Banagher

Recent weeks have been too busy to fit in much fishing but even when I did venture out the results were poor to say the least. I will happily own up to my own shortcomings but other anglers I was with suffered equally miserable results. I badly needed a pick-me-up.

Last week, while buying maggots in Athlone (I know, this Hollywood lifestyle is just so exciting!), I bumped into a chap who said he had heard there were some good roach in the marina down in Banagher. While this all sounded a bit tenuous, I figured it could not be any worse than my recent blanks and so I threw some gear into the car before setting off for the midlands early this morning. I have fished out of Banagher before but never in the town itself so this would be an interesting first for me. I snuck out of work early and, bathed in the hazy sunshine of our Indian summer, headed south.

The marina in question consists of roughly three parts. There are the floating pontoons which are still packed with cruisers, the private marina for the well-heeled boaters and an old concrete basin. The pontoons were busy and the impressive steel gate on the private marina was intended to keep riff-raff like me out at all costs. So the somewhat dismal looking square basin it would have to be for me. The grass beside the basin was heaving with mallards as I was setting up, maybe a hundred or more preening, quacking and flapping as they pecked at food on the lawn. I took little notice to be honest, being much more concerned with my gear and thinking about tactics. Soon I was settling down on a flight of broad steps with my back to the setting sun. All was peaceful as I plumbed up and fed the swim with tolerably accurate catapulted maggots.

I better say a few words about my leger set up. I had decided to ring the changes after a run of blanks on the feeder. Out came a new rod for me, a Shimano nine footer which I bought a while back when it was on sale at such a ridiculously low price even I had to buy one. Paired with it was a cheap Shaky fixed spool, a reel I had fallen out of love with but was now being given a chance to redeem itself. The problem is a poor bail arm spring which afflicted the reel from day one. I had lubricated the bail and, while far from perfect, it did perform a bit better on todays outing. I have to say it fitted nicely on the featherweight Shimano and was a treat to fish with. The changes continued at the end of the main line where my normal feeders were replaced with a small bomb on a sliding link. A twizzled boom terminated in a four pound hook length to a size 18 spade end. A single maggot was my chosen bait on both the leger rod and the float rod.

So there I was, the sun starting to sink towards the horizon across the Shannon behind me and both rods fishing 8 yards in front of me in five feet of algae stained water. After only about ten minutes the float stabbed under and I lifted into a solid roach. I took a quick snap and popped the fish back into the basin but before I could re-cast the mallards, who had been only in my peripheral vision up until then, plunged into the marina en-mass. Spreading out in all directions, many swam over towards me causing much arm waving and shooing on my part. That show did make the ducks and drakes head away for a start, but they soon returned and I would have the next hour punctuated by further feathered visitations. It wasn’t just the green headed mallards who molested me though, a pair of swans also took umbrage at my positioning, with the cob trying hard to intimidate me. I love nature, but not so much when it is hissing at me and pecking my landing net. When the various avian threats diminished I cast out again, but the session was one of frequent disturbances.

If not exactly hectic, I still managed a few roach during the little more than an hour I fished. All bar one were nice examples of river roach. Most fell to the float fished single or double maggot, but two came to the new leger rod and slightly gammy reel. My intention had been to fish until dark but the tiredness came on me well before then and I packed up under the baleful glare of my sparring partner, the male swan. I really enjoyed my brief sojourn to the arse end of Offaly this evening, despite the hassle from the birds. The sudden bites on the float, those fat roach in perfect condition, and the bend in the ultra light leger rod made up for my recent history of defeat.

What is it about my and my coarse fishing? I just love fishing with the lightest rods and finest lines. I get such a thrill from even very small fish on this featherweight tackle. I see all the angling media hype around huge carp (especially those monsters from European waters). I mean no malice to those anglers who dedicate big chunks of their lives in pursuit of record sized fish, but I am woven from a different and much more humble cloth. I’ve not been bitten by the big fish bug so far. It takes all kinds…..

I don’t know, but I can imagine the old marina would be a great spot to fish when the Shannon is high and the fish seek out shelter from the strong currents in the main river.