This weeks entry is not so much of a rant but a question! Why are almost all who partake in this great sport of ours so bloody apathetic? I have just been reading how the newly formed Anglers Trust in the U.K is so cash starved and already having to make redundancies because the millions of anglers in the UK simply can't be bothered to become members. The joining fee is a miserly 20 quid, less than you would spend on a short session out with you mates. I was a personal friend of the late Alan Edwards who was the A.C.A supremo for many years. Alan often fished.....and drank with me over here in the Emerald Isle. The A.C.A was the main guardian of British lakes and rivers gaining countless thousands of pounds through the courts for clubs and riparian owners of fisheries that had been polluted. Without them it is my humble opinion that some would be polluters would just go ahead and do their worst. The knowledge that such a body as the A.C.A was there to bring them to book I am held them back from creating carnage. The new Anglers Trust is a body that encompass's all in the best interests of the angling community. There are hundreds of times when I have often wished such a body existed over here. Let me tell you all this. If the Trust folds lads, angling will be a bloody sight worse off. Please suport the people who stick their necks out to support you bloody miserable shower of apathetic numb nuts. Get off your arses and send off your 20 quids before it's too late.

Wednesday 19th of August.
Last Friday I decided to visit one of my old stomping grounds in Tarmonbarry. It was my intention to fish below Tarmon Lock, a place in years gone by of many magnificent catches. Indeed I fell in love with Tarmonbarry over 30 years ago. Then, it was a very beautiful village with around 18 houses and 4 public houses. I intended to fish a spot I had fished on a regular basis to see how the place fished now. I got out of my van to be met by the violest of stenches. The smell was so bad that I almost threw up. It was obvious that it was coming from the 'new' treatment plant which now serves the 'new' housing estate which is situated adjacent to the 'new' private marina. Taking stock of what the place has now become beggars belief. Hundreds of houses now sprawl across what was once open fields and bog land. The 'new' marina which if I recall correctly was vaunted as for the benefit of all when planning permission was being sought sports a big red notice saying 'private, keep out.' The road leading down to the lock which was once a public thoroughfare is now blocked off by bollards which have been placed adjacent to the main road.
Recently during our local elections we were given glowing reports of how this village, once the attraction of hundreds of tourists from all over the world had been massively improved. If this is what some eminent folk call improvement I think the human race must have gone stark raving bonkers. I think the only thing that has improved is the amount of cash in some peoples pockets. In a later rant I will tell you all about the destruction of Tarmonbarry weir. The weir was built during the famine and should have been left, not only as a monument to the folk that built it but also as a well known draw for tourists who not only visited the weir but also put cash into the much needed coffers of the local community.

Hi Martyn, Apologies for delay in answering your comment. The decline of Irish Rudd started many years ago. Possibly mans intervention which has destroyed classic rudd habitat is the main reason but also the prolific spread of roach has also caused the demise of rudd in many areas. Bream shoals began to crash around 1995-6. The main reason this took place on the Shannon in my opinion was a factory that was set up on it's banks polluting all bellow it. Indeed I spent a great deal of my own money having samples analysed. The results were shocking showing high perecentages of Formaldehyde and a defoaming agent. I showed the results to the EPA, fisheries boards and various locla councils. All ignored my findings. On a wider spectrum over use of fertilizer caused many lakes to go into decline. The control of Fertilizer use has already seen a vast improvement on this score. The factory (which has a world wide reputation for polluting not only water but the atmosphere) installed a water treatment plant which does work and the Shannon is now on the up.

On Friday I fished the Shannon above Carrick with Jim Baxter and his lovely wife Lynne. Both are brilliant anglers with many individual match wins between them. Lynne has represented England at international level and has won the ladies national title. We all had a smashing few hours catching plenty of roach and hybrids. Unfortunately, over the period we fished we were subjected to bloody lunatics trying to break the water speed record. Having said that most of the cruiser 'captains' were very courteous but the few nutters spoil it for everybody. Several speed boats, even though they saw us fishing never slowed down and appeared to get some form of twisted delight flying through our swims and leaving a wake which climbed over the banks. These law breakers, as this it what they are, have no thought for other river users or the animals and birds which live within the confines of the river banks. There ARE speed limits when approaching locks. These idiots choose to ignore them. Also.....I know I do go on but. This weekend the foreign nationals were out in force once again. Cloonboniagh lake was one of the targets this weekend with several taking up residence on it's shore line. There car (reg no 03 MN 2037) was left parked on the road side whilst the driver and his mates fished the lake on the Mohill end of the bank. Cloonahee lake was also hit by ten other foreign nationals on Saturday afternoon. Three visitors from the UK watched them arrive, set up their gear and begin to fish. Not one fish was returned to the water alive. The three visitors took car numbers which they will forward on to me and I will publish them shortly. We see these criminals everywhere totaly ignoring the laws of the land which have providied them with a living either by well paid jobs or social benefits. It appears the people in authority fail to see what we see on an almost daily basis. It simply beggars belief!

One of the things that does get my goat is rubbish left behind by so called anglers. Yesterday I did one of my regular drives around just to check what is happening in and around my area. I was accompanied by two visitors who are staying with me for a few days. Almost everywhere we went was littered with crap. Empty Sensas and Van den Eynde bags, hook packets, discarded fishing tackle including line, some of it with hooks and shot attached, coke and beer tins plus discarded fag packets and food cartons. The dirty pigs that leave this stuff behind are not only littering our fabulous countryside with s--t but are risking local farmers shutting up shop to all and sundry. Indeed one place where we often fished is now closed to anglers. I spoke to the farmer about it, who is a reasonable guy. He told me that one of his prize cows had eaten a plastic bait bag which it couldn't digest. The animal died and the owner quite rightly so was seriously p-----d off. Wouldn't we all be under the circumstances. I ask the question, why leave an empty container on the bank when you carried it there full. My message to all that do. Stop bloody well annoying me and more to the point the folk who own the land who are kind enough to let you go there. All that should be left behind is flattened grass. 3rd of August 2009.