Anybody been at the rainbows...

gary29428

Anybody been fishing for rainbows recently, was thinking of going somewhere at the weekend. Is there anywhere fishing well, Curragh Springs, North Tipp, Lough Aisling or anywhere, don't mind travelling...

experimenter

Last time I was stockie bashing was at Curragh Springs, some cracking fish there..have been chasing brownies on rivers and lakes for last few weeks...

Compton

No, Stockie bashing is boring... Go get some wild fish while the seasons open.

TimMac

Each to their own I find stockie bashing quite enjoyable on light fly tackle when the river is low!
I fish the SWRFB fisheries and they are stocking some nice rainbows at the moment, diont know if thats any help.

gary29428

shblob, I live 5mins from Corrib and am on it a few times a week, believe me a few hours at the stockies is well earned....

DVD-Lots

Was at Cloghan about 5 weeks ago and it is dead, they dredged most of the weed out so little or no fly life now, avoid for a while at least.

Was on Pallas last week, also dead, not 1 rise did I see but plenty of small pike about 6-10 inches long. Don't know if that has anything to do with it or if it just hasn't been stocked in a while.

Was at Aisling 3 weeks ago and it was poor by usual standards, 3 fish that took a good while to get. I know Joe tried mixing coarse fish into the trout lake (my mate caught a couple of roach while we were there!) so maybe that has affected them.

I think Curragh Springs might be your best bet for now, even if you only get 2 or 3 fish they are usually crackers and worth the trip. :P

jett

The stocked lakes had fewer fish. But stocked at 2-3 lb.
A couple like that hard fished for over say 4 hours or more are much better than the cruelty involved in mindless stockie bashing.
Owners are missguided by thinking anglers want any fish and lots of them.
It also gives begginers the wrong attitude to the sport.
If anythings easy it aint worth doing.

Daroxtar

DVD-Lots wrote: »

Was at Aisling 3 weeks ago and it was poor by usual standards, 3 fish that took a good while to get. I know Joe tried mixing coarse fish into the trout lake (my mate caught a couple of roach while we were there!) so maybe that has affected them.

Not roach, Rudd. They're little hoors for taking your fly in close to the rushes. He put them in a couple of years back as food for the trout so I don't think its made the place any worse, you might have just had a bad day there. I always have a few fry imitations with me for when there's no take on insects. Minkies usually do the trick. The water was very warm a few weeks back when I went over and I found it hard fishing myself.

Having said that I fished there last week and got 8, all on small gold head nymphs. Joe said he had just put a hundred fresh fish into it to liven it up a bit, half of them brownies. Must have worked because there were a lot of fish rising all over the lake.


The browns really are lovely looking golden fish, a nich change from the rainbows. Different fight off them too, the ones I caught were jumping clear and thrashing like mad as opposed to the deep runs from the rainbows. Surprised at that too because I've often found stocked browns to be really poor fighters


I'm actually going over again tomorrow for a few hours so I'll let you know how it goes. Its a blessing and a curse combined being only 20 minutes over the road from it, especially now that my local stretch of the Boyne is almost unfishable with weeds.

coolwings

The rudd in lough Aisling have a dual advantage.

On the one hand you can catch a beautiful red finned silvery green backed rudd on a small fly. This gives an added pleasure to the lake.

On the other hand, they become a forage fish for the larger fish in there, keeping the biggest fish in good condition, and allowing them to over winter which is something stocked fish do badly.
The result is the really big fish are well fed predators, and very difficult to tempt, and not like stockies at all.
Often at failing light you will see an attack on the rudd take place near the edge, and you wish you had a 3 inch minkie on a 10lbs leader instead of the nymphs the average 1-3 pounders are more interested in.

Daroxtar

coolwings wrote: »

The rudd in lough Aisling have a dual advantage.

On the one hand you can catch a beautiful red finned silvery green backed rudd on a small fly. This gives an added pleasure to the lake.

