the winner Svjatoslavs Gucevics (Pike 5.96kg) second place Nerijus Spanseris (Pike 2.02kg) and third place Arturas Girgzda (Pike 2kg).
On Sunday 25th March Lough Sillan, Shercock was the venue for a pike angling competition organized by the Dublin based Lithuanian Pike Angling Club Go and Catch and the event was sponsored by Salmo Fishing Ireland. Co-ordinator Andrius Bikelis assembled 24 anglers for the 6 hour match fished in calm but very bright conditions.
In total ten Pike were landed, weighed and returned unharmed to the water. Inland Fisheries Ireland staff were on hand to observe proceedings.
The winner Svjatoslavs Gucevics (Pike 5.96kg), second place Nerijus Spanseris (Pike 2.02kg) and third place Arturas Girgzda (Pike 2kg).
Presentations were made to the top six anglers and the photo attached shows the winner Svjatoslavs Gucevics (Pike 5.96kg) second place Nerijus Spanseris (Pike 2.02kg) and third place Arturas Girgzda (Pike 2kg). The club are recently formed and when more established hope to hold further matches in the future.
31/03/12. I got up at 5.30 am to try lure fishing for bass given the calm conditions, my third attempt to get my first bass on a lure this year. It was just getting light as I made my way down to the rocks. I have never seen the sea so calm at this mark nor seen the water so clear. The sea was flat, just gently lapping on to the shore. I would have preferred to have had at least a little turbulence in the water.
I began to work my way along the shore, scanning for some sign of fish activity. Then I spotted a disturbance on the water to my right, cast a Feed Shallow across the area but after a few minutes realized it was a shoal of small mullet. However, I reckoned there might be a bass lurking about waiting to pick off the smaller fish. But after about 10 minutes the lure spooked the fish and they moved off.
I continued working my way to the east towards a small bay that has been very productive in the Summer and Autumn. I was not long there when another fish shoal appeared. I cast the Feed Shallow across them and on about the third retrieve through the crystal clear water I could see a small fish dart at the lure as it passed, it was hooked! At first I thought it must be a bass but as it lept out of the water I could see that it was a mullet. It gave a good fight for such a small fish. That spooked the shoal and they disappeared. I doubt it was trying to eat the lure as it wasn’t much bigger than the Feed Shallow, maybe it was trying to play with it or just wanted to chase it off but it must have snapped at the lure as it was hooked in the mouth.
Mullet on lure
I continued fishing in the same area, tried a few other lures and some soft plastics. Then another mullet shoal appeared. I lobbed a weedless Slug Go over the shoal and as I retrieved it through them I could see five or six fish turn and chase the lure and one was hooked under the chin. It again fought well and when I eventually got it onto the rock I realized that it was a golden grey mullet.
Golden Grey Mullet
I fished on for about another hour but there was no more activity. I guess the water was just too clear and still for bass to come close and maybe its not warm enough yet for them to readily take lures.
Fishing this week has been difficult to say the least. One would be forgiven for thinking you were on the Cote d’Azuras temperatures reached 21degrees.
The gauge on the Rock Pool is now reading 3cms; so you could say water levels are low.
It’s on weeks like this one has to sit back and enjoy Delphi for what it is, one of the most beautiful places on earth, even though blue skies and no wind are the salmon fisherman’s nightmare.
Believe it or not we did actually catch 3 fish this week, all off Doolough trolling. Hasse Dehlin had one at Cross Point on Sunday of 10lbs approx.
Stephan Boninger had a fish of approx. 8lbs on Monday from Badger Bayand Hasse Dehlin had his second on Tuesday from Weedy Bay of 7.5lbs approx.
All fish were fresh but not sea liced.
At the moment it looks like the dry weather is set to continue and the wind is to go northerly which will make fishing challenging to say the least. It may be a question of taking in the beauty once more and considering oneself lucky to be alive.
Beautiful Delphi
31/03/12 Amazing:
Just after I post a blog about the beautiful weather we are having and the dreadful fishing conditions we are having, we catch 2 fresh fish. These wonderful creatures never cease to amaze me.
Yesterday morning Yvonne Zirngibl had a sea liced fish of 5lbs7ozs on a Willie Gunn off Finlough. For those of you who can’t remember I did say the river was at 3 cms, which is an amazing level for fish to run the river at.
Marcel Dittrich then had 1 in the afternoon of approx. 7lbs off the Whin pool again on a Willie Gunn. This fish was fresh but without sea lice.
This brings our total for the year to 24.
Besides this we have a great story this weekend. It concerns a man who is visiting us at the moment. Bob Windsor was fishing the Whin pool in 1994 when he heard a funny noise in the hut. On further examination he discovered a kitten. He approached the nearest house which happened to be where I was living at the time and asked my wife Sarah who was expecting Orla was the kitten ours, which it wasn’t. He proceeded to take the kitten home with him and he named it Delphi. The cat only died last year aged 17 years and one of Bob’s tasks this weekend is to scatter Delphi’s ashes at the hut in the Whin pool.
