After a long wait my Ireland holiday had at long last was
about to begin,
I got picked up at 10.30pm on the 2nd May, Gary and les were my traveling companions, we went to meet the other lads at Washington.
Dave,Barry,Shaun,Ray,Billy,Phil.
When we met we had a bit of a laugh,the usual banter,LoL.
We then set about the journey up to Stranrae for the 5am ferry to Belfast.
The ferry was sailing on time, hurrrah, all aboard and away we go to the Emerald Isle.
Upon arrival we drove down to Killashandra,got to our digs, looking good i thought.
Got our stuff unloaded into the digs, i grabbed the downstairs bedroom, nearer to the loo,two single beds, me and Gary were room mates for the stay, alas the room was tiny,about a 12" gap between the beds,upstairs was the same,but it was a converted loft bedroom,Les and Barry shared that room,Les is a big guy, every morning he bashed his head on the ceiling,TEE HEE, but at least i had a bed, i thought i was sleeping on a sofabed,.
Right then lads Les aid who's for fishing, Gary and myself decided to join Les, Dave and Barry declined.
Down to the tackle shop, bait in the van and away we went.
Les took us to the to the river at Belturbet,mushroom stretck, after a few casts we started to catch,anyway about an hour or so into our first days fishing,yes you guessed it,the heavens opend up,the the wind started, we carried on for another two hours or so,then i thought £$%^&* this,out came my comfy chair,brolly wrapped around me to keep the weather off,
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, i fell asleep, not bad concidering i was up at 5.45am on Friday morning for work, i had no sleep at all.
When i woke up, aha TEA time, after a nice hot cuppa the day seemed much better, another two hours or so we left for the digs.
Hello lads, catch owt,ask him,[ME],what i said ask me, yeah you **gg** youve been catching flies all day, at last the banter and mickey taking had started,after the craic, who's showering,some one said, say no more whoooosh i was in,
All the group done and dusted away for a few pints,well quite a few to be exact
Next morning [Sunday] after a nice breakfast we went to fish the BELERNE STRETCH OF THE RIVER at Belturbet,not bad i thought,i fished the feeder, lots of ground bait in, using worm,maggot,caster and corn for hook baits,i got about 25 pounds out.
Not long after this was took some staff from the cruiser boats decided to do some man overboard, IN OUR SWIMS,,throwing life jackets into the water,revving the engines full throttle.OH DEAR ME I THOUGHT,THANK YOU CHAPS FOR KILLING BTHE SWIMS,.i know this has to be done for the saftey aspects of the holiday makers, but why on the day we were fishing, ahh never mind,they will soon be done,about an hour or so later they were done,the swims had just about gone dead, then the heavens opened up again.
After getting very muddy and wet we decided to call it a day
Moday,
Derrys Lake, not a good day, roach and hybrids,and the odd skimmer
More wind,and lots of banter,
Tuesday.
What a total waste of time,we had a knock up at a place called the Glashouse,
When we got there we picked straws for our pegs,i got the worst peg of the lot,at least thats what i thought,Les and Dave were the only two to catch, Dave got a nice wild brownie wild brownie, i was fishing in about two foot of gin clear water ??? ???
Les won the sweep with 35lbs euro a man
That night i gat a call from no other than Al,afetr the gretting etc, i told him about the day, WHATTTTTTT HE SAID YOU BLANKED
aw c'mon Al i said there was another two who blanked.Right he said meet me at Ballyconnel tonight,okee dokke said i,we met up at the Molly McGuire boozer,we were sitting at the back of the room,my back facing the bar, where's Andy i heard, when i turned round ,there he was, Big Al, hand shakes and greeting over, he told me about his bag from Lough Ardan, i thought i'll have some of that,I must make my public appology to AL and Jane, so sorry for being a bit under the influence of drink, :
,but its always the same when i get into the Molly pub, its got to be the best in the town, loads of Craic and laughs, thanks again to Tray,Tom and Michele for the warm welcome.Wednesday,
Lough Ardan here we come, Gary, Batty and myself went to meet with Al,
We arrived first, we noticed Al's prebait sign,this must be the place, we fished some swims near to Al,
After putting a load of bait out thru the feeder,and a few balls thrown in for good luck,we started to catch, tench,yet more tench,i noticed that we were all catching,then i noticed that AL had started to pack up,,afetr a chat he told me that Jane was none to well, so they decided to call it a day and retire to to the hotel.
See you tomorrow Al, hope you get better Jane,then hey left,
Later on i looked at my rod tip, aye op what gone on here, bl***y hell i had snapped my tip, after i took it out and put another tip in, i cast out a few tomes, then i heard CRACK, arghhhhhh another tip has snapped,afetr that i lost interest,altho i did have 6 nice tench in the bag with some decent hybrids, around 35 pound i would say, Gary had the best bag of the day, 73 pounds, Barry had 45 pounds.
Hang on lads i'll get my camera,oh no its at the digs,i forgot to bring it with me,
That night for me was a first, i was all tucked up in bed for,9.30pm
Yes 9.30pm,,
Thursady back to the lough Ardan,this was a better day, great.
Before we left on Wednesday we balled in about 80 balls of groundbait laced with caster and chopped worm.
Tackle up, first cast, TENCH,then another then anoter and another, great, the fish are on the feed, the tench stopped feeding but the slabs came on as did the hybrids, and a PIKE decided to have a go at a roach that Gary had hooked,after that our swims went dead, not a bite in over an hour,so we decided to call it a day,that was the best days fishing of the holiday.
That night was an even earlier time in bed, 9pm, bl***y hell i thought whats up with me,9pm and in bed,
Any way got up next morning, feeling like cwap, head buzzing,nose burning,aches and pain,i decided to stop at the digs,i slept just about all day,
Frday night last night, you coming out for a pint Andy,go on i'll try a few,and thats all i had,just the few pint, i'm saying nowt about the Paddys and red lemonade chasers tho
In all another great holiday at Ireland,
Great to see my mates again at Ballyconnel Tray,Tom and Michele, Mick,Rory,and the familiar faces i know but cannot put names to them,
Roll on the next holiday to the Emerald Isle, what an excelent place
