Fishing in Ireland

[Guest largeshark]

If anyone has any advice and tips for coarse angling in Ireland please let me know.

I am off to Co.Clare in mid May for any coarse fish and lure/spinning for Pike. Are there any specific baits I should take and what is available over there?

[Guest Gaz]

Originally posted by largeshark:

If anyone has any advice and tips for coarse angling in Ireland please let me know.

I am off to Co.Clare in mid May for any coarse fish and lure/spinning for Pike. Are there any specific baits I should take and what is available over there?

 

HI there

I live in co Down in N Ireland and although I have never fished co Clare I fish the Bann and about every other week I go to Co Monaghan. My advice would be to use several different baits as it will depend alot on what the pike are feeding on.I would start off probably with joey mackeral or herring they generally get good results anywhere I have been.If these are slow try a coarse fish like roach. I would normally fish one sea bait and one coarse untill I find what they prefer.If there is alot of eels in the system you won't go far wrong with eel sections.You should be able to buy all these baits frozen quite easily. As for lures I always find a big copper spoon invaluable but you will find that almost any imitation will do. Hope I have been of help enjoy your trip. Gaz

[Guest largeshark]

Thanks for the info. I shall give variose baits a try but my specality is lure fishing for the Pike. As for coarse Tench Carp and Bream are my favourites.

Glad to see you support the real rugby.

Tight lines and thanks again for the tips.

Tim

:> )

Originally posted by Gaz:

HI there

I live in co Down in N Ireland and although I have never fished co Clare I fish the Bann and about every other week I go to Co Monaghan. My advice would be to use several different baits as it will depend alot on what the pike are feeding on.I would start off probably with joey mackeral or herring they generally get good results anywhere I have been.If these are slow try a coarse fish like roach. I would normally fish one sea bait and one coarse untill I find what they prefer.If there is alot of eels in the system you won't go far wrong with eel sections.You should be able to buy all these baits frozen quite easily. As for lures I always find a big copper spoon invaluable but you will find that almost any imitation will do. Hope I have been of help enjoy your trip. Gaz

[Guest slimey_trousers]

i fished in clare on doon lake and on the shannon @ o'briens bridge nearby about 15 years ago for a week. I also fished McNamaras lake,o'b bridge. the river is not very well regarded for its coarse fishing in the lower reaches, due to pollution & cormorants etc.there are some big pike and localised large shoals of bream as well as some roach,rudd & hybrids.McN's lake holds carp rudd, tench & bream. doon lake is well regarded for its skimmer & roach fishing. I was not useed to fishing these types of venues so i caught very little, but i know good catches are possible if you do it right. i would advise you to stick to 2 or 3 areas and keep putting some bait in each for a few days as the fish usually take a few days to move onto the feed. you will need at least 1 25kg sack of brown breadcrumb if you intend to fish for bream,with some white crumb and maybe a binder(eg'pv1') if the water is deep or the fish are a long way out. to this you should add ,in order of preferance, chopped worm,casters,dead maggots,corn or anything else the fish (and this may mean a shoal of 400 big bream) will eat. there is scope for creativity here. about 5 kg of crumb & 2 pints of bait per pre baiting session is a good starting point. the main fishing method is feeder fishing and you will ideally need a rod of 11 to 13 feet capable of casting a 2 to 3 oz feeder.float fishing is generally not as productive (but more fun) and there are opportunities , especially for slider fishing. you will need a good reel with 4 to 6 lb line or braid.regarding where to fish it depends on what you are looking for but generally the area is not one for huge numbers of fish , but there are some waters holding very large fish of many species. one water i've always wanted to try is the cullaun chain of lakes near broadford.on the subject of bait suppliers tooman tackle , carrick on shannon, supply bait in the area tel (ireland)+ 43 24119. 2 more tips, to help with venue selection try to get hold of Hugh Gough's excellant 'coarse fishing in ireland' book or failing that the central fisheries boards 'coarse angling' paperback guide.the other tip is to practice the methods you are likely to use on a venue naer you , so you know before you get here if something doesnt work and you can buy anything you need before you get here. also the shannon regional fisheries board have a web site www.shannon-fisheries-board.ie. i hope you do better than i did when i went there, but then again i didn't have all this good advice! oh and watch out for the eels (barbless hooks help and dont leave home without a slamo disgorger).another source of good info who will probably be able to put you in touch with someone local is paul harris, the irish tourist board's angling specialist tel(uk) 0788 833203. good luck.