Well, you asked for it lads! So if I bore you, please switch off LOL, It’s easier than the telly with a mouse.

I sometimes wonder, as I am sure we all must do, what motivates the other guy?
What’s different about the way he feels about fishing? 
How does he view what I do? With contempt? ‘cos I’m not a big fish man and not dedicated enough to target 30lb carp, or sit for hours freezing after dark for a Specimen rarity?
Does the pure matchman understand my loss of speed, dexterity and sheer fear of drawing a remote inaccessible peg, that would kill me to get to it, cause me to leave the vital bit of extra kit behind (you always need it!) and be set up 1hour behind the whistle.
Or does everyone understand my sheer pleasure in fishing and the total package that comes with it?

The luck I have, when someone like Esox teaches me a new skill. And it works?

The pleasure I have in setting up pure, dedicated Carp Pod special rods, even though I may only be in with the chance of a fish that most guys would catch on the Pole?

The Pleasure I have in sharing days, watching others catch and seeing their satisfaction.
The deftness with which they set up rigs, their knowledge of what to do and their shared laughter and craic, when it goes wrong! As around me it invariably does.
The joy that you all express in the Nature, open air venues and learning, witnessing, feeling more alive and living deeper, stronger, truer, happier lives, even if it is for short periods of time before the daily routine rears its ugly head again and forces us from the waterside.

Therefore, I cannot help feel truly fortunate, that circumstances have forced me into doing something I really feel at ease with and the opportunity to truly live has allowed me to experience things I could only have imagined and peace and contentment that I could never before have aspired to.
It’s the whole Package for me and nowhere more so than in Ireland.

Not for Ireland the Wraysbury Tales of stolen kit whilst taking bait out in a boat!
No “Fish in pairs” to avoid Canal muggers!
No Bivvy alarm salesmen, No Syndicate barred waters and a People that wave at every car, say “How’re you doing” as they pass in the road and welcome you with a greeting, a smile and a conversation in every walk of life.

Yes, in England we enjoy the nature, but over there, the people are also part of that nature.
It makes it all so much more complete.

So, It was with great excitement that I set off on April 6th at 3.00 am, with my son Simon in convoy, fresh over from Germany where he lives and loaded with both new kit and a new 23 year old German girlfriend, who must have wondered at these mad Englishmen going on a 250 mile drive to a foreign country, to fish!

The curse stayed unusually quiet during the 175-mile drive to Holyhead, but on arrival, decided to have a go and brought up a wind from the East, that surprisingly caused the Skipper of Irish Ferries Dublin Swift (The new Fast crosser of their fleet at 99 mins.) to forgo his sailing!

There we were at 8.30 am, faced with waiting ‘til 3.30 pm for the floating Giant, “Ulysees”
And then the curse relented.
Stena line, sailing to Dun Loaghaire, again a high speed 90 minute crossing, was going to risk it, offered Irish Ferries the spare spaces and we only had about 10 extra road miles added to the journey.
So, amazingly, we made the crossing and arrived in good time, safe and with vouchers for £100 off the next trip, plus 4 complimentary meals!!
Now you see why I love Ireland, even the curse has problems fighting the Leprechauns!

How can I describe Eonish Lodge in County Cavan?

Firstly Geraldine and Sean O’Reilly cannot do enough for you!
Sean had collected our bait (8 gallons red and white maggots, 4 of casters, 2 sacks Brown Ground bait and a ½ mixture for prebaiting!)
This ½ mixture (1/2 sack groundbait,1/2 gallon maggots,1/2 gallon casters) He had mixed and then rowed out to 4 swims on Friday night and fed them accurately!

Geraldine, just having gone through the trauma of chemo/radio and surgery, prior to our last visit in August last year, greeted us with open arms, hair grown back! And thankfully, the all clear from her latest tests.
Her experiences have taught her even more to care and live for today.

My son Greg from Northern Ireland had already arrived, with his friend Dean and they had sorted out our accommodation. Sadly, Chris, his wife, was tied up at the News shop she owns, 120 miles away in Derry and could only join us for 1 night.
So the 5 bedrooms House that was for the 6 of us now, was welcoming, comfortable, functional (with 3 bait fridges in the Garage, a Drying room and everything bar a dishwasher, which I’d brought myself!)
And the price! For that early week was 318 Euro, or well less than £200!
Geraldine and Sean can be contacted by E-Mail, eonishlodge@eircom.net or phone (00353)49-4334487

Here’s the House, looking back from the Swims!
Fall out of bed, down the path and pick up your kit, ready made up from where you abandoned it last night!

