Eddie Long repotrs on the first round of the Naas and District Anglers Winter League fished on Sunday…
Round 1 of the Winter league was due to take place in Graiguenamanagh but due to the cold snap in the weather we believed the Bagenalstown canal stretch would be the better option to produce a few fish in our match. Unfortunately we had a lot of rain the night before and the river was quite swollen and thundering though with a very chocolatey colour. Not really the conditions you want for a match but we had to make the best of it.
25 anglers turned up to fish this match. We all met up in the carpark just outside of the town. We have some new faces this year fishing our league. Rhys Walsh, Colm O Gaora, Dave McNiece and Brian Dawson. You guys are all very welcome in our club and we really hope you enjoy the fishing and craic with us on the bank!
Anyway, with the crayfish plague in mind every angler dipped their nets in a disinfectant solution and then we drew pegs for the match. Generally speaking in Bagenalstown the fishing is best further up towards the weir and as you go back down towards the lock the fishing gets tougher and tougher as you go down but with the river and canal in the condition it was in we were pretty sure the fishing was gonna be tough and patchy at best.
I drew peg 15, halfway down the match stretch. Pegged beside me was Peter Walsh on 14. We were on a very narrow section of canal and thought the fishing would be hard. We had no idea!!! I fished my Drennan Acolyte whip at 7 meter and also trotted a stick float though my peg. I had a ton of groundbait mixed, nice and sticky. Sensas River and Gros gardons. If you’re on the fish here you dont wanna run out of bait so I was well prepared and had plenty at the ready. I tried the far bank with the whip, down the centre and in close to the bank, not a touch did I have! Tried holding the float back in the flow, tried it at half pace and full pace with the flow but nothing. Trotted the stick float though the peg over and over and over again but never had so much as a chewed maggot. Groundbait and caster was being fed regular but nothing seemed to draw fish so at the halfway mark in the match I’d had enough and went for a stroll down the bank.
Mr Walsh to my left had also had enough of flogging a dead horse and went AWOL. Andrius Simbelis was fishing the bolo next to Peter and had a nice peg with a wider channel and some lovely slack water that he was flicking the bolo out to. Let me tell you something, he was absolutely bagging up! When that float went under there was no messing with him. Fish were straight out of the water and into hand then the net and he was straight back out fishing immediately. Very impressive fishing by Andrius and he made every fish count for as long as they were biting.
I headed off towards the weir end of the stretch to see how things were going and as expected the lads were catching better and better the further I walked down. Everyone seemed to be catching a fair few fish and I have to say I was quite jealous.It really is a pain in the nuts when you’ve drawn a bum peg but what can you do!!!
Padraig and Trev were catching well from the get go but both informed me that Mr McLoughlin was emptying the place on peg 1 down by the weir. He had been but it seemed the fish were now gone and the match was now in its final hour.
I wanted to try and catch just one fish so I headed back to my peg to fish the last half hour. I balled in about 6 jaffa sized balls of groundbait laced with caster and set about not blanking. I trotted the stick float though the lenght and breath of my peg and sure as eggs is eggs I never got a bite.
Anyway at 3pm the all out was called and the weigh in began. Most caught fish but we did have a few DNW’s
RESULTS
- Section 1 winner Paul McLoughlin with 9.600kg
- Section 2 winner Eoin Dundon with 3.100kg
- Section 3 winner Andrius Simbelis with 8.050kg
- Section 4 winner Grazvydas Karalius with 0.475kgs
- Section 5 winner Andrius Saulys with 6.600kg
Well done to all that fished, it was tough and conditions were certainly not favourable but it was nice to be out on the bank again in good company.
See you all for round 2
Tight lines
Eddie Long.
PRO 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.
