[Dave Fitzpatrick]

People:Ronan and myself

Duration: 4pm - 9pm

Tide: rising - falling

Weather: misty / hazy sunshine.

Lure: taz devils

Results: Ronan - 1 twaite shad and 1 roach hybrid (I think)
Me - 4 twaite shad

Report:

After spending the past few weeks unsuccessfully searching for Bass on lures, I figured I'd try something completely different and take a spin down to St Mullins, Co Carlow to see if the Shad had started to run with the big tides. It a bit of a drive down for me relative to the fishing window so I was really hoping I wasn't going to be disappointed and I wasn't. Although talking to some of the other guys fishing there, it sounded like the fishing was much better the day before but what can you do. We got five between us but unfortunately none quite up to specimen size, 1.1kg (2.4255lbs). It was certainly nice to get a few fish again and finally to get a chance to lad a few fish on the new Rookie.

Just in case anyone isn't familiar with the species, the Twaite Shad is a migratory fish that spawns in the rivers of southern Ireland around May and basically St. Mullins on the Barrow River is the mark in Ireland to fish for them.

 

[Tim Griffin]

Wow - well done, Dave. Nice to see some different fish being landed. I have one of those Tasmanian Devil lures but have no idea ho wto use it or what I might catch on it. Are they any good for bass?

 

[trev richardson]

Top report Dave.

It's great to see people going for and catching something different like the Shad..

Certainly looks to be a member of the herring family from your photo........mmmmm Nice smoked..

Sorry...just love Kippers...

 

[Dave Fitzpatrick]

Wow - well done, Dave. Nice to see some different fish being landed. I have one of those Tasmanian Devil lures but have no idea ho wto use it or what I might catch on it. Are they any good for bass?

Thanks Tim, I had a few tasmanian devils sitting in the box for years and had never caught anything on them until I decided to go after the Shad last year and realised that they were the lure of choice. I've never tried using them for the Bass but I stuck one on a couple of weeks ago to see if I could tempt a Sea Trout but ended up catching a Launce. :-?

Top report Dave.
It's great to see people going for and catching something different like the Shad..

Certainly looks to be a member of the herring family from your photo........mmmmm Nice smoked.. Sorry...just love Kippers...

Thanks Trev, I believe that they are a member of the herring family alright but are much larger and more deep-bodied than herring. Apparently they are also full of bones so probably not so good for eating.

 

[Bob]

Great catch Dave, picture tells a thousand words:-D
Best of luck for the season
Bob

 

[Barry Howlin]

nice one davey plenty of them being caught including a good few over the specimen mark its gonna be a busy place this weekend....

 

[Dom Sheppard]

My brother would be jealous.
Twaite Shad run through the river wye and three other rivers in the uk when they spawn, however there is now a ban and it is strictly prohibited to fish for them.
Many fond memories of me and my bro using size 2 mepps at a fav spot and catching one after the other.
Sad reminder of how polluted of rivers are(even if enviromental agency sez different..)

 

[jbarry]

Excellent stuff well done,, going to head there myself on Monday great fun on light gear, from what Iv heard there are a nice few specimens being caught!

Starting think thou that the fishing there should be tad bit more regulated as there are alot of fish not getting handled and landed properly and as a result you can at times see alot of dead fish up there which is a shame as its the only river in the country where there are still good runs of this remarkable fish.

Anyways well done again fingers crossed it wont be long til the bass are around in numbers like that shad in st mullins ;-)

 

[Ben Field]

Nice one Dave! I like seeing different species! Crazy catching that little hybrid though!!

 

[Mo Zakaria]

well done on the catch. Looked gorgeous

 

[Pennywise]

Hi Dave,

Nice report and pics. The smile says it all

I might give you a buzz next week if you are about....

 

[micheal quirke]

a change is as good as a rest dave...well done

 

[Simon L]

Cracking report Dave :clap:, and good angling :clap:

 

[Tom H]

Good report and nice looking fish going to try to head down that way next tuesday never fished for them before but aways meant to...

 

[Dave Fitzpatrick]

nice one davey plenty of them being caught including a good few over the specimen mark its gonna be a busy place this weekend....

It certainly will, being the bank holiday weekend and the fact that I think there is a competition on as well will certainly mean that it will be a lot busier. The Shad seems to be generally a bit larger this year than last year and I had heard of a few specimens being caught. I lost one myself that felt much better but the ones we landed were a bit shy of the specimen weight. I'm going to try to get down there again to see if I can catch myself a specimen as it will probably be the only specimen I catch this year.;-)

My brother would be jealous.
Twaite Shad run through the river wye and three other rivers in the uk when they spawn, however there is now a ban and it is strictly prohibited to fish for them.
Many fond memories of me and my bro using size 2 mepps at a fav spot and catching one after the other.
Sad reminder of how polluted of rivers are(even if enviromental agency sez different..)

I really hope the day doesn't come over here where it is prohibited to fish for them but I do think fishing for them should be controlled a little better.

Excellent stuff well done,, going to head there myself on Monday great fun on light gear, from what Iv heard there are a nice few specimens being caught!

Starting think thou that the fishing there should be tad bit more regulated as there are alot of fish not getting handled and landed properly and as a result you can at times see alot of dead fish up there which is a shame as its the only river in the country where there are still good runs of this remarkable fish.

Anyways well done again fingers crossed it wont be long til the bass are around in numbers like that shad in st mullins ;-)

I think I might be heading down again on Monday so I might see you down there. I completely agree that there should perhaps be a bit more regulation down there, I mean its fantastic to see the shad there in such good numbers but I hope it stays that way.

Nice one Dave! I like seeing different species! Crazy catching that little hybrid though!!

Yeah it was definitely an unexpected catch and I wouldn't mind but I had just given Ronan my new Rookie to have a few cast with and then he goes and catches a fish on it, typical. :-D

Hi Dave,

Nice report and pics. The smile says it all

I might give you a buzz next week if you are about....

Well what can I say, that fish had been a long time coming. :-D
I'm off next week and hoping to squeeze in a few sessions, so give me a call if your heading out Crevan.

Good report and nice looking fish going to try to head down that way next tuesday never fished for them before but aways meant to...

Like yourself I had been meaning to make the trip down and fish for them last year but never got around to it and it was only last year that I eventually made the trip. I've heard that it can get crazy busy down there but it hasn't been too bad when I've been down.