Garadice Lake is probably the most-fished water in Leitrim.
Located on the outskirts of Ballinamore, this huge sheet of water with lots of inlets, bays and sheltered spots, has seven formally developed sections of bank offering more than 200 swims (many can be driven to by car) around the lake.
The best known stretches of bank are at Haughton’s Shore, Church Shore, Cully Shore, Creamer’s Shore, Connolly’s Shore, Warrington’s Shore and Derrylahan Shore.
The lake is rarely busy and often you will feel that you have the lake to yourself, a fact that means to get the best of the lake’s big bream, tench, roach, hybrids and perch, means pre-baiting.
Choose a shore that is likely to get a comfortable on-shore breeze and give it the “bifters” for a couple of days, either by pre-baiting or simply fishing the same peg for two full sessions and topping it up at the end of the first day.
Every year there are big catches on Garadice, yet as many anglers leave the bank shaking their head … and they are the guys who often have not made the effort.
This lake is the best part of a mile long and it is unreasonable to arrive on the bank in May, in a swim that might not have been sat upon since September, and expect a shoal of bream to be sitting there waiting for you.
by David Houghton
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