The Arva Festival has had a couple of years break due to COVID and I was really looking forward to getting back on the Lough's around Arva (aka Arvagh).
4 of us travelled over on the Saturday before in 2 vehicles and took the Ferry from Holyhead to Dublin arriving at the Breffni Arms Hotel in Arva around 19:30.
A quick check on the advanced bait order and unpack the bags then it was straight into the bar for a few pints of the black stuff and a home made chicken curry, half rice and chips which is traditional.
Three of us fishing the Festival also paid our entrance fee.
The Breffni Arms is the HQ for the Festival i.e. Fee's / Pools, Draw, Daily Results and Presentation.
The Festival usually attracts around 75 anglers but numbers were lower this year (63).
I was in bed by around 23:00 as I had been up since 04:00.
07:30 the next morning it was up and down to a full Irish breakfast before we headed off to have a chill pleasure fishing session on Carrigallen Town Lake a few miles from Arva.
It's lovely venue with quite a few platforms and holds plenty of tench, bream, roach, hybrids and perch.
I opted to go to the furthest peg away from the car park and just set up one rig on the pole. A 1 gram float with a size 16 feeder hook to 0.14, a number 8 elastic was through my match top 3.
I plumbed up at 13 metres and had around 6 foot of water to my left and right so fed 2 spots with chopped worm and caster about 10 metres apart. Maggot on the hook only attracted small perch or small roach. A switch to double caster or corn brought me 6 tench and plenty of skimmers for just over 29lbs.
Tony had a lovely day on the caster and pole catching 7 big tench and some bits for 22lb.
Steve managed one tench and bits for 9lbs.
Andy didn't trouble the scales too much as he was after specimen tench on the meat (Irish Tench don't like spam lol).
It was back to the Breffni then for more Guinness, food and then the van draw on the evening prior to the peg draw the following day.
As Andy wasn't fishing the Festival Tony, Steve and myself were travelling 3 up so the van draw allows you all to fish the same section.
I done the draw on our behalf and pulled out 'C' so that meant we would rotate as follows ....
Monday - C Section - Corfree
Tuesday - D Section - Dernafest
Wednesday - E Section - Hollybank
Thursday - A Section - Gulladoo
Friday - B Section - Kevins
Corfree, Dernafest and Kevins are all part of the Lough Gowna system and Hollybank and Gulladoo are separate Loughs. I have fished they all before except Hollybank.
Day 1 and I drew peg 13 on Corfree, never been down that end before and a new track had been put in along the shoreline in order that you can more or less park behind most pegs, before you had to be taken by boat which was still the case on the early pegs Steve and Tony drew.
I made some errors by fishing the pole too long in deep water and when I did fish the feeder I fished too long but I'll know next time. Ended up with 7 kilo 250.
The errors cost me and put me just below halfway overall in the Festival.
Day 2 on Dernafest and I drew peg 12. I was conveyed to the peg by boat.
I took everything but on arrival at the peg decided to simply fish 2 feeder lines, 20 turns and 35.
I had a great day catching decent sized hybrids short on a 25 gram feeder and worm for 14 kilo 250 and 2nd in the section. I was now lying 30th out of 63.
Day 3 I drew peg 13 on Hollybank and another boat ride to the peg. This end had not been fishing great but I got my head down and fished the pole all day catching quality roach for 16 kilo 500 for 3rd in section and another pick up.
I was now lying in 17th place.
Day 4 I drew peg 1 on Gulladoo narrows. Usually good for roach but they didn't feed. I went really long for bream and that was a mistake. Opened up a new line at 40 turns with 2 hours to go and snared some decent bream for 7 kilo. Another error and put me down a few places to 24th.
The final day on Kevins Shore I drew peg 2, peg 1 wasn't in but I was at the wrong end, I needed 13 or 14 for the bream.
Started off on the pole after feeding 2 feeder lines short and long but only caught small roach. After 20 minutes I switched to the feeder lines and didn't look back catching skimmers and hybrids for over 15 kilo and a section win.
I ended up a respectable 19th from 63 overall. Absolutely loved the week and met some great anglers.
Well done to Dave McManus on the Festival win.
I am looking forward to next year and hope to improve on 19th. We had a few pick ups between us and pooled the money which treated us to a steak meal on the last night and paid for a third of our bait bill.
Thanks to M5 Angling for the supply of equipment and ground bait which was brilliant.
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