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Back to Academy searchCathal Hughes
Cathal first started fishing aged five years old on Lough Corrib, Ireland with his Father and has been match fishing since the age of 14.
Cathal has represented Ireland on numerous occasions and has fished two senior World Championships for Ireland. He now concentrates on the Irish match and festival circuit and in 2008 added to his list of achievements by winning 'The Gowna Angling festival'.
His favourite fishing methods are catching Roach and Skimmers on a pole and long distance fishing for Bream using the feeder.
His favourite rods are the Greys G-Tec 12' Feeder for medium distance and the 13' G-Tec Feeder for long distance fishing.
Some footage of Cathal Hughes fishing the World Angling Championships.
News from Cathal Hughes – Friday 6th August 2010
“After returning home from the World Championships, I decided that a much needed break would be in order. This was to give me time to get my gear and head back to normal.
“My first match back was an open on Lough Muckno. This was the venue for the annual All Ireland and Garda open matches that were to take place in a fortnight’s time. Even though it’s a three and a half hour drive I felt that it would be worth it, to get a little practice in.
“Pole and feeder are the best methods here, with Roach, hybrids and skimmers making up the weights. I drew the end peg of my section which was a big bonus and for company I had the Irish Team manager on my left. Dick is a venue regular and knows the place inside out, so I was surprised to see him only setting up the pole. I decided to cover more options and put up both the feeder and pole.
“Due to the high winds, 11.5 metres of pole was all that was fishable and this was done with 1 and 1.5 gram Sensas Jean Francois floats. The lighter float was set to fish at dead depth, while the heavier of the two, was fished 15cm over depth. For the feeder I used a prototype 12’ Hardy Marksman Ultralite rod fished at 38 reel turns. This rod had been designed with a soft action that is perfect when using braid, but also has enough power through the middle sections to use big feeders. I also used the new Ultima Power braid. This braid is brilliant for Ireland as it sinks very fast after the cast and is very smooth through the rod.
“At the all in, I put 10 balls of worm and caster lased groundbait in on the pole line and then put 15 massive feeder full’s of bait in on the feeder line. Dick decided to cup everything in on the pole, which lead me to believe that he thought that we were in for a hard day.
“I caught few small roach on the feeder before changing to the pole where there were roach and hybrids lining up. This was enjoyable fishing, but for some reason I could only catch in ten minute spells before the swim would die. Feeding groundbait seemed to be a kiss of death, so I decided alternate between the feeder and pole giving each swim a rest once I felt that it was fading.
“This worked a treat and I kept catching all through the match. The odd bonus bream on both methods helped boost my weight and by the time the all out was called I felt reasonably happy with how I had done. Dick had stuck to his guns all day, but because his pole swim was not been given a rest he ended up struggling for long periods.
“By the time the scales arrived to me, I had gotten word of how hard the venue had fished reasonably hard. Only the end pegs had produced any weights, while all the middle pegs fished terrible. Luckily my 20kgs weight was enough to win my section and the day. With 13kgs winning the other section and coming second overall I was happy with my approach. However the biggest lesson learned from the match was that, unless you draw an end peg you mightn’t have a chance of framing in the big upcoming matches.
“Unfortunately, while in Spain, I lost my mobile phone, this has meant that I have not received all of the text messages that were sent to me. So if I have not replied to your message this is the reason and I’m very sorry. Thanks for all the congratulations from everyone. It was an honour to be part of the team and result made all the hard work and preparation worthwhile.”
News from Cathal Hughes – Tuesday 20th June 2010
“After a twenty hour ferry crossing and a two day drive across France and Spain I finally met with the rest of the Irish Team in the historic Town of Merida, in the south of Spain. The schedule for the team was to have eight days practice on the river Guardiana before taking part in the 57th World Freshwater Angling Championships. Practicing for six hours a day in temperatures reaching the mid 40’s was not easy but the determination of the team saw them fix on a method that would hopefully see the Team back where they belong, in the world’s top 10.
“The Team’s approach was based around feeding groundbait full of joker on the 13m pole line. My rigs were reasonably simple - a reverse tapered bulk of shot with either one or two number eight droppers. The lowest dropper was plumbed to sit as close to the bottom as possible. My rigs were made up on 18 Power Match, with hook lengths usually 16 Power Match.
“Thirty two countries lined the river bank on Saturday 26th June and after three hard hours fishing it looked as if Team Ireland had finally broken in the world’s top 10. We had section points of 1 – 2 - 5 – 11 -13, for a total of 32 points which was good enough for 6th place on day 1 of the championship. England was once again in 1st position followed closely by Scotland in 2nd place. Although Ireland had achieved one of its best day 1 results in recent years, the Team were determined to do better on day 2. We were also in with a chance of an individual medal with Pat Barkley from Dublin on one point and yours truly on two.
“Day two saw the Team fish the venue more or less the same way as they had done on the previous day. Bob Hulme suffered from a disastrous draw on day one, so he made on way for Rory O Neil on the second match. My only change from the previous day was that I upped the size of my rigs, due to the swim being much deeper.
“After two hours the word along the bank was good. Roscommon man Rory Dunne was catching well in section B and Rory O Neil was also doing the business in section A. I was stuck in a real ding dong battle with Steve Gardener, who was at the opposite end of my section. Pat and Jason were struggling, but with one fish worth massive points there was still time.
“At the final whistle we felt that we had done fairly well. Rory Dunne finished second and Rory O Neil finished third in his section. The bigger fish never showed for Jason or Pat, but by concentrating on the smaller catfish the finished half way up their sections. It was an age before I finally got my result which ended up being a section win. This put me in with a great chance of an Individual medal and also more importantly would hopefully keep the team in the top 6. After an anxious two hour wait for results to be finalised, it immerged the Irish team had bettered any previous result by finishing the Championship in 4th place.
“The icing on the cake was that I had finished with an Individual silver medal with a 3 point tally finishing behind Luxemburg’s Frank Meis who scored an unbeatable 2 points. England once again showed how good they are by winning the Championships, followed by Italy, Holland and Ireland.”
News from Cathal – 13th May 2010
“The past few weeks have seen me travel all over the country with very little to show for my efforts. A couple of Matches along with a few Irish Team practice sessions on Gaulsmoylestown Carp fishery had me wondering if all the hours I put into preparation are worth it. Two things I hate are; not knowing how to fish a venue and getting beaten off the next peg. Both of these things were beginning to happen a little too often for comfort. Following a bad beating each side from Jason Ward and Bob Hulme at a resent trial on the Carp lake, I found my confidence at an all time low. Rory Dunne ended the day with the top weight with a rig I gave to him and he had feed more or less the exact same way as I had. I was puzzled, but had no answer to why I had done so badly on the day. Normally I would try and have a couple of practice sessions on a venue to get things sorted, but because I have no serious plans on regularly fishing the venue, I am not too bothered about it.
“The next day, I decided to fish a local match on the Joinery. Peg 22 was where I drew and for company on peg 21 was once again, Rory Dunne. Rory has been fishing very well lately, so I knew that with the form that he was in, he was going to be hard to beat. My plan was very simple; fish the slider at 30 turns and enjoy the day. With everyone around me fishing the pole, I really didn’t think that I would do any good, but after some recent poor results, all I wanted to do was clear the head and get back to enjoying my fishing. A question that has been asked of me lately, is what line I use for slider fishing? I use 4.4lb Ultima power steel. Because it has very little stretch I find that it is great for striking into bites and has the added bonus of being very robust, therefore allowing shot to be moved without damaging the line. Getting back to the match; Rory won again! But only beating me buy 200grams and that was after me losing my float half way through the match. Some lads have all the luck. I wasn’t complaining, I really enjoyed the day catching over 100 fish for 11kgs.
