Not long after I joined the GPO as a Postman back in 1978 I became aware that they had an Angling Club (perhaps I'll do a blog about that in the near future). I didn't have a car at that point but the Secretary at the time Owen Edwards would give me a lift to the monthly competitions. It was a great Club and I made quite a few friends some of which I keep in touch with to the present day.
In the mid to late 80's, two of them Mike Endicott and Dale Oldland (Dale worked at Comet but relations / friends of members could also join) had made a few visits to Ireland for a weeks fishing staying at a B & B in Bailieborough Co. Cavan. Personally I had never heard of the place but I was assured the fishing was very good.
Come the 15th March to the 16th June there was a full close season in them days for coarse fishing i.e. no option to fish still water or canals like we do now (with the exception of the current COVID 19 situation). Mike and Dale usually went in late May.
My regular fishing mate Kevin Brown aka ''Brownie'' and I decided we would join them one year.
Well known Bristol match angler Ray Bazeley who worked part time in Veals Fishing Tackle shop at the time also ran an angling tour company in partnership with Mike Salisbury the owner called Topline Tours and it was through them that we booked our trip.
Mike and Dale must have travelled by car when they went on their own but because there were four of us we decided to hire a van. I hired one locally, it was some sort of Toyota with the gear change on a stick coming out of the steering wheel. It wasn't that big with 3 seats in the front but done the job as one of us travelled in the back (not sure that was legal at the time). Equipment wise we only had a seat box (plastic Shakespheare type) each, a rod holdall (one float rod and one tip rod plus bank sticks and landing net handle), a carryall plus a keepnet, waders and clothes.
Setting off on the Friday evening I picked "Brownie" up first and I always remember Val his long suffering partner helping him carry his tackle out to the van and then having words with him as he had taken the washing up bowl to mix his ground bait up in!
After two more pick ups we set off to Holyhead to catch the 3 a.m Saturday morning sailing to Dublin via the A5 after coming off the M42 Motorway stopping for a couple of pints before the pubs shut. I couldn't do that now and back then we had been at work all day as well! The song The Long and Winding Road springs to mind as that what it was up through mid to north Wales.
Arriving at the Holyhead Ferry Terminal (after stopping for a snack in an all night garage plus a few pee's in the hedge) there were numerous boarding lanes all full of vans and anglers, it was a great atmosphere. Lot's of Midland and Northern England accents.
I can't remember what Ferry Company it was but once on board there was more festivities due to the bar being open and a live band, yes at 3 a.m. unbelievable. In them days you could buy Duty Free and we topped up on a few things. Brownie was the only one who smoked so we bought our allowance and he bought them off us, more on that later.
When we arrived in Dublin it was a nightmare trying to get through the city, no mobiles with maps or sat nav's then and road signs were few and far between. Once you were out of the city heading up the N3 it was fine. The N3 in places was barely an ''A road'' and it took up about 2 hours to get to Virginia were I first saw the mighty Lough Ramor. We drove down to it's shore by a pub, it's now developed into the Lough Ramor Hotel. As I walked along I came across a Tackle Shop Owner from the Bedminster area of Bristol, Bob Talbot, how spooky is that. Bob and his mate were on their way back to Dublin to catch the day ferry home and he had stopped off for a bit of fishing while his mate was sleeping hung over in the van.
We carried on for another 10 miles and arrived in Bailieborough which was typical of most small Irish towns. Mike and Dale directed me up Kells Rd to our B & B called ''Drumlin" run by John and Brid Halloran. Brid gave us a very warm welcome and set about making us breakfast. John was a local police sergeant and was out on duty (just as well methinks hic!). Hearing my Northern Irish accent and Brownie informing her his mother was from Waterford ensured we instantly bonded with her.
Brownie, Mike and I
We quickly settled in and then headed down town to Raymond Lloyds to pick up our pre-ordered bait. Raymond was a real character, nothing was a problem and he dropped in the odd famous anglers name during the conversation, Frank Barlow being one of them who was also a frequent visitor to the area. Raymonds shop sold all manner of things from garden plants and equipment, fancy goods, toys, hardware and fishing tackle. If he had to do a stock take it would have taken months. Raymond was on the local Tourism Committee and down a lot to attract business to the town.
I can't remember where we went to fish first but over the week we had some great catches. We fished Lough Ramor, Skeagh, Castle and Drumkeary. The key was to fish the same swims 2 days running at least to draw the fish in on the bait.
It was a fantastic week and in the years following can't remember how many our group got bigger and one year 8 of us went in an old VW 17 seater mini bus, Still not sure how it got us there but it was cheap.
