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!
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