On the other hand, they become a forage fish for the larger fish in there, keeping the biggest fish in good condition, and allowing them to over winter which is something stocked fish do badly.
The result is the really big fish are well fed predators, and very difficult to tempt, and not like stockies at all.
Often at failing light you will see an attack on the rudd take place near the edge, and you wish you had a 3 inch minkie on a 10lbs leader instead of the nymphs the average 1-3 pounders are more interested in.

Oh how I love that big bow wave racing towards the reeds. Impending doom!!

BoarHunter

Question : Is there Stocked Grayling fisheries ? I use to fish them back in France and they were mighty fighters

Compton

Never heard of it here BoarHunter.. Never caught one myself but would love to. A wild one though, from a river.

BoarHunter

Ya i fished them in a river in the east of France. Great power in them. See the dorsal fin ...

experimenter

DVD-Lots wrote: »

Was at Aisling 3 weeks ago and it was poor by usual standards, 3 fish that took a good while to get. I know Joe tried mixing coarse fish into the trout lake (my mate caught a couple of roach while we were there!) so maybe that has affected them.

God I hope this is not the big lake, if it is, that would a disaster!!!!!:mad::mad:

coolwings

Daroxtar wrote: »

Oh how I love that big bow wave racing towards the reeds. Impending doom!!

Ever make contact with one of those? (I haven't, so far.)

DVD-Lots

coolwings wrote: »

Ever make contact with one of those? (I haven't, so far.)

Pulled a lovely 4lber out last year, was a slab of a fish, but that's about the biggest I've seen firsthand. That's why I do prefer Aisling because he has some big fish in there that are catchable, Cloghan and Pallas would max out at about 3lb (but i did see a mate lose his leader to a monster 5/6lb+ beast that took off like a freight train, he still claims it was over 10lb but never saw it fully so.... :rolleyes: )

Might just try Cloghan this weekend to see if it has improved at all and as it's only 20mins away, Aisling is 40mins and I hates to waste time in the car....

Daroxtar

coolwings wrote: »

Ever make contact with one of those? (I haven't, so far.)

Took a beaut of 6lb in Maynooth last year, he hit the fly turned and came back. I was just about to lift it out when I saw him turn.... Heart in mouth stuff .

bitemybanger

Here is an excellent review of Lough Aisling from last year by DVD-lots.

bayliner

DVD-Lots wrote: »

Might just try Cloghan this weekend to see if it has improved at all and as it's only 20mins away, Aisling is 40mins and I hates to waste time in the car....

a few of us went over there last sunday, and caught a few here and there the best was 2lb 7oz, there was one guy there and he caught near 20 fish i would say, using wets the guys were saying, i was down the other end of the lake:rolleyes::rolleyes:..
we averaged 2 or 3 fish each,roughly

TimMac

I believe theyre only a coarse fishery now pity was looking forward to bringing the godson during the summer holidays

Daroxtar wrote: »

Took a beaut of 6lb in Maynooth last year, he hit the fly turned and came back. I was just about to lift it out when I saw him turn.... Heart in mouth stuff .

Daroxtar

TimMac wrote: »

I believe theyre only a course fishery now pity was looking forward to bringing the godson during the summer holidays

Ya, they closed the main fly lake and turned it into a Match lake

Compton

Daroxtar wrote: »

Ya, they closed the main fly lake and turned it into a Match lake

the fly lake was dead anyway. overgrown, lots of rainbows dying etc.. happy i never renewed the membership

gary29428

Just seen the weather for Friday, calm and clear so will head back to the Mask and go after the Ferox, had one last weekend just under 12lb. Will stick it up on U-tube when I get the chance. Still haven't spoken to anyone who has fished the place near Portumna, North Tipp angling center, seems to be a bit of an unknown. Looks the most natural of a lot of the rainbow lakes, wonder why it doesn't seem to be very popular.

Compton

location maybe? most people that would fish these type of fisheries would be from urban areas most likely?

Compton

And good luck with the ferox, they are an excellent fish