“Next up was a few evening sessions on the local lake. I have been playing around with the Marksman 13’ Specimen Float rods on these evening sessions and have found them to be absolutely perfect for Roach and skimmer fishing. Even though the fishing has been excellent in the evenings, it has not been very enjoyable. I have witnessed firsthand the amount of fish been taken by some anglers. The law in Ireland is that only three coarse fish can be kept/killed by any one angler, but taking keep nets full of fish is a bit ridiculous. I have tried talking with some of the guys in question, but the’ I don’t speak English’ answer and a shrug of the shoulders is all I get in reply. It’s a shame to see this happening, when it’s obvious the negative affect it will have on our sport in the future.
“The All Ireland canal Championships were being held on the Grand Canal in Daingean, so I decided to give this two day match a go. I shouldn’t have bothered! In fairness, I was having an enjoyable first day and it was looking like I might sneak some section money, when Rory Dunne came walking up the bank and decided to stop behind me for a chat. This coincided with my swim drying up, so I believed that he should have been disqualified for bank walking. To make things worse, he picked up section money after narrowly beating me into third position. I’m starting to have nightmares about that man! The overall match was dominated by end pegs, so unless I drew one the following day I would be watching the soccer by lunch time. The draw on day two put me on peg 5 on Millennium Bridge. I gave it an hour, hoping for some skimmers, but ended up watching the football at lunchtime. Well done to Malcolm Smith who won the match over the two days.
“Following on from the canal match was an Irish Team practice session on my least favourite venue, Gaulmoylestown. I just can’t get my head around how to feed the lake. Big weights were expected, as venue guru Bob ‘the carp’ Hulme had won the last four matches with 70lb plus on each occasion. A sharp frost on the Friday night before made sure that weights would be lower than first expected. This was exactly what happened and the fishing was very hard in some areas. Because of the cunning way I fed my swim I snared a few and caught my biggest carp from the venue to date. I think my carp netting skills really impressed the Team Manager, because on my third attempt to net the fish he walked away talking to himself.
“Last up was a knock up on Ballyquirke Lake and the best method here is the waggler. With the Dunne brothers fishing I needed a good plan of attack and I had one. I invited the lightweights out for a night on the town. The plan worked a treat, both were as sick as hens the following morning and only managed to the stick the pace until lunch time when they realised that they were in the company of a Master. With no chance of winning and to avoid the embarrassment of getting whooped they ran to the hills. To be honest the match fished very poorly and I put together 80 small roach and hybrids to narrowly beat Arunas with 5kgs.
“As I write the World Championship venue is fishing very poorly, in fact word is that the locals can’t even get a bite on the place. This has left me very worried. Hopefully all the preparation that I have been doing will not be in vain and the fish will return in numbers. If not, I’ve got 150 unused rigs for sale.”
Cheers,
Cathal.
News from Cathal Hughes – Tuesday 30th March 2010
“Once again I found myself booked onto another one of Bill Cassidy’s matches on the river Suck at Ballyforan. After winning last weekend with near 19kgs, I was eager to get back and give it another go. This time I felt that it might be better to short line it, rather than fish 11 metres to hand. The reasoning behind this was, that I would have more control over the float and I would also be able to fish knowing that the bait was just touching bottom. When fishing with a long line on a slope, you can never be 100% sure how your hook bait is running through the swim. I also felt that the whip could not be ignored, after the weights that Rory and Shane had put together on it last week.
“Peg 2 was where I was to spend the day and on arrival at the bank, it was obvious that the river had come up a couple of foot since last Sunday. Its chocolate colour was also not very encouraging and when setting up my platform, it became apparent that the water temperature had dropped a lot in the last week. I felt taking everything into consideration that the bigger fish might be harder to catch today, so I would base my plan around the whip.
“I had hoped to start on the whip at 6 metres, with the intention of feeding the fish into four metres, where I would be able to catch them quicker. Well that was the plan until I plumbed up. Six metres just got me over the ledge and when plumbing up you could feel the plummet sliding down the slope. This meant that the four metre line was out of the question. Had the water level remained the same as the previous week, I would have been able to wade out that bit further and the plan would have been sound. The rig incorporated a slim 2gm wire stem Sensas Stephanie float, that is perfect for this style of fishing. Next up was the ‘big fish’ long pole swim. This was to be fished at 14.5 metres where the slope was less severe. A top 6 was all that was required on this line, it was a much shallower peg than I had been on last week. A 5gm Colmic menta was the float on this rig, as I wanted to nail the bait to the bottom in the hope of catching some of the bigger perch and hybrids.
“At the start, in I balled in 6 Jaffa’s on the 14.5 line and then cupped a further 6 balls full of chopped worm. The whip line was feed with the odd nugget while I fished the long pole. With very little to show for my efforts after half an hour It was time to try the whip. Another reason for the change was that I had caught a small roach on the whip line while shipping out the pole. The whip was much more productive, with small roach and perch coming regularly, but not as quick as I would have liked. It was obvious that the river was fishing poorly, so I was happy to be catching something. My biggest fear was that because the whip fish were so small, a few bigger fish from anyone else would wipe my weight out very quickly.
“Then it happened, my worst fear, Mick May to my left caught a few big hybrids and on my right Shane Dunne started to put some nice fish together at 13 metres. I now had to go back on the long pole to keep in touch. This was very slow and to make matters worse, Shane was still putting a few into the net. Was my rig to heavy? Shane was using a 3gm rig and this was possibly getting him more bites, but I didn’t think that the lighter rig was making that much of a difference to warrant changing my rig. Going back on the whip kept something going into the net and fortunately for me, Shanes run of fish came to an end. A couple of chucks on the feeder produced nothing, so I decided to stay on the whip for the remainder of the match while occasionally having a look on the long pole.
“At the all out I felt that the 90 small whip fish along with about 10 bigger hybrids that I snared on the long pole would be enough. When Shane weighed near 4kgs I started to get worried. I tipped my lot into the weigh net and Rory called 3kg 560gms. I was gutted, Shane had done me. Hold on, why were they laughing? A quick look at the scales reviled 5kg 280gms, which ended being the best weight on the day. Shane finished 2nd and Mick May 3rd, which proves that we were in the right area on a bad day. Unfortunately the bits only showed in a handful of pegs and the bigger fish that were winning resent matches didn’t feed at all.
“Next up is a practice session and some matches on Galmoylestown Carp Fishery, followed by an international get together on the same venue. I will let you know how I get on.”
Cheers,
Cathal
News from Cathal Hughes – Monday 22nd March 2010
"After a long winter of bad weather and terrible fishing, sport has finally started to pick up. The past couple of weeks have seen the opens on the Ballyforan stretch of the river Suck, producing some good weights. Last weekend it was Irish International Shane Dunne, who took home the spoils with a fabulous 23kgs weight of Hybrids caught on the feeder. The average weight for the match was 13kgs, so everyone caught a few. How did I get on? Well seeing as it was Mother’s Say, I decided to miss the match in favour of some brownie points. Typical, that I would miss the best match of the year so far. When I heard that Bill Cassidy was running another match on the venue I got booked on straight away.
