no bream in lough Ree

hiddenmongoose

For the past two years Im finding it harder and harder to get a bag of bream in lough Ree(inner lake in particular).It used be easy get a net full(80 -100lbs)
But not anymore,hard now even get a fish over 3-4lb anyone else fishing lough Ree notice this ?

jkchambers

hiddenmongoose wrote: »

For the past two years Im finding it harder and harder to get a bag of bream in lough Ree(inner lake in particular).It used be easy get a net full(80 -100lbs)
But not anymore,hard now even get a fish over 3-4lb anyone else fishing lough Ree notice this ?

I dont fish for bream myself. However, several bream anglers I have been talking to have told me that once water clarity improves with the introduction of zebra mussels bream move out into deeper , darker water during the day but do come in at night when good bags can be caught. Zebras have been in Lough Ree a long time now so if you are only noticing a lack of bream in the last 2 years water clarity may not be the issue. Have you tried night fishing ?

hiddenmongoose

jkchambers wrote: »

I dont fish for bream myself. However, several bream anglers I have been talking to have told me that once water clarity improves with the introduction of zebra mussels bream move out into deeper , darker water during the day but do come in at night when good bags can be caught. Zebras have been in Lough Ree a long time now so if you are only noticing a lack of bream in the last 2 years water clarity may not be the issue. Have you tried night fishing ?

Ya Iv tried night fishing and it made no difference.Iv fished 4 or 5 spots that always produced big bags of 5lb plus fish when baited, These spots were allways guarnteed to produce as long as you baited them.last 2 years....nothing worth talking about.On the other hand tench numbers are up for me in these spots?

jkchambers

hiddenmongoose wrote: »

Ya Iv tried night fishing and it made no difference.Iv fished 4 or 5 spots that always produced big bags of 5lb plus fish when baited, These spots were allways guarnteed to produce as long as you baited them.last 2 years....nothing worth talking about.On the other hand tench numbers are up for me in these spots?

I will ask some coarse anglers I know in the area. A long, long time ago I used to fish some ponds there and used to catch super quality rudd. They are probably long gone

hiddenmongoose

jkchambers wrote: »

I will ask some coarse anglers I know in the area. A long, long time ago I used to fish some ponds there and used to catch super quality rudd. They are probably long gone

I could give a good stab at what ponds you are on about.still some good rudd to be had but not as many big ones as there used to be a few years back.those ponds are stuffed with quality tench though

jkchambers

hiddenmongoose wrote: »

I could give a good stab at what ponds you are on about.still some good rudd to be had but not as many big ones as there used to be a few years back.those ponds are stuffed with quality tench though

Good to hear they havent been cleaned out

pheasant tail

Same story all over the Erne. Far more likely to pick up random tench now on a feeder than a bream. Also a big increase in hybrid numbers over the last 10 years, is this the story on Ree? Could be loosing our bream..

bpmurray

I haven't fished around there in years, but on the Shannon by Burgess Park in Athlone, near the weir, used to be a really good spot. Are they gone from there too?

hiddenmongoose

bpmurray wrote: »

I haven't fished around there in years, but on the Shannon by Burgess Park in Athlone, near the weir, used to be a really good spot. Are they gone from there too?

Havent fished the weir or the meadows in a couple of years myself so not sure

DVD-Lots

I do see a big shoal of them near the surface in the evenings if it's calm patrolling up and down the bank near my gaff (not going to disclose exact location here) and there would be loads of big roach in there too. I've only caught 1 from the bank (by accident, worm floating for perch!), it was about 3lb, but the main shoal rarely comes close enough to me for any decent chances. The bank is full of reeds so the only access would be on some private land about 200 yards up from me. So what I'm saying is that there are some good coarse fishing spots out there, access would be the main issue I'd say.

demanufactured

DVD-Lots wrote: »

I do see a big shoal of them near the surface in the evenings if it's calm patrolling up and down the bank near my gaff (not going to disclose exact location here) and there would be loads of big roach in there too. I've only caught 1 from the bank (by accident, worm floating for perch!), it was about 3lb, but the main shoal rarely comes close enough to me for any decent chances. The bank is full of reeds so the only access would be on some private land about 200 yards up from me. So what I'm saying is that there are some good coarse fishing spots out there, access would be the main issue I'd say.

Would you be on for some late evening
fishing?

DVD-Lots

Good timing yah, on holidays for the next 2 weeks so we'll sort sumtin out!!!

hiddenmongoose

DVD-Lots wrote: »

Good timing yah, on holidays for the next 2 weeks so we'll sort sumtin out!!!

let us know how ye get on lads.Im going to bait up a wee spot in the inner lake that Iv had great bags from before.Il post up how it fished

Leibide

I've found a fish stocks survey report by Inland Fisheries Ireland. It dates from spring 2016. The survey shows extremely localised Bream and Rudd stocks. Bream seem to be limited to the narrow middle section of the lake and also Inny Bay at that time of year. Rudd are in the Northern section just north of Hind River and Portrunny Bay, but some in Inny Bay too. The southern section and the inner lakes are practically devoid of Bream and Rudd in Spring. Maybe it changes later in the season after spawning.

I'm going to try fishing this mighty lake for the first time myself, and I'll be sticking to the southern end of the lake where there are feck-all fish just because it's easier to get too. I've just bought a sonar you can cast from the bank. I'll let you know how I get on.