Coarse and Pike fishing improving on the hot water stretch on the River Shannon at Lanesborough

Paul Waghorn reports on recent fishing on the hot water stretch in Lanesborough   from http://www.lanesboroughangling.ie

Monday 8th April

One of those days when after a overnight temperature of -4c at Lanesborough probably made the fishing much harder than in the previous days, which themselves were just as difficult. A late report from yesterday suggests some anglers had 20lb bags but made up of a very lot of small fish. There were two anglers on the upper section who caught small fish, and one Piker who failed to attract his quarry. Below the disabled swims, two anglers were on the feeder whom I believe were trying for an early Tench. If I may be bold as to predict that we may not see a Tench until May this year. Near the bridge Peter Wood and Daniel Hoare caught some quality Roach but not in any great numbers, Good news for some, Bridie now has some maggots in stock, also some pinkees which are deadly for Roach at this time of year.

Tuesday  9th April
Without doubt the best day on the river so far this year. The Tuesday club arrived en-masse from Ballyfermot and averaged 25lb plus per man. As I’m not there, I don’t know how many of them there were? There are over 15,000 anglers in Ballyfermot all from the McHugh clan! Please James, let me know who caught what? Elsewhere, the Pike were very active and Leigh Maitland had one of about 9lb on the pole along with a good mixed bag of 72lb. His partner Larry,. (fishing that is, not a civil one, or at least I don’t think so) also had 35lbs. On this occasion, Peter Wood didn’t do as well below the disabled swims and only claimed bits.Anglers who fished over the weekend are probably at bit bemused by today’s results which included Bream to nearly 4lbs along with mongrels and Roach to 1lb 8oz. This was probably due to the cloud cover and dropping barometer overnight. Tomorrow may be even better?

Tuesday  9th April
Without doubt the best day on the river so far this year. The Tuesday club arrived en-masse from Ballyfermot and averaged 25lb plus per man. As I’m not there, I don’t know how many of them there were? There are over 15,000 anglers in Ballyfermot all from the McHugh clan!

Please James, let me know who caught what? Elsewhere, the Pike were very active and Leigh Maitland had one of about 9lb on the pole along with a good mixed bag of 72lb. His partner Larry,. (fishing that is, not a civil one, or at least I don’t think so) also had 35lbs. On this occasion, Peter Wood didn’t do as well below the disabled swims and only claimed bits.

Anglers who fished over the weekend are probably at bit bemused by today’s results which included Bream to nearly 4lbs along with mongrels and Roach to 1lb 8oz. This was probably due to the cloud cover and dropping barometer overnight. Tomorrow may be even better?

Thanks to Daniel and Peter for keeping me informed.

Wednesday 10th April

Despite not arriving until 08.30 Damian and myself were surprised to find we had the river to ourselves. It wasn’t long before the first fish was hooked but lost, probably a mongrel. The next cast saw me hook into a 12oz Roach which was ambushed by a good sized Pike. I said before, that when Roach are the predominate species as they are again today, the feeder approach in my opinion, is the wrong one. Whilst Damian struggled, I caught quite a few in the bush swim on my stick float.
Incidently, having just purchased a 20 year old Normark float rod, my trusty Max carp waggler that I’ve used exclusively here for Roach and Hybrids is now unwanted. I will offer it to the first person to show me either a 20 Euro note or very very near offer!
Damian decided to use my rod for Piking and caught an absolute beauty at 15lb 8oz it was very fat and appeared to be carrying extra weight due to not spawning, either that or it’s been gorging on the Roach shoal that has taken residence here?

After returning the Pike, Damian continued to catch steadily all day with 55 fish almost exclusively Roach bar a couple of Mongrels. His estimated weight was just under 50lbs.

By contrast everyone else struggled, my evening session was perhaps the worse since my initial arrival. Just a handful of sub 1 oz fish and an odd netter.

Damian Allchorne and a very fat 15lb 8oz Pike caught this morning

Thursday 11th April

At last, some much needed rain, but not enough to help the Shannon which is desperately low. I shouldn’t have got up after yesterday evening’s dissapointment, and in hindsight, it was a mistake to do so. I fished above the bridge for two hours for only a handfull of smallish Roach. Only two others are enduring the conditions at 9am this morning and they are catching some Roach up to 6oz.

By 3 pm Noel and step-son Stuart had packed up just in time before the impending downpour. Noel had 22 lb including some fish topping a pound. Stuart oped for the feeder apprpaoch between the trees but caught only 20 fish which were of a smaller size.

Steve Moran from Strokestown started slowly on the feede,r fishing with a worm but after switching to the stickfloat caught several better fish. His best fish was a Rudd we estimated at around 1lb 2oz

Steve Morans estimated 1lb 2oz Rudd. Later in the day,  I caught one of similar size which when weighed, went 1lb 2oz

I came out (threatening for years) at about 6.45 just as it decided to rain again.  I had one fish stolen by Esox and then landed a Rudd of 1lb 2oz and a Roach of a pound. it wasn’t worth getting wetter, so had an early night.

