Shannonbridge Fishery Report. 6^th June 2005.

The rains of some ten days ago affected the level of the lakes and rivers and water flowed over the Weir Wall at Athlone. The levels taken at the bridge in Shannonbridge have risen to over three metres. But the good news is for warmer and drier weather for the coming week. Some anglers used boats to get to their favourite swims.

Brothers Mike and Chris Compton from Cheltenham had best catches of 26 Lbs and 33 Lbs of bream using maggot and feeder on the River Suck which was disappointing for them.

Ev Everdinger and De Ruiter from Holland were on a pike and perch fishing holiday and caught many pike and perch during their ten days stay in Rachra House. They used worm and dead fish generally for their bait. For a change they went to visit a trout lake near Dun Shaughlin and caught ten good rainbow trout.

On June 1^st two other Dutch anglers visited the area. Simons Setrers and Gerard Veekakel fished the Shannon and had two pike six perch and four tench in a three hour stint using maggot and caster.

Fred Davidson from Milton Keynes fished the Hot Water on 29^th May and 31^st May. Fishing with maggot and caster he caught four tench on his first visit using maggot and caster in three hours. On the next visit Fred used corn and caster and caught ten tench that weighed 44 Lbs. Reckons it feeds best from 4 to 7 pm. Fred mentioned that he had a pike that weighed 32 Lbs and promised to send a photo to the Shannon Fishery Board website.

Noel Hutchinson and Colin Malcolm from Milton Keynes also fished the Hot Water and used sweetcorn and a cocktail of maggot and worm in sunny and windy weather, with the river level rising, to catch 180 Lbs of tench.

Regular visitor Terry Archibald from Doncaster was here for a few days on a family visit but got two days fishing on the River Brosna at Shannonharbour. Fishing with maggot and feeder in windy conditions on 3^rd June he caught 30 Lbs of Hybrid with an average weight of between two and three pounds. He returned the next day for some more but only caught 15 Lbs. Terry reckons that the wind had changed overnight into a Northerly direction and upset the fish feeding. Judging by the great number of line bites that he was getting, Terry reckons that the swim was chock a block with fish but they were not interested while the North wind blew.

Frank Roscoe and Gordon Ranks from Lancashire were guests of Ashbrook Farm guesthouse from May 19^th until June 5^th and fished the River Shannon at the Hot Water and at Devenish Island.. In mixed weather while using red maggot, caster and sweetcorn for bait they recorded catching 38 tench that weighed 115 Lbs and 12 roach that weighed 7 Lbs while fishing the Hot Water and a mixed bag from Devenish that weighed 120 Lbs.