Swings & Roundabouts - Cloghan Lake 4th & 6th March

Fishing IS a funny old game, you hear it all the time.  Well in the space of 2 days I experienced magnificent highs and severe lows, all on the same lake!!  Took a day off work on the 4th and headed to Cloghan Lake with my younger sibling, Adam, who had to be coaxed out of his warm bed to go fishing on a cold March morning.  Temperatures at 8am were -1c but promised a warm afternoon with mostly clear skies, not ideal for catching fish but would suit the "fair weather fisherman" that was my brother. 

Arrived at the Spar garage in Cloghan and picked up our €15 day tickets and some snacks at around 9:15am.  The lake was 5mins away and after getting suited and booted, headed down to a regular spot on the west bank of the lake where both brownies and rainbows usually hole up. 


Cloghan Lake

Met one of the caretakers, Jimmy, who checked our tickets and then informed me that he had already landed 8 trout in the space of 20mins, they were on the feed alright!  As we were chatting there was one other early bird fishing and was in the process of playing a fish, so with excited eyes we took our places on and around one of the platfroms on the north bank.  The wind was blowing lightly from NE to SW so this was a better spot than trying to cast almost directly into the wind.  I started on Intermediate line with a short 5ft leader and my trusty waggle tail lure from the Aisling outing (16 fish that day, gonna be hard to beat!). 

Almost immediately, I was in and it was a nice rainbow, deep brown in colour and a great start to the day.

Within 30mins I had 5 in total!! I had a lovely brownie just under 2lbs but unfortunatley, as Adam was pulling in so he could take a pic, he hooked up, so I decided to get it back safely and help net Adam's 1st fish.  Worse still, Adam lost the fish before we could even see what it was, lost fish and lost picture opportunity all in 2mins.  Ronan arrived just after 10am and didn't believe me when I told him I had 5 already, but low and behold, as soon as he took his place beside me I was in again!  Shortly after, Adam finally got his first trout of the season, a nice rainbow that put up an amazing fight for it's size.

 Ronan struggled for a while, lost a fish or 2, but finally managed to hang on and bag his first trout from Cloghan, another rainbow that again was fighting fit.

 For the next couple of hours I moved around the NW corner of the lake and had 12 before lunchtime.  A nice mixture of brownies and rainbows.  Adam had 4 fish and Ronan was on 2 for the morning session.  It is worth noting that Ronan was really off his game, lines snapping off, using low grade 6lb mono that the fish would not even look at and when they did, they managed to get off!! He must have lost 5-6 fish all day, it was just one of those days that we all have eventually and you can do nothing about.  Adam and myself headed back to the village for a spot of garage lunch in the Spar shop while Ronan stayed lakeside, determined to get his act together.  Half an hour later we were back to the despondant figure of Ronan trying to get his tackle right, another fish had snapped off!!!  Woo-sah my friend, woooooh-saaaah!!!

At this stage the only thing on my mind now was to try and break the record I had just made a couple of weeks ago on Lough Aisling, I was on 12 with about 4hrs of fishing to go.  Could I get 5 more fish in that time to have a new PB for the day? 

What happened next will probably never be matched again as far as I am aware.  The only thing to say is that the fish were on the feed, no doubt about it.  I stayed on the waggle tail all day and the intermediate line and while it may seem boring, I found it was far from it.  Fish after fish fell to this method and by 3pm I had 17 for the day, record broken, let's see how far we can go.  Adam was hooking up regularly too but still, Ronan was having no luck.

By 4pm I was at the 20 mark, Adam was on 7 and the early bird that we saw in the morning was well over 20 also, he seemed to be reeling them in quicker than I could count.

The final straw for Ronan came at around 5:30pm, I was on 24, Adam was on 8 and one of the regulars from last season showed up.  A young boy of 9 or 10 that would always have time for a chat, stopped at Ronan and asked how he was doing, not great was his reply but he told the young lad that I caught 24 on a black\green waggle tail that he should try and use something similar.  The young lad then came to me and showed me an orange lure that he was using and said it was a good lure that never failed him.  Off he trotted to the north bank and 3 casts later he landed a fish.  Ronan simply threw his hands in the air, packed up his gear and left muttering under his breath.  We stayed for another 15mins, had a couple of pulls but no hook ups so decided we had done well enough and it was time to head home.

Few more pics from the day.