The guys who went over the years including those mentioned above were...Steve Vernon, Tony Humphries, Andy Bryant (aka Turtle because he hasn't got a neck, ex rugby player), Dale Harvey, Adrain Dennis, Leigh Wakefield, John Rowsell, Andy Hill.
I remember one year we fished Lough Ramor down in the Town section and as you looked along the line of anglers everyones rod was bent over. Big hybrids were plentiful and among them big bream. My best catch on Ramor was 109 lbs of hybrids caught on the feeder using a Silstar Traverse X rod with what must have been a 4 to 5oz built in tip (still got that rod), they were taking it off the rod rest and fought all the way to the net. The clutch actually went on my Mitchell 300 that week due to the abuse.
Ramor also had big wild brown trout in it and we used to catch loads and take them to the pub for the locals. On one occasion my tip went around and then I saw my feeder coming out of the water and a big brown trout on the hook, amazing.
That same year when we were weighing in one day a few Travellers came down and wanted the fish. I said no but to get rid of them gave them a hybrid for his fathers tea.
Me with a good bag from Ramor
One year only Steve and I went, the weather that week was awful but we were averaging 60 lbs a day.
Castle Lake did produce but only on certain pegs, Skeagh was steady enough but limitations regarding swims, Drumkeary was good but you needed to walk around to the far side through gorse were it was more productive.
One for the ladies, Brownie with a bream
We always went down to the pubs in the evening after a massive 3 course meal, there always seemed to be something going on. Although we visited most of the pubs our most frequent visits were to Kangley's and the Town and Country. Plenty of live music and talent nights plus we there there for .... and I know you're getting excited now ..... the first ever live showing of the video to Campaign for the Pot Holes to be dealt with ... doesn't get any better than that! Well it did actually, one evening when talent night was on in the Town and Country, it was a bit of a rough old pub, everyone was pissed, the guy on stage was singing Its not the leaving of Liverpool for the 3rd year running, Brownie was telling everyone at the bar his mum was from Waterford and when I asked him what he wanted to drink he said ''I'll have a Guinness and a double Jameson. Will you now I thought, so I got him a Guinness. I went to the toilet and there was a guy pissed out of his head lying in the urinal laughing while his mate was pissing on him, unbelievable. Kangley's also had the added attraction of the Irish Sun Barmaid of the Year serving.
Tony, Steve and I with one of the many pints
I have mentioned Kevin (''Brownie'') a few times now but he was a laugh on them trips. Getting back to the duty free cigarets which we got on his behalf. He was a bit of a chain smoker in them days and I rarely took a photo of him without one in his mouth, one year I believe he smoked the entire duty free allowance of how ever many there was of us. Another time we caught the day ferry across and after arriving in Holyhead early ''Brownie'' went off to the pub with a couple of others. Later that evening after coming out of the pub he was as sick as a dog bringing up his stomach contents in the gutter, he blamed it on a bad pint of Guinness from Holyhead!!!
The next morning the contents of which he deposited on the road was cleared up, Bailiborough had a Street Cleaner who was also a character and looked like Freddie Boswell from the comedy series Bread you have to be a certain age to remember that, but here's what Freddie looked like....
The normal photo of Brownie with a fag in his mouth
The police used to go around the pubs at closing time telling everyone they had to leave. John our guest house owner was on duty one night and as he came around he gave us the nodd to stay there, others went out the front door and came back in via the back lol. John did come out with us one night and we didn't get back to the B & B until the early hours he was well pissed and got the Irish Whiskey out for a night cap which must have lasted another hour or more.
Another couple of funnies......
Andy aka Turtle always used to be in a room on his own because he farted so much but he would usually come in to someone else's room before going down for breakfast, do a silent one and then leave with a smile on his face.
Tony used to share a room with Brownie who was ex RAF and later Navy. Brownie gave Tony some advice ''don't bend over me to wake me up or I might strangle you''.
Saturday morning down in the town. Farmer and his wife come to town to do the shopping in a tractor with bucket on the front like a JCB. Farmer sits in the tractor and follows the wife up and down the shops, she comes out and puts the shopping in the bucket.
Drunk guy in Dicey O'Rielly's pub one night complaining that he got caught drink driving a few days a go. Another asks him how he was getting to work, ''driving'' was the reply!
Those trips to Bailieborough were fantastic, not experienced anything like it since.
In the years that followed I travelled to Coachford Co. Cork, Ballyconnell Co. Cavan and more recently Arva Co. Cavan so more memories to come.
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