"With St Patricks falling midweek, it gave Shane and his brother Rory another opportunity to give the river another go and once again they emptied it. The talk on the bank before the match was that the feeder fished half way across the river was the method. The pole had accounted for some fish over the past few weeks, but they were very small. The best way of catching them seemed to be fishing at about 6 metres, half way up the shelf. In the last match Charlie Greeves, caught over 250 (bliboids, as he calls them) for 13kg. However, it doesn’t seem like there’s any reward in fishing this method, as the feeder is producing better quality fish.
"My draw put me on peg 3. This was the same peg as I drew on my last visit to the venue, when I came third and Arunas Melack from Lithuania, won from peg 1. The company for today’s match was not very good, I had Shane on my left and his brother Rory on my right. I kept a close eye on them while they were setting up, just to see if there practice sessions had changed how they were going to approach the match. They both ignored the pole in favour of the feeder, so for once they had been telling me the truth. My plan for the match was to fish the feeder at 40 turns and the pole at 11 metres to hand in the deep water. I would have liked to fish at 30 turns, but a snag mid river forced me to go further across. The pole was only set up to give me a second option, just in case the feeder was not producing.
At the start, 12 Jaffa’s full of feed went in on the pole line, before I settled down to fish the feeder. Five minutes passed before I got my first bite, which resulted in a 3oz perch. This was not the start that I had been expecting. Looking up and down the bank told the same story, no one was catching. Only 3 day ago the stretch was alive with fish. A couple of more perch in the opening half an hour had me suspecting that I had been fed bum info by my neighbours. But rather that get into a war of words, I kept my thoughts to myself (I don’t like to talk when I’m fishing a match) and picked up the pole.
"First run through produced a small roach as did the second third and fourth. If these were the size fish I was going to catch, it was going to be too much like hard work fishing 11 metres to hand for them.
"Then I got a proper bite that resulted in the pole hooping over. After a brief fight (there’s not much give in doubled up power gum) a near two pound perch came to the surface. A few more roach later it happened again, another big perch. It was time to chop some worm.
"When fishing a swim that’s nine metres deep, you need a stiff
sticky ground bait. Now if you add a load of chopped worm to your mix it can over wet it so be careful. I use my landing net to squeeze the juice from the chopped worm before adding it to my ground bait.
"The addition of the chopped worm brought a good run of perch of mixed size along with some quality roach. I was also feeding loads of hemp and caster in the groundbait in the hope that some hybrids would show later in the match. This was really enjoyable, swinging out an 8 gm float, lowering it in and letting it travel at about half speed down the swim brought bites nearly every chuck. It didn’t take long before my neighbours went running up the bank to set up poles. However, they both went all out for small fish at about 6 metres.
"I plugged away, giving it a ball a chuck, which kept the fish interested and maintained my catch rate, which I must say was much slower than that of Rory and Shane. However the fish in the deeper water (my fish) were of a much better stamp. By the end of the match I had about 150 fish compared with the 300 plus that the boy’s each side of me had. Would it be close? I didn’t think so. I weighed in 18,500 to Rory’s 12kgs, while Shane, who fished the feeder for longer, weighed in 10kgs.
But what about Bill Cassidy on peg 1? While we were having a pole battle, he quietly plugged away on the feeder, catching 14kgs of hybrids which put him in 2nd place over all. I was well pleased with my result, as over the past few months I’ve been there or there abouts, but not getting quite over the line. Over the last few years it has become much harder to win matches in my area, as there are now some very good anglers competing, who push you to the limit all the time. Rory and Shane are now both internationals, with Rory a member of the World championship team. Competition is a good thing and keeps you at the top of your game. I must finish in saying “How many times is that now Shane? “
Cheers,
Cathal
News from Cathal – 10th December 2009
2009. A year to remember.
“With water levels so high at the moment I can’t see myself getting out much more in 2009. So for this blog I think I‘ll recap on my past years ups and downs.
“My first major event was the spring festival on the river Shannon at Portumna. This was my first time fishing this match and because it is run on points, I knew that one hic-cup and it would be game over. Four out of the five days count so dropping your worst result, leaves a little room for mistakes. I fished very positively over the five days finishing with three section wins and two second’s. This left me on five points which was good enough for third place overall on a weight count back. I was a little gutted to finish third, as 3oz cost me a section win on the fourth day, which in turn cost me the festival. Dave Brooks from Barnsley won the festival with Charlie Greeves finishing in second place.
“Next up was the Stena Festival, which is fished on the Gowna Lakes. With the open matches leading up to the festival fishing very hard, I wondered if it was going to be a disaster. A very good draw on day 1 saw me win the day with 29kgs of skimmers. From then on it was a case of taking no chances and just keep adding to my overall weight. This was what I did and ended up winning the festival with 53kgs. Kevin Rowles and Nigel Franks finished second and third respectively, with 46kgs and 45kgs.
“One of the most important matches for me in July was round three of the National teams of four league. This round was being hosted by our main rivals on the Grand Canal in Daingean. I felt that my Grey’s Galway team needed a good result on this leg if we were going to retain the title. When Daingean Red drew two end pegs, I felt that they would be next to impossible to beat. That was until I went and drew three end pegs. This cheered my team mates up no end and we went on to win the day. There was a little pressure on me to perform in this round as in the last league match held on a canal I finished second last in my section. Galway were now leading the league on six points with Daingean in second position on ten points.
“The last weekend in July played host to the Garda open and the All Ireland Championships. The All Ireland is always a special match, as it brings anglers from all over the country together to compete for one of the biggest and most prestigious prizes in Irish match fishing. This year the matches were to be held on Lough Muckno, which is over three and a half hours from home. For this reason I decided to stay up for the weekend. We booked into Alice’s loft which is a brilliant self catering B&B located just a couple of miles outside of Castleblaney. D108 was where I drew and that translated into an end peg on Concra Wood. Having never fished the area before, I decided to set up both the pole and feeder. The pole line seemed a little shallow so I started on the feeder while feeding the pole. An hour into the match I switched to the pole and caught one a chuck for the next three hours until bites faded away. At the weigh in I put 15kgs200gms on the scales to win the section and finish second overall, just 180 grams ahead off my travelling partner Ronan Ryan. Paul McMullen won the day with 18kgs 640gram weight.
“The All Ireland was the biggest one of the weekend. Most anglers wanted to draw a high number on Black Island and that’s exactly where I drew. I was delighted to draw A22 and for company on peg 23, I had a hobbit from middle earth that most will know as Nigel Houldsworth. On 21 I had a guy who likes to be known as Magic 14, why? I asked myself for the next five hours. Anyway, the match did not really go to plan and all I could catch was the odd small skimmer. It was a little embarrassing at the weigh in when furry feet Holdsworth put 17kgs 620gms on the scales to beat me by a mere 14kgs220gms. How did Magic fair? Well the less said about that the better. Wayne Fuller won the match, with Eddie Bridon second and Schmiegel Houldsworth was third.
“The beginning of August got off to a great start with top line manufacturer Ultima, offering me a sponsorship deal. Little did they know that I was already using their lines for all my pole work. A couple of days later a box full of line was delivered and it was time to start getting ready for the biggest festival of the year ‘The Gowna ‘.
“To say that I had put a little practice in for this festival would be an understatement. Weeks of preparation and hundreds of miles travelled to practice matches would hopefully pay off. When Simon Stott put 59kgs on the scales on day one, winning the festival again was more or less out of the question. A steady run of weights over the five days helped me secure 4th place overall. Finishing only 130grams behind third place enjoyed me a little, as looking back at the week, I had left kilos not grams behind me. But so did everyone else. Trying to fish the perfect match should always be an angler’s ambition and trying to fish five in a row over a week would be the ultimate achievement. I had a great week, won a few Euros, drank a few pints and most of all enjoyed every minute of it.
