Ballinaglera (Lower Annagh), Lough Allen
A prolific, yet surprisingly underused fishery more than able to produce 40lb catches from a stone-cold start and much sport better for those anglers prepared to groundbait in advance. If you don’t want to pre-bait, another idea is to fish the lake during the afternoon and to catch whatever happens along, then dump 15 large feeders full of groundbait into the swim and return the next morning as early as you can! Bites are generally plentiful on all normal methods, though a groundbait feeder is averagely more likely to catch the large hybrids and bream. Those few locals who use this cut-off from Lough Allen prefer to walk along the bank at least 80 metres before plonking down their box.
Species: Bream, skimmer bream, roach, hybrids, tench, pike and perch
Best baits: Worm, caster, red maggot and corn
Popular methods: A groundbait feeder seems to get the bigger catches Local tackle shop: Tooman’s Tackle, Carrick-on-Shannon
Access: A narrow lane leading to a safe lakeside car park Directions: From Drumshanbo the Gowra road (R207) for about seven miles and you will start running along Lough Allen on your right. You must watch for a brown tourism sign on your left that says “Ballinaglera Fishing Facility”. Take this lane and then the first left and first right between two large pillars and follow the track. There is parking space alongside the lake.