St Mullins, Co Carlow 04/05/12

[FMCN]

People:me and a few others

Duration:06.30-15.30

Tide:top, all of ebb and start of flood

Weather:cool northerly breeze

Bait:lures

Rigs:

Results:shad




Report:Didn't manage a trip down last year so i decided to put in the effort and take a run down to St Mullins. Drove down overnight to arrive at 06.30. I would have arrived earlier but i got lost as usual and ended up in Kilkenny, but i now know the right exit to take. Fishing started of fairly slow with a only a few fish caught in the first couple of hours. I had 2 and lost another couple. The fishing then picked up as the tide ebbed and i continued to catch fish right down to low water. I ended up with about 9 or 10 on the bank and lost another 1/2 dozen. Best fish of the day went 1.3kg. I have never bothered with specimen fish claims before but the 3 guys i was fishng alongside were so helpful that this one has been submitted. They supplied me with all of the relevent forms on the riverbank, witnessed them and provided scale certificates etc. I was amazed at just how well prepared they were. The photo was also taken by one of them and duly emailed to me, so a big thank you to everyone.

[mitch]

Thats a beauty frances well done well worth the trip down

[guitarsmith]

great session you had there.what details do you need to make a claim for specimen.up down btw

[dave316]

Well done mate, glad to see your efforts paid off, congratulations!!

[chuckaroo]

nice fish. good effort, nice 1

[FMCN]

Thanks Ger.

Specimen requirements for twaite shad i have just discovered are properly filled in and witnessed claim form. Scales accreditation certificate and 3 body scales for DNA testing to check if it is a hybrid.

[roger de dodger]

lovely job ,fair play to the lads for helping you out ,to be honest that picture is better than any certificate

[FMCN]

Thanks RTD. Tend to agree but the only problem with the picture is that I am in it as well

[Davy Murdoch]

Nice one Well done on the speci
You`ll find that most of the speci hunters will be well organised so they can weigh/measure and photograph the fish quickly and return it safely.... Hopefully next weekend i`ll get in to a few biggies myself

Was there good number of fish getting caught???

[FMCN]

Thanks Davy,
On the Friday yes. Steady stream of fish all through the ebb. I certainly say several dozen fish caught and 3 specimens. I had to leave before the evening tide but i would think it was just as good and probably 3x the number of anglers by that stage. They were arriving in numbers for the hour before i left.
Spoke to a guy from our neck of the woods who had been down since Tuesday. Arrived to torrential rain and the river like drinking chocolate. No fish on the Tuesday or Wednesday and only a couple on the Thursday. By Friday with the river clearing and the start of the springs we had a good day.
Hope your trip goes well and you get a few.

[Tom H]

Nice shad well done

[peakle]

lovely fish was there any particular color working for them heading up tomorrow

[FMCN]

Most fish caught on the standard blue/silver but then most of the anglers were using that one. Saw one guy using a bright yellow taz and he was also catching fish. I started with the blue/silver but it wasn't really working for me (think i had one on it) so i started going through box. Tried a few variations without success then first chuck with a green/bronze combination and into a fish. Used it for the rest of the day and it accounted for most of my fish.

[sparkey+1]

Tightlines and myself are heading down tomorrow looking forward to it....

[FMCN]

Hope you have a good day

[tight lines]

i will be giving it ago in the morning hope to do as well as you did well done nice fishing

[tomgrey]

Congratulations on the specimen shad and fair play to those lads for helping you out!