Trout catches in the Corrnamona area were good during the early part of the week, with many fish over 3lbs being taken on the dapped natural. Connla Geoghegan and Patsy Coyne had 7 fine fish with the best being over 3lbs. Tony and Gerry Walsh also had trout of 4 and 5lbs towards the end of the week, while relasing many in the 1lb to 1.5lb size range. Swiss anglers, fishing out of Carraig had good fishing throughout the week, they reported that while they caught fish on wet and dry fly, the dap was the most productive. Cornamona & District Anglers ran their annual Wetfly Competition on Sunday with 20 anglers taking to the water, 12 fish were weighed in for a total of 20.77 lbs. Peadar Breathnach came 1st with a beautiful trout just shy of 4.5lbs, Tom Sullivan was 2nd, also with one fish of 3.75lbs, Peter Curran took 3rd with 3 fish weighing close to 3lbs. The best fish of the week must surely go to Declan Cooke who landed a superb spring salmon on a Golden Olive Stimulator pattern. Declan had a mighty fight on his hands, as it took him almost 2 hours to land the 12-pounder. Many others have not been so lucky, with some losing whole casts of flies in salmon while trout fishing.
Frank Reilly reports from the Headford and Greenfield areas that while fishing had been generally good, Friday was the best day of the week. Of some 25 anglers who were fishing over the bank holiday period, 49 fish were caught. Some of the best catches included, Paul French from Dublin and David O’Conner from Trim, who landed 9 trout of 11.5lbs over two days fishing wet fly. David Egan also recorded 9 fish, his best was a fine 4.25lbs trout caught on a dry fly. Brian McEntee & Patrick O’Loughlin had 5 trout averaging 1lb 10oz each.
Donal Connolly from Nonaim Lodge in Glann, Oughterard, also reports on some great fishing for his guests over the last 2 weeks. Hugh McLean and Paul Docherty from Letterkenny had 5 trout, best 1.75lbs on wetfly and dry fly, and lost a few more on Saturday 28th April. Hugh also had one trout on wetfly on Sunday 29th April in horrific conditions.
Marc and Katell Salaun from Brittany had 2 trout while dapping, and lost several more and moved fish on almost every drift. This was their first experience of dapping and in the very difficult conditions on Sunday they coped successfully, especially 14-year-old Katell who with 2 trout, out-fished her father – much to his delight! All fish on the 2 days were released to fight another day.
Donal had 12 on wetfly on Thursday 3rd May out with Marc Bennett, Brighton, averaging about 1.25lbs, with a few up to 1.5lbs, all great fighting fish for their size and all released. Marc also had 5 on Wednesday the 2nd, which were also released.
Newcomer to fishing, Colin Richardson, Dun Laoghaire and Brighton had 3 fish – all released – on Wednesday and Thursday, one of which was on a dry fly. Over the last few days the bigger fish have started to show with a far bigger average size, Mark Sims from Lancashire had excellent fishing on Sunday with 5 trout caught in bright sunshine and mainly flat calm conditions, best was 3lbs, he also had a lovely 2lbs plus fish, the rest were in the 1.25lbs bracket, he also had 3 trout on Monday for 4lbs, all were released after a quick photo.
Seamus McBrearty, Ravensdale, Co. Louth, had 3 trout for 4.25lbs on the dap on Saturday, while Ciaran Gallagher, Killarney, had 2 trout on dry fly for 2.25lbs, on Monday. Young local anglers Paul Joyce and Liam Butler, Glann, had 2 trout on dry fly for 3.75lbs on Monday.
To book fishing or accommodation with Donal and Connie, contact Nonaim Lodge at Tel: +353 (0)85 7364830, email [email protected] or check www.fishingcorrib.com