Dated Wednesday April 28th, 2010

Photo: Paddy Keogh from Dublin had a great week on his first ever Tench trip. Paddy is a very keen sea angler. After a few little tips Paddy was set up on the ramp at Brian Bohan's Cottage and was over the moon with his catch.   

 GOOD COARSE FISHING ACTION REPORTED AT A NUMBER OF ANGLING CENTRES 

Coarse fishing has picked up significantly with good reports received from a number of angling centres last week. Paul Waghorn reported mixed results over the past number of days at Lanesboro. Some parties and individuals had some quality Tench, including Paul himself. He reports that the Power Station is off from Friday, so no hot water along the stretch for the weekend. See Paul's daily catch reports from Saturday 24th to Wednesday April 28th. Brian Bohan and his guests had very good Tench fishing in the Mohill area. Dermot Killeen provides the catch reports from Shannonbridge. Good catches have been reported in the Banagher Angling Festival which commenced on Monday, prospects look very promising for the remaining days of the festival. Mike Murray reports good fishing on the Shannon around Portumna, with bags to 60lbs recorded by pleasure anglers. Visiting angler Stuart Blunsom also reported good fishing at Portumna in a local competition. Prospects for the coming week look good, not too much rain is forecast. TIGHT LINES!

UPPER SHANNON

REPORT FROM LANESBORO

Paul Waghorn reports from  Lanesborough

Saturday 24th April: There were seven bivvys camped out last night along the stretch, something I've never seen before at Lanesborough. Some of the lads were catching during the night whilst others struggled. Killian McCormack and his twin brother Glenn shared the majority of Tench with 11 between them. The biggest went 6lb 2oz and all the females had recently spawned. This is quite alarmingly early as I wouldn't expect this to happen until the second week of May. I only hope it the first of many caught in the last week before the power station goes off. Elsewhere the sport was patchy with only one other Tench caught. A lot of very small Roach were present. Surprisingly, to the best of my knowledge, no one fished the Roscommon side. My evening was as difficult as ever. I stuck it out on the disabled area hoping for a Tench but caught just 1 Hybrid.

Sunday 25th April - Today's tale has no happy ending. The Ballyhaunis lads had a good night with the best part of a 100lbs between them with good Hybrids to 3lb. Most of the action came between midnight and 4am. Below them the Mullingar trio packed in with a similar weight but over two nights. Up on the gusher pegs, the two Dublin lads caught two 5lb plus Bream and an assortment of bits. As the day wore on the fishing got progressively worse. Chris from Athlone fished on the low level just above the bridge and started briskly but as the evening drew to dusk, the wind dropped and so did the bites. I was "between the trees" recording my first blank this year. Glen McCormack caught a male Tench of 4lb 6.5oz but that was it. God only knows why they have chosen to spend another night here.

I'm gonna stick my neck out and make another bold prediction. The facts are this, - Roach have spawned and all but disappeared. There are very few Hybrids this year, and the Tench have also spawned. On the Inny two weeks ago a huge amount of Roach were in the river and have since vanished. I believe that's it, even though there are still Daffodils flowering, it would appear that on this date, April 25th, it is actually more like mid May and the spring flush is over. I only hope I'm talking out of my arse and these events are just a false.

Monday 26th April: After last nights total frustration, I had a lay in bed and didn't get up 'til 09.30 by which time the only remaining anglers on the stretch were packing away their gear. The night wasn't too good for them having just a Bream and a Tench. It was mid afternoon before anyone started fishing again and of course, they struggled. I later heard Pete from Halifax had a Tench on the pole at 3lb 8oz.

At 6.30pm I found Philip near the disabled swims out for an early evening session. Later he was joined by Joe and myself. When I left at 11pm with a solitary Hybrid, they had a Perch each and a smallish male Tench for Joe. The air temperature was about 11-12c and the slight southerly wind was pleasant. There was a lot of surface activity on the navigation channel at dusk. Tim and Jamie Collier shared 8 Tench and 3 Bream near the duckpond.

Tuesday 27th April: Up before dawn for a spot of Tincaring near the disabled pegs below the bridge. There was a bit of a chop coming off the lake but not too much to spoil presentation. Second cast I was into a Tench, a male weighing in at 3lb 10oz, this was followed by a recently spawned female of 5lb 2.5oz and another male of 4lb 6oz. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that the female was a new Irish P.B. for me (although my U.K. best is 7lb 1oz) and this was my first multiple Tench catch since 2003.

For most of the day the weather deteriorated with high winds and rain and the bank was deserted. At 7.45 pm I decided to miss "The Bill" and try again. This time I started with a flurry of Rudd to 6ozs, a couple of Perch and a small Hybrid before finally getting two Male Tench of 3lb 1oz and 3lb 5oz. I would have fished on, but with no head lamp I couldn't re-bait my hook.

