Killykeen Forest Park, Foxholes - 27th May 2012

My first trip to Ireland I was in the hands of Paul Colins (Animal) and his Uncles.  What a great group of guys they were and we would be staying at the Anglers Rest in Ballyconnell run by Francis and Pauline McGoldrick.  Francis is also in the Irish International Team.

The first day the group had decided to fish within Killykeen Forest Park at a spot know as the Foxholes. Paul and the rest of the group had fished here before and the lure of some irish tench proved too much.

Foxholes is accessed via a forestry road which can be closed without notice, so be warned.

The Setup
I opted to set up the following to tackle my swim:
  • Pole at 12 metres with 7' depth (top 3)
  • 10' Bomb Rod with a running cage feeder at 40 turns
  • Waggler rod to fish shallow at beyond pole range
We had decided to fish in randomly drawn teams of two and I was paired with Glynn today.  The winning team would get 1 point, second team 2 points, third team 3 points.  The angler over the week with the least points would take the "festival" title.

The All-In
I balled in 4 large balls of groundbait packed with red maggot and sweetcorn and would let this swim rest for at least 90 minutes.  While waiting I went out on the feeder baited with double red maggot.

The feeder was recast every 10 minutes for the first hour to get some bait on the deck and I would then leave it for 20 minutes or until a bite.

Bites were not coming very quickly at all, in fact all the lads were struggling.

After a biteless 90 minutes I tried the pole line which saw some limited success with a couple of small roach/bream hybrids coming to the net.

It was proving a very tough day and while the weather was great for getting a sun tan, the bright sun and cloudless sky wasn't helping the fishing.

We all packed up around 4pm and went to weight our meagre catches in...

The Result
I weight 1lb 9oz which was top weight of the day, Paul weight 1lb 7oz and the others had around one pound, with the exception of Glynn and Bernard who both blanked...

Conclusion
Being a natural venue, watercraft plays a lot bigger part.  If the fish are not there and not willing to feed then there is not a lot that you can do apart from trying to find them.  We would be returning the next day on the same swims, so hopefully the catches would be better tomorrow.

More Pictures

Fred waiting for the tip to fly round...

Bernard with his unique wave

Glynn also on the tip

Paul baring all on the pole

Malcolm and his normal exuberance

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