Inniscarra Lake TDL gives a great insight into a seasoned anlger who knows all the tricks:
Kevin Gray from Surrey was one of the first English anglers to sample match fishing here more than 20 years ago and he has visited every year since! He loves the place so much that he leaves a set of gear with us and helps out with the organisation of some of the festivals.
Kevin says:- “The venue has such a varied selection of places to fish from sections being 40 feet deep to six feet that suits both pole and feeder anglers. There is always up to date information on how the venue is fishing either on notice boards at O’Callaghan’s Bar & Guesthouse, the hub for all anglers or on the Facebook page.
The Coachford Greenway caters for anglers who do not want to walk far; they drop off their tackle at the peg and park in one of the bays nearby.. There are no admin charges for the matches they are 100 % payout often with sponsorship added and there is always good attendance.”
Kevin keeps his tackle simple on Inniscarra and it has brought him a number of results;

FEEDER
For feeder fishing for bream and hybrids he uses a12 ft medium action tip rod and loads his reel with line or braid with a shock leader. Terminal can be fixed paternoster or sliding feeder which only needs to be cast an average of 20 to 30 meters. Open-ended plastic feeders are used carrying weights from 28 to 44 gram with hook lengths 0.14 to 0.16, varied in length depending on how the fish are feeding and fished with hooks 14 to 10. These fish are not shy!
Bait for feeder (five hour match)
. 1/2 to 1 kilo of dendrobaenas
. 2 pints of caster
. Small hook worms
. Hook maggot, generally red
. Sweetcorn
. 2 kilo of dry groundbait
POLE
For fishing to-hand for large number of smaller fish, mostly roach and hybrids, four to eight metre whips are favoured with power gum through the top section. For short lining and unshipping at seven to 14 meters, depending on the depth of water and wind conditions, white hydro is generally a good all-rounder through one of two sections. Hook lengths are 0.12 to 0.14 to hooks 16 to 12 with floats 2 to 6 gram, either slim pencil or rugby ball shape depending on distance fished and conditions.
Bait float (five hour match)
. 1/4 to 1/2 kilo dendrobaenas
. 2 to 4 pint of casters
. Hook maggot, generally red
. Small hook worms
. Sweetcorn
. 2 to 4 kilo of groundbait
Report by Tommy Lawton of Inniscarra Lake TDL an affiliated club of the National Coarse fishing Federation of Ireland www.ncffi.ie. You can follow them at www.facebook.com/inniscarralakeTDL