Wednesday 28th April: I was so confident of a prolific Tench session today but arrived to find the river conditions had worsened. To see a bite in the wind was going to prove difficult. I may have missed some, but the three I hit were good hard fighting fish weighing in at 3lb 1oz, 2lb 12oz and a female of 4lb 6ozs. The only other fish was a tiny Perch. I saw no others on the stretch until early evening. Are my reports so bad that even the casual angler fails to turn up now?

This weekend should, traditionally be the peak of the season for tourists and fish, but it's hard to see a fresh influx of fish coming before the power station goes off on Friday at 5pm.

My evening session went reasonably well despite the increasing winds. Before it got dark, all I had were tiny Rudd and odd Perch. It was 9.30 when the first Tench was netted, weighing in at 3lb 8oz. Steve from Navan went 2-1 up with fish of 3lb 5oz and 4lb 11oz before I got my equalizer, a female of 4lb 5oz. I also had a Bream of just under 2lbs and 3 bootlace eels which prompted my retirement.

More see: http://www.lanesboroughangling.ie/

Kevin Lyons, MELVIEW LODGE GUESTHOUSE, Drumlish Road, Clonrollagh, Co Longford Tel : 003534345061 Mob: Email:  info@melviewlodge.com Web: http://www.melviewlodge.com  covering fisheries in the LONGFORD AREA and the STROKESTOWN LAKES

Coarse angling reports will commence from May.  

Brian Bohan   CHAFLYNNS COTTAGE & GUIDING SERVICE  MOHILL reports on angling in the upper Shannon region around MOHILL and CARRICK ON SHANNON

Photo: Brian Bohan with a good net of Tench

Tench fishing is at its best at the moment with some lovely fish coming from Lough Rynn and Tench, Bream, Roach and hybrids from Crenagh Lake. I had another session  at the weekend and ended up with over 80lbs of Tench, all on feeder.  Clooboney is fishing well with lots of hybrids and Roach and some Tench showing. Drumbad is improving. I had an early morning on it last week and had some nice Ruud which are growing nicely and will be soon be hitting the pound mark. I also had some Tench and Bream fishing over the weekend with Clive Mc Elweny (D&J  Tackle Shop Long Mile Road ) Clive's son Sean landed a great Tench of 6lbs 2ozs. 

Paddy Keogh from Dublin had a great week on his first ever Tench trip. Paddy is a very keen sea angler. After a few fishing tips Paddy was set up on the ramp at the cottage and was over the moon with his first Tench. 

MID SHANNON AREA

ShRFB reports for  INNY BAY B&B -  fishing at TOMMY FOXES ANGLING STRETCH and lower RIVER INNY Tommy Foxe Mob: 087 9960173 for enquiries and boat hire

ShRFB report on the Shannon and Lough Ree for the  ATHLONE AREA

No report received. 

Reports for the MULLINGAR AREA

Ballinafid Lake is producing big carp to 16lbs and small bags of Roach.

Mick Flanagan, Angling correspondent and photographer Mullingar reports for the Midlands. Mobile: 087-2797270.

No Coarse Angling report this week.

Dermot Killeen Shannonbridge Tel 090 96 74112 Email: derry.killeen@gmail.com  reports for SHANNONBRIDGE area

Shannonbridge Fishing Report to April 28th, 2010...

The river level at the quay wall at Shannonbridge is 2.8 metres which is two metres down on the quay wall. After the inspector moved the boats moored for the winter from the floating jetty there were five boats moored there last evening. Weather has been mostly sunshine for the past three weeks apart from some rain on last Saturday and a light showers on Sunday. Wind directions have been varying in recent days with an easterly wind today bracing but not too cold.

Martin Owen from Crewe fished a windy Suck on 23 April with maggot catching 30lbs of Roach and losing three Bream. three days before that he caught 26.5 lbs of Roach two swims upstream from 23rd. Peter Jones Crewe fished the Suck alongside Martin Owen catching 8lbs of Roach on 20th April and 16lbs mixed bag on 23rd using maggot. Peter Jones fished the mouth of the Brosna on 19th April catching 12.5lbs of Roach -best was 2lbs and a 6oz trout. Peter noticed that lots of the Roach had a black spot on their bodies. Les Basford Crewe fished the Suck on 22nd April catching 13lbs of Roach using maggot. Les records that he enjoyed seven days of sunshine. Shirley Barker fished the harbour in Ballinasloe on 26th April using maggot and caster to catch 7lbs of small Roach all between 2 and 6ozs. John Barker, the husband fished Shannonbridge on 26th April using worm and caster to catch two bream weighing 2lbs and 3lbs.

LOWER SHANNON AREA