The very mild and relatively calm weather has led to a huge increase in the number of anglers venturing out on freshwater and to sea right now.  And with so many rods in the water there are a lot of good angling stories this week.

18 lb. 2 oz pollack
Willie Worth wins Catch of the Week with this huge pollack of 18 lb. 2oz

Trout angling in the west has got off to a good start with some productive flyfishing on both Corrib and Mask and some nice fish reported. The Corrib Predator Team guides were back in ferox action over the weekend and landed a number of big ferox trout, including 8 fish between 50 and 90 cm.  The best fish was caught by Jacek Gorny weighed 17 lb. 6 oz and another fish over 17 lb and a few smaller fish and all were returned after a few quick photos.  The only other trout report was from Lough na Leibe where a few trout to 3 lb. were reported.  The Irish Trout Fly Fishing Association juvenile anglers appeared at the Annual Angling Fair which was held at the National Show Centre in Cloghran, County Dublin on the 12th February 2012. These young anglers were on hand to demonstrate their fly tying and casting skills.  The season opens next week on many trout rivers and loughs through out the country.

A sudden rise in water levels on the River Drowes brought a bit of sport for salmon anglers fishing the river in the past week and several fish up to 10 lb. were reported on fly, rapala and worm. On nearby Lough Melvin there were no salmon reported  and it was a similar story on Lough Currane where only a few kelts were caught and quickly returned.  There’s been a great response to our salmon licence competition so we’ve made it even bigger. In addition to the existing prize of a national salmon licence we’re putting 10 juvenile salmon licences and one district licence up for grabs.  To find out how you could win your salmon licence for 2012 visit our Facebook page.

There was a lot of pike angling activity and Mick Flanagan had two anglers fishing near Mullingar.  They boated 5 pike in 2 days, but never got a hit from a Midland Monster. On their travels they met Rochfortbridge piker Ger Bradley and he was returning a cracking pike of 15lbs 4oz, which fell to static dead bait.    Oisín Mac Domhnaill  sent us a report of a fabulous pike caught February 15th from a lake close to the River Suck system.  The pike weighed 27.8lb and fell to a popped up scad, fished at short range. The  Dublin Pike Anglers held their winter league over 4 venues during the past 4 months. It was a tough competition with very mixed weather and results.  The winner was Joey Bonnie with 25 fish for 60lb 10oz with a total of 50 points.

Dick Caplice from the Irish Angling Development Alliance reports that 16 competitors fished the South Armagh/Lough Muckno Winter League on Sunday 19th February at South Lodge on Lough Muckno. After a very frosty start, the weather was fine and dry with little wind. Catches consisted mainly of roach with short and long range feeder producing best results. The winner was Andrew Chapman Dromore with a nice catch of 13lbs 12 ozs

There was plenty of sea angling activity in the past week.   In the north Kerry area, a shore competition produced some flat fish, dogfish  and rockling in the unusually bright angling conditions that prevailed on the day for the competitors.  It was very different at the latest light line competition at Cobh last week where 1200 fish were recorded by competitors but only eight species were counted on the day. John Dennehy won the day with a great catch of 111 fish.  Still in Cork Harbour, a young angler, Luke McCabe fished with angling guide Richie Ryan and took a lovely Cod on the trip among other fish.   Up in Red Bay, Tope to 35 lb. and a range of species were taken by anglers fishing with charter skipper Hamish Currie.  Finally a group of Dublin anglers from the Burrough SAC  fished with charter skipper Colin Barnes out from Castletownsend and fished several wrecks and rough ground marks.  They enjoyed some excellent fishing and the Catch of the Week goes to Willie Worth who caught the biggest pollack of 18 lb. 2 oz.  This fish is the biggest pollack  reported since 2004 and was very close to the current Irish record.

There are many other reports to be seen in this weeks angling update and the update will be weekly from now on and updates will appear daily on the website.  If you have a good fish story and a good photograph during the rest of the season, please contact myself [email protected] or [email protected]

Tight lines especially in Ireland,

Paul Bourke
Angling Information Officer
Catch, Photo, Release

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