“Following on from the Gowna festival was the interprovincial weekend. This year’s match was in Portumna, so my Connaught team had home advantage. Because of limited time, the team didn’t get to practice so it was decided to let each angler approach their pegs as they saw fit. The river fished reasonably well and this made for some very interesting peg to peg battles. Luckily for Connaught we got the run of the green in a few sections and emerged over all team champions. I ended up finishing as top individual, tying on two section wins with four of my team mates. It was enjoyable weekend that needs to be supported by all provinces in order to keep the oldest team match in the country going.
“Next up was the final match in the Teams of Four league. Unfortunately because of bad weather and some teams at the bottom of the league not turning out, it was decided that it would be pointless fishing the last match. This meant that the Grey’s Galway team were crowned champions for the second straight year with Daingean Red runners up.
“The Adrian o Sullivan competition is a charity match fished in the memory of a good friend of mine who drowned 14 years ago. The Galway club have run this match for twelve years now and every year we raise some money for a local charity. The list of names on the trophy reads the who’s who of Galway match fishing. Rory Dunne, Philip Jackson (Jacko), Bill Cassidy, Brian McGorty and Myself. Even though this is very much a social match, all the top anglers want to win it. This makes for great banter at the draw. The match is held on the Joinery section of Ballyquirke Lake and even though this is a prolific venue with some great pegs there are also some bad ones in the draw bag. Thankfully this year I drew a good one, while my rivals all drew in a line along the dreaded beach section. This made the day a little easier and I won the match with 17kgs.The trophy is now back above my fireplace where it rightly belongs. The following celebrations are a blur, but I have since heard that we had a great night. This year the Club raised €1800 for a local charity and a great time was has by all.
“So what’s next? I have decided to try and get back into the Irish team, this won’t be easy but I will be giving it my best shot. Hopefully I will be able to fish some more festivals 2010 and more importantly keep drawing as good as I have done all year. 2009 has been very good to me, a new niece, and two new brothers in laws and a new festival title. I hope it has been a year to remember for all. Happy Christmas and all the best in 2010.”
Tight lines,
Cathal
News from Cathal Hughes – Friday 6th November 2009
International Trials
“White island on Lough Muckno was the venue for the first trial, for the 2010 Irish team panel. Nineteen anglers attended, with most having represented Ireland at some time or another over the past few years. The last time I was involved with the squad, was at the world Championships in 2001. Since then I have enjoyed fishing festivals and drifted away from the international scene. However over the past few months I started to get the bug back. This may have something to do with two of my friend’s fishing at this level and also when the Celtic cup was in Ireland, I was gutted not to be involved. After giving this some thought, I decided that I would try and get back into team for 2010.
“The day started with team manager Richard Caplice, welcoming all the anglers and explaining how he wanted to run things for 2010. He then allocated a peg to each angler and let each person fish the peg as they so wished, as long as they kept with international rules. The trial was set for four hours, instead of the usual three. This gave the manager enough time to study each angler’s progress throughout the day.
“I was on peg 18. Having never fished the venue before, I had no idea of what the area was like. To be honest I didn’t really care. Because this was a trial and not a match, all I wanted to do was put in a decent performance and hopefully keep in touch with the anglers around me. For company on peg 19, I had David Herron. I knew David had done some practicing on the venue, so I would have to keep an eye on his approach. On peg 17 was Peter Walsh, a venue regular and current Irish international. He too would need to be watched closely.
“Three pole rigs were assembled and plumbing up found 10 foot at 13 metres. At this length I was just over the main shelf, but the bottom was still sloping away from me which was not ideal. With 13 metres the maximum length allowed under CIPS rules, adding another section to try and find a flat spot, was not an option. Because the water was very cold, I believed that my best chance of catching would be on or near the bottom. This was reflected in my rigs, which were 1, 1.5 and 2gram Senses Abbeville floats. The lighter rigs for fishing just touching the bottom were made up on .10 Power Silk with .09 hook lengths. While the 2gram, which was set for lying on, Just in case the lake started to tow, was made up with .12 Power silk main line with a .10 hook length. Hooks on all rigs were, size 19 Tubertini Series 2 0paco’s. Along with the pole rigs I set up two 13 foot G-Tec float rods to fish the slider in 16 foot of water at 35 turns. The first rod was set to fish at dead depth and had some shot spread below the main bulk, while the second slider rig was set to fish over depth, with a simple double bulk set up. My ground bait was a simple mix of Sensas Noire and fine Gros Gardons with a little leam added. The leam served two proposes. One it added some weight for catapulting onto the slider line and two it helped break up the ball quickly once it was on the bottom.
“At the all in, 6 balls of groundbait were thrown in at 13 metres along with 4 more feed rich balls cupped in on the same line. The slider line was feed with 8 plum size balls containing a little chopped worm and caster.
“The first ten minutes were spent on the pole with out as much as an indication and once I saw my neighbours catching on the slider I changed tactics. The slider wasn’t very productive either and I slowly began to lose ground on David and Peter. Missed bite after missed bite had me pulling my hair out and it was only after I changed to a smaller hook, that I started hitting bites. The problem was that they were from tiny perch. A change to the heavier slider rig was what was needed and I started getting the odd roach and hybrid. I tried the pole every now and again throughout the day with limited success. Small roach and perch could be caught by flicking the rig out past the pole tip, but it was too slow and the fish on the slider were a much better stamp. By feeding the odd small ball of groundbait containing dead pinkies and caster I kept bites coming until the end and on my very last cast I struck into a bonus skimmer of about 1lb. I finished the day with 47 fish for a total of 9lb 12oz. This put me just ahead my neighbours, which was my main goal and helped me into third position overall, which I was well pleased with. It was my first time fishing the slider in quite a while and with a little more practice I’m sure I could have had more fish.
But so would everyone else!”
Tight lines,
Cathal.
News from Cathal – Friday 23rd October 2009
“A trip over to the Hardy &Greys Ltd head quarters in Alnwick on the 3rd and 4th of October, saw me have a weekend away from matches. After been shown some of the new product releases for the 2010 season, I can see why the developers over there are so excited with what they have achieved. These meetings are always great for catching up with the other consultants and giving the carp boys a hard time!
“Sunday 11th October was my next outing and it was a practice match for the upcoming memorial charity competition. This match is run in the memory of Adrian O Sullivan who drowned in a freak accident 13 years ago. The match is now in its 12th year and is one of the major occasions of my angling year.
“Peg 21 on the joinery was what I pulled out of the draw bag and for company on peg 22, I had Rory Dunne. Rory is a top angler who recently represented Ireland at the World Championships, so I knew I’d have a battle on my hands.
"With this being a practice match, I decided to try and do things a little different to the norm and fish completely for the skimmers that live in this area of the lake. My groundbait was an out and out bream mix, light in colour and with little or no active particles. While everyone else around me balled in there pole lines, I decided to quietly cup in 8 balls of groundbait crammed full of chopped worm and caster. I knew the noise from balling in groundbait by hand would bring an immediate response, but I felt that it would attract a smaller stamp of fish and hoped that my quieter approach might encourage bigger specimens onto my feed. In case things didn’t go to plan, I set up a 15’ G-Tec float rod to fish the slider at 30 turns and onto this line went another 8 balls of groundbait.