Friday 12th April

Every morning (and most evenings) I get a good fish taken my some very active and seemingly hungry Pike. Today was no exception. I’d already had a Roach of 1lb 4oz and a slightly smaller Rudd. In fact every fish was far too big to use as deadbait until a 2oz Perch opted for suicide rather than face another day at Lanesborough. Of course, the Perch never got any attention from the pike, which backs up my suicide theory, no freinds in life or death, that’s the cost of being a depressed Perch!

I moved to the bridge where at least there were some fish to be caught, I was previously between the trees but the bites dried up. Second trot down stream and that stony faced predator decided my Roach were a far better breakfast meal. Another hooklength gone, that’s a whole packet of hook’s I’ve used this year, – dreadful!

At 8.45 it was time to return to the day job (haha) and there was not a soul on the bank. Visiting anglers this weekend who intend on using a bivvy, should be aware of a strong S – S/W wind and prepare for a good blow with winds up to 50mph and from midday Saturday until just after 5pm ish, a lot of Rain.

Not a lot of action as the day progressed, several anglers had left before I could find out what was happening. Paul and Daniel were catching well at the bridge but elsewhere as the clouds disappeared in the afternoon, the sport deteriated. Roy Cuthbertson, a regular here, lost a good Pike at the net. Sorry Daniel, but someone has to take the blame here, and it looks like you this time.
My evening session was very poor. About 20 sub 4oz fish and not a sniff of Mr Esox

Saturday 13th April
Roy and Flano should be awarded a special prize for being the first anglers this year to endure an overnight session. I think they would have been far happier if there were enough fish, but this was not the case and had a frustrating night. At dawn there was little cloud cover and the dawn splash simply failed to materialise. Maybe there simply wasan’t enough life in the river? At 10.00 the cloud started building and some fish are feeding. With the impending rain this afternoon and increasing winds continuing throughout tomorrow, anglers may be advised to forget fishing and concentrate on the Masters, or even the Chinese Grand Prix for the next two days.

As the cloud came more fish were being caught all along the stretch.Just before I went out, some larger Roach were making an appearence between the trees. Curtis from the Bluebell club in Dublin had an unweighed fish that was close to 2lbs whilst another fish was confirmed at 1lb 7.5 oz..

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As you can see, the water level is alarmingly low. We can only hope that this weekends rain may give us a couple of extra inches. Something none of us would turn down? You can also see the weed problem. In the next week or so, I will try to organise a work party to help clear some of it.

Sunday 14th April

The wind was a major factor in sorting out the men from the boys. Whilst the men fished the hot stretch, the boys were quite content not to. It was very difficult conditions with winds blowing upstream in gusts of over 50mph. Some anglers sat it out in bivvies or brollies and on one occasion it was almost comical to see an umbrella trying it’s best to fly away.

The fishing wasn’t at it’s best. Two of the Mchughs from Ballyfermot had about 25lb between them whilst others who were after Pike failed to catch. Up river near Kilnakarrow railway bridge, a Pike of 19lb 4oz was caught. This area is seldom fished nowadays, but often turns up trumps during the spring and summer months.

On a more positive note, the water level has risen by between 4-6″ This is probably because of the barrier at Athlone is closed to protect the callows downstream of the town.

Monday 15th April

A blustery day and as yet, (5pm) no one on the stretch, I went out just after 6pm and was back inside by 8pm. On the 15th of April after a promising first three weeks, I’d expect a bit more action than what I got tonight. An 8oz Roach was the first fish but they got progressively smaller. I’m sorry there is so little to report. I hope it gets better very soon. The wind is still with us for the immediate future and without any anglers all along the stretch, it’s hard to determine as to whether there are any good fish here?

Saw my first Swallows and House Martins of the year today! The Swallows being almost a week later than their traditional arrival date.
Tuesday 16th April As forecast, the wind and rain continued throughout the night, but thankfully the rain has stopped for now at least. The water level has risen sufficiently and now there is a flow through the gap into the section to the bridge. Depending on the water temperature, this may mean the upper section of the hot stretch may fish better in the coming days. Tomorrow sees up to an inch of rain coming before dawn so things mays change again.

I was surprised to see anyone on the river at all today, but Tommo, Dessie and Anto Mchugh from Ballyfermot were all here early despite the wind. At 10am they had all caught, but nothing of note. By 4pm they were packing up, and their returns were very poor. none of them topped 10lb but did have a Pike of maybe 8lb.
I don’t know why I bothered to go out at 6.45pm. Within half an hour I was fed up of 2oz fish and these continued to be my only reward for getting cold and miserable. Even a Gudgeon couldn’t raise my morale.
It’s going to be extremely wet for the next few days and I’m not expecting a great deal of change. Fingers crossed that I’ve got it all wrong?
Wednesday 16th April A lot of overnight rain will not do the river any harm. The wind was still very strong early on but dropped around mid day. By 5pm it was getting up again. There were only two anglers on the bank and I’m just about to go out and see how they are getting on. Apparently, after I came in early last night, some bigger fish were active in the hot stretch. It just goes to show, you should always be out until dusk, if not only to evaluate the potential for the next day?

Thursday 17th April