Simple Match Fishing Forum

I've been pegged there a few times TK and on SR, the other bank.

There was a white post to the right of the pic; anyone know the significance of it?

I know it well,though not in festivals,i had my biggest
weight of "natural fish" off peg 1(56.860kg),on the feeder in a
drennan league match about 10 yrs ago,drew same peg 7 days later & did
35kg,its nothing like that now!.
Dont know about the white post?,there was some sort
of post about peg 7(?),that i thought was a rowing boat
ferry???? from years & years ago????? interested

No ferry; I think it had a fishing significance. Might have been on peg 5.

Peg 1 Broadmeadow was a very good bream peg; most of the flow was right over towards the far bank where they used to lie; it was quite snaggy.
Nowadays, the grass bank, almost opposite are probably the better pegs; good for roach. I shall be over there in May, probably fishing very near those pegs if the loughs are flooded.

I WAS NEVER THAT LUCKY TO DRAW THERE if you follow the town house around the back you come to the loop t draw there 3 times still caught plenty of fish but couldn't compete with the far end of the section they had open water and sat on pontoon's

if you follow the town house around

That crappity smack town house is Enniskillen Castle

if you follow the town house around

That crappity smack town house is Enniskillen Castle

Class Bill

I have fished there once the peg i was on is out of shot with a wall behind it, prob 3 or 4 pegs this way ...... if i remember rightly it fished poorly that day we were there 1982/83ish just a few bream and dog roach showed. Wonderful place tho

The opposite bank, slightly to the left of the pic is Sligo Road, tackle shop is good too there, lots of Tubertini gear, some we never see over here.

I believe the white post, approx peg 5, is where Ian Heaps had that ooge weight of roach, I think it was a world record at the time. There used to be a plaque or sumat on the post. It ain't there now, nor the post

the peg i was on is out of shot with a wall behind it, prob 3 or 4 pegs this way

It might of even been the peg where the lifebouy is at the top of the pic ....... it were that long ago ::)

I was told Ian heaps had the big weight (166lb) off peg1,or where
peg1 is today,though its possible peg1 has moved 42 times
over the last 30 yrs ,unless the castle has moved too ::)
Peg1 is snaggy & i believe its worse now with the zebra
mussels.I fished it in line with end of the island & had no
real problems,its like tapwater most of the year now,
which is a shame

I fish the Erne in that area every year; I have for the last 30 years, (missed twice at most) or so and shall be there in May again.
All the reeds/bank pertruding from the wall in that pic have long since gone and those pegs are all directly off the wall.
The zebra mussels appeared with the opening of the Shannon-Erne waterway and theory has it that they originated from the bottom of boat traffic, that does make sense. They appeared in the Erne system about six/seven years ago and multiplied like anything in a very short space of time; they also took all the colour out of the water. If anybody hasn't fished with these in the water before they used to give you the tiniest of indications on the tip, followed by a missing hook length! You could get through 30 hook lengths in five hours, no problem.
The zebra mussels are no problem now, over the last two years they have all but disappeared. They were never a problem with the float.
The zebra mussels also took all the 'peaty' colour out of the system and it became difficult to catch any fish in some areas, including the very area in the picture. If you went in the evening it was a different picture, plenty of fish!
Over the last couple of years bream have become very rare and hybrids were few and far between. The last couple of Mays have seen a huge shoal of bream opposite the cutting from the boat boards at the side of the Forum (never pegged in matches) but nowhere else, except for a few around the big bay at Ely Forest and just odd other areas.
Last year we fished on the opposite bank to the castle at Sligo Road and the roach fishing was very good, lots of roach well over the 1 lb mark.
; nothing like the numbers of old but still superb fishing.
It does appear to be coming back slowly and probably will do so as the colour hopefully comes back into the system.
Ian was on peg 5 or 6; he must have caught that weight in May as I was out there at the time
The peg an was on would be on the very extreme right on the pic or the next one along towards the forum.

That should have read Shannon-Erne Waterway

Why the crappity smack does S h a n n o n keep coming out as owner?

Fair enough Bill,ide say you've fished it far more than i have,hav'nt been up there for 7 years,apart from a few
weeks around spawning time,its not worth the trip tbh.
One thing that has changed is 10 years ago,the bream seemed to average 1kg each,now ive heard theres some right whoppers.I couldnt comment on the current situation up there re;the zebras.I do know they spread to the shannon
& the canals,but the threat seems to have abated,hope they do get the crappity smack outa here completely
Apparently they came here via New Zealand,some report
said,on the keel of a boat
Hope you have a good 2010 classic Bill

if you follow the town house around

That crappity smack town house is Enniskillen Castle

well don't everyone live in there own castle then ::) ::)here in rothley we do

i did mean the one's in the back ground ::) ::)

here a story and a half bill ! i drew there three times in a week everybody that walked bye know my name by the end of the week some wanted to buy the fish and some just came down and sat behind me chatting really lovely people
but on the middle day behind me was a row of town house's and all the gardens had high walls right down to the back gate which backed onto the road.this particular day workmen had arrived with a skip obversely doing some maintenance on the property. well everything seamed OK until a singing paddy with a wheelbarrow full of rubbish walked the hole length of the garden wall which was staggered just to tip the rubbish in the skip this went on al day singing away waving to anybody and everybody untill late on when he and the wheelbarrow went flying off the end. everyone ran over including the anglers around me [it must of been 20ft high] oonly to see him piled up in the rubbish in the skip and laughing his socks off i will never forget that day the funniest day of my life. i remember telling the lads in the vintage pub after the match and who should of walked in,yes the bloke who had fell off the wall battered and bruised yet still laughing mind you i don't think any of us walked out that night :Dwhat a pub that was

Aye up TMR, don't think I was trying to get one on thee cause I ain't like that. I go to Ireland twice a year, (i've been over there 60 odd times in all,- well over two years in total weeks!) and it ain't just about the fishing. I first went 47 years ago! Over that time you get to know loads of people and keep in touch with them.
To be honest I don't go for the Classic but have been there when it has been on loads of times.
We used to fish the Gold Cup the following week as they used the better sections but nowadays we tend to have our own mini Festival as it gives you more time in the evenings to enjoys the local Guinness houses and socialise. We sometimes go to a lough, (brill fishing and hardly touched) and the farmer takes all our kit to the shore for us! We used to go to a river where the farmer insisted on giving us a cooked breakfast and one warm day he even bought cakes and drinks down to us on the bank. You don't get this hospitality in many places!
I have actually found a pub in Ireland that doesn't sell Guinness, except in bottles
Last year there was about eight of us and we fished Sligo Road for most of the week, plus the odd go on other sections as the lough was in flood. Out of all of us I hooked a 'group' of zebra mussels on just one cast and we never saw any more. They have certainly all but gone now and hopefully the colour is slowly returning.
The roach fishing is still very good but there is a lot more to Ireland than just the fishing.

I like that one Joff, - it could only happen over there.

Aye up TMR, don't think I was trying to get one on thee cause I ain't like that

Not at all Bill .Ive lived here in Ireland over 20 yrs & only
fished Broadmeadow 8 times,that i can think of,so you really
have fished it more than me .I've just
fished there in the now defunct drennan league & Angling times winter league.
Theres certainly plenty of characters around to brighten up
the day even if the fishings not so good
The wheel-barrow tale was funny,i'de of loved to have seen that

Robert Buick, from Belfast, used to run those leagues. Top guy, any idea how he is. I'm too tight to ring him