Fishing in Athlone

jacknife

Just wondering if the course fishing in Athlone is still as good as it was in the 80's and 90's.

Anglers from the UK and Europe used to come over and fish the meadows at the end of Burgess Park in the town.

The fishing was great and you could net a 60lb bag of bream in a day, I've not been there in many years.

demanufactured

No Its not....

The bream are nearly all but gone , plenty of roach and small hybrids though....

The Zebra mussel has cleared up the water and the bream dont like it , in the last few years we have had a huge influx of anglers frome different cultures where they eat everything they catch.

Farmers here have been of no help with run off from the land.

The fisheries board have been absolutly no help with their pro trout/salmon and anti coarse attitude.

ironbluedun

demanufactured wrote: »

The fisheries board have been absolutly no help with their pro trout/salmon and anti coarse attitude.

didnt know the fishery boards had a anti coarse attitude..........

coolwings

The zebras, the farmers, the board, and anglers removing fish ...

The farmers were always there ... even when bream were more numerous than today ...

The board have coarse fish population management on some trout waters. But the Shannon and Ree are mixed fisheries, where all species are protected, so there is no anti coarse policies from the Shannon board at Athlone that I know of.

I understand much of the reduction of bream stocks over the past 25 years is due to hybridisation with roach producing sterile offspring. The roach were introduced by Irish coarse anglers.

The zebras ... well I guess we have no choice, we are stuck with them.
With regard to spreading zebra mussels - I can't understand why boats are still allowed to be moved about without restriction. So long as there are still waters zebras have not spread into, I'd like to see boats locked into waters. We need gates on slipways which are opened only when proper sterilisation equipment is present and being used under supervision on boats destined for another lakes.

ironbluedun

coolwings wrote: »

I'd like to see boats locked into waters. We need gates on slipways which are opened only when proper sterilisation equipment is present and being used under supervision on boats destined for another lakes.

There's more chance of the man on the moon walking to the sun than that happening...........:)

coolwings

ironbluedun wrote: »

There's more chance of the man on the moon walking to the sun than that happening...........:)

It will happen. Just watch.
First registration numbers on boats. (Imminent)
Then responsibility for your boat, safety standards the probable escuse.
Then monitoring of boats for competitions, possibly via standardisation of boat type/engine size under comp rules.
Then the creation of a fleet of boats for hire on each lake.

Finished in 10-15 years (my prediction) ... should be 3 years if proper leadership was in place and the right people were properly empowered.
And a lot of new waters will be contaminated by zebra mussels between now and then - by boaters that couldn't be bothered cleaning/sterilising their boat before putting it on new waters.

demanufactured

Never gonna happen cooolwings , n in this country anyway

Thered be uproar on most loughs if they tried that , ya should have heard the givin out durnig the lough ree pike comp when people were told they needed an unhooking mat "sure what the fook would i want that for"

ironbluedun

coolwings wrote: »

It will happen. Just watch.
First registration numbers on boats. (Imminent)
Then responsibility for your boat, safety standards the probable escuse.
Then monitoring of boats for competitions, possibly via standardisation of boat type/engine size under comp rules.
Then the creation of a fleet of boats for hire on each lake.

Finished in 10-15 years (my prediction) ... should be 3 years if proper leadership was in place and the right people were properly empowered.
And a lot of new waters will be contaminated by zebra mussels between now and then - by boaters that couldn't be bothered cleaning/sterilising their boat before putting it on new waters.

Not so sure if that will happen..and i hope it does not, there is too much red tape and bullsh1t already.. the zebras are here to stay.. no rules or regulations (that wont be heeded) will stop them...better now to concentrate on pollution prevention, predator control, spawning stream enhancement, and most importantly the education of so called anglers who are too thick to understand catch and release.......

jacknife

I remember the farmers were not too happy about people going through their land, as far as i knew there is a public right of way/walkway close to the river bank.

Is there any pike there now, is there any beam fishing in Athlone now, I was thinking of trying Lanesborough.

I remember the fishing tackle shop at the Strand in Athlone, Al Cunningham was the man who owned it, his prices were quite reasonable and he always threw a freebie in when you got a lot of stuff

ironbluedun

jacknife wrote: »

s there any pike there now, is there any beam fishing in Athlone now, I was thinking of trying Lanesborough.

pike below athlone alright, but you will need a boat to get at them.