HUGH & DES: Mullingar lads Hugh Byrne and his brother Desmond were back in Mullingar last weekend for a spot of fishing. Hugh is based in Dublin and Desmond is based in Navan where he has his own dentist practice. They really enjoy their fishing and on this angling adventure we got soaked to the skin in that torrential rain that fell last Saturday shortly after lunch. It was certainly water off a ducks back as the lads rattled into some huge rainbow trout, with Desmond also managing to catch a small pike spinning on his favourite Mepps lure. We had no shelter from the rain as we trolled across Lough Lene and took some time out to dry off a little on one of the Lough Lene islands, where I took a pictured of Hugh and Desmond with there prized catch. In such angling conditions I do be a bit afraid of taking out the Nikon camera, having already lost one to water damage. Over the years we have had some underwater photographs of fish with cameras I had for this job, but these did not last the test of time.
THOMSON & FLYING PIKE: Alan Thomson had some lively pike last Sunday while doing a bit of trolling across the midlands. On the day we were trying out some new Savage Gear lures I had picked up from a friend in Dublin. The 3D Trout are very realistic. On the day our three colours worked, which were rainbow trout, perch, and Firetiger, which worked the best. We only had small pike, but they were very lively and hit our lures some slap as we trolled over weed beds.
DERRAVARAGH ANGLERS: Well done to Pat Daly of Collinstown on winning the recent Weir Cup pike competition on Derravaragh. Pat had a lovely pike of 10lbs 10oz to take top rod. Kiaran Evans was 2nd in the senior section with Eddie O’Donnell 3rd. The family day was also fished in conjunction with the Weir Cup. This was won by Elle and Pat Daly with Aine Brennan and family finishing 2nd.
WORLD CUP: The dates have being announced for the 60th World Cup Fly Fishing Championships on Lough Mask. It kicks off on Thursday July 28th and the final takes place on bank holiday Monday August 1st. It’s a Mecca for local trout experts and the prizes are mouth watering with the winner taking home a new 19ft Anglers Fancy boat, 15HP Suzuki Engine plus a Sage rod and jewelry. Closing date for entry is Friday 15th July, and Esther Sweeney will sort you out on 087-2222867. www.worldcuptroutfly.com
ROYAL CANAL: The town’s stretch of the Royal Canal has some huge shoals of coarse fishing moving through the system at the moment and canal walkers are surprised with the number of fish showing on the surface. Living and having grown up here in Springfield, the Royal Canal and the River Brosna was where I started my angling adventures. As usual, the River Brosna is difficult to fish with weed growth this time of year but there is no excuse for the access points to the Royal Canal. Some years back we had the new tunnel and path ways put in place here in Springfield at some cost I reckon but now you would need a machete to get along the pathway to the Canal banks. The broken fence was taken down some years back for a sponsored race and never put back up. Its not just anglers that use this pathway, come September the schools reopen and many children and families take this walkway to school.