“The match started pretty well, with some bigger Roach coming on the pole, but it was Rory who was setting a near uncatchable pace by putting a fish a chuck in to his net. All I could do was watch and try and find out where it had all gone wrong. I could catch, but nowhere near steady enough. After making up my mind that I couldn’t catch Rory I tried the slider line, hoping that some bream might have moved in. No such luck, however I did manage to snare a couple on my last two casts of the match. Come the weigh in, I knew that I had got a good kicking from Rory and his 16kgs to my 12kgs proved me right. I was surprised to find that I had finished second on the day, but that was no consultation after getting a whopping. All I had to do now was find out where I had gone wrong and I had a week to do it before the memorial match.
“It was great to see so many old faces back on the bank, for the annual Adrian O’ Sullivan memorial match and the banter before the draw is always good. Where the winning peg would come from and more importantly who would draw it is always a major talking point. One thing that I have never done in this match is to draw my own peg, that responsibility falls to Niall O’Sullivan, Adrian’s dad. You can imagine my surprise when he drew me peg 21, the same peg that I was on last week. So would I be able to redeem myself and fish the peg correctly this time?
“With Rory, Shane, Jack and Doni (who all know the venue very well and are all very good anglers) all drawing more or less out of it on the beach section, the pressure was on to get a result.
“This time around my rigs and line diameters were scaled down. Gone were the .15 main lines in favour of a more roach friendly .12 main line with .10 hook lengths. My ground bait was a darker active mix completely geared towards catching roach.
“On the whistle, 8 caster and dead maggot lased balls groundbait were thrown in at 13 metres and a further 4 balls full of chopped worm and hemp were cupped in on the same line. My plan was only to top up with the pole cup and re-feed only when bites started to tail off. It became very obvious last week, that the fish did not want groundbait feed over their heads and if you feed a ball when you were catching you swim died immediately. My plan to try and keep the fish interested was to feed hemp over the top every cast.
“From the off, it was noticeable that the fishing was better than last week with roach coming steadily to the net. When my swim showed signs of dying, a small ball full of chopped worm and caster was feed with the pole cup. This kept things as tight as possible and seemed to do the trick. The swim would return to life until the process needed to be repeated. With an hour to go pike became a problem. They started taking hooked fish and completely spooked the shoal. This slowed my catch rate down considerably. When this happens there is very little that you can do, only hope that they go away. Thankfully I had enough done at this stage.
“I finished the match well clear of second place with 17kgs, to take my 6th memorial title. Second place went to Ken Ince, who made the long joinery up from Cork to fish. Ken fished a very good match to weigh 10kgs off a not so good peg. I must also point out that he had never seen the venue before, so very well done. Third place went to Arunas Mlecka who also finished with 10kgs.
“All in all, it turned out to be a great day with the match raising nearly €2000 for a local charity. I mustn’t forget the biggest fish trophy. This was won by Peter Charlton from England with a massive bream weighing 560gms!”
Thanks to all who fished.
Cathal
News from Cathal - Monday 21st September 2009
Interprovincial’s 09
"The past weekend saw me as captain of the Connacht team in the annual NCFFI teams of ten match. This match see’s the four provinces of Ireland compete against each other for nothing more than a medal and more importantly bragging rights, for the next twelve months. For the past few years, Ulster have failed to field a team, which takes away from the competition a little. However, the rivalry between the other three teams, make this a very enjoyable match to be part of.
"Connacht were playing hosts this year and the chosen venue was to be the river Shannon at Portumna. With some members of the team away on international duty and others fishing festivals, practice on the venue was kept to one teams of four match held on the river a fortnight prior to the inter pros weekend. Because most of the team know the river reasonably well, we felt that letting each angler fish their peg as they saw it we would do alright.
"My peg for day 1 was peg seven on the Salmon run. This is a deep swim, as are most along this stretch, but 7.5 metres deep at 9 metres is a little extreme. I set up three 9 metre to hand poles, Taking 4, 6 and 8 gram floats, to hopefully catch some roach. Two 12’ Hardy Marksman feeder rods with 2oz tips were also assembled to fish at 35 turns. One rod had a standard paternoster rig and the other was rigged with a bolt ‘loop’ set up. Main line on both reels was 6lb Ultima Power plus. I generally use braid on the feeder, but when fishing rivers and using a bolt rig, I feel that mono is less severe on the take and therefore you hit more bites. Hook lengths were .14 Power Silk.
"The plan was to ball the pole line at the start and then concentrate on the feeder for the first hour. The feeder started a lot slower than I expected with only the odd roach and hybrid coming to the net, so plan A was aborted and the pole was fished a little earlier than expected. This was a good decision and I started to catch a few. The 6 gram float was the best and by over shotting it, I could ease the rig slowly down the swim at half pace, which got me bites most run through.
"I finished with a section winning 13lbs, which ended up winning the full Salmon Run stretch. When results started filtering through it became obvious that all the Connacht anglers had done a good job. Winning seven out of ten sections, we finished day one with 14 points. Munster were second with 21 and Leinster third with 25 points.
"Day two saw the Connacht team draw the pegs that Leinster had fished on day one, with Munster on our pegs from the previous day. Would this change things? Munster seemed to think so. The pressure would be on them today, as they claimed that we had a brilliant draw on the first day.
I was on peg 3 on Rodgers Island and for company on peg 2 I had Leinster’s Ollie Doyle. Now Ollie phones me up every now and then looking for advice on tackle and tactics, so to get beaten by him would be nothing less than a disaster. So the stage was set the match had now gotten personal.
"The plan was exactly the same as day one. With the river pushing harder on this section, the feeder rods were fitted with heavier 3 oz tips and the pole’s were rigged with 8 and 12 gram round bodied floats for easing through the swim and a 10 gram flat float for holding back hard. The Match went more or less the same as day one, but the fish were of a slightly better stamp on the pole. I finished with 18lb 10oz just beating Ollie’s 17lb 10oz (not a bad weight for someone who’s not catching, now go to confessions, Ollie ). This gave me another section win and as it turned out I finished as top individual over the two days.
"How did the team get on? All teams scored the exact same points again on the second day. This meant that we ran out winners with 28 points, Munster finished on 42 and Leinster on 50. Hopefully Ulster can get a team together for 2010 and participate in a very light hearted and enjoyable match. As for Munster and Leinster , what can I say, ‘Losers!’."
News from Cathal – 10th September 2009
“I have just returned home after nine long days fishing and practicing for the Gowna festival . I went to Gowna on the Thursday prior to the Gowna festival, in order to get in a little practice and fine tune a few things before the festival started the following Monday morning. Three good sessions in on Rockfield, Guladoo and Leonards deeps, along with watching other anglers, helped gain a reasonable understanding on how the festival would pan out.
“Sunday night was when the section rotation draw takes place. Lots of anglers have opinions on what is the best rotation to draw, however I don’t really care where I’m going. As long as I avoid my splits partner Jacko’s rotation, I happy enough. B section was where I started the 2009 Gowna festival and with Jacko drawing C section I would be following him which might be an advantage to me.
Monday (Leonard’s farm/deeps)
“Peg 1 on the farm can be a doggy draw, as it can be hopeless or very good. I hoped it would be the latter. Greeting the anglers on the bank were very high winds that would make pole fishing almost impossible, so it looked like the feeder would be the number one choice for the match. Setting up a huge 1000 x 800 Match Craft platform raised a few eyebrows from fellow competitors, but using the proper gear for wading is essential for ease of mind and comfort. By the time I had two feeder rods set up, the wind had dropped a little, so I decided to put up the pole at 11metres just in case the wind eased enough to give it a go.
