On the morning of Saturday the 18th of August conditions were nice for fishing. It was overcast with a gentle ripple on the lake. Personally I was hoping for a bigger wave as it was easier to fool the snail feeders with stronger winds.
My Partner for the day was the Legend himself Stanley Mccart, looking for his 29th Cap. Tom Keogh was our boatman and a plan was formed as we headed up the lake past the pumphouse. To be honest I was slightly shocked to find no boats in front of us as we started our first drift. But as the day went on boats came in and left soon afterwards as the fishing was very tricky. We stayed there all day and although the fishing was tough in the calm conditions of the bay as we headed back down the lake for the weigh in at 6pm Stan and i had managed 7 fish a piece with 6 of those fish being in excess of 50cm. As it was a catch and release competition all fish were returned. It was a day I wont forget very soon as Stanley Mccart is great company in the boat and with Tom Keogh keeping us going and spotting fish all day. Turned out we had the best boat of the day.
The cards were handed to the Captains, James Fegan the leinster captain collected our cards and we ended up with 54 fish for the 18 person team. Connaught had 54 fish and it seemed it was between the two teams.
To be very honest the calculations were done very quickly by Brian Larkin and his computer program, Michael Callaghan and Michael Monaghan.Its the quickest weigh in ever. Thank you Brian.
As the scores were calculated for the teams and the individuals, news filtered through that Seamus O Loughlin had caught 9 fish and Stuart Marry had got 8 fish followed by a few 7's.
It was very close in the team event with close to 200 fish being caught by the four teams.
Connaught had 54- 3391 points
Leinster had 54- 3387 points
Ulster had 42 - 2638 points
Munster had 26- 2261 points
The Interprovincial Challenge cup was won by Connaught beating Leinster by 9 points. Well done to Padraig Traynor and his team
BEST OVERALL ROD.
Lennon Trophy - Seamus O Loughlin
BEST PROVINCIAL RODS
Connaught: Deacy Cup- Seamus Kelly
Leinster :Moylet Cup - Stuart Marry
Munster: McCarthy Cup- Seamus O Loughlin
Ulster : Mc Crea Cup - Stanley Mccart
HEAVIEST/ LONGEST FISH.
Scotch Bowl- Darryl Grimason
1.Seamus OLoughin was announced the winner
2.Stuart Marry
3.Denis Goulding
4.Stanley Mccart
5. Nigel Green
6. Seamus Kelly
7.Barry Fox
8.Arden Pollock
9.Mike Keady
10.John Mulvanny
subs
Eoin Dunne
Andrew Boyd
Well done to all the qualifiers and competitors
These competitions do not run by themselves and a lot of people give their time up competition after competition to ensure everything goes well.
On behalf of the ITFFA I would like to thank Tommy Fagan and Lough Lene Anglers for the use of the lake and for organising boats and boatmen etc. ITFFA are very grateful to Tommy and Lough Lene for their continuous support..
The ITFFA would also like to thank the Leinster Secretary Noel Shields and his committee for organising the event in Association with Michael Monaghan and of course many thanks to Stanley McKeon for keeping the books straight.
There is also another vital cog in the wheel , the boatmen. Without these folks giving up their time the competition would not go ahead. We are grateful to you all.
Many thanks must go to Castlepollard Hotel for a fine meal after the event.
As part of the Leinster team I would like to thank James Fegan and all his work he put in as captain, to Noel Shiels , to Michael Monaghan, Tommy Fagan and Lough Lene Anglers for running an event that never missed a beat well done.
Also to David Mc Bride and Southside Angling for Sponsoring the leinster Shirts, Well done to Seamus O Loughlin for his individual win and to the Connaught team on winning the team event
Latest comments
19.05 | 05:47
Hi Denis
Good meeting last night, and enjoyed reading your blog. Felt I was on the lake with you. Great work
02.05 | 20:42
Hi Dennis loved the article straight to the point .just wondered will the trout feed on the small buzzers all year ?
06.04 | 11:57
Cant wait to read this
01.03 | 03:03
glad u enjoy, ty, will be back when the fishing returns
AND SO IT BEGINS.
