Ireland 2013

5 of us travelled to Co. Cavan again this year, we have been making these trips for nearly 30 years, we have fished a couple of Festivals in the past but these days tend to go for a bit of pleasure fishing without any pressure and .... a few pints of the black stuff. For only the 2nd time in all the years we have been going we went on the Saturday afternoon ferry from Holyhead, we just about made the boarding, approx 15 mins to spare due to slow traffic caused by a big dutch lorry on the final approach to the port. The crossing was calm, we have not had a bad one yet and we arrived in Dublin about 5 p.m headed up the N3 / M3 and arrived at the Anglers Rest, Ballyconnell 90 mins later, met Francis McGoldrick (Irish International) on arrival who greeted us with the usual warm welcome. A quick check in, great meal and then up to Molly McQuires for much merryment by way of drinking and singing with live diddly dee music, fantastic, if you have never been you really need to go.
Sunday came following a late first night (we never learn) and the storms from the North Atlantic had arrived, Francis suggested we give it a miss which we ignorned and headed down to Garadice Lough a couple of miles away and fished Church shore, this was a section in the World Pairs Match the previous week. We fished from 12:00 ish to 5 ish and did manage a few fish, I was the only one that caught a bream, the bags were mainly made up of hybrids and the weights were not that great but the weather and our condition also accounted for this!
We stuck with Garadice over the next few days and had some success even though the weather remained poor. It was not until the Wednesday that conditions improved and we headed down to Bawnboy to fish Burneky Lough, this was also included in the World Pairs, it was great to see access had been improved. Its a lovely lough but exposed if the wind gets up. I had my best results here catching 76 odd pounds of roach on the waggler. Steve and Tony also had good results fishing the tip and wag. On the last day Steve and I fished the Woodford River for a few hours before heading for the ferry in the afternoon. I fished the pole with a topper float down the middle and had a nice bag of roach, perch and hybrids to 2lb, but it was very snaggy and prevented me catching consistently. Steve and I were discussing next year and maybe fish a festival in order to motivate us more and get out of bed quicker!.... we'll see. As usual good company and a great week away, here are some pics.

Dale netting a skimmer

Turtle in action, face hidden as usual

Steve with a good mixed bag, more fish in one session than he caught fishing the Kelston matches on the Avon all last year!

Nice bag of roach on the wag for me

Plenty of water to have a go at

Me with some better fish from Garadice

Steve bringing in a roach

Turtle still not wanting his pic being taken

Friday night gig in Molly McQuires

Overall a great week away