After visiting our old friends the Hayes brothers in Killashandra on the Saturday night, testing Guinness for Martin, It was a lonely walk for me at 6.00 am as 1st light broke on Sunday morning!
However, the other 3 made it by 9.30, by which time I’d had over a dozen fish!

I, in 1985, spent 17 days in August in Eire and it rained every day!
Here on 7th April, I was faced with a totally flat Lake, the sun clearing away a little mist and a Brand New Polaris Sidewinder to beat difficult wind conditions!
I’d bought the damn thing, so perversely, I’d set it up, just on a bomb, with 8lb braid, a15ft 5lb shock leader and 2lb, 4ft hook length, with an 18 hook.
Second cast and an 8oz Roach gave me the excuse to set up my keep net!
Clean, fit and sparkling in the sun, the Roach was an indication of what we all would find every day!
As the boys shook off their hangovers they arrived and dropped into the nearest pegs.
Me, being 1st was on the left, followed by Greg, Simon and finally Dean.
Perhaps I was up 1st as subconsciously I was worried about the car!
Seeing as how on arrival home, I failed to spot that Sean had dug out a garden below the House Drive and I had driven over the edge, leaving the car resting on the wheel arches, with the front drive wheels suspended helplessly over a 3ft drop.
“Nothing a tractor bucket can’t lift out”, the boys assured me, and so that evening it proved, as Sean quickly lifted and then lowered me back level and made a joke of the 6ft semicircle I’d smashed out of his new asphalt drive! Love the laid back Irish, but I must remember even Leprechauns sleep at times and the Curse was waiting!

Lough Oughter is part of the Erne system and covers 3000 acres!
It is water that you would think would be hard to find fish in, but, probably because of the pre-baiting, we were to find fish ever present.


Here’s the view from our swims

Left

Front

Right

The Herons were ever present, soaring and gliding up and down the Lake, Grebes were in evidence, but only once, briefly did we spot the dreaded Cormorant!

Chaffinches in particular begged maggots, a hare came running by on the bank, but didn’t stay long when he spotted Danny the resident dog, but the most unusual visitor was a jet black mink that suddenly turned up 10 ft behind my peg, lifted his front up for a quick look round, and then looped off back from whence he came!

Here’s a poor picture of the Heron who kept me company!

We fished the bomb on Polaris and Quiver, Float fished heavy wagglers at the 30 to 40 metres and Greg tried a Slide Lock float ledger at 50 metres, in 16 ft of water.
We caught on every method and the only disappointment was that the Roach best were just around the 1lb mark and the Bream, which were scarce in my peg! Between 1 and 2lb.
Perch to ½ a lb kept us occupied as well, and we resolved, because o the quantity, to empty the keep nets every 5 hours.

Here’s a typical net with Greg and Dean, Simon and Greg caught well, Dean and I were not as fruitful on the end pegs!

Being on the outside swims, both Dean and I set up a Pike rod, without too much expectation, as the water was Crystal clear and we couldn’t cast to the baitfish zone. 

At about 3.00, some real excitement came from my right!
Whilst reeling in a small Roach, Dean had found his fish snatched by a Pike!
3lb bottom and 16 hook! That caused some anxious moments, but after about 10 minutes, he landed this cracking fish, which weighed 9 lbs.
By 3.15, on the 1st day, Dean had made his week and we were all pleased for him

We enjoyed the fishing so much that we stayed on those pegs for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday!
The lads’ fished night floats until 10.30, but it was too cold for me, so I went into Killashandra for a warm!
On the 2nd day, we discovered that after pre-baiting from the boat again, the fish didn’t scare off by the use of the feeder, so we all changed from bombs to feeders and improved the catch rate! The damn place is an Aquarium!
We caught in slight breezes, absolute flat calm and the air temperature got as high as 80degs F, 
In April in Ireland! Unbelievable!

It was hard to decide to desert those swims, because they were prolific, fun and so convenient!
We deserted our kit every night when we finished, got down at 1st light (the mornings were cold) and picked it up ready just by filling a feeder and baiting the hook! Lovely!
However, I had been given several areas to fish on MDs, so we decided to try Wednesday and Thursday in different places.
I’ll write those up tomorrow

Cheers 

Trev