The last couple of days have seen temperatures tumble, but the weather has been mostly dry though sometimes blustery. Some parts of the north west had more persistent rain but most rivers are running at normal levels for the time of year. Sea anglers are definitely making up for last time now, particularly as the bass seemed to have returned to the coasts they were missed from all summer long .

Triggerfish of 2.32kilos caught by well known UK angler and writer Gordon Thornes from the boat ‘Uptide Girl’, which is very close to the Irish record of 2.54 kilos
This triggerfish of 2.32kg, caught by well known UK angler and writer Gordon Thornes during the Rosslare Small Boats Festival wins Catch of the Week

It’s competition time at the moment and the calendar is choc-a-bloc with events, international festivals and club competitions. Congratulations to Phil Jackson and Cathal Hughes, the Lakelands & Inland Waterways World Pairs Champions who won the top prize, a cheque for £30,000 and loads DIAWA tackle. Over the five day period the pair caught 117kg 560g of fish and took the championship by just over 4kgs. Fishing at the inaugural Arva King of Clubs, Kevin Johnson emerged as the winner with 78.170kg. Recreational anglers also enjoyed some great coarse fishing last week and good bags of fish were reported from the lakes in the Carrickmacross area despite the unusual weather and water conditions. Meanwhile the  Longford area is also fishing well with bream to over 7lb and plenty of hybrids and roach along with a few tench making up the catches.

Salmon anglers reported another relatively productive week was had on the Moy, with a total of 199 fish caught. A few grilse were taken from the Newport River and one angler had 12 sea trout in an afternoon on Lough Beltra. Sea trout anglers fishing at Kylemore, the Erriff and Delphi also had good fishing and though salmon were scarce at Kylemore a few made an appearance at Delphi and in particular on the Erriff. While low water has been problem for anglers in the south west, the Ouvane River had 6 salmon landed for the week, one of these was a fish of 15 lb. The Laune, though running low, also saw a few nice salmon to 11lb caught. On Lough Currane the fishing was variable but some anglers did well with a good number of sea trout between 2 and 3 lb reported and some good salmon to 10lb were also taken.  Some good salmon fishing was had on the Fane and an occasional salmon also showed on the Boyne, but the rivers of the south east and south coasts are all waiting for fresh fish.

Many trout clubs are busy with competitions at this time of year and the Rex Beaumont Cup, fished on Lough Ennell was won by John Brennan won with a fine trout of 5.792 lb. Lough Owel was fairly quiet last week but some anglers did well with fish to 3lb 3oz reported. Trout fishing picked up on Lough Conn and anglers reported lively sport on wet fly. The sometimes windy weather made conditions uncomfortable on Lough Corrib but anglers are making the most of the late season fishing there and wet flys have produced trout to 9lb. The 2012 Irish Trout Fly Fishing Association Inter-provincial Match was held at Lough Melvin on Saturday 15th September. Congratulations go to John Ruby who won the Lennon Trophy for the heaviest overall basket and the McCarty Cup for the heaviest basket from his province.

The Rosslare Small Boats festival proved to be a great success again this year despite the challenging weather conditions for the competition. For the third time in the last four years ‘Screaming Reels’ (Martyn Rayner, Seirt Shults, Neville Murphy) from Rosie’s sea angling club in Cork won the competition with 24 different species of fish, beating 28 other boats from the UK. 30 species of fish were caught overall. Today is the last day of Cork Small Boats Festival and ‘Screaming Reels’ is leading on the last day with 30 species. Bass angling on the Copper Coast has really taken off and celebrity angler Henry Gilbey enjoyed a very productive holiday in the area with some super fishing reported. Echoing Henry’s experience is angling blogger Steven Neely who had some exceptional fishing including culminating in a 7lb 3oz bass. The Wexford coast also saw a resurgence in bass numbers and anglers fishing with Jim Hendrick enjoyed some thrilling sport on fly and lure.  The 7th leg of the Grauvell West Coast Shore League took place on Saturday 15th September at Mullaghmore beach.  Flounder and turbot were the main species, with sea trout (not counted in competitions) also freely taking bait. The winner on the day was Frank Rixon .

The outlook for the weekend is generally dry and clear weather, but on Sunday it may become unsettled again. There are suggestions that Monday and Tuesday next will see periods of heavy rain in some parts of the country, accompanied by strong winds and temperatures much lower than normal. Through the midweek period, a change to showery weather may come about, and it will remain cool.

Tight lines especially in Ireland,
Myles Kelly
Catch, Photo, Release


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