Royal Canal Disappointment

fret_wimp2

Ive done a bit of pike fishing back in North West of Ireland in the Shannon and lakes close by with varying success, so im not new to the whole pike fishing game.

I decided to give the Royal canal a go this weekend. Based on a drive and a little online research i narrowed down to 2 spots around the Dublin/Kildare boarder.

Saturday:
Weather - probably a little bright. quite sunny.
Water - very clear.
Bait - floating poppers, jelly eels, and various sinking plugs.
Range Covered: about 3km
Time: 10am - 2pm
Result: Nothing

Sunday:
Weather - overcast, much nicer.
Water - quite clear. looks like grass cutter was on part of this stretch recently, not sure if thats good or bad ( probably bad)
Bait - floating poppers, jelly eels, and various sinking plugs, mostly smaller lures to see if there are any perch.
Range Covered: about 5km
Time: 3pm - 6pm
Result: one bite, i saw him, a jack pike but wasnt hooked.

For the amount of ground covered, i would have expected at least a few takes and possibly a few small perch. If you know the right spot and the right time you can get a perch on every cast out in the Shannon.

Just curious if anyone here regularly fishes the royal canal and if so, is it worth pursuing further?



note: not giving out exact locations fished as im aware its not the best practice with all the poaching, even if the fishing was terrible.

dodderangler

I turned two today but both turned once the sun hit them on the surface.
Fish are very sensitive to the sun and will pretty much avoid it.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

You will not match the North West or Shannon on the royal. No comparison.

fret_wimp2

Monica Black Firehouse wrote: »

You will not match the North West or Shannon on the royal. No comparison.

Ha! Your bang on with that! I didnt really expect to match it at all though, a single very small jack pike would have made me happy enough.

Does make me all the more appreciative of the rivers and lakes back West though!