The
annual Leixlip Anglers pike competition was held on Sunday 29th November
following a night of torrential rain. The Rye river at Carton House was running
high and dirty. Despite the constant rain on the morning almost thirty anglers
turned up and a stoic good humour was evident. Donal Connolly had the burgers
and sausages ready at 1pm and I don't think they were ever more welcome. The
committee decided to call off the competition as no pike were caught.
3
The
above two flies ( Green Peter and Hawthorn) have been fished to great effect in
the last few years by one of our members. John will demonstrate how to tie
these flies in the next two fly tying sessions. This is done in a spirit of
sharing knowledge and is a great credit to members of Leixlip & District
Angling Association. As usual there is a great atmosphere at the fly tying this
year and we would encourage all members to drop in and have a chat.
The
third fly was tied by Michael Callaghan. Michael had good success with it on
the Rye and the Liffey from April right through the season.
The second fly is a very successful fly for John Brennan. John uses it all the
time from May onwards especially during a BWO hatch.
Hugh Bassett had great success on Lough Ree with the detached mayfly pattern.
It does well fished dry on a wave. Hugh landed fish up to four pounds with this
fly.
The last
chance competition was held on a day with glorious sunshine in mid September.
Everyone was in great spirits (no, they were not in the bar that morning) and
everyone was eager to get going. Even Donal Connolly, a man not known to get
started on time, was waiting for the off. The morning proved to be the best
time to bag a fish and many anglers had some success before it was time for the
fry up at the pump house.
For me
September is something of an enigma. Much of what has been written about river
fishing in September does not tally with my experience. One of the problems may
be that, traditionally, I think of the evening as a time for spinners, the
egg-laying females, and so often miss the obvious - a hatch of duns. There will
be throughout September as a whole, one key factor and route to success for me
I hope: observation - look before you cast.
This
year's Green Peter competition will be held on Lough Owel as usual. We will
hire boats from Jack Doolan. However this year there are no engines available.
Don't worry if you do not have an engine and want to fish this competition.
Many of the members have engines and you will not have a problem. The lads are
meeting on Saturday at 6.30 pm at the lake shore. Fishing will be from 7.00 -
11.00 pm. Don't forget to bring a light.
The
Intel Trophy fishing competition took place on Friday 12th June. Members met at
the Intel north west car park at 7.15pm and fished to 11pm. The water level was
good and the river was in fine condition. Most of the members used dryfly to
fish this competition but Brian Coffey used a sedge pupa very effectively. This
competition was based on the biggest bag/overall length of fish. Only trout
over 8 inches counted. Catch and release operated during the competition.
10
The
Festival Angling competition was held on Friday 29th May and anglers enjoyed an
evening fishing on the Rye and on the Liffey at Leixlip. Especially welcome
were new members who wished to learn more about the local fishing. The anglers
were not put off by the word competition as this was more of a social event
where the main focus was to have a bit of fun. This years winner was Brendan O'Reilly.
Lough
Ennel is a beautiful lake stuffed with large fish but they usually remain on
the bottom. Sometimes they will come to the surface late in the evening if
there is a hatch to entice them up. The buzzer hatch is fairly consistent
throughout the season and sometimes, given the corrrect conditions, they will
"ballup" late in the evenings. This mating ritual will often entice
the bigger fish up.
Leixlip
Anglers fished the Rye Water behind Intel on Sunday. There were fish rising all
morning and despite the bright sunshine many of them were landed and released.
Single barbless hooks were the order of the day and fish were caught and
released with great care. The successful flys were the knotted black midge and
many fish took the much larger hawthorn. I was informed by Barry, one of our
members, that he came upon a group netting the river near the aqueduct in early
May.
Ten
Members of the flytying forum organised a trip to Corrib to fish the duckfly
hatch. We fished out of Cornnamona on Saturday 18th April. The sky was blue
with only a slight wind. Despite fishing all day we managed to land only two
fish. Both had been feeding on buzzer pupae quite deep down. We stayed in
Burke's of Clonbur and had a lovely evening. The food was above average and the
atmosphere was congenial.
One of
Leixlip Anglers' boats is on Lough Lene, Collinstown, Co. Westmeath. The season
starts with large hatches of Duckfly in April, (though some fly fishers can be
seen on the lake from the 1st March ). After the duckfly there are hatches of
olives. During the day in July and August Mayfly can be seen hatching and as
the sun sets the large sedges ( Green Peters & Murroughs) that Lough Lene
was once famous for may begin to hatch.
The fly
tying forum is held every Thursday evening at St Mary's GAA Club in Leixlip at
8pm. This is a relaxed fly tying environment where the novice will receive
advice and assistance and where the more experienced fly tyer will have an
opportunity to discuss the whole topic of matching the hatch and much more. The
forum is free and members are welcome at any time. The forum is finished for
now but will resume in November.
The day
was perfect. The water lever was just right but nobody told the fish. Perhaps
they smelled the sausages, bacon and burgers and knew that Leixlip Anglers had
awakened from their winter slumber. It wasn't warm enough for swimming but that
was not to deter one angler in search of that elusive big fish. All legal
methods were used but some felt Martin went too far when he was spotted with a
automatic handgun. His explanation was eventually accepted when he produced the
garda signature. This years event was won by Jason Nolan with a fine trout of
14 ½ inches.
The
venue for the pike competition was Carton Estate. It was another fantastic
competition but no one expected a repeat of the wonderful fishing of 2007. A
record number (for Leixlip Anglers) of large pike were caught in 2007 in Carton
Lake. The lucky winner this year was Martin Murray. Emma Brennan took the prize
for the juniors.
What a
great competition. Who could have believed so many large pike would have been
caught. Even the Leixlip Recorder was unable to record all the fish and Noel
O'Callaghan was nearly overlooked. The trophy was won by Tom Connolly.
The
Leixlip Festival Competition was won by Roy Sanderson. The competition was
fished on the Rye and the Liffey. The Liffey was in flood and produced no fish.
Roy fished the Rye and caught a good trout. The catch and release rule was
suspended for the competition only but Roy was reluctant to kill the trout. He
took a photograph of the fish and quickly returned it to the river. The anglers
fishing the competition were delighted that Roy won and celebrations continued
in the Salmon leap pub.
The
annual club trip to the Corrib was a great social occasion again this year. The
main group arrived in Oughterard on Friday while a few adventurous anglers went
out from Ashford Castle. Good sport was had and many anglers caught fish. There
were many great stories to share in the Boat Inn that evening. Weather
conditions on the lake were ok on Saturday but there was a northerly wind and
mayfly were scarse. Despite the conditions Packie Hughes bagged a good fish.
The Rye
River underwent extensive rehabilitation in 2005. The work was carried out for
Leixlip and District Angling Association and was funded by Intel and Kelt. Dr.
Martin O'Grady from the Central Fisheries Board designed the enhancement
programme; the overall objective was the improvement of the quality of the
river as a salmon and trout fishery. The first phase involved pruning the
excess shrubbery along the riverbank from the aqueduct downstream to Leixlip
village.
Leixlip
Anglers having a welcome break during the Last Chance competition fished on
Lough Ennel 18th September 2005
John Brennan presents a
trophy to Eoin Hughes winner of the fur and feather pike competition 2005