After fishing from the bank all winter long, I was looking forward to getting back in the boat. Normally I would wait for the first hatch of the year and travel down to the west of Ireland or not go at all until the Duckfly appears in the midlands. But after not fishing for 3 weeks I was starting to loose the plot. So with limited time I opted for Lough Owel and maybe chance to see the first hatch of the year, which is a small buzzer about half the size of the Duckfly which hatches just before the Duckfly itself. The weather looked good enough in the days before my trip, but as always the weather turned. A South wind but 19 to 24km which isn’t really what I was hoping for.
Arriving early at Lough Owel I was greeted with a bare pin ripple on the lee shoreline and a balmy 10c, but as I fitted the boat out I could feel the breeze building. Two 10ft ever reliable 7 weight RS Wychwood Competition rods were both adorned with floating lines, a straight buzzer set up on one and a bung on the other.
As I travelled down the lake it was lovely to hear the hum of my 15hp Johnson, I checked every bay and reed bed but more in hope, for any sign of buzzer. The wind was picking up all the time and after an hour or so I resigned myself to defeat and out came the di3. Fishing at this time of year in my opinion is normally shallow for hoglouse and snail feeders, whilst drifting in 10 to 20 ft of water you would be after fry feeders on the drop off with di5s and di7s depending on the wind.
The greater the wind the heavier the sinking line. At this stage I had travelled as far as the cornfield and I drifted off the shelf in nice conditions pulling dabblers and fry patterns. A three fly 16ft cast of 8lb strong leader, 6ft to first fly and then 5ft between with flys .
Just coming off the shelf I got my first fish, a lovely marked but thin overwintered Triploid Brown of about 2lb. Working up the shoreline to the neck I got two more on Black Dabblers and a big white Hummungous.
Stomach pumping the fish is a must when fishing in my opinion, you don’t need to go mad emptying the fishes stomach, a brief pump will tell you what the fish are on. In this case snail and hoglouse were high on the menu.
HE WHO DARES WINS....
I worked along the lee shorelines as it was getting very blustery picking up a fish here and there. I changed flys a few times, but it seemed whatever I put on the top dropper the fish took. The top dropper is the first fly the fish sees as you pull it by him, typical early season fishing. All fish were in the 1.5lb to 2.5lb bracket. Its been years since I fished Owel on a regular basis, so this year I have decided to fish it a lot more and re-learn the lake. With this in mind, I kept moving, instead of repeating drifts.
About lunch time I decided to head to deep water and see if I could contact some of the larger trout Lough Owel has know become known for.
I put up the di-5, but after one drift I felt I was not staying in contact with the line or getting deep enough due to the wind. So the dreaded di-7 was taken out of the box and the cobwebs blown off it. It took me 5 or so minutes to get the feel for the line as I hadn’t fished it from a boat in what seemed like an age.
But sure enough 10 minutes later after a count to 35, followed by a long slow retrieve the first marker went through the rod rings and I hung the flys, I thought I got slight knock, I waited and waited, nothing, continuing my long slow retrieve I barely got three more long pulls before the rod hooped over and the tip of the rod buried into the lake as line peeled off the floor then off the reel. Playing a fish alone out in the middle of the lake on a blustery day will certainly get your heart thumping. Anything and everything can go wrong , so that’s why I keep a tidy boat( stop laughing) when fishing alone. Regaining half the line onto the reel, I began to drag the fish from the depths. At times it just hung beneath the boat and there was nothing I could do. The wind was pushing the boat along too quickly.
Eventually the fish came to the surface and at over 4lb I was gobsmacked and puzzled at its strength. Lying on its side one second, then it vanished, the penny dropped, I had two on. Now it got messy, eventually I guided the first one into the net, unhooked it, then netted the fish on the tail fly with the first fish in the net. The tail fish was about 3.5lb and the fish on the top dropper was over 4lb, they certainly stretch the di7. Both released back to their watery homes, after a little rest in my net.
I fished all the way back to the moorings, catching an odd fish and I had another double hook up of newly introduced fish but it was pleasant. Just as I packed up the redundant Bung Rod, a fish rose in front of me. As a wise man once said “never pass up a willing fish”. Out with the di- 3 and 3 casts later the line went tight, fish number 13 was landed. Enough was enough and in I went.
Lough Owel was kind to me on a not so kind day. It was great to be back out on the lake and I hope to be back out again next week, hopefully there will be Duckfly !!!. But knowing my luck , the wind will be howling and the rain will be coming down sideways.
But as Anglers we Live in Hope.