It was only in discussion with Bob yesterday that we realised the young woman he talked to was my wife Sarah. This is definitely a story for the books.
ANGLING NOTES: NESTLING at the foot of the Wicklow Mountains lies the sleepy village of Annamoe, a hidden jewel in one of Ireland’s most scenic counties. Interesting attractions abound, including the sixth-century monastic centre at Glendalough, historic ruins and stunning landscape which attract more than one million visitors every year.. The Irish Times, 02/04/12…….Read the full article ‘Big scoop for journos’
29/03/12. First guiding day today, and what weather we’re having right now, more like mid-May with warm sunshine and temperatures touching 20c. Bill Balkovetz from the USA is a man who loves to flyfish and he and his wife Allison were on a well-deserved break here in Ireland. Bill doesn’t get to fish as often as he’d like but was as keen as mustard. We started on the Deel which was low for the time of year, and quite clear. Because of this we opted to fish upstream wet-fly and it wasn’t long before Bill was connecting with small but lively browns. We finished about 12.30am and headed back to Adare to fish the Maigue, which was also quite low but without the weed which can spoil sport and which will no doubt be well up come May. Bill continued to meet fish, this time we fished wet downstream, and it was noticeable that he also had a couple of salmon smolts, a bit early for them to be backing down towards the tide, but then again everything seems earlier this year following a very mild Winter.
29/03/12….I had close to a dozen crabs to use up so headed out for a bait session although the wind had calmed down considerably compared to earlier in the week. However, when I got to the beach and stepped out of the car and saw the surf my heart fell. There was just a very weak surf rolling in with little or no wind. I was sorry I hadn’t gone lure fishing but as it was about 8 pm at this stage it was too late to go home and get the lure gear. But at least it was a nice sunny warm evening so it was good to be out in the fresh sea air.
I made my way down to the shore – there were already three optimistic anglers in place casting into the very gentle waves.
I set up two rods, one with a 4/0 pennel pulley and the other with a two hook flapper with 4/0 hooks. I baited the pulley rig with crab and put crab on the lower hook of the flapper and half a razor on the other. Then cast out at about 8.30 pm. I knew there was some rocky exposures, now submeged, in front of me so I didn’t want to cast too far. However, with the lack of wind, my cast of the rod with the pennel pulley rig went a bit further than I intended. A little later when I tried to retrieve it was solidly snagged requiring a break.
As I was attaching a new shockleader there was a strong tug on the other rod, I grabbed it and felt a fighting fish on the end. It was a 41 cm bass, caught at dusk just as the light was beginning to fade. It took razor on the upper hook.
Bass
After a few quick photos, I released the fish, rebaited with the remaining half razor and then got back to work on attaching the shockleader. But before I had a chance to trim the knot ends there was another strong knock on the other rod. A second bass, just above 40 cm in length, again on the razor. That got me worried, I had only taken one pack of five razorfish out of the freezer, if they were going for that in preference to crab I was going to have to be more economical with the remaining four.
I rebaited, this time using about a third of the clam. Again before I had chance to put a bait on the new rig for the other rod I had another bite. This was a slightly bigger bass of 43 cm, again on the razor.
I recast and the bait was barely in the water before I had a fourth bass, smaller this time at 37 cm. I was still baiting the rig for the other rod when I had a fifth bass, just 36 cm this time, and yet again on razor.
I eventually got the other rod set up and cast a crab baited pennel pulley back out. Shortly afterwards I had a subtle knock on the rod with the two hook flapper, picked it up, felt another pull and struck, but the fish was not hooked. I left it for a few minutes then noticed a stronger tug. This time it was well hooked and felt to be a bigger fish. However, as I hauled it on to the shore I saw two glints of silver – I had a bass double, a 41 cm fish on the upper hook and the smallest bass of the night on crab on the lower hook.
And two more make a dozen
This was followed a little later by the first bass on the other rod, another undersize fish.
The bites were slowing down now – I had a chance for a brief rest but it was not long before I had another 40 cm bass on the razor. About 10 or 15 minutes later I had a 42 cm fish on the pennel pulley. That brought the night’s tally to 10. There was a bit of a break then, I had a few missed bites, the bass seemed to have become more cautious and were dropping the bait a second after picking it up. But then I had another strong bite, struck and this time the fish was well hooked. It was the biggest bass of the night at 45 cm, again on razor.
I was almost out of razor at this stage, just enough for one last decent size bait. The tide was now beginning to drop so I reckoned it would not be long before the fish moved off. After about 15 minutes I had another bite on the razor, it was only a 33 cm bass but brought the total to 12. So with that I decided to pack up at a reasonable hour (11.30 pm). It turned out to be a much better night’s fishing than I expected with the neap tide and lack of surf and I still went home with half a dozen crabs still in the bucket.
