It was really nice to have three generations of Hayden’s getting up at the crack of dawn to make the journey down to St Mullins, skirting the Blackstairs Mountains while captivated by the mist shrouded undulating landscape of narrow hawthorn bounded lanes.
Arriving a little after seven bells with high water about 10.30.am, son Dan, grandson Myles and I walked upstream along the tow path before choosing a suitable pitch. On the way up along we observed a shad being landed which signaled that the species was present. Commencing fishing an hour later yours truly felt a bump through the line with no connection, a couple of casts followed then my seven foot Mitchell spinning rod bowed over to a good fish.
A couple of tail walking stunts and deep dives later young Myles netted what turned out to be the only fish of the session. No matter, the young lad was witness to a once common species rarely seen throughout both Europe and America in modern times due to mans harnessing of rivers with dams and weirs in conjunction with habitat and spawning bed destruction again the result of ill thought out human actions.
On the positive side young Myles appeared to catch the fishing bug casting like a veteran by late morning and quite obviously captivated by what is a beautiful and unique setting to cast a line, Mullachain Cafe toasties and hot chocolate consumed on a sunny river bank late morning adding icing to the proverbial. It’s always the simple things that make the difference…………..
