Blanking at a fishery (Aughrim)- common?

fenris

After much pestering by my 7 year old son who has recently discovered fishing we decided to try freshwater instead of the sea.

We headed to Aughrim, rented rods, bought bait and got set up.
The only bait that was taken was by the ducks, not even a nibble by anything fishy!

We had three rods with floats out for most of the time, our youngest left her rod out for ages once she got bored, little mister enthusiasm was much more active and I was in the middle being a bit more rational.


We went to Aughrim because you could bait fish as I have never tried Fly fishing and wasn't going to try it for the first time with two young kids in tow(visions of hooks in faces etc.) Everywhere else seems to be fly fishing only at the moment.

Is it just too early in the year to catch in a fishery or was it just a bad day out?

I don't want to lose the enthusiasm that has been built up through the cold weeks of January and Feb so I think that going back to the piers and beaches may be the way to go for the time being as we normally get something even if it is just a crab!

Any recommendations on where and when for a young chap to get his first trout?

J. Ramone

Nothing to do with the time of year. The problem with Aughrim is that it gets fished out very quickly. I'm not aware of any bag limits there. It's a pity as it could be a great place to introduce children to fishing.

It's amazing how greedy some people can be. I once saw that facility soon after stocking and fish were literally being caught at each cast in one spot by two "anglers" who piled them into shopping bags.

You could bring them to the kiddies pond at Annamoe. They would be guaranteed to catch there. I would advise you to phone n advance to check when it's open.

fenris

That was why we went there, I reckoned that it should be well safe for kids - and in fairness it was!

The kids pond in Anamoe isn't open yet, but we will give it a lash when it does.

It was probably too much to expect the staff to let us know that the bloody lake was empty but it does kind of sting to think of them knowingly sending us off like ejits to fish in an empty puddle.

To think that I was worried about catching too much and had had the "we will only keep what we can eat" discussion with the kids!

My plan was to give a fishery a go before we try any river fishing. All of our gear is sea fishing gear apart from a 6" spinning rod belonging to the littlest one and I didn't want to go out and get more gear before I knew what to look for and if the kids were going to be interested or not.

We are living in Bray so we have options with the Dargle on one hand and the sea on the other.

uch

Where are you based fenris ? a spot of canal fishing in about 4 weeks time and they should get the odd small Perch on worms.

fenris

I am based in Bray so I should probably just suss out somewhere to fish the dargle rather than driving the best part of an hour to an empty lake :-)

I think that I will give Annamoe a lash, they have a special on fly fishing lessons for the month of March so it might be worth giving one a go to try it out rather than just fumbling about and buying the wrong gear.

dodderangler

fenris wrote: »

I am based in Bray so I should probably just suss out somewhere to fish the dargle rather than driving the best part of an hour to an empty lake :-)

I think that I will give Annamoe a lash, they have a special on fly fishing lessons for the month of March so it might be worth giving one a go to try it out rather than just fumbling about and buying the wrong gear.

Aughrim used to be brilliant years ago but its trout caught with bait so its easily fished and id say at night prob bad aswell with lads going in
I've often fly fished beside it and never so much seen a fish caught or even a rise and it doesn't look like the place is even well looked after its a pity when u bring ur kid down hoping that he'll catch a fish and doesn't try rathbeggan or corcagh park it's fly fishing only tho but decent fish

uch

If you were prepared to drive to Kilcock you'd catch on the canal, it's less than an hour from Bray.

fenris

Went back for another go today, rang first and was told that the lake was stocked on Wednesday so was reasonably optimistic.

There were about 18 people fishing when we got there and a lad was in the process of pulling in a small rainbow so happy days we thought, but alas it turned out that that was one of only two fish caught since opening time this morning.

There was a lot of sweetcorn visible on the bottom at the edges of the lake so I reckoned that if there were any fish there they were well sick of sweetcorn but even the worms came back in untouched.

I think that I will stick to the sea with the kids, we seem to get something most times we go out to the pier in greystones and it keeps them interested, I can see how if there was any activity on a lake the kids would love it as they would see the float react and the excitement would be tremendous.

I might try again when Annamoe opens up the kiddie pond or give the Dodder a go now that junior has had a bit of casting practice!

Ding Dong

contact Brian in Annamoe. kids pond should be up and running soon. brought my lad there for 1st time last year. used a spinner. it was his first time. i cast it and i got him to reel really quick, that way not every cast is a bite! he caught 3! great start for my young lad and he really enjoyed!!

dodderangler

fenris wrote: »

Went back for another go today, rang first and was told that the lake was stocked on Wednesday so was reasonably optimistic.

There were about 18 people fishing when we got there and a lad was in the process of pulling in a small rainbow so happy days we thought, but alas it turned out that that was one of only two fish caught since opening time this morning.

There was a lot of sweetcorn visible on the bottom at the edges of the lake so I reckoned that if there were any fish there they were well sick of sweetcorn but even the worms came back in untouched.

I think that I will stick to the sea with the kids, we seem to get something most times we go out to the pier in greystones and it keeps them interested, I can see how if there was any activity on a lake the kids would love it as they would see the float react and the excitement would be tremendous.

I might try again when Annamoe opens up the kiddie pond or give the Dodder a go now that junior has had a bit of casting practice!

Te dodder is fishing well with plenty of nice wild fish being caught as regards to the stocked fish put in two weeks ago well that was lambs to the slaughter wasn't it but it's fishing well for little wild ones which I always find are much more appreciated to catch than stocked fish

fenris

Went to Annamoe yesterday for a lesson with Brian - absolutely top class, I could have been faffing for months without getting anywhere near where I was after a couple of hours with Brian.

Went back today (have to love the "use by the end of March" carryover holidays) and caught a couple of nice fish, I couldn't believe how quickly the time went.

Totally different to Aughrim, there are fish rising and leaping so you know that they are there and you just need to get it right to catch them.

Hes is opening the bait pond on Good Friday so I might ramble up with the kids them.

I also picked up a permit for the Dodder so I expect to be ornamenting trees and bushes with my meagre "starter" flies!