“At the start 10 worm and caster lased balls were deposited on the pole line just in case and the feeder was fished at 35 turns. The first hour was great on the feeder with six good skimmers coming to the net. The second hour it got even better with bites coming fast and I began thinking about a daily win. But it wasn’t to be. An Adult Grebe thought that my feeder swim would be a good place to look for free morsels of food to feed her chick. That put an end to that. Luckily the wind had dropped enough to try the pole. Four big hybrids came in quick succession before it slowed up. However I found that by feeding small caster laced nuggets of groundbait every chuck roach started to respond. Then Guess what? The Grebe decided that it wanted to ruin my pole line. The rest of the match was spent switching between both lines and avoiding the grebe. 16.500kgs was my final weight, which I was very happy with, as the next weight in my five pegs was 9 kgs.
“Simon Stott won the first day, with a massive 59kg of skimmers and bream from peg 15 on the point off Rossduff.
Tuesday (Corfree/Rosduff)
"Peg 22 on Rossduff. With Jacko having fished peg 22 the day before I had a fair idea of what to expect from the area. It was going to be an out and out feeder job. Again I decided to fish at 35 turns. The reason for fishing at this distance is, to fish far enough past the ledge so that you won’t catch it on the way in, but you are still fishing where any natural food will deposited by currents on the bottom.
“I had a nice steady match catching mainly skimmers with the odd bream coming to the net. With an hour of the match remaining nobody in my section was catching so I made a bold decision. On went a massive feeder made from a rod tube and six quick feeder full’s loaded with bait was emptied into the swim. This had an almost immediate effect and I went from catching nothing to getting bites again. I’m now convinced that I wasn’t feeding enough through a standard large feeder to hold the fish in my swim. I finished with 18,500kgs, which surprisingly got me third overall on the day. With no weights near to what Simon had caught on day one, showing on day two, it now looked that we were fishing for second position.
Wednesday (Church Lake / Lissney).
“When peg two on Lissney came from the bag I wasn’t very pleased. Peg 9 had won the section for the past two days. However Jacko had been on my peg the day before so maybe there would be a few fish about. With very little having been caught on the pole over the past two days, it looked like the feeder would be the best method. However when I saw Mick Bower on peg 1 putting up the pole, I waited to see what depth he had before making my mind up. I was amazed to see that he had about12’ at 13 metres. I couldn’t let him have it all to himself, so I quickly put up two rigs. On plumbing up, I found my peg to be a lot shallower than peg 1. About 3’ shallower in fact. Still, it was deep enough to catch roach if they were about.
“The next two hours were possibly the worst two hours I’ve fished as long as I can remember. Mick started on the pole and was into fish straight away. While I started on the tip and caught slowly. When I tried the pole I could catch a couple of small fish immediately and then nothing. When I changed back to the feeder the few fish that were there had gone, disaster. I spent the next hour chopping and changing before making the decision to forget about the pole and start a new line on the feeder. By the end of the match I was chucking 82 turns to get bites, but at least I had put something in the net. At the weigh in Mick put 12.820kgs on the scales to give me a good battering. To be honest, I was happy to I weigh 7.500kgs because I thought that I had less.
“With three days over, I had a total of 42.800kgs and was in 6th position, only 37kgs behind Simon Stott!!
Thursday (Rockfield/ Gulladoo)
“Peg 7 on ‘Rockhard’ as it’s known by most of the anglers, was where I drew. My plan today was to fish the pole at 13 metres and try to catch approximately 8-10kgs of roach. I set up 3 top fives, taking 1.5, 2 and 3 gram floats. 6 balls of groundbait were thrown onto the pole line with another 4 balls containing chopped worm cupped in. It can be better to cup in softer balls in deep water, this makes sure that they don’t break up on the surface. I started the match on an ex-large mega feeder, at forty turns. This was to get loads of bait out quickly and give myself a second area to fall back on if things didn’t go to plan. I gave this line thirty minutes before deciding that it was time to try the pole. Forty roach and perch in the next hour kept things ticking over, but the swim was fading. The head on wind and wavy water, made presenting a bait properly almost impossible. Laying some line on the deck would have helped steady things up but the fish wanted the bait fished slightly off the bottom. I stayed on the pole for the next thirty minutes, but felt that I was fighting a losing battle. Hopefully some fish had moved over the bait on the feeder line. By fishing a standard feeder and feeding regular amounts of worm and caster with red worm and maggot on the hook, I managed to keep the odd skimmer and hybrid coming until the end. I finished with a mixed bag for 6.850 kgs and 2nd in section.
“I was now lying in 7th position and given a reasonable draw on Friday, Imight get into the main frame.
Friday (open draw)
“I like to get into the queue early, as I believe that you have a better chance of drawing a good peg if they are still in the bag. B21 is the peg that stuck to my hand. Not a bad draw on Leonard’s deeps. The point was peg 23, which is near unbeatable. But today all I wanted to do was to catch double figures as I think that should be enough to keep me in the top ten. The only method worth considering on these pegs is the feeder fished at approximately fifty turns. There’s a big shelf on Leonards, that stretches out 35 yards and if you don’t fish far enough past it, you can get snagged in the zebra mussel infested shelf on the retrieve. My plan was to feed loads and wait. I know this area very well and it usually takes the skimmers an hour or two to get their heads down, but when they do, sport can be awesome.
“A very strong left to right side wind made casting a problem, but 50 rocket feeders made this a little easier. After the match anglers asked how accurate I was in the wind. My answer was, my casting was at about 80% but when fishing, I was at 100%. If I don’t hit my marker, I reel in and cast again. No exceptions. At one stage in the match I had three bad casts in a row and retrieved each time. Would they have being bad casts to another angler? When skimmer fishing you need to be on the spot every time.
“The first hour of the match went very well with six skimmers coming to the net in six chucks. But this catch rate was short lived and the swim got harder. Once I felt that there were no more skimmers about, I changed from fishing red worm back to maggot on a smaller hook. This brought a steady run of Roach Hybrids and perch. Along the way I picked up the odd skimmer and with forty minutes to go they moved in and were hungry.
“With the speed I was getting bites and with time running out I decided to try something to speed up my catch rate. With a count of 23 before a 50 gram feeder hit bottom, too much time was being lost. I felt that my catching time was halved. So here’s what I did. While waiting for a bite on rod 1, I baited up and filled the feeder on rod 2. Once I landed a fish on rod 1, I left it in the landing net and cast out rod 2 and only then did I unhook the skimmer while waiting for rod 2 to settle. This was repeated until the end of the match and I’m sure that it added another two skimmers to my net in that last thirty minutes. At the weigh in I put 13.500kgs in the net to finish the festival with just over 62kgs. Would it be enough for a frame place?
“It was, I was delighted to find that I had moved up the leader board into forth position, but a little gutted to find that I fallen only 220 grams short of third place. Anyway forth out of 104 very good anglers is sound in anyone’s book.
“So that’s it for another year. Gowna 2010 can’t come quick enough. A very big well done must go to Simon Stott who broke all records to weigh an awesome 100kgs plus to win the festival by over 30 kgs. Bob Nudd, who is on fire at the moment, after winning the previous weeks Ramor festival, took second position, with living legend Billy Dodd finishing the week 220grms ahead of fourth.
“Thanks to Nigel Holdsworth and John Linford for pegging and finding venues in the high water, Andy and Sue Bettison for having the results sorted so quickly every evening and Timmy at Fitzpatrick’s Tavern for sponsoring the crystal prizes.”
