Knock Knock, what’s there?

The spire of the Basilica comes into view as I round the bend a mile, or maybe more, from the village of Knock in county Mayo. The shape spire points heavenward, a beacon for the faithful. Many travel far to pray at this holy site. Why here, in this remote, poor part of western Ireland? It all stems from an apparition seen by 15 people on the gable wall of the church on 21st August, 1879. The virgin Mary, St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist appeared for two hours in the pouring rain, while those witnessing the scene remained dry. The apparition ensured that Knock would be a place of pilgrimage to this day. Indeed, the airport just a few miles up the N17 would not have been built if not for the miracle.

I am not a religious man, so Knock has a different attraction for me. A few small lakes are dotted across the adjacent countryside, some of which hold trout, perch or pike. One which keeps fascinating me is called Lakehill, a small body of greenish water out to the east of the village. This uninspiring looking lake holds tench, not a lot of tench, but a few. Since they are as scarce as hen’s teeth on Mayo I thought it would be nice to try to catch some tincas so close to home. A few hours reprieve from the house repairs was negotiated and off I toddled about 9am on a dry, bright and hot August morning with a couple of rods and half a tin of week old maggots. What awaited me on the bank of the pond the other side of Knock?

On arrival, the first consideration is always is there anyone else fishing? With only two stands, any other anglers already in situ means no convenient bank space is available. Luckily, I had the place to myself this time, so I decanted the gear, clambered inelegantly over both fences and began to set up on the first stand. I had brought an old friend with me, my 12 foot Leeda Generation X feeder rod. Those hardy souls who have stuck with this rambling blog for many years will recall I broke this rod while fishing Lough Garty 4 or 5 years ago. I repaired it the following winter but by then I had bought a replacement (well three replacements actually), so the poor old 12 footer was forgotten about – until now. The break had been in the middle section, just above the lower joint. My repair seemed to be strong and since this rod has a fairly tippy action I figured it should fish OK again. Today would tell a tale. Six pound running line to a twizzled boom set up and an open ended cage feeder with a size 12 hook on the business end completed the set up. I filled the feeder with a ground bait mix consisting of porridge oats, breadcrumb, black lake groundbait and sweetcorn then I baited the hook with 5 red maggots.

The first cast had barely settled on the bottom when the first bite came along. The tippy-tappy nibble was of course a small roach, the first of what would turn out to be far too many today. I took it as an omen and switched the hook bait to corn before recasting. I then set up the float rod in peace, using the same wee onion float from my last outing. This was pure laziness on my part and not a carefully considered choice to match conditions, the little brown float was just there on top of my box so I slipped it on the line. Depth was about 4 feet, and with a size 12 spade end to 4 pound hooklength, I baited with 4 maggots and cast out a little bit in front of me where I had slung 3 balls of ground bait. I didn’t have to wait long……..

Lakehill has one major problem, it is absolutely stuffed with miniscule roach. There must be hundreds of thousands of them jammed into this tiny pond. Every cast sees the float dip or lie flat within seconds of hitting the water. I had hoped that fishing a relatively large size 12 hook and a bunch of maggots might dissuade the little blighters but no, they threw themselves at the maggots each and every cast. Hook up ration was poor due to the large hook, but even so I was hauling in a roach most casts. If I missed one I just let the hook settle on the bottom again and another roach would come along and take the half chewed maggots. I was in double figures in no time and had reached twenty with ease. The feeder rod chipped in with a few on the sweetcorn too. I stopped for a while to munch my sandwiches, then resumed the grim task of pulling more tiddlers. 27, 28, 29, I was like a machine by now, hooking, swinging the wriggling silver to hand, a quick twist with the disgorger if required, the plop of the wee fella returning to the water and the flick out of the float again.

The float shot under once more and right away I knew I had hooked a tench, there was just something more solid about the take. While obviously a bit bigger than the previous 29 tiddlers this was no monster and it soon slid into my net, a tench of about a pound or so. It was a lovely fish and despite its modest stature I was very happy to have landed it. A quick snap and off it went on its merry way. Mission accomplished I suppose. The hook length looked a bit ragged, so I took the time to swap it for a new one before recommencing operations.

By now the clouds had burned off completely and the day really started to heat up. It would reach 29 degrees soon, and I was sweltering under the relentless sun. The tiny roach kept coming, even when I alternated between maggots and corn on the hook. Forty, then fifty, then sixty, with some exceedingly small and worryingly skinny roach among them. Clearly, there is insufficient feeding in this lake for the huge numbers of roach in there. The question is can anything be done about it? I suspect the notion of setting a pike or two free in the pond is crossing some of your minds. While I think that would probably work over time, I am never in favour of introducing an alien species to a lake or river. There are good perch in the nearest lake to this one, literally over the hill from it. Yet I have never heard of a perch being caught in Lakehill. Would a few perch control the fry numbers and thus the roach population?

The patched up feeder rod gave a tremble and on striking I felt some weight but no great fight. Once close in, I could see a small tench, but it was so small it did not require the use of the net. Cute though it was, I felt bad hooking the baby and I got it back into the was as fast as possible. As it turned out, only one more stunted roach would fall to the feeder on this session. The float rod continued to pull them in though. I had ended up using the rod like a whip, just flicking the float out, pulling the fish into hand when one took the bait without winding the reel, then repeating the flick with the same length of line. A pole angler, fishing for the small roach could have easily trebled my catch.

The sun was high in the blue sky and I was wilting in the blistering heat. Roach number 87 swung to hand and I decided I had had enough. The idea of carrying on to 100 flit through my brain but was quickly dismissed. I had come hoping to catch a tench and achieved my goal for the day. Just whipping out endless tiny roach was not the most satisfying pastime, so I packed up. All the bait I had left over went into the water, at least there were lots of hungry mouths for the last of my maggots.

I arrived home in time for me to begin the task of painting the outside of the house. I’ve been putting this off for ages, simply because of the need to go up a ladder. My vertigo comes and goes, some days it is mild, on others I weave and wobble like a sailor on shore leave after a day in the pub. Fishing gear stowed away, I donned old clothes and set about the the task in hand. Good progress was made and with fine weather due tomorrow I will be back wielding the roller again in the morning.

One major plus from the session today was the much abused feeder rod. It fished perfectly and I am confident the repair will hold. I had forgotten just how much I loved this rod, it suits me down to the ground and it is a joy to fish with. It will definitely get more use now I have fallen in love with it again! I might even keep a look out for another one on the second-hand market. You don’t see many, but there is no harm in looking.

Handy though it is, I will let Lakehill alone for a while. I guess the average size of the roach there is less than two ounces, with some of them a lot less than that (see photo below of the smallest/sickest roach I landed today). Even the tench are small, so it does not make sense for me to fish there when I have so few opportunities to get bankside these days. Instead, I’ll keep my powder dry for more distant trips where there are chances of better quality fish.

I want to do some trout fishing before the season ends, so if I get the house painted before the weather breaks I might squeeze in one or two trips with the fly rod this month. Oh, by the way, my dodgy arm is still playing up. I sold my Yamaha outboard last week, simply because I struggled to lift now. Somehow I doubt if dangling off a ladder with a roller in one hand is going to improve my shredded ligaments!