Away Gold at Last.
Report from Team Manager Michael Monaghan
September 15th saw the team depart in the early hours of Sunday morning to Scotland for the Autumn International on the Lake of Menteith. In October 2018 the Team was picked for this match. As a result of the selection deliberations an experienced Team was chosen who had a lot of International experience. Included in this were the two previous Gold medal winning Captain’s, Ireland’s most capped Irish anglers and a Brown Bowl Winner among the 14. The Captain, Martin McGorian was chosen for many reasons. He is a very determined and passionate angler and he is no stranger to competitive angling.
The preparation began in November 2018 when we held Our first meeting. It was discussed that we had the opportunity to chase down an away win with the Team personnel we had and this then became our only target.
Fast forwarding to 2019 and the Team worked away on preparation for the match. We arrived at Menteith on Monday morning and had heard how well it had fished on Saturday for the Scottish National Final. The lake did not disappoint and all of the Team had caught well during practice on Monday. With a couple of methods working well we continued to refine and adapt these as the week progressed. We were fortunate that we had many fly tiers within the ranks and each day everyone was armed with the required patterns plus a few patterns that required further testing. We came off the lake early on the Thursday afternoon our last practice day, happy with what we were doing and to get the final preparations done early and allow the Guys a chance to relax a little before match day.
Match Day Preparations completed we set off to the lake and arrived at 8.15. The sun started to burn off the early morning fog and in no time revealed a bright blue sky and a lake that resembled a mirror. Not what any team wanted, especially the Irish Team as we had no practice during the the week in such conditions. But we did practice during the week as if it was going to be flat on the final and the team worked hard perfecting methods. Which ranged from Di5 and boobies to floaters and drys. Each area fished slightly different and you needed to adapt lines and flies and indeed retrieveS to continually meet fish
The International matches have many fine traditions and the parade to the Lake is one of these. It starts the nerves jangling and stands the hair up on the back of Your neck like you wouldn’t believe possible. Formalities over a quick Team chat and good luck wishes exchanged the Team headed to the Boats. It was over to the Guy’s now to do their best. I watched from the shore interested to see where the armada of boats were headed.
Once the boats are gone the respective team managers all have a chat and reveal how the practice had gone and what the winning total might be. In the conditions I thought that 100 fish could do it. As practice days had indicated all Teams seemed to be doing well and I felt this was going to be an extremely close match where a fish or two could make a huge difference in terms of the result. I fished the Officials match during the day and couldn’t believe the conditions, hot and calm. I stayed away from the competition boats. I spent a lovely day in the company of Ian Wilson of the Scottish Committee and we agreed at one point that we didn’t have to fish the 8 hour match such were the conditions. Really stamina and energy sapping conditions if there ever were!. Ashore at 5 and the weigh in for the Officials match was done. Victory went To Michael Callaghan, Ireland with 5 fish in the process pipping Paul Edward of Wales by 0.1 of an ounce. A tight result. Glad to see that My two days spent with Michael paid off as He won the Officials match for the first time ever. Chatting again amongst the Team Managers revealed that Ireland seemed to be doing well. Fingers crossed time.
At 5.50pm the first boats started coming ashore. The first Irish Angler I met was the Captain, Martin McGorian who had played a true Captain’s part and caught 9 fish. One by one I gathered up the Team total and after some quick mental maths determined that we had a very respectable 109 fish. It is customary for the Team Managers to exchange their respective Team tally’s. It then became apparent that we had the most fish a remarkable result and showed the true grit and determination of the team. I urged caution as we had been here before in 2016 and came second! The weigh in was completed and after the scores were tallied. Our hard work and relentless effort paid off , we had won by a little over 8 lbs and were pushed all the way by Wales on 104 fish in second. I mentioned earlier about the fine traditions at the International matches the other Teams and Managers offered their congratulations in wonderful display of sportsmanship. Once this was done Captain Martin decided to conserve the water supplies at the Hotel and have a dip in the Lake instead. There isn’t a stag above the rolling hills above Menteith that could reach the heights that Martin reached. He had been threatened with getting wet if we won and He decided when man handled to the water to complete a most spectacular jump which was recorded on camera for posterity. Another outstanding result on the day was Arden Pollock winning the Brown Bowl for the second time. A wonderful achievement indeed. Arden is equally at home on still and running water alike and has been a very consistent angler over many years. If he were a Mr. Men character, He would be Mr. Laid Back. Arden now joins Toby Bradshaw as Irish Anglers who have won the Brown Bowl twice and who is to say he won’t stop at two!. Back to the Hotel and time to get scrubbed up for the presentation of the trophies and medals and time for the celebrations to begin.
Time now for thank You’s.
First of all, Martin McGorian for His outstanding leadership in the preparation and during match week. To the Team, all I can say it was a privilege to be Your Team Manager. You all gelled together perfectly and helped and inspired each other all week. You all walked Your talk and an old ghost has finally been laid to rest after 22 years. To Noel Farrar, ITTFFA Youth Officer and Youth Coaches, Sean Dempsey and Francis Rafferty for the invaluable information and tactics which You gave us after the Youth’s own victory on Menteith. To Quint, Douglas, Connor and Elma at Menteith You did a fantastic job as always. What a fishery and as was mentioned during the after dinner speeches Ireland, England and Wales would love to have such a superb fishery on their doorsteps.
Thanks to Michael Callaghan and Stan Mc Keon for their help during the week. Thanks also to the Hotel and matchday Boatmen. Ian & Eleanor Campbell for a superb job as always.
To The Scottish Committee and Tom McTaggart and George McKenzie for organising and hosting the International.
To Our Bus driver Sean Lally who looked after us and ferried us about all week in a thoroughly professional manner.
