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.