Dated Wednesday May 5th, 2010

Photo: Jason Dingle and Keith Mooney from Dublin well known specimen hunters with two 4lb plus Tench from the Upper Shannon region, photo courtesy of Brian Bohan.

 GOOD COARSE FISHING REPORTED IN THE UPPER SHANNON REGION

Fishing was a mixed affair last week. Weather has been on the chilly side for the time of year with northerly winds prevailing and this has affected fishing at some venues. Brian Bohan and friends had good sessions on Lough Rynn. He also reports a good movement of fish into the Boyle River and Lough Gara is fishing well. Lough Allen is also performing with good mixed fishing reported. Unfortunately the reports from Lanesborough were not so glowing and anglers are struggling here. Paul Waghorn reports. Dermot Killeen reports some reasonably good catches of mixed fish on the River Brosna and the River Suck in the Shannonbridge area, bags up to 40lbs. No reports from Portumna. Coarse fishing has been quiet in the Killaloe area and Lough Derg. There has been some recent movement of fish into the Scariff River, so prospects look better here.  TIGHT LINES!

UPPER SHANNON

Bodo Funke, Angling Services Ireland, Boyle, Co Roscommon  http://www.anglingservicesireland.com/ reports.

Coarse fishing in the Boyle River is currently getting better with visiting anglers reporting bags of 20-30lbs per session. Mainly Roach and hybrids are being caught but an occasional Bream up to 5lbs was amongst the catches.

RIVER SHANNON AT LANESBORO

Paul Waghorn reports each day

Friday 30th April: Last day of April provided little to excite in all departments. One angler fished below the steps on the disabled pegs but couldn't tempt a Tench. The hot water stretch was deserted, so I tried half an hour on the gusher without a sniff. Two lads fished above the duckpond for most of the day with very little to show for their effort. The evening saw Tim and Jamie Collier joined by Joe, Philip and myself. I was on the lower section. We all caught at least 1 Tench each by dusk when I packed up having no night lights (again) and a couple of fish were caught after dusk. My only Tench was a new Irish P.B. at 5lb 15.5oz making that the second fish I've caught this year that almost made specimen weight. Surprisingly, at 10pm, the power station had still not shut down!!

Saturday 1st May: When I had a look at the river this morning at 8am, there was water coming out of the gusher but the power station had apparently shut down yesterday evening just after 10pm. One Irish lad had about a dozen, spratt sized fish but when the gusher stopped around 2pm, so did the bites. Another local caught just two Perch on the disabled swim in 10 hours. My evening stint saw 1 bite resulting in a 2oz Perch. Things really are going to be grim for the next few days.

Sunday 2nd May: When I came to to Ireland for the first time in 1992 it was just for a week. By 1996 I had stretched it to ten days. Since 1997 I have stayed for 6 weeks, thus enabling me to see the complete transformation of winter through to summer. The sequence of events that unfold during the spring period is quite remarkable. I used to be so annoyed with people saying "you should have been here last week" or "wait until next week" but the major factor triggers the fish into moving is temperature. I believe, that when the navigation channel hits a constant 51f, the fishing is about to improve considerably. This year I have had no readings, so it's purely guesswork on my part. The hot water stretch, when the levels are low enough, undoubtedly attract fish from the lake, but when the levels are as high as in the first week of April, the cold water coming through the top of the stretch, the gap and the bridge will negate the effect of the gusher, thus slowing the events.

So far this year we have seen some extreme events. Firstly, last Novembers flood, the highest in living memory. Secondly the coldest winter for thirty years. Thirdly, the low water of January to the end of March followed by a rise of 18" in just a few days all point to spring arriving a bit later than usual. So why have Roach spawned on the 18th of April and Tench on the 24th? Perhaps this was a premature flush created by the artificial conditions of the power station? Maybe nature is running a month late and we are yet to see the real run of fish? Perhaps the enormous numbers of Roach on the Inny 3 weeks ago was a fluke of nature? The bottom line of today's report is this*,- At the moment, it is cold, there are little or no fish to be caught, and if any reader is planning to visit Lanesborough in the foreseeable future, forget it, stay indoors and watch the snooker.

You may have guessed I'm not too happy today. I had an evening session on the "duckpond" section where 2 of us blanked. I failed to see any other fish caught.

Monday 3rd May: Headline news, - A Perch of 2oz was caught, and that's the best I can report.

Tuesday 4th May: Pretty much the same as yesterday. 3 lads from Strokestown fished the stretch and had 3 Perch and a Rudd. In the afternoon, Irish international Rory Dunne from Roscommon fished the old slipway on the navigation channel for an hour without a bite. At dusk Pat and Stephen from Navan went for Tench but were unable to get so much as a liner when I visited them at 10pm. If nothing happens tomorrow, I will probably give up reporting until we see a significant change.

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

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 nice net of Tench.

Coarse fishing is at its best at the moment with Roach just starting to move in the rivers with Drumsna and Jamestown showing some Roach in spawning mode. Fish are also moving in the Boyle River, with good numbers Bream, Roach and hybrids showing.  There is good fish movement on Lough Gara  I was on Lough Allan over the last few days and it is fishing very well at the moment with good nets of hybrids, Roach and Bream. Lough Rynn is still fishing well with good bags of Tench, two anglers from Portarlington had success with Tench on Rynn. 

Photo: Raymond from Portarlington.

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

Patrick Reynolds had one Carp weighing 11lbs 10ozs on Ballinafid Lake. Most anglers had small bags of Roach and Tench.

Catch up on the Mullingar Angling Club outings this year 2010. See http://www.mullingaranglingclub.com/competition_zone.htm

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 May 4th, 2010...

The river level has dropped from 2.8 last week to 2.6 metres this week. Weather has been fine with a few showers.

Mark Overton Correen fished the Suck with John Keegan on 23rd April using float/maggot. In a three hour session Mark caught 20lbs Roach and hybrids from 8 to 20 ounces.

Tony Ross from York fished the River Brosna on 27th April using float and maggot on a cloudy windy day catching 38lbs of Roach. Could have caught more but for the windy conditions. Tony fished the Suck on 29th April in rain and wind using maggot and feeder to catch 20lbs of Roach. Tony fished the Shannon on 3rd May using maggot and feeder in very windy conditions to catch 10lbs of hybrids and Roach up to 12 ounces. Terry Elsey from York fished the Brosna with Tony Ross on 27th May using maggot and float to catch 40lbs of Roach in cloudy windy conditions. Terry fished the Suck on 29th April using maggot and feeder to catch 18lbs of Roach on a rainy windy day. Terry fished the Shannon on 3rd May using maggot and worm to catch 5lbs of hybrids and two Perch over a pound each. Wind caused a strong ripple.

LOWER SHANNON AREA