Eddie Long, NADA PRO, reports on the Naas and District Anglers NADAFEST…
The Naas and District Anglers NADAFEST took place on the 26th 27th and 28th of August 2016 in the Shantonagh/Ballybay area of Co.Monaghan. We had nine anglers up for this weekend match which was to take place on three different lakes in the area, Ballytrain, Schoolhouse and Whites lake in Ballybay. Three anglers would fish a lake each day and we’d rotate onto a different lake the following day and so on. We fished this match with one dropper meaning each anglers two best weights over the festival would be totted up and their worst days weight dropped.
On Whites lake myself and Paul chose to start on the pole with Padraig electing to use feeder only. I put in five balls of groundbait laced with caster and chopped worm at the start but didn’t get so much as a bite so I went out on the feeder at thirty turns but the bites were hard to hit. With about two hours gone in the match I had only about three or four small fish in my net all caught on the feeder but then the wind died off and the fish turned up on the feeder for both me and Paul. It became a fish race between myself and Paul, he’d catch one then so would I but he definitely had a better stamp of fish than me and with about and hour to go I noticed fish rolling on my pole line so imediately I went out on the pole and straight away I was into a decent fish. I was using a double six Preston original slip and was able to bully these hybrids away from the reeds either side of me and into my net. It was definitely gonna be a close finish between myself and Paul and I could see the beads of sweat collecting on Paul’s brow but at 8pm the all out was called and the weigh in began. Padraig had a bitch of a peg with snags in front of him and had been losing feeders and hook lengths so he wasn’t in the running for this one but still managed a decent weight of 4.750kgs. I had 9.600kgs and Paul beat me with a fine weight of 10.300kgs. No bream for us but some decent hybrids and some decent roach and perch. At this point word had come back to us that some decent bags of bream had been caught on Ballytrain and Schoolhouse. It’s at this stage that I’d like to point out that both those lakes had been prebaited the day before the match and unfortunately Whites had not but we weren’t sore at all by this clear advantage, not in the slightest.
There was plenty of good fishing over the next couple of days and the full report with all the photos is available here: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1069081603170221&id=354800701264985
In the end Dan Campbell won the NADAFEST with 3 lake wins the last of which was very impressive indeed, 17.900kg caught on the 4meter whip and a total weight of 32.200kgs Brilliant result and a well deserved winner.
Second place was Paul McLoughlin with 2 lake wins and a total weight of 30.750kg and Padraig O Riordan was third with 1 lake win and a total of 28.450kgs.
Ollie Doyle had 2 lake wins and Owen Lynch had one lake win.
Eddie Long
Naas & District Anglers Club
Naas & District Anglers
The Naas & District Anglers Club was set up on the 31 August 2012. Our Club is a Social club. The waters around Naas are Home to brown trout, salmon, eels, pike, perch, bream, rudd, tench. Naas and District Anglers are dedicated towards getting kids involved in the sport of angling.
Club Members are responsible for restocking and ensuring that all angling byelaws are complied with.
Membership of the club is always open and we welcome new members with open arms.