We had another outing planned for Saturday and as I mentioned in the title, talk about swings and roundabouts!  Arrived that morning at the same time, very similar conditions and was ready for another good days fishing.  Chris arrived shortly after me and we set up again in the same spot. We had agreed to try dry lines only today so with the same lure again we started fishing.  Ronan arrived half an hour later and we did not have 1 pull between us.  There were a few other lads fishing and they too were not getting any action.  It looked as if the fish were just not interested.  Ronan, however, had his game face on today and he was the first in to a fish after an hour or so.  I had 2 pulls all morning, Chris had nothing and Ronan was on 3, at this stage I had given up on dry line and switched to the trusty intermediate line.  We fished all around the lake and eventually at 1pm we decided to take a break.  Back to the Spar shop for tea and a sandwich and Chris decided he had had enough. 

Myself and Ronan headed back and took a spot on the east side of the lake, wading knee deep to a spot I knew held some fish.  Had a couple of pulls on 2 different patterns but we suddenly noticed that the lads on the south bank seemed to be landing fish.  When a spot opened up, we dashed to the platform and started casting with renewed hope.  I was on a brown gold-head pheasant tail and within 30mins I had 4!! I was finally doing something right.  Ronan hooked up on 3 occassions but lost 2 at the net. 

At this stage we were just happy to finally be catching so we stayed there for another hour but it just dried up.  We headed back to the west bank hoping they were back on the feed up there but again, nothing was biting.  We finished the day on the SW bank and I had 1 small brownie on a cats whisker, it was a far cry from the feeding frenzy that was 2 days ago.  With tired arms and sore backs we packed up and headed home.  I won't be out again until the end of the month, it was a draining 2 days but well worth it.  Both exillerating and humbling with a new found respect for our triploid frends!!!

Lough Aisling 20/02/10

Well what a difference a couple of weeks make!! 

A return trip to Lough Aisling was in order and this time I was joined by a couple of fellow anglers who were desperate to wet their lines for the first time this year.  We arrived at 9:30am to the unfortunate sight of a mostly frozen lake, it wasn't thick but it did set off a couple of panic buttons.  Luckily the west bank was fishable but was going to be a bit tough with a southerly breeze providing a good ripple on the water.

Chris and Ollie got a couple of hours in, unfortunately no fish.. :(

We set up on the west bank in between the 2 reed beds and I decided to try out a bloodworm pattern that I had tied myself with red tinsel and 3 goldhead beads, unfortunately I have no pics but I will be tying more this week and will post once complete.  There were a few fish rolling near the surface but with the frost most of them should be at the bottom.  The weight of the 3 goldheads mean the fly sinks very quickly so even though I was using a floating line I knew it would be at the bottom in a matter of secons on my 15ft leader.  On my second cast I felt a very strong take and struck into a nice fish that put up a great scrap. 

My First fish on one of my own flies, well chuffed!

After safely returning the fish I couldn't believe it when on my next cast, another fish!  3 casts and 2 fish, this was turning out to be a great start, I might even get home early at this rate!  Unfortunately, my fly fell apart on the next cast, must get better superglue next time.  Changed over to a bloodworm nymph but no joy so I moved around to the north tip of the lake to try my luck.  Switched again to a black and red mini cats whisker and was into another fish on the second cast.

 

That was 3 fish in just over half an hour but nothing prepared me for the next couple of hours.  I switched over to a waggle tail mini cats whisker with red eyes and moved up and down the west bank, casting into the margins just beyond the shelf with the wind to give as much cover as possible.  I landed 6 fish with this method and lost 2 others with numerous bites that I couldn't convert to takes.  

Lovely fish that fell to the waggle tail.

Best fly in the world!!

 

One of the lads had the same fly and chaged over to it and his first fish of the year turned out to be one of his best at 3 1/4 lbs.

Ronan's MONSTER!

 

Ronan had another fish staright away again but his 3rd fish got caught in a sunken branch and snapped off, best fly lost and no replacement!!!  By 1pm I was at 9 fish so I decided a break was needed, back to the cabin for a pot noodle, coffee, footy on TV and a quick chat with Joe.  I was joined by the only member of team not to catch, Mick, and he was a bit disheartened by the whole experience.  A bit of advice on tactics and leaders and he was back out with a bit of determination.  I had 2 more in 20 mins so I felt I had a chance of breaking my current record of 14 fish in 1 day at Pallas lake last year.  Moved up to the pool at the north end and got 2 more, the count was 13, one more, just one more.  Suddenly, the takes dried up.  It was now 3pm and Mick was in hell, 5 hrs in and not even a bite.  Ronan had 1 more to bring his tally to 3 and there was me with 13.  I took off the waggle tail and gave it to him in the hope he would get at least 1 fish before we left.  Sure enough, 20 mins later in the pool and Mick was in, no biggie but a fish none the less.

