How did you spend Good Friday? I had a busy day on and around the water here in Mayo and this is a short summary of a typical day for me when I am not working.
Ben called in this morning and asked for help launching his boat on Lough Beltra. We agreed that the day was going to be too stormy for fishing the lough but it would be good to have the boat ready for action next week. He had already loaded the boat on to a trailer and so we ate a leisurely breakfast in Cafe Rua before hauling the boat out the Newport Road and into Glenisland.
When we arrived at the car park there were a couple of cars there, indicating at least one boat was fishing. The wind was from the South West and beginning to gust strongly with the promise of a much harder blow as the day wore on.
We launched the boat but made a bit of a mess of it in the wind and she slewed badly as we pushed her in.We had to scramble to free the boat, Ben getting into the water to wrestle the boat off the trailer. We managed OK and Ben led the boat into the harbour on the long line. it was only now that he noticed the prow had worked loose and would require repair.
While we were messing about in the harbour a boat which had been out fishing came in to the shore. It turned out to be Eamonn Kennedy with two Dublin fishers. They had been on the receiving end of a battering by the wind and had decided to switch to the other end of the lake in a an effort to get some respite.
Once ashore we had a chat with Eamonn about the fishing. We all agreed that a little bit more water would be good but that the unsettled weather forecast for the coming week should give us a chance of some sport.
With Ben’s boat now safely moored we had to decide what to do for the rest of the day. The weather was deteriorating by the minute and so so we plumped for a couple of hours trolling on the Cashel river. Back in town we rounded up some gear, made up a flask and headed out the Pontoon road. The boat was in need of a small amount of baling but we were soon motoring up the river in search of silver salmon.
An hour passed, then two and still no action to either rod. Ben’s rod finally bent into a fish but despite it’s obvious weight we could quickly see it was going to be a pike and not the hoped for salmon.
A fish of about 7 pounds, and I quickly followed with a smaller lad of about 4 pounds. By now we were fishing in what felt like a typhoon and one of my casts was caught by the wind and my lovely copper spoon was deposited high in the branches of a willow tree! Some comic capers ensued as I recovered my tackle from the clutches of the bankside vegetation and fishing was resumed. Ben boated the last Pike of the day and we turned for home.
My rod registered a bite and I found myself playing a small fish. I thought it was a Perch at first but no, I had hooked a lovely Brownie of just under a pound. Not to be outdone, Ben repeated the feat with another trout slightly smaller in size. Both trout were in excellent condition.
By now it was after 5pm so we called it a day and motored home. Maybe we didn’t catch much and failed to even set eyes on a salmon, but it was great to be out on the water this Good Friday.
Claretbumbler 