainly looking for Bream, they had been into Tommy Fox’s at the entrance of the Inny but had no luck with Bream but managed some of the Roach.

Peter had an outstanding day in his new swim. A good conservative weight was around 70 lbs with Roach in excess of 1lb

The 2 lads from Dublin were still catching all day until late and had some terrific fishing with Photos I myself decided to go downstream to Red Bridge only to find No Fish not even a bite !! I then moved then to Malady’s still no Fish, and yet its only a short distance away from Shrule. (Should have gone to Shrule)

25th May: Bright and Sunny, little breeze Should make for a good day.

Visited Shrule this morning 7-30am to find plenty of Topping downstream so someone could have a great day! Passed by later and there were 2 lads from Birmingham fishing just over the bridge in Caroline’s field and they were having quite a few Roach and were very happy with their lot.

4-30pm There’s a Traffic Jam at Shrule Bridge this afternoon, with lads from Mullingar, Dublin and the Birmingham Boys along with 2 lads Fly Fishing and a visit from Peter trying his newly prepared swim for the second time.

As I chatted to all the boys each and everyone was hauling in fish with some really good weights, best one I that I witnessed was a 1lb 14ozs which fell to Greg Mathews. Pictures will follow later via his daughter. There were also outstanding Roach caught by Craig Murphy.

5-30pm and I am back home drinking tea but the fishing is still going on!

26th May: Weather not too bad after overnight drizzle, bright spells are forecast and rain coming in this evening. I was out this morning at 6-30am checking Shrule Bridge and there were still plenty of fish Topping so some lucky lads may have a good day!

We decided to have a bit of fun on the canal this afternoon and had some sport on the Roach, Rudd and even managed a sizable perch… but we were rained out of it by a heavy downpour.

We headed back to Shrule Bridge and met up with Padraig, Owen, Mark and Paul from Naas & District Anglers, they had an unbelievable day bagging up on good Roach, we met them as they were in the process of weighing in. Owen took the honours with a 108lb of Roach, and the biggest fish of the day which was 1lb 10oz.

Paul came a respectable second with 94lb of Roach followed by Mark with 40lb and Padraig with 30lb. They all caught a similar amount of fish but the size varied from swim to swim.

They all had a super day on the Inny, and it was great to see all of the fish returned safely. There were four very happy lads on the bridge packing some soaking wet gear into their vehicles as we left.

Report and photos courtesy of John Coles
http://www.innyangling.net