Irish Fishing

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay]

I first visited Ireland for its fishing way back in 1960.

For 6 years after that I went regularly and the fishing we had was excellent. Real wild fishing too for both coarse fish and trout.

When I last went there in 2002 I must admit I was partially dissappointed. The tench fishing was good in that this species had got bigger yet the rudd and bream fishing had deteriorated considerably.

It did seem that many of the rivers were polluted. The rudd is now an endangered species there now, due no doubt to the proliferation of the roach. Many lakes are full of small stunted roach that don't belong there and the large rudd up to over 2 lbs have dissappeared.

All this is a great shame and I hope the authorities address this matter, for the sake of angling and the tourist industry in that country.

 

[Graham Whatmore]

Much the same as here Ron, pollution from farming is the main culprit along with the infamous zebra mussel. The last time I was over there Ray Bowes told me that earlier in that particular year the pollution was that bad in Lough Derg they were taking the dead bream away in 10 ton lorries.

If you listen to the fishing guides over there they will tell you the fish are still there but not in the old traditional spots, its a case of knowing where. Most of the more popular places we used to haunt are now a mere shadow of their former self and anyone who ventures there on holiday would be well advised to seek the advice of the resident experts before booking.

 

[Paul Christie 3]

I am going for a week on Derg next Sunday, so I'll report back on how it goes.

According to our local expert, it's been a slow start for bream, but plenty of big hydrids and roach to over 2lb are showing in the evenings.

I'm just praying for a bit of grotty weather to kick in now, as current conditions are as bad as they can be.....

 

[Paul Christie 3]

Last year we saw good numbers of cormorants on and around Derg.

The problem Zebra mussels create is that they filter the water making it gin clear, which in turn makes the shallower areas good hunting ground for cormorants. This could be preventing shoals from entering the shallower areas.

Last year we saw huge shoals of roach in the town centres of O?briens Bridge and Killaloe. It was an amazing sight. Shoals several hundred metres long, spanning the width of the river. It was something nobody had seen before and had nothing to do with spawning, as they stayed there right through the summer and autumn.

When you look at what?s happened with some of our own rivers, like the Severn, where roach fishing really only exists still in town centre areas like Shrewsbury, because the cormorants won?t feed in heavily populated areas, it makes me wonder if the roach have realised that the only safe areas are those in and around town centres.
But then is it likely they could work that out do you think?

 

[Joskin]

It will be interesting to hear how you get on Paul. We have found that in recent years we have had to find the deepest swim possible to fish from the bank in order to catch a decent number of fish on Derg (20ft plus). This year we will be fishing either pole or waggler in around 25ft of water if we struggle to find suitable swims that can be fished from the bank.

 

[Stephen Mc Cormack]

Hi Lads, thanks for taking an interest. I'm sure there are plenty of anglers out there that feel the same as Ron that the fishing over here has deteriorated in the past few years. Although the zebra mussel is a very big issue as are ther Cormorants, there is very little that we as coarse anglers can do to tackle these issues. The Zebra Mussel issue is being tackled by anglers not transfering boats between different water as much as possible, and peole cleaning and looking after their fishing gear.
As for Cormorants we are facing into a situation very similar to that in the U.K. the bird is protected by law in most areas and there's little you can do.
But the changes we're looking for in the law are and should be something we can change. The petition that was linked in the news article has only been going a few days now and we're hoping to use this and a media campaign here to put pressure on the minister. The group CAAG is only very young at the moment and are in the early stages of planning this campaign. I'll try and keep people on this site upto date.

Again thanks for the support.

 

[john ledger]

Pollution Ron,my mate Geoff Cooper lives out there and all though fishing is good in areas its not the same as it used to be especially the Shannon. I used to fish it at Drumsna on the naturall river and it used to be great,not any more same with the Blackwater at Fermoy Mallow

 

[Paul Christie 3]

Just back from a week in Clare and it was a bit of a mixed bag.

The bream are only just starting to show on Derg but don't seem to settle for any length of time. Anyway, here's a brief round up of how it went:

Day 1 - 4 hours in the evening on the Shannon at O'briensbridge, fishing the waggler in 13 foot of water. Tremendous numbers of fish in the area and things picked up after heavy baiting. Ended with 29lb of quality roach.

Day 2 - AM - fished L.Graney. Bite a chuck and plenty of roach, hybrids and skimmers. Nothing of any real size but good day time sport. Evening - L.Bridget for tench, my mate had two and lost one. I got plagued with skimmers and hybrids - no tench.

Day 3 - PM, Went out with TJ by boat. His swims that were just starting to produce bream, were un-fishable due to very strong winds. We fished from an island that hadn't been fished this year. 4 hours later and I had managed just 3 bream. Then the hybrids moved in and during the last hour and a half had 30 big hybrids and another bream for over 50lb.

Day 4 ? Back on the Shannon for a double session. Morning fishing the waggler, evening on the feeder, on two pegs we had pre-baited twice. We caught roach from the off, but they moved out and shoaled tight on the far bank and stayed there. The evening was a wash out with just a few hybrids and perch.

Day 5 ? Templemore town lake for tench. We both had 3 tench and also landed several pike on worm! Finished early for an extra few pints and to pre-bait a shore on Derg that hadn?t been fished at all recently.

Day 6 ? AM ? Killaloe town centre . Vast shoals of big hybrids were everywhere. Fished the waggler close in, in 15 foot of water. Caught 9 big hybrids averaging around 2 to 3lb and 9 big roach from 12oz to a 1lb+. They moved in an out and eventually moved mid river. My mate changed to the feeder and continued catching but was blighted by snags. Evening? Derg (in shallow water of about 10 foot) excellent evening session which produced 43 big hybrids and handful of roach, the best being 1lb 13 oz, for a total weight of 75lb. My mate had just over 50lb.

Day 7 ? Derg again for two sessions. AM produced 4 good bream and four 2lb hybrids. Broke for a long lunch and returned for an evening session. It was hot, flat calm and bright sunshine. Despite this, my mate had a consistent spell with the hybrids and had 30 for over 50lb. My swim switched on late but came strong. Ended with 20 hybrids, 1 good bream and 3 smaller bream.

Overall it was a good start and end with a poor middle (That was probably down to our choice of venues as much as anything) and evenings were by far the best time to fish. Had we had another day or two on Derg, the shore would certainly have improved further and more bream were starting to put in an appearance.

The bream fishing was slow, but the quality of the roach and hybrids were excellent and not something you get often here. There still good fishing to be had, but the fishing has changed, as has their feeding pattern. I?ll be looking to go back again a little older and a little wiser?.

 

[Graham Whatmore]

Not a bad week considering the time of year Paul. Loch Derg bream always had (and still does by the sound of it) a habit of not until showing late July. The one advantage you have now that wasn't an option 10 or more years ago is the roach/hybrids which are relatively new to the Shannon. It gives you an alternative when the bream aren't feeding but one thing puzzled me about your write up, why no perch? There was always perch in the river and I always appreciated those sparkling beauties that came out of the Shannon.

 

[Paul Christie 3]

Sorry Graham, we did catch perch upto 12oz or so, from most venues, particularly the Shannon and Derg but I forget to mention them.

 

[Joskin]

did you manage to find a deep swim to fish. the deeper pegs seem to be the only ones to produce Bream at the moment at 20-30ft.

 

[Paul Christie 3]

Joskin - no we fished a few different areas but the deepest pegs were 14ft. We had more bream from shallower pegs that are only 10ft, so they are showing up in these areas but only for short spells.