Coarse fishing on the River Barrow, Co. Carlow, Ireland | An Irish ...

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A planned trip to Leitrim after Tench had to be abandoned due to unforeseen circumstances. New to coarse fishing and with all the bait and equipment at hand the June bank holiday Sunday saw Gary and I setting up pitch beside the River Barrow close to Graiguenamanagh, Co. Carlow.

“Graigue” is situated in a beautiful location, on a bend on the Barrow River, overlooked by Mt Brandon to the south and the Blackstairs mountains to the east. After a rainy start which served to freshen things up, the sun made its presence felt. A festival day was cranking up in the water meadow at Tinnehinch, people were out and about, and the river was being well utilised by groups in kayaks, canoes, individual motor launches, and narrow boats.

The Barrow in this area holds stocks of bream, hybrids, roach, perch, dace, pike, and trout. A few miles upstream from St Mullins and fifteen minutes from the River Nore at Innistiogue, Co. Kilkenny, Graiguenamanagh is an excellent location to base a fishing holiday. The coarse fishing I am only learning about, but I have enjoyed many evenings casting a fly on the Nore for seatrout at Innistiogue, wild brownies at Thomastown, and of course the shad at St. Mullins.

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