Ronan Cusack reports that Mask remained in top form again this week with some excellent catches reported. Water levels remain low, but good hatches of Olives and the odd Mayfly continued from midweek. Ballinrobe & District Anglers held their annual 2-day pairs development competition over the bank holiday weekend with excellent results. 66 anglers took part, with 135 fish weighed in over the two days, giving a rod average of 2.05. First prize went to Noel Moran, Ballinrobe, and Billy O’Brien, Wicklow, with a total of 13 fish for 18.12lbs. Derek Madden and Thade O’Mahoney took second prize with 13 fish for 16.73lbs. Third place went to Paul Loscher and Francis White with 11 trout for 14.02lbs. Mick Savage, Dublin, took the heaviest fish prize with a fine trout of 3.27lbs. Best individual Ballinrobe angler was Noel Moran with 6 trout for 8.42lbs.
Cavan anglers Cian Murtagh, Daragh Murtagh and Vincent Kelly spent two days on Mask this week with Ronan Cusack. They landed a total of 51 trout with 17 exceeding the 13 inch legal limit (best fish 2.5lbs). Gerry O’Brien, Ballinrobe, had 4 fine trout on Thursday evening last on dry fly (best fish 3.5lbs, all returned). Kieran Biggins and Artie Pyke fished Mask for a half day on Tuesday and they had 7 trout (best fish 1.5lbs, all returned). Paul Loscher and Greg O’Donoghue, Ballinrobe, spent a day on dries and nymphs on Wednesday last, and they had 10 good fish (best fish 3.5lbs, all returned). Four UK anglers fished out of Cushlough with Sean Maloney and Joe Fitzharris on Monday/Tuesday and they had 14 keepers together with numerous undersize trout over the 2 days (best fish 1.75lbs). Pat Noone and a friend from Kildare reported having 40 fish on a mixture of wets and dries over the Bank Holiday Monday with approximately half exceeding the 13 inch limit (best fish 4lbs all returned). Two Norwegian anglers fished from Hall’s Angling Centre during the week and they had 12 trout on dries (best fish 5lbs). To book accommodation or boat hire from Hall’s contact David Hall on +353 (0)94 9541389 or check www.lakeshoreholidays.com
Kevin Sheridan Ballinrobe had 22 fish over the week (best fish 3lbs all returned). Kevin also mentioned that in all his years fishing Lough Mask he had never seen the lake fishing so well.
Ronan also guides on Mask and can be contacted at [email protected] or on 087 2869487.
Margaret Gorman from Isham Self Catering and Angling Centre at Dringeen Bay on Lough Mask, reports that their guests enjoyed great fishing this week. All Anglers reported lots of activity with large numbers of small trout coming to wetfly and dap, and some good quality fish among them. Ian and Rosie Gordon, Northern Ireland, and Roderick & Caroline Murphy, Kilkenny, staying at ‘Isham’ had some nice periods of dry fly fishing with some good quality fish.
On Sunday, 6th May, Paula Gorman landed her first trout to a natural mayfly while dapping.
Thomas Burkart from Germany had 10 trout for a number of day’s fishing. His best fish was 4.5lbs.
On Friday, 4th May, Headford anglers Michael Flaherty and John Minnock had a super day on Lough Mask where they recorded a catch of 19 trout, most of which were returned to the water. Their best fish was 6.5lbs.
For Boat Hire and Angling Information available on site see www.congselfcatering.com, phone 087 7908107 or email [email protected]