Hopefully the bigger bass will begin to move in during April.
Tuesday 27th March I arrived at 07.43, a full eight minutes ahead of schedule and made my first river inspection. I really didn’t like what I saw. The level is very low. As a reference point, I use the concrete by the bridge as a marker and it is a full one foot down. When I was over at the beginning of February, there was at least two and a half foot of extra water and I could never imagine it would drop so much, so quickly.
I usually do a session within the first couple hours after my arrival, but fatigue and lack of enthusiasm caused me to postpone wetting a line until just after 5pm. The nice weather had brought a few casual anglers out and some smallish Roach were their reward. I had 20 minutes on the gusher with 4 spratt sized Roach before a move to the bridge as the sun created some shade into the swim. I caught 7 fish with the best about 6 oz. For some mad reason I walked across the bridge to try the navigation channel. Normally, this would unfishable in March, but with levels close to what I’d expect in May, float presentation was easy. 1 Perch of 2 oz was caught before having the final 20 minutes of daylight above the bridge on the Longford side. It was here that I netted my first bigger fish of my spring campaign with a Roach of around 14 oz. Three more 2-3 oz fish followed and then it was time to quit. I’ve had far worse first days, but the amount of weed showing is going to make fishing very difficult at Lanesborough this year.
Male Tench for Derek Keenan 3lb 8oz
Saturday March 31st I’ve just returned from doing a session normally reserved for May evenings. With the number of Tincas showing, Steven Keough and myself had to have a piece of the action and fortunately we both netted the rare commodity that is a March Tench. Mine was a male of 2 lb 13 oz whilst Stevens was a female of 3 lb. he also lost two at the net, and I had the consolation of two Perch.
Earlier in the day, Steve and Josh Blacklidge from Chorely shared a good mixed bag above Ryans gate and there were a lot of casual anglers coming and going all day. I’m sure the water temperature has hit the magic 51f because the navigation channel was alive at dusk. I really must get the thermometer out tomorrow.
Sunday April 1st Today will go down as one of those “special” days. Some early birds arrived long before dawn which paid dividends. Larry Kelly from Athboy had a Bream estimated at around 5 lbs along with some Hybrids on the gusher. Above the bush was Chris Ganley from Ballyhaunis who recorded the best bag of the season so far with 80 lbs. of Bream, Hybrids and Roach. All fell to a feeder in a little over 5 hours. His best Bream was a specimen of 7 lb 8 oz with an added bonus of two Roach both going 1 lb 13 oz.
Somewhat under the radar was Steven Keogh who caught 16 Tench to 5 lb 7 oz despite packing up a little after 10 am. At 5 pm I closed the shop and was lured into joining him for another session. Between four of us we netted 14 bringing the seasons Tinca Tally to 45! My contribution was three fish of 4 lb 4 oz, 4 lb 6 oz and a baby of 3 lbs. There was a lot of surface activity again at dusk, so I am expecting a bumper week ahead of us
Was my report an April Fools Joke? Would I lie to you? Paul Waghorne at www.lanesboroughangling.ie
Sunday may have may have been April fools Day, well there were two Anglers that had the last laugh and that was Local Gillie Mr. John Griffin and his good friend Mr. Paddy Walsh, of Waterville, and for good reason they caught a fine 6lbs Salmon on the troll fishing on the south side, wind NNW light to calm with reasonable cloud cover.
That is your ration for this April Fools Day from your Gillie/Guide and the Waterville fishery. No Spin No Fly’s just facts.
On a recent trip up the Antrim Coast, Terry Jackson had drifted several shallow bays in search of plaice, there was very little about. They managed a couple of small codling but little else. A move to deeper water and a change of tactics late afternoon produced a few dogfish and a couple of Bull Huss, with this well marked fish salvaging the day, just short of specimen size at 15 lbs. It took a coalfish flapper and calamari squid cocktail, and was landed on Penn Waveblaster rod and Penn Fathom reel.
IADA reports that a presentation match between South Armagh and Lough Muckno clubs took place on Sunday 1st April 2012. Fishing took place between 11 am to 4 pm in bright calm conditions and 14 anglers took part. The majority of anglers were feeder fishing but the winner came off an end peg to the left towards the town fishing the pole at 13 metres. The results of the match are as follows.
1st Philip Jackson Lurgan 21 lbs 08 ozs
2nd Richard Caplice Lough Muckno 16 lbs
3rd Rory O’Neill Newry 15 lbs 08 ozs
Catches consisted mainly of medium sized hybrids with very few roach and perch. The next event is scheduled for Coothill on Easter weekend where a turnout of approx 40 to 50 anglers is expected.
