Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)
Hi,
John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.
I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.
With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.
I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.
If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.
I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.
I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.
Thank you
Darragh Sherwin
Canal Fishing
- Wackoo (Niall)
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Cheers
Niall
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- JohnH (John)
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Obviously I have no suggestions for any Canal in your area but local tackle shops are one very good source of information (once they learn that you are keen to fish and return your catch and not a 'fishmonger'.
Another suggestion would be to have a drive along the Canal, and look for evidence of fishing activity.
Waterways Ireland produce an excellent small book called, not unsurprisingly, Waterways Ireland Angling Guide.
I got mine - free of charge - from them via the website:
www.waterwaysireland.org
Just a quick question though, wouldn't the Royal Canal be closer for you than the Grand?
John
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N. Tipp
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.
ITFS member.
It's a long way to Tipperary.
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- Wackoo (Niall)
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And your absolutely right, the royal is closer and that's what I originally meant to say :-P
looking forward to trying some new spots!
your absolutely right, I meant to say the royal canal!
I've fished a few spots on it with not a lot on it and would just like to try some new places
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- JohnH (John)
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Request the book from them, it's great value for free, mine was posted foc too.
John
Location:
N. Tipp
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.
ITFS member.
It's a long way to Tipperary.
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- irish-zx10r (James feenan)
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i haven't caught one thing in it.
Is it just me or is the stock very low compared to years ago when there was huge pike , pearch and roach.
Something fishie going on here
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- Wackoo (Niall)
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- joey (joe watson)
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i found the best tactic on canals, especially long stretches near me, is to prebait with soaked flaked maize, dead maggots, brown crumb, molasses, corn and if you're really fancy a bit of cooked hempseed. i have done this before with nice hybrids and bream showing up, and hooked but lost what was either a tench or carp because of a fine guage hook. i raked 2 swims out one day and threw in a few orange sized balls of the above recipe for a few more days. the reason for doing 2 swims is if 1 produces nothing for the first couple hours, or if one has some cheeky fekker sitting on it
Location: Portlaoise, Midlands
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- joe10 (joe nolan)
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- irish-zx10r (James feenan)
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Looks like I was using the wrong bait and the wrong float and hook changed my approach and now I am back catching a few fish
Got a few good spots down here near Tullamore if any of you are ever down this way.
Something fishie going on here
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- Homer (Kevin)
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H.
The Glass is always greener on the other side.
It's NOT "Chee lick", NOT "Chee Chee Licks"!!! Cichlids is pronounced as "Sick Lids"!!!!!
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- Wackoo (Niall)
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I'm just looking for a days fishing, nothing too serious and happy to catch anything! Ehm... Stretches between Dublin and Mullingar would be easiest for me to get to. If you could pass on a PM that'd be great thanks!
@Irish-zx10r;
Ha ha any tips I could get would be brilliant! If your willing I'd love to hear what advice you got? If I'm heading down that way I'll pm you!
@Homer;
I definitely agree that there has been a lot of illegal fishing, I walk a lot of the canal and have seen a lot of this 'poaching' myself.
That said last weekend I walked from Longwood to mullingar and I was shocked by the quantity and quality of fish I saw! It seems to me that the canal has had a bit of a rebound in stocks in the last year or two? What do we think?
Cheers lads!
Niall
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- irish-zx10r (James feenan)
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Plan b would be have a few pints in the pub beside the canal and say you caught nothing. I am only 25 min from mullingar so call anytime.
Something fishie going on here
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- Wackoo (Niall)
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- JohnH (John)
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@Wackoo its simple let everyone else feed and rake a swim then when they are fishing bring the kids and make sure they are loud and annoying lol 5 min and they will leave just setup in there spot and catch lots of fish.
Plan b would be have a few pints in the pub beside the canal and say you caught nothing. I am only 25 min from mullingar so call anytime.
Plan b - my sort of fishing, for sure...
Location:
N. Tipp
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.
ITFS member.
It's a long way to Tipperary.
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- irish-zx10r (James feenan)
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@Wackoo its simple let everyone else feed and rake a swim then when they are fishing bring the kids and make sure they are loud and annoying lol 5 min and they will leave just setup in there spot and catch lots of fish.
Plan b would be have a few pints in the pub beside the canal and say you caught nothing. I am only 25 min from mullingar so call anytime.
Plan b - my sort of fishing, for sure...
Plan B was used in Terryglass down near you a few times
and once i even had to stay over night in Ballina Co. Mayo because fishing was very poor.
Drink was great though
Something fishie going on here
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- JohnH (John)
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"Plan B was used in Terryglass down near you a few times
and once i even had to stay over night in Ballina Co. Mayo because fishing was very poor.
Drink was great though"
I've had a few overnight dalliances in Mayo myself (you probably know the saying "you ought to have been here last week, the fishing was brilliant") and the other one was "if you're here tomorrow there will be a great run on the tide..."
I used to fall for it every time!
Location:
N. Tipp
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.
ITFS member.
It's a long way to Tipperary.
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- Wackoo (Niall)
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- irish-zx10r (James feenan)
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Something fishie going on here
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- Wackoo (Niall)
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- irish-zx10r (James feenan)
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Caught these on maggots and worms from the composter... Great sport
I am going to have to get myself one of these. there is not many fishing shops around tullamore that i know of.
Something fishie going on here
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- joey (joe watson)
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wouldn't know of any the other side of tullamore tho. if you root around in a horse manure heap you can usually find compost worms a few inches under the surface
Location: Portlaoise, Midlands
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