Cheers, Cathal.
News from Cathal - 26th August 2009
"Last weekend saw me make the two hour drive to Gowna on Friday morning. Going up early, gave me the chance to get an extra practice session in. With Church Lake being used for Sundays match, I decided it would be as good a place as any, to try for a few hours. Peg 4 was where I decided to put my box, for no other reason than I don’t like walking very far. My plan was to fish past the slope at 13 metres and see what I could catch. Roach and hybrids came most casts and I ended up throwing back about 9kgs after about two hours.
"I spent most of Saturday doing an in store day, for Anglers World Tackle in Navan. These days are always great fun as you get the chance to meet up with anglers from all over the country and just talk ‘fishing’. There was huge interest in the Grey’s coarse products and I hope to do another one soon. By the time I got back to Gowna, Jacko was packing up at Guladoo lake, after bagging up on skimmers at 14metres on the pole.
"Sunday got off to a bad start, when I realised that I had left my nets back at the B&B and had to drive back for them before the draw. However all was fine, once I drew peg four from the bag. It’s easy to get set up when you know exactly what you need for a peg. With my splits partner, Jacko on peg five, we had a great opportunity to try slightly different tactics and find out what would work best. All I can say at the moment is, that we both fished the pole and weighed 10kgs each and came second and third in the match beaten only by a 10kg skimmer weight that was caught on the feeder. Where were all the roach and hybrids that I’d caught on Friday?
"I’m heading off for the festival next Thursday morning, which should give me plenty of time to try and sort a few more things out, before the festival starts, the following Monday. Fingers crossed I’ll get in the main frame again this year and if not, it won’t be from the lack of trying.
"At the time of writing, all the sections to be used in the festival are unknown. This is due to the amount of rain that has fallen over the past week. This is a pity and has given the organisers a major headache, as water levels are on the rise. This has ruled out some great sections, but nothing can be done about this. I know they will do their best and stop at nothing to get venues ready before Monday morning.
"What about the new Grey’s bait boxes? They are the best I’ve ever used. Check them out, I think you’ll agree."
Cheers,
Cathal.
News from Cathal - 19th August 2009
"Hi again.After all the festivities that go along with a family wedding, I’m glad to be getting back on the bank again. Next up is a practice for the Gowna festival, which starts at the end of the month. Being the defending champion I am going to need all the practice I can get, in order to try and retain the title!
"With water levels much lower than this time last year, the organisers have the pick of the pack in regard to what sections are to be used. At the moment the sections are:
A section: Kevin’s shore / Tessa’s shore (Rossduff)
B section: Gulladoo cross / Gulladoo steps
C section: Church lake / Corfree
D section: Dernaferst swings / Leonards farm
"Luckily, the fishing has been very good on all the sections, with at least 15KGs needed to win most of them. Both pole and feeder will come into play throughout the week, with both methods winning their far share on all the sections.
"Next Friday I plan to have practice session on Dernaferst, as this is a section that I’m not very familiar with. I hope to get another practice in on Saturday, after I return from the opening of Anglers world tackle in Navin. I will be in the shop for most of the day, demonstrating and showing off the range of Grey’s coarse rods.
"On Sunday I’ll be fishing a match on Church Lake, which should give a good insight into how the section will perform during the festival.
"So at the moment its all systems go - rig making; hook length tying and all the bits of preparation that go into getting ready for a festival. I’ve just got hold of some Hardy marksman 10’ bomb rods which I think will be perfect for some of the close in feeder fishing that will be needed on some of the sections and I can’t wait to give then a try.
I’ll let you know on Monday how the weekend practices and Sunday’s match go."
News from Cathal - 8th July 2009
"I decided that a trip to Rossduff on the Gowna lake system was in order to break up the stress of work. A quick phone call to Nigel got Rory Dunne and I booked on a midweek open. The venue has started to fish well, with feeder and pole accounting for most of the match fishing weights.
"I drew peg 10 on the top end which is a pretty reasonable area with lots of skimmers to be caught. I decided to try something a little different and chose to ignore the traditional 12' feeder set up and used the G-Tec 9'6" bomb rod with a light feeder. This is something that I have wanted to try for a while now but I have never had the chance. Withthe combination of an ultralight tip and a soft actioned rod, I hoped that all bites would be magnified and every fish landed. It worked. By feeding 2 pints of casters and a 1/2 kilo of worm I kept a steady run of fish coming and finished third overall on the day, only beaten by Bream weights from either end. The rod worked a treat and was really fun to use. When the wint picked up I had to up my feeder size to a 20 gram one and the rod has no problems with this at all. I can see myself using this allot more in the future."
News from Cathal - 8th June 2009
"After 24 hours of fishing only 440grams separated Keven Rowles and I, so it all came down to the last day.
"The weather had changed from the scorching heat that we had all week, to cooler temperatures with the possibility of some wind and rain later in the day. (A full week in Ireland without rain would be too much to expect). I had a feeling that these conditions would encourage a few more fish to feed and felt that weights would be better today. Kevin was going to what is usually a good and even section in Corfree, so I figured I would need about 7 kilo to stay ahead.
"I drew peg 3 on Rossduff, not a bad draw but I would rather be going to the higher numbers where the ledge is reachable on the pole. Kevin drew peg 4 on Corfree, a reasonable peg with a lot of past form, but I'm sure that he would have wanted pegs 1 or 2. So with the draw done it was game on!
"On getting to my peg, I decided to wade out as far as possible. So, on went the GRXi Breathable Chest Waders and out I went. Setting up your platform in waste high water is not easy, but I hoped by doing so that I would be able to fish over the ledge with the pole. Plumbing up revealed that I would need to fish at 16 meters to get over the ledge and with wind promised later in the day, I decided that it would be to much of a risk to fish at this length, so I based my attack around the feeder at 35 turns.
"It's always good to get a few bites early as this settles the nerves and today I did. The first hour brought 8 skimmers to the net, along with some perch and by the second hour I was catching very steadily. Because of the amount perch I was catching, I decided to stop feeding chopped worm. This I hoped would attract less perch and give the bigger skimmers a chance to intercept the hook bait. For the next half an hour I watched those around me catch while my swim slowly died. It was now make or break time and the decision was made to start chopping worm again. I felt that as long as I was putting something into my net, Kevin would have to be catching more to beat me. So for the remainder of the match I caught mainly perch with the odd skimmer and hybrid mixed in. When the scales arrived at my peg, the leading weight was 7kgs and once I lifted my net out I knew I'd got that. 14kg was more than I expected, so I was delighted to have caught that weight. A quick call to Corfree told me that Kevin had caught 7kgs so it was time to celebrate. What a buzz!
"With the class of angler that fish these matches, to win one festival is amazing but to win a second in only a few months is unbelievable. Over the week I picked up £2500 and a beautiful Cavan Crystal vase for my efforts but what matters most is that I've another major festival win under my belt.
"Thanks must go to the organisers, land owners and Stena Ferries for making this such an enjoyable and friendly festival. On a personal note, thanks to all at Hardy Grey's that were rooting for me throughout the week. My results since joining you guys have being unbelievable!"
News from Cathal - June 5th 2009
"I had a bad day yesterday, which often happens over a series of 5 matches as anglers are rotated around different venues. I managed to scrape together a couple of kilos of small fish on Rossduff, and, although I am a couple of grams down, I am still winning the Stena Festival!
"Going into the final match I will be on a section that produced a 10 kilo top weight yesterday, with my nearest rival on a section that only produced a winning 6 kilo catch. I know where I'm putting my money!"
