Mick Flanagan reports on the pike fishing on Lough Derravaragh
MEATH ANGLERS
I had the pleasure of hooking up once again with Paul Dempsey of Athboy, and his angling pal Oisin Farry of Trim. The lads love their fishing, and we had cracking day fishing the River Inny and Derravaragh. Paul had a personal best pike well into double figures, and the Oisin lad was also in the thick of the action catching pike on lures and dead baits.
We finished up with 9 lovely pike, and Oisin crossed the lake playing us a few tunes on his Tin whistle. Mighty stuff and you never know we might have an old session some time on one of our Islands, and just might charm the fish into taking our lures.
RICKARDS BACK IN TOWN
Dominic Richards’ was back over in Dublin last week, doing some work up in Guinness Brewery and managed to get away for a days fishing. Dominic from Brighton has a soft spot for the Midlands as he has caught some nice fish over the years on Westmeath waters. The Dominic lad is a fanatic lure angler, and we decided to hit Derravaragh, and if the lake got choppy we could head down the river Inny for shelter. Storm Doris was on its way but we got a few hours fishing, in what they call the calm before the Storm. No big pike came on line but Dominic was surprised with the size of lure some of the small pike latched onto.
GALWAY ANGLERS WINS FINIAN DARBY MEMORIAL SHIELD
The planned Midland Pike Anglers competition on Derravaragh looked in hot water last weekend, as another blast of story weather was forecasted for the Midlands. The competition was fished in at times blustery conditions, and we also had a few savage heavy showers of rain.
The top prize was the Finian Darby Memorial Shield, and Galway angler Kevin McGourty boated a cracking pike of 20lbs 2oz to win the first memorial competition for the late Finian.Kevin was fishing with fellow Galway angler Eoin McQuinn. I had chat with Kevin back in Murtaghs Lounge where the presentation took place, and back in the eighties he actually worked for a while in St. Lomans Hospital here in Mullingar and also St. Peters in Castlepollard.Pat Healy of Rooskey took second place with another fine pike of 16lbs 12oz, and young Jack Darby put a lot of us older piker’s in our place by taking 3rd place with a pike of 8lbs 20z. Jack is a grandson of the late Finian. Also on the day their was a guess the weight of the winning pike, and we had 4 winners with Eddie O, Donnell Of Mullingar getting it right along with Michael McKeown, Mick Courtney, and Shannon McDermott. Midland Pike Anglers would like to thank Boyle & District Anglers, Conor and Suzanne Murtagh of Murtaghs Lounge in Multyfarnham, Gerry Dooner of Ardagh who carved the beautiful shield, and Joe McDermott who sponsored the bronzed work. The club has a few more competition in the pipeline for 2017 and new members are welcome to join.
GLORE ANGLERS
Glore Angler will run a club pike competition this coming Sunday March 5th with a starting time of 11am, and finish up at 3pm.The Glore River will have risen with the recent rain fall and access should be ok at the club facilities. The club members and I.F.I. staff have done some fantastic work in recent years on Glore, and the club is open for membership.
Michael Flanagan
Midland Angling
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Midlands Angling provide a top class Guiding service covering many of the top coarse and game waters across the Midlands. Visiting fly anglers have landed some fine trout while out with Midland Angling Guides, pike anglers also recorded some net bursting catches including many pike over 20lbs. Top waters include Lough Ree, Ennell, Owel, Lene, Mount Dalton, and Glore Lake just to mention a few.
Michael Flanagan
Midland Angling
Pike and Trout angling guide.
Telephone: +353 (0)44 9348969 or +353 (0)87 2797270
Fax: +353 (0)44 9342781
Email: [email protected] Web: www.midlandangling.com