 

I had now changed over to an epoxy fry pattern and once again, the fish were on for it.  3 more fish by 4:30pm and my tally was 16.  The wind finally started to lay off but then so did the fish.  I had 1 more on that somehow managed to get off after 2mins of fighting but I really can't complain!!!

That was simply the best days fishing I have ever had and it will be very hard to beat.  We finished up at 5:30pm and even though they had limited success the lads were very happy with the venue, so much so that we will be back again this weekend for more.

A couple of more pics from the day!

Lough Aisling - Edenderry 29/01/2010

Had my first outing of the year and decided on a trip to Lough Aisling in Edenderry on Friday and I have to say it is one of the best I have seen. Fishery with a 7 acre Trout lake and a 4 acre course lake. Got some advice from a friendly forumer on where to fish but weather conditions meant I could only fish the West and North bank.

There is a cabin with blazing fire, TV, Tea & Coffee making Facilities, microwave and toilets. Joe who runs the place, is one of the friendliest guys you could meet, mad for chat.  Signed in and a quick bit of advice from Joe and away I went.

Cabin & Parking


So I headed over towards the west bank as the wind was coming from NNE direction, there is a sheltered area on the very North bank so I thought I'd start there and work my way down.  There is a shelf that extends about 10 feet out from the west bank but it is soft at the moment so you can only wade out about a foot or two.

View west from the cabin.


Heading up the West bank.


Was nice and calm at the north bank and 2 other guys just started while I was setting up. Straight away they were in, they seemed to be fishing with a bung suspending buzzers/bloodworms. I got set up and started with a hares ear, caught a tree, then some grass. Bear in mind that I only started this malarky about a year ago nad only got the hang of it really in the last 4-5 months.  Wasn't going too well so I moved around the corner and I found the trees too intimidating for a decent back cast. The other 2 guys moved around past me, they had 2 fish each already and decided to move on down the bank. One of them confirmed the bloodworm so I switched. Fished the margins for about 5mins and got a delicate little pull, a fabulous plump fish of around the 1lb and I was off the mark, 1st fish of 2010!



Watched the other 2 guys pull in another 7/8 fish between them so their methods were really working.
I had started fishing at 11am and that was all I had until nature called at 12:30pm so I decided to head for the cabin for some tea and warmth.

Sitting there in the warm quiet room I have decided that stillwaters, commercial ones especially, are the way forward.  They are ideal for beginners like myself to get the hang of the basics and build confidence quickly.  I spent 2008 flapping about on Lough Ree with the fly rod with no clue what I was doing as the fish are very hard to find when you don't know what you are doing.   That sent me back to pike fishing and I very nearly gave up on it altogether until I discovered a local water in Cloghan that I will be hitting in the 1st week of March and put a report here.

Refreshed and warm I headed back out and started on what I thought would be a good imitation of the Pro's setup. Had a booby on the top dropper to act as a strike indicator and put a bloodworm buzzer on the point about 8 feet away. Fished it for about half an hour with no results. The other 2 guys then went for a break so I moved up to where they were catching and switched back to a smaller gold head hares ear, was in straight away with a fish under the 2lb mark that put up an amazing fight.



Fished for another while with the same setup, had 1 pull but no hook ups. Decided to call it a day at 3pm as I wasn't set on fishing the whole day. Went back and chatted to Joe and settled the bill, €15 for 4hrs fishing and headed home. You can fish for 6hrs for €20 and 8 hrs for €25.  The lake is open all year round and I am looking forward to spending a lot of summer days here.

With the right setup you will catch loads here, I did see pics of fish in the 8lb, 11lb & 12lb region in the cabin so there are big ones there. The facilities are excellent and it is fairly easy to get to, the last stretch of road to it is a nightmare though, potholes like I've never seen. It's just off the Tullamore to Edenderry road, past Ballyhugh. Will definately be going back over the summer and it is ideal for group outings, of which I will be doing on the 20th Feb with a group of 5/6.

Highly recomend If you are in the midlands area.