Last but not least, Our Team Sponsor, Dave McBride of Southside Angling who so generously sponsored Our River’s, and Lough Style Teams clothing in 2019. I cannot thank Dave enough for putting his money where His mouth is. It is greatly appreciated by all.
Hope I have not forgotten anything. Looking forward to 2020 and the next match which is at home on Lough Melvin.
Michael Monaghan
Hon. Sec. /Team Manager ITFFA
Not only did Ireland win the Autumn International but it was a great occasion for another reason. Stanley McKeon took over from George MacKenzie as the IFFA International President.
On behalf of the ITFFA , i would like to wish Stanley McKeon a wonderful year in office, an honour he so richly deserves. Congratulations again Stan.
SEAN Goulding
25.09.2019 20:12
Well done to all involved
Brian Maloney
25.09.2019 11:28
Congrats Denis !!
Latest comments
19.05 | 05:47
Hi Denis
Good meeting last night, and enjoyed reading your blog. Felt I was on the lake with you. Great work
02.05 | 20:42
Hi Dennis loved the article straight to the point .just wondered will the trout feed on the small buzzers all year ?
06.04 | 11:57
Cant wait to read this
01.03 | 03:03
glad u enjoy, ty, will be back when the fishing returns
AND SO IT BEGINS.
After fishing from the bank all winter long, I was looking forward to getting back in the boat. Normally I would wait for the first hatch of the year and travel down to the west of Ireland or not go at all until the Duckfly appears in the midlands. But after not fishing for 3 weeks I was starting to loose the plot. So with limited time I opted for Lough Owel and maybe chance to see the first hatch of the year, which is a small buzzer about half the size of the Duckfly which hatches just before the Duckfly itself. The weather looked good enough in the days before my trip, but as always the weather turned. A South wind but 19 to 24km which isn’t really what I was hoping for.
Arriving early at Lough Owel I was greeted with a bare pin ripple on the lee shoreline and a balmy 10c, but as I fitted the boat out I could feel the breeze building. Two 10ft ever reliable 7 weight RS Wychwood Competition rods were both adorned with floating lines, a straight buzzer set up on one and a bung on the other.
As I travelled down the lake it was lovely to hear the hum of my 15hp Johnson, I checked every bay and reed bed but more in hope, for any sign of buzzer. The wind was picking up all the time and after an hour or so I resigned myself to defeat and out came the di3. Fishing at this time of year in my opinion is normally shallow for hoglouse and snail feeders, whilst drifting in 10 to 20 ft of water you would be after fry feeders on the drop off with di5s and di7s depending on the wind.
The greater the wind the heavier the sinking line. At this stage I had travelled as far as the cornfield and I drifted off the shelf in nice conditions pulling dabblers and fry patterns. A three fly 16ft cast of 8lb strong leader, 6ft to first fly and then 5ft between with flys .
Just coming off the shelf I got my first fish, a lovely marked but thin overwintered Triploid Brown of about 2lb. Working up the shoreline to the neck I got two more on Black Dabblers and a big white Hummungous.
Stomach pumping the fish is a must when fishing in my opinion, you don’t need to go mad emptying the fishes stomach, a brief pump will tell you what the fish are on. In this case snail and hoglouse were high on the menu.
HE WHO DARES WINS....
I worked along the lee shorelines as it was getting very blustery picking up a fish here and there. I changed flys a few times, but it seemed whatever I put on the top dropper the fish took. The top dropper is the first fly the fish sees as you pull it by him, typical early season fishing. All fish were in the 1.5lb to 2.5lb bracket. Its been years since I fished Owel on a regular basis, so this year I have decided to fish it a lot more and re-learn the lake. With this in mind, I kept moving, instead of repeating drifts.
About lunch time I decided to head to deep water and see if I could contact some of the larger trout Lough Owel has know become known for.
I put up the di-5, but after one drift I felt I was not staying in contact with the line or getting deep enough due to the wind. So the dreaded di-7 was taken out of the box and the cobwebs blown off it. It took me 5 or so minutes to get the feel for the line as I hadn’t fished it from a boat in what seemed like an age.
But sure enough 10 minutes later after a count to 35, followed by a long slow retrieve the first marker went through the rod rings and I hung the flys, I thought I got slight knock, I waited and waited, nothing, continuing my long slow retrieve I barely got three more long pulls before the rod hooped over and the tip of the rod buried into the lake as line peeled off the floor then off the reel. Playing a fish alone out in the middle of the lake on a blustery day will certainly get your heart thumping. Anything and everything can go wrong , so that’s why I keep a tidy boat( stop laughing) when fishing alone. Regaining half the line onto the reel, I began to drag the fish from the depths. At times it just hung beneath the boat and there was nothing I could do. The wind was pushing the boat along too quickly.
Eventually the fish came to the surface and at over 4lb I was gobsmacked and puzzled at its strength. Lying on its side one second, then it vanished, the penny dropped, I had two on. Now it got messy, eventually I guided the first one into the net, unhooked it, then netted the fish on the tail fly with the first fish in the net. The tail fish was about 3.5lb and the fish on the top dropper was over 4lb, they certainly stretch the di7. Both released back to their watery homes, after a little rest in my net.
I fished all the way back to the moorings, catching an odd fish and I had another double hook up of newly introduced fish but it was pleasant. Just as I packed up the redundant Bung Rod, a fish rose in front of me. As a wise man once said “never pass up a willing fish”. Out with the di- 3 and 3 casts later the line went tight, fish number 13 was landed. Enough was enough and in I went.
Lough Owel was kind to me on a not so kind day. It was great to be back out on the lake and I hope to be back out again next week, hopefully there will be Duckfly !!!. But knowing my luck , the wind will be howling and the rain will be coming down sideways.
But as Anglers we Live in Hope.