News from Cathal - 4th June 2009
"I won my section yesterday at Corfree on the Stena Festival. With standard feeder tactics falling, after a couple of hours I switched to the long pole and concentrated on catching small fish. My gamble paid off because the bigger fish failed to show, so my 6 kilo weight was enough to keep me ahead of the rest, with two matches remaining."
News from Cathal - 3rd June 2009
"I drew on a bad section yesterday at Gulladoo and only caught just over a kilo of fish in the Stena Festival, fished in Cavan, Southern Ireland. However, the bright sunny conditions and mini heat wave meant many competitors struggled, so the good news is that I am still leading the event! I now have far more prolific venues to look forward to, as competitors rotate around the sections over the next couple of days. This ever popular festival is decided on weight so with over 30 kilos already in the bag, I am still in with a great chance of adding yet another major Irish Festival trophy to my belt!"
Cathal
News from Cathal - 1st June 2009
"I am currently fishing and winning the big Stena Festival, being fished in the Cavan area in the Irish midlands. I won the first day (yesterday) with 29 kilos of skimmer bream (120 fish) caught on the feeder fished at 35 metres. I was using a new Greys prototype feeder braid, which gave me a huge advantage because it sinks better than any other braids I have used. I ended up 9 kilos clear of the next best catch on his section at Leonards Farm."
Cathal
News from Cathal - 14th April 2009
"Going into the draw on the final day of the festival I was in the lead, but only just. Barnsley angler, Dave Brooks had three firsts and a third and Charlie Greeves had two firsts, a second and a fifth, while I had three firsts and a second.
"With you being able to drop your worst score all was to play for. However both Dave and Charlie had to win there sections in order to beat me. A good peg today could secure the title and the €700 that goes with it, I hoped to draw C7, as this peg had won the match on the three previous days. C5 was the peg I drew and to be honest I was quietly confident with my chances off it. That was until I realised that Charlie had drawn C7 (for the second time in three days).
"With Dave having drawn B1 - an end peg on a very fair section, he was going to be hard to beat. If there is a tie on points the festival is decided on weight and I knew that I had a major advantage over Dave but unfortunately not over Charlie.
"On the day the river fishes very hard with only the odd fish being caught. Because of the rain most people used brollies and this made watching what anglers were catching very difficult.
"I was getting a few fish with the first hour my best when I landed two bream and two big hybrids. Anytime I asked Charlie is he was catching I got the same reply, "cant get a bite mate". Because I was getting the odd bite I was happy enough.
"At the final whistle I had word that Dave had won his section again, so this meant that I had to win mine. With Charlie the first to weigh in I soon got a land - 28lb of bream, I wonder what he'd have caught if he 'had' got a bite? Anyway I weighed in 21lb which was enough to finish second overall on the day but also second in the section.
"So, the overall Leader board finished with Dave winning on 4 points and Charlie and I second on five points. However with his weight advantage over me I finished in third position. So the 3oz on Wednesdays cost me the festival but thats fishing. I'm now looking forward to my next festival at the beginning on June in Cavan."
Cathal
News from Cathal - 8th April 2009
"I have to keep this short as I have a lot of tackle to sort out after today.
"It rained and rained and rained today and when it finally finished raining it rained some more and it blew a gale. I drew peg 6 on the Shebeen, not the peg I wanted because pegs 1 and 2 had been dominating the matches up to this.
"Anyway, I fished two feeder lines, one at 35 yards and one at 20 yards, where I decided to ball in ground bait at the start off the match to give myself another area to go to if things got difficult.
"In the first hour I caught small roach steady on the far line before trying at 20 yards. Within ten minutes I had a 2 lb hybrid and a 1lb perch in the net.
"Over the final few hours I alternated between the two lines to keep fish coming and ended with a total of 82 fish for 19lb 8oz. With Phil McCaffery weighing 19lb 2oz for second in section it was close. So with three points after three days I'm in pole position, hopefully my luck will hold out. Rodgers Island tomorrow...."
Cathal
News from Cathal - 7th April 2009
"With the high numbers on the Salmon run producing the best weights on day 1, I hoped to draw up there and keep my run of results going. I was not too excited when peg 3 emerged from the bag and was even less enthused when I found that only 2lbs was caught of it on Sunday. However, I set off prepared for a slow day in the forecasted wind and rain.
"As on day 1 the feeder was the method and I chose to fish a line at about 35 yards.
"By introducing small amounts of chopped worm and caster through the feeder and fishing red maggot on the hook I started to catch a few Roach and hybrids.
"Skimmers started to appear by the second hour and with the sun shining and no signs of rain, I started believing that things might be looking up.
"By the end of the match 21lb was the best weight from the high numbers so I knew that I was in with a chance. I tipped my fish onto the weigh net and recorded 40lb 8oz for not only a section win but also an overall win on the day. So after two days I'm in top spot on 2 points. Tomorrow the Sheebeen section.... (Peg 1 please!)"
Cathal
News from Cathal - 6th April 2009
"Peg 6 on the Salmon run was my peg on the first day of the Spring Festival on the Shannon River at Portumna.
"Ground bait feeder fished at 35 yards was the best method on the day, with roach coming to floating maggot on most casts. Pike were a huge problem with all competitors having fish taken at some stage throughout the match. Using the G-Tec 12' Feeder rod gave me the advantage of being able to bully the fish to the net before the pike had time to strike. I landed enough to put 27lb on the scales to record a comfortable section win.
"With the festival being judged on points I couldn't have got off to a better start. I'm off to the town stretch next, (Monday) This is a peggy section and the draw will play a big part in results, so I'm praying for a high number. I'll keep you posted...."
Cathal
News from Cathal - 3rd April 2009
Festival time again
"At the moment I am spending a lot of time on the Shannon River at Portumna, in preparation for the first of the spring festivals.
"The fishing has being slow but steady, with roach and hybrids being caught on the feeder. Bream have started to show on the town stretch and over the weekends matches, I was luckily enough to get among a few.
"A second place on Saturday with 6.500kgs followed by a third on Sunday with 12.500kgs is keeping me in touch with things. With the festival starting on the 5th of April, I've still got a couple more days to get some practice in. Fingers crossed I'll get a few goods draws. I'll keep you posted on the daily results, along with some photos."
Cheers,
Cathal
News from Cathal - 9th April 2009
"Day four of the festival is usually make or break time for the anglers near the top of the leader board.
"At the start of today I am leading the festival on 3 points but with some very good anglers on 4 points I
will need a half decent draw to keep things going.
"Peg 2 on Rogers Island had a poor weight come off it yesterday so I wasn't to pleased to draw it. However, as the week has progressed very few pegs have repeated
their form two days running, so I kept an open mind.
"Once again the feeder was the method fished at close range. Today I decided to start very cautiously and let the amount of bites I was getting, dictate how much feed I put in. This was a wise decision, because very little was being caught in the section.
"After two hours the only person catching
was Rod Parker on the end peg, so something had to be done.
"I began to chop small red worms and add them to my feed. this brought immediate results , with small perch coming at regularly. By the end of the match I knew that I had easily beaten those around me but Rod had me worried.
He ended up weighing 10lb 11oz so I knew that it would be close. When I put my fish on the net the dial went around to 10lb 8oz. To say that I was gutted is an understatement. but having narrowly won the section
yesterday I cant complain. Two points is better than three but one would have been nice. Well done Rod.
"Tomorrow is the last day, with an open draw in the morning its wide open. I'll have the final results on Monday."
Cathal
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