Autumn coarse fishing

It had been an odd sort of a weekend, and by Sunday I was jaded and restless. A decision was taken to move my neglected boat off lough Conn for the winter, so my mate and I drove out to Pike Bay with my trailer on a bright but cold autumn day. The car park was a buzz of activity as the local Castlebar Anglers club were preparing to head out for their final competition of the season. Hands were shaken, fishing tales swapped and the boats eventually made their way out in a squall to try and catch a few trout from the swollen lough. A bit of me was envious and could have happily ventured out if I had my gear with me, but the cold and wet made me realise my heart was not in to the trout fishing right now. But, the seed had been sown and once the boat was safely back in town I thought about the possibility of wetting a line the next day. The forecast was for a very cold night followed by the wind shifting to the west or south west and a dry day for Monday. I’d chance another coarse session.

My last outing was a bit of a last minute affair and I was missing some of my tackle, but this time around I had time to find the bits and bobs I wanted. For a change, I brought along my old Mitchell 208 reel for the feeder rod. I filled the spool with fresh 5 pound Maxima before popping it in the bag, replacing some dodgy looking mono of undetermined age. Back in the day I loved Mitchell reels and owned a few of them. My favourite was a 410 which had a high retrieve rate and was perfect for spinning for sea trout in salt water. This 208 came to me as part of a job lot of coarse gear, bought unseen years ago, and it is in mint condition. The best part of using an old Mitchell for me is the sound they make. It takes me right back to my formative years and happy days as a youngster in Aberdeen.

The Royal Canal (again) would be my chosen spot for a session. What would await me now that the air and water temperatures had plummeted? The summer heat has gone and with it the expectation of tench and rudd. This time I was hoping for roach and maybe some good sized perch. Before I turned in for the night on Sunday I stuck my head outside the back door. Stars twinkled above and the air was close to freezing. Autumn is definitely here.

The 11 foot Korum float rod and the now revitalised Leeda 12 foot feeder came along for the ride . Plans to set off early were scuppered, so I found myself travelling along busy roads and taking in the changes as I made my way to the heart of Ireland. Leaves have started to turn and fall now, the summer birds have flown and that stillness lies on the land now, as if the earth itself is contemplating the oncoming winter. September is a bad month for the car, what with insurance and road tax both being due. Added to that I had the brakes serviced and the engine oil changed. There is nothing cheap in Ireland, but running a car is like flushing €100 notes down a drain. The wee Toyota seemed happy with her new oil and brakes and we toddled along through Mayo and Roscommon then over the Shannon and into county Longford.

I have fished this particular stretch of the canal before and done well with tench, perch and rudd. Parking up I was dismayed to see a line of boats moored exactly where I had planned to fish, so I walked along the towpath to a clear space where I could set up. The usual messing around ensued, humping tackle and gear to the swim, mixing and tossing in ground bait, setting up the rods, chair, etc. It was still cool but the day was heating up after that cold start and the sun was shining down on me as I worked at my preparations. First cast with the float rod and I had a small roach, too small to photograph, I’d wait for a bigger one. The feeder rod gave a solid rattle but I missed the bite and reeled in an empty hook. Then it went quiet. No, I mean REALLY quiet, as in, not a single bite. I fished for the next two hours without an offer of any kind. I double checked my depth for the float in case I had messed up when rigging it but no, it was perfect for slightly over depth. After a while I began lifting the hook off the bottom and ended up fishing in mid-water in case the roach had moved up off the bottom. No good. I was fishing worm on the feeder rod and I tried casting ‘around the clock’ to see if there were fish somewhere around me. Again, not a nibble. Hook size was reduced to an 18 and a single maggot but that brought no response either. In the end I gave up and moved to a new place a couple of miles along the towpath.

The whole setting up palaver was rein acted at the new spot and I was finally fishing again under broken clouds and temperatures in the mid-teens. By now I was fishing a size 16 hook slightly over-depth, baited with a double maggot on the float rod and worm on a size 12 hook next to a feeder of maggots on the other rod. I have fished this part of the canal before too, and caught a lot of fish here, but what would this session bring? After about 20 minutes a had a pull on the feeder and wound in a small but very pretty perch.

Five minutes later the float went down and I had a half pound rudd. As it would transpire, this was going to be one of the better fish I’d have for the session. Thereafter, the float was never at peace but the problem was the size of the fish. This part of the canal was stuffed with tiny rudd. Lord only knows how many I caught, it was scores and scores but none of them better than 6 ounces and most a lot smaller than that. In the past, I have fished through such infestations and sooner or later some better fish show up, but that never happened today.

Trying bigger hooks and baits did not deter the wee fishes and it just led to lots of missed bites. The feeder rod was doing very little, just the odd rudd now and then. I picked that rod up and wound in to check the hook and wasn’t there a small fish on the end. It was only a jack pike, arguably the smallest I have ever caught. Carefully unhooked I returned the infant and tied on a new hook length.

Still the miniature rudd grabbed my maggots at every cast. I guess this was better than the total blank earlier in the day, but it was a close run thing. The only break from the rudd came in the shape of two tiny roach and one slightly better roach. How many did I land? I have no idea, I didn’t keep a tally, but I am guessing over half a hundred.

Telling myself there was bound to be at least one good fish in here, I hung on until late afternoon when the air began to cool down again. Right to the end it was just tiny rudd. No fat tench or big, stripy perch for me today! I gave it up as a bad job and packed the gear in the car around 4.30pm. The journey home was a litany of road works as there seems to be a lot of resurfacing works going on right now on the N5. Reflecting on the session, it is easy to see it as a disappointment, but for me it was just a bit of an off day, probably in part due to the change in the weather. I had a day out in nature, caught a few small fish and relaxed in a lovely spot. The royal has been a very good fishery to me this year and my run of good luck had to end sometime. I’ll give the canal a rest for a while, maybe returning to it in the winter to try my hand at drop shotting for perch.

It was fun fishing with the old Mitchell 208 and it gave me no problems. I’ll use it more from now on, no point in it just lying in a box all the time. I know it is heavy and a bit slow and lacks the smoothness of a modern reel but I love the way I am transported back in time with every turn of the handle.

For those of you wondering how the Castlebar Anglers competitions went, my mate Jim Ruane won the Jackson Cup with the heaviest trout of 0.576ks, Peter Grey won the Prendergast Cup with three trout for 1.24kgs. In total, 14 anglers landed just 8 trout.