Thursday 2 April 2020

Irish fishing adventures from the past Part 4 (final) - Arva Co. Cavan

When we were in Ballyconnell West Country anglers Kev Rowles and Nigel Franks were fishing a few miles south of us in the Arva Festival.
We decided to go there the following year but pleasure fish around the area instead of going into the Festival.
We stayed at the Breffni Arms Hotel in the town which was great. What we found though and because the Festival was on we were limited as to venues. Five or more venues are used in the Festival, some have split sections i.e. over two lakes due to access.

On the first day we fished Garty Lough which is a two minute walk from the Hotel right in the centre of town. Access is again a problem but you could get 5 pegs in aside the concrete jetty. We were told the roach fishing was very good so set up wagglers.

The lake was not that deep as far as we could see as the tops of lilies could be seen flapping in the breeze. Plumbing up we had about 4 foot. Loose feeding caster and hemp brought the roach in, lovely samples averaging 12 oz, never experienced roach fishing like it. In the years that followed we always pleasure fish this lough and last year it was even better with hybrids and skimmers also showing. We have had trout as well. Speaking to locals this was the only access to to lough.

Here are some photo's of Garty from over the past 4 years......





That first year in Arva we also fished the top end of Glasshouse Lough, the deepest part and usually good for bream. We had a few but not a lot despite fishing it about 3 days on the trot.


Steve was in to bream early but they didn't stay

Gulladoo Lough narrows fished well for roach on the pole or waggler. There is a good head of bream in the lower Lough but we didn't get any.

The Breffni Arms were we stayed was also the HQ for the festival so we could see the daily results, the following year we went back and fished the Arva International Festival for the first time.

An average of 70 anglers book into this event some of them are over the week before for the Gowna Festival and also stay on for the King of Clubs the week after. It's about 130 Euro to fish the festival over the 5 days and the money is very well spread out. 
Venues over the 5 days include, Glasshouse, Gulladoo and 3 area's of the Gowna system which is huge. Last year due to high water levels some other obscure venues were added. That 1st year I did pick up a couple of sections, the 2nd year another couple and last year a Lake win. Steve and Tony have also picked up so pretty good given that some of the anglers have been going to this area for 30 years.

You do get the odd bag of bream but it's the hybrids and the roach that make up most of the weights and at times it does turn into a fish race especially on Upper Gulladoo. The pole appears to be the dominant method if the weather allows fishing at full depth for the roach and half depth for the hybrids. Last year was horrendous with strong winds and I broke my No. 8 section.

You need to average about 12 kilo per day to end up in the top 10 but to be honest Section or Lake wins more that satisfy me.

The social side of the festival is a bit quiet and you don't see that many out and about as some really take it serious. Most of the anglers are from the Nottingham and North East of England but some French and Dutch also take part. 

We are planning to return this year but have delayed booking up due to the COVID 19 situation.

That conclude's a trip down memory lane concerning my Irish Fishing Adventures, let's hope there are many more to come.

Here's some photo's from our Arva Festivals....



no dip no weigh






my first Irish tench







A few too many!!!!!


















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