Lough Derravaragh Angling Report By Brenda Montgomery, IFI November 30th to December 6th 2015
Lough Derravaragh (David Lynch)
This week it rained and rained and rained and Lough Derravaragh’s water levels rose and rose and rose, accordingly. The Saw Doctors’ 1998 hit ‘Will it ever stop raining’ couldn’t help but come to mind as each day succumbed to varying degrees of the wet stuff. Along with many a sinking angling heart, storm Desmond hit the country on Friday evening and into the weekend bring with it incessant falls of torrential rain. South Westerly winds with a reported mean speed of 55-75km/hour interspersed by impressive gusts of up to 120km/hour hit this lake hard, particularly on Saturday stretching into the early hours of Sunday morning. This is a lake, above any other stretch of water that is totally out of bounds when it is windy, for Derravaragh becomes another kind of animal as raging winds create a tunneling effect down the centre which is more than capable of capsizing any kind of boat so particularly on Saturday Donore lake as it is sometimes referred to was a no go area.
One of the heavy weights – Damien’s mottled double figured zeppelin – Esox lucius
(copyright 2015 loughfishingbuddies)
Stubbornly refusing to let the weather claim another angling weekend and as some sort of a consolation prize myself and my friend Markus called into a fishing tackle shop in Cavan town – Brian Webber’s ‘Sports World’ on Town Hall Street. After making an unintentional forceful entrance (courtesy of storm Desmond) we were met with a vast array of spinners, spoons and expensive looking plugs – dangerous looking tools of torture, treble hooks everywhere, a knitted jumper’s worst enemy. Impressive racks of fishing rods stood to attention like soldiers on parade intermingled with a good selection of outdoor gear. We had a firm plan in mind before entering the shop – a very disciplined, no overspending policy – some copper and silver Spoons perhaps and maybe a few perch imitation baits, a preplanned budget and with Christmas coming up no purchase of ‘ self-indulgent’ fishing gear. What we went out with was a completely different scenario – a nice light Rovex rod with a lovely cork handle, a Shakespeare reel (with back and front drag), some steel traces and a barrow load of baits – spoons (in a variety of colours and sizes), rubber baits, some dead bait (roach and mackerel) and a large number of amazingly coloured plugs. Brian also had a selection of books on display, the one that stuck out most was The Doomsday Book of Mammoth Pike by Fred Buller and flicking through it in a vain attempt to stop spending, I was struck by the sheer size of those monsters, 235 fish over 40 pounds was the stuff of dreams, or nightmares. Most accounts were accompanied by photographs of tough looking men, either holding or standing next to enormous fish and I was infected with the primitive need to catch one and become one of those great anglers and on failing that at least have a photograph for an IFI angling report, so informing the ever patience shop owner that we were heading off to shore fish on Derravaragh, he wryly responded that all we would catch was grass because cocooned in the warmth and dry of the shop we had clean forgotten the floods created by the storm and with it the disappearance of our reeded fishing shore…
(copyright 2015 loughfishingbuddies)
Tools of the trade
Lures, spinners, plugs and spoons
The challenging weather meant that angling numbers were sparse on the lake this week and it was all fishing from the boat because of the high water levels eating away at the shoreline. The heavy rainfall was also responsible for the water being very discoloured which is something that isn’t conducive to good pike fishing but nonetheless a number of pike were recorded for the week, the bulk being caught from the Southern end of the lake, under the hill at Crookedwood, the stretch refuted to be over 100ft in depth. Again it was our non-national angling comrades that were leading the way with Matas Kubilius and Jokubas Capas from Lithuania landing 3 pike between them, the heaviest at over 10lbs, these anglers were alternating between trolling large lures and spinning copper and silver spoons, fishing close along the shoreline. Polish angler Aleksander Baczkowski landed himself two pike around 8 – 9 lbs floating dead roach in the shallows along the Northern shoreline while Dave Hilton, England caught a lively 5lb jack trolling dead bait (mackerel) close to where the River Inny enters the lake. A few local anglers also caught pike trolling dead baits, very slowly suspended from floats behind the boat in the deep water from Whitehall down to Crookedwood, again they reported fishing close to the shore ‘barely moving along with the oars’.
I always like the extract from Bernie Murphy’s angling report where he states ‘here in the Irish midlands we have nearly 400 pike fisheries, if you went piking once a week it would take you almost 8 years to fish them all and if you only go once a month then it would take you over 36 years’ – there’s a lot of fishing to be done and nothing beats embracing the great outdoors and with the Christmas break rapidly approaching and Lough Derravaragh offering such a lot in terms of fishing, it might be the time to plan to get out there and make a start on those 400…
Some of the natives –
(copyright 2015 loughfishingbuddies)
Anglers who fish for the large predators such as pike talk about triggers, those little understood factors which motivate the fish to commence hunting and feeding. Fluctuations in water temperatures, atmospheric pressure, stages of the lunar cycle, amount of light, pure hunger or a combination of all play a part in rousing the predatory instinct of our Irish water wolf – Esox Lucius.
With Christmas just around the corner and the often frequent difficulty in buying for that person who seems to have everything or wants nothing, what about booking a day’s fishing on this braising and magical lake? The best man for the job would be Mullingar man Michael Flanagan whose knowledge of this lake and indeed all the midland water ways is second to none. It would be a unique present, getting back to nature and waking the ‘hunter/gather’ instinct that may have got buried somewhere beneath work, deadlines, shopping and the pressures of everyday life.
Just a suggestion.
Mick (who can supply all fishing gear and life jackets just bring yourself) can be contacted at 087-2797270. E- mail [email protected] web- sitewww.midlandangling.com
The Lough Derravaragh Angling Association will be holding their AGM in February 2016 and all are welcome (date to be decided later). This progressive club promotes and encourages angling – trout, pike and coarse fishing in the Lough Derravaragh system and assists in the protection of the waters from pollution and illegal fishing with a view to improving wild brown trout stocks within the system. Membership levels for 2014 stand at 46 senior anglers and 13 juveniles. Anyone interested in joining should contact Joe Keena at 086 8722449.
Please remember All anglers are required to have a Fishery Permit to fish Lough Derravaragh which must be purchased before going out on the lake.
The Weir Cup or Christmas Pike Competition was fished on Lough Derravaragh on Sunday December 6th setting out from Donore. 15 anglers took part with James Ledwitch, Multyfarnham taking the cup and Liam Gilsenan coming in second. Both men were fishing with small lures. This popular annual competition is run in memory of the late and great Sean Weir, Multyfarnham who was a member of the Derravaragh angling club and whose passion and love for fishing this lake will be forever remembered.
Brenda Montgomery IFI
