Eddie Long, PRO with Naas and District Anglers, reports on Round 6 of their Winter League which was was fished last Sunday, 10th April, at Yellow Island on Lough Muckno…
We had a great turnout to this last round of our winter league with twenty anglers fishing the match and also two guest anglers. The weather wasn’t too bad, it was dry but there was quite a strong wind blowing into our faces. The water level was definitely higher than normal and this influx of cold water from the sleety conditions the day before was almost certainly going to dictate a difficult match ahead.
At 11:30am the all in was called and most anglers had selected to fish the feeder only but there were a few anglers willing to risk pole breakage for a shot at the title. I fed a pole line at 11.5m and gave it a whirl for a while but I found it very difficult to keep the pole steady in the wind. After only about 15 minutes into the match and having not caught on the pole I decided to go onto the feeder and see what I could muster up. For me, bites were very tough to see. I’d selected a 1/2 ounce tip which on reflection I think was far too light for the days windy conditions. Most of the fish I’d caught by this point were from dragging the feeder and with only and hour and a half to go I had only 10 fish in the net.
There were one or two anglers walking the bank which is never a good sign so I decided to get off my platform and see how the others were getting on. Fish numbers were fairly low in sections 3 and 4. I found out that one angler who I had a side bet with (chicken dinner) was on about 30 fish including a skimmer. How could I possibly catch up from my measly 10 fish to challenge Mr Redmond? That was it, it was do or die, time for a change of tactics. I knew most fishing the feeder were getting only small numbers of fish so I decided to go back onto the pole and see if there was anything biting at 11.5m. I shipped out the pole and laid my rig in over the area I’d baited nearly four hours earlier and to my amazement I got a bite straight away. A reasonable size roach was now in my landing net and my clicker went to 11. Second put in and the float hadn’t even settled when the float went under. I struck into the bite and straight away I knew I was into a better fish. My no.5 original slip elastic was being pulled out of the pole but after only a twenty second fight a nice little hybrid was in the net and the elastic did it’s job beautifully.
Game on!
I felt if I could get the fish feeding in my peg I could possibly catch up with Dave so I cupped in three balls of groundbait laced with some chopped worm, hemp and a few pinkies. I started getting a few fish now and my confidence was growing because the stamp of roach weren’t bad and I knew the gap was closing. At 4:30pm the all out was called and unfortunately my clicker was telling me I had only 28 fish in the net but was it enough? We were about to find out!
We started the weigh in at peg 220 and with pride at stake I had to witness Dave’s bag of fish for myself to know if I stood any chance of winning our bet. I was surprised to see that his stamp of fish were small and his “skimmer bream” could only have hatched from its egg the week before but he insisted it was a skimmer. He weighed in at 1.150kg. I knew I stood a chance now as my stamp of fish I thought were better. Padraig weighed in next, then Shane, Neil and Sean. Now it was my turn to bring in my net but there was a problem! My weight attached to the bottom of my keepnet was lodged between some rocks. My nerves were at me but I couldn’t risk tearing my net and losing my fish. That would have been a tragedy so I waded out into the depths and managed to free the net and bring my catch in safely to be weighed in by match weigh man Chris Moore. Tensions were high as I tipped my fish into the weigh sling. When Chris called out the weight which was 1.500kg and I was overcome with emotion. I’d manage to claw back the win and the 2 piece chicken fillet meal was mine!
Anyway enough about me, as the weigh in proceeded up through sections 2 and 1, it was clear to see from the weights that fortune favoured the brave and those who chose to fish the pole had much better nets of fish with Paul McLoughlin winning the match with a weight of 3.550kg, closely followed by Alan Doyle on the end peg with 3.400kgs and third place went to Chris Moore with 3.250kg.
Results:
Section 4
- 1st David Redmond 1.150kg
- 2nd Shane Kavanagh 1.075kg
Section 3
- 1st Mark Moloney 1.925kg
- 2nd Eddie Long 1.500kg
Section 2
- 1st Paul McLoughlin 3.550kg
- 2nd Peter Walsh 2.325kg
Section 1
- 1st Alan Doyle 3.400kg
- 2nd Chris Moore 3.250kg
Well done to the podium winners on the day, Paul, Alan and Chris. It was a very exciting end to a very tough days fishing and a very exciting end to a very challenging winter league that went right down to the wire with Peter Walsh snatching the title from Lukasz Cisla’s grasp. Very well done Peter, well deserved!!!
Overall this has been a very trying winter league, from dreadful weather conditions you wouldn’t put a dog out in to finding suitable venues which weren’t flooded and maybe held a few fish. Lots of work was put into organising the league and finding the venues so a big thank you to Paul, Peter and Padraig for all their hard work. I’ve enjoyed this winter league immensely and learned alot. Lastly, a nicer bunch of anglers to get out on the bank with and fish and have the craic, you’d be hard pressed to find.
Anyway, that’s it from me. Tight lines and we’ll see you on the bank soon.
Eddie Long
P.R.O.
Naas and District Anglers
Naas & District Anglers
The New 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.
