Angling in the grand canal

zombiekiller

Royal Canal Trout

http://imageshack.com/a/img835/2899/zprn.jpg


Mod. Split several posts from the pictures thread to allow this fairly interesting discussion to continue.

exador

I didn't realise that there were trout in the canal.. What part and are they stocked by a fishing club ?

zombiekiller

Kilcock. There was a small stream running into the canal i presume thats were he came from. It was a nice suprise after the fifteenth perch.

exador

I remember as a kid (long time ago) that there were trout in the canal (GRAND CANAL) even rainbow... I never heard of any in years... nice surprise ok

Joeseph Balls

Few specimens caught in Cong canal as fair as i remember

dodderangler

exador wrote: »

I didn't realise that there were trout in the canal.. What part and are they stocked by a fishing club ?

Trout have always been in the canal just rare to get them nowadays.
People forget that years and years ago the grand canal was one of the best waters to fish in Ireland. Carp were plentiful as we're double figure pike.
Think it was the 00s that the fish numbers started depleting.
I remember in about 2003 seeing a huge pike well over 15lbs sitting near the surface watching a school of roach from a distance and that was at the drimnagh end of canal.

exador

I spent my teenage summers fishing the GRAND CANAL ...great memories,,

zombiekiller

Joeseph Balls wrote: »

Few specimens caught in Cong canal as fair as i remember

Where is that

Reedsie

dodderangler wrote: »

People forget that years and years ago the grand canal was one of the best waters to fish in Ireland. Carp were plentiful as we're double figure pike.
Think it was the 00s that the fish numbers started depleting.
I remember in about 2003 seeing a huge pike well over 15lbs sitting near the surface watching a school of roach from a distance and that was at the drimnagh end of canal.

A specimen pike of over 21lb turned up on the Grand Canal last year in one of the IFPAC qualifiers. Heard rumours of a few more too.

smashiner

Yes,I too spent many an evening on the canal at Drimnagh in the early 90's fishing for large Rudd and big Perch (2lb plus) opposite the Lyon's tea factory! That stretch used to be one of the best in the area with some decent pike too! I genuinely remember 'that 15lb pike' ,if memory serves right, it used to lurk near the Black Horse (Kelly's pub) end of the stretch and no one could catch it! Great memories, I go past there on my way to work now and I see a lot of lads with spinners and plugs" appear to be fishing for jack pike, does anyone know if the stretch is making a small comeback?

Joeseph Balls

zombiekiller wrote: »

Where is that

Cong is in Mayo, I think.
My uncle got in the specimen book a few years back for two Ling I think.
Flicked through the book as ya do and remember seeing trout entries from Cong canal.

zombiekiller

Trout taken from the cong canal which i read is between lough corrib and lough mask.

Joeseph Balls

zombiekiller wrote: »

Trout taken from the cong canal which i read is between lough corrib and lough mask.

So its a canal joining two lakes. Thats different than the Grand or Royal Canal trout so.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Joeseph Balls wrote: »

So its a canal joining two lakes. Thats different than the Grand or Royal Canal trout so.

My understanding is that it is not a canal at all. It was build as one but failed, as it would not hold water. It is now just a drainage channel where water depth varies greatly by season. As you say, this is a completely different prospect from an angling point of view to the Grand or Royal canals.

zombiekiller

Yeah it was built on pourous limestone. Heres a link with info and some nice pictures.

http://irishwaterwayshistory.com/abandoned-or-little-used-irish-waterways/waterways-of-the-west/the-cong-canal/

Flysfisher

zombiekiller wrote: »

Trout taken from the cong canal which i read is between lough corrib and lough mask.

This was the cong river, not to be confused with the 'canal'

Bio Mech

Flysfisher wrote: »

This was the cong river, not to be confused with the 'canal'

Bottom left of that picture. "Crap this net is too small. Get the big round one"