Frustration comes in many shapes and forms but for the brown trout of Lough Owel, near Mullingar, the greatest frustration of all is their inability to breed. The trout now find themselves without enough spawning beds of clean gravel in the steams running into the lake - and so cannot reproduce.
The main problem for the trout is that Lough Owel, or to give it its Irish name, Loch Ur, the clear or pure lake, is set on a midlands plateau.
It is fed by deep underground springs and only a limited number of streams suitable for spawning purposes run into it. In fact, most of the streams run out of it.
The breeding season begins in November when the trout, triggered by a combination of high water levels and temperature, head for their breeding grounds.
To ensure the replenishment of fish, qualified Fisheries Board staff trap the fish and remove them from the water, coax the eggs from the females and fertilise them with sperm from male fish.
According to Mr Matt Nolan, the regional development inspector, this year's spawning began early at the 3,600-acre lake due to wet weather.
"Normally the staff here find that the main run of spawning takes place between Christmas Day and January 6th, which used to be known as Little Christmas," he said.
"But this year the spawning began early, in November, so we did not have to go out on the lake over Christmas. But it has been going on since."
He said half a million eggs are harvested from the Owel trout every year and are taken to the nearby fish nursery where the trout are hatched.
About half of them are returned to the lake when they are about a year-and-a-half old and the rest are retained to keep the lake stocked and for other lakes and rivers in the midlands.
He said the board estimated there were about 70,000 trout over 10 inches long in the lake, which meant they could be legally caught by anglers in any season.
"There is increasing pressure on the lake because of its proximity to Dublin and the large populations on the east coast," he said.
"There are between 300 and 400 boats on the lake and it is very heavily fished. However, there are good stocks of brown trout here."
While the purist fishermen might claim the trout were not "wild" in the proper sense, he would argue that they are taken, raised and returned to the Owel waters.
"They also supplement other lakes in the area and we use them as replacement stock when there is a fish kill on rivers or lakes here," he said.
Asked how the trout survived before the intervention of the board, Mr Nolan said there were far fewer fish and far fewer boats using the lake at the time.
"There were just enough spawning grounds to keep a small population going and because there was no over-fishing at that time, the balance was maintained."
He said the number of 9lb to 10lb fish in the lake is a high stocking rate by Irish standards.
"We are keeping a very tight eye on the whole ecosystem in the area and we are still very lucky because the lake is fed by underground springs," he said.
"However, there is some evidence of late of pollution from farming activity and from old septic tanks which no longer work because modern detergents have been put into them," he said.
"We are still very proud nevertheless of our nursery operations down here and what it has achieved."