GRIFFERTY AND FLANAGAN: Yes F is for fish and also for Flanagan. Recently my nephew Cathal Flanagan was out on Owel with his other Uncle, well known angler and hurler Damian Grifferty. The lads worked lures for a few hours in search of pike and came up trumps with some nice pike. Damian had the best pike, which had recently spawned, as its tail was chopped to pieces by jack pike. Later in the day Damian and Cathal switched tactics and did a few hours trolling for trout. This also proved productive and they had some lovely trout.
ROCHFORTBRIDGE ANGLERS: Staying with Owel, some of our top anglers from Rochfortbridge were in action on Owel. Kevin Morgan caught and released a beautiful trout while fishing with his pal Dylan Hanrahan. Also out on Owel were Darren Hogan and Peter Carroll, also of Rochfortbridge. The lads previously featured in March 2019 with some fine Owel trout and it was their first outing on Owel in 2020. They really produced the goods and Darren had a few new magic lures that the Owel trout have really taken a shine to.
PEPPARD FROM TRIM: Over the last number of years I have met some wonderful characters’ on the Angling & Shooting scene and Jack Peppard from Trim is up there with the best. Jack actually worked for years in the Office of Public Works with my late Uncle, Pat Keenaghan. Jack was on the Whitelake recently and boated a huge brown trout of 5lbs 14oz. All going well, I will meet up with Jack on Lough Lene in the coming weeks and we will have a great chat about fishing, shooting’s last season and of course our working dogs.
JENNIFER MCMULLAN AND PIKE: Recently Thomas McMullan of Maxol Oil was back in the Midlands and took his daughter Jennifer out for a days pike fishing. The venue was Derravaragh and the mighty River Inny, with the lake and river remaining savage high. As you are heading through the Roach Hole to get into the Inny, you could very easily cross over fields as they are flooded. Even though the water was quite clear, the pike were very reluctant to take lures or fly on the day. Jennifer saved the day and actually landed two pike trolling up the Inny, heading back to Donore Shore.
PERCH ON THE GARDEN OLIVE: Yep, a very wise old fisherman, sadly not with us now, once told me that no freshwater fish would refuse a worm. Well the humble worm, also known as the Garden Olive, worked a treat on the Ennell Perch last week. At the moment Duck Fly are hatching on Ennell and the Ennell Perch are taking advantage of this food bonanza. The Duck Fly hatch out in deep water and I am getting plenty of action in 40-60ft of water when I locate the feeding fish. Some of the brightly colored fly type lures you use early in the season for brown and rainbow trout also work well this time of year and ideally you need calm conditions for perch fishing this time of year. Some of my preferred perch rubber jigs simply would not interest the perch last week and I have found that out now that Green is the New Black. I will publish this Green Lure in next weeks Angling Focus, which I picked up in Wild Total Outdoors. Watch this space.
