The mayfly is up on some parts of Lough Corrib, with hatches coming in greater numbers every day, although the cold northerly wind of this week may slow things down again. Trout have started feeding on the mayfly in places, while elsewhere buzzer nymphs and olive patterns are still taking most fish. Donal Connolly from Nonaim Lodge reports that 2 anglers landed 9 trout on Monday the 23rd on the dap, while local tackle dealer Tommy Tuck landed 3 fish on wetfly for a couple of hours fishing in the evening, and also lost a very big trout that he had played for several minutes without showing any signs of tiring. Over the weekend 14-year-old Paul Joyce had 3 trout on wet fly, and his 11-year-old brother Shane lost a good fish while dapping when it broke his line

Eamon Walsh reported on much increased activity on the lake in the Cornamona area, with many more anglers taking to the water mid-week, all commenting on the large numbers of olives and mayfly showing.  John Walsh spent 2 hours fishing one morning, catching his limit of 4, releasing all but one.  It seems that the best fishing was to be had in the early part of the week, with 3 Northern Ireland anglers fishing out of Molloy’s in Carraig having some excellent fishing to wetfly. They returned all their catch with the best fish being just over 5lbs.  As the weekend approached activity slowed with far less fly life on the water.

Frank Reilly reports that fishing in the Greenfields area has been slow to pick up.  Over the weekend very few fishermen reported seeing any mayfly on the water. Jimmy Acton and a friend from Tuam had 3 fish for 5lbs for their day’s fishing, while fellow Tuam angler Sean Naughton had 2 fish averaging 2lb each in a few hours over the weekend. Frank himself had 2 fish, with the best at 4lb, both returned.

Tommy Kelly reported some excellent fishing in the Oughterard area over the weekend. Northern Ireland angler Jim McAllister and a friend had 9 trout over 2 days, all to wet fly, most were returned. Mike Molloy and James Kelly had a great day, taking 8 fish for over 12lbs, while Tommy Tuck had an excellent fish of 6lbs over the weekend.

The Annual Collinamuck Cup was also run at the weekend. 43 anglers reported 23 fish over the limit.  The winner  was Tom Doc Sullivan with 4 trout weighing in at just over 15.5lbs. Both Eugene McCarthy and Harold O’Toole had 4 fish each, for a weight of 12.5lbs, with Eugene deemed to have come second as he had the heaviest single fish.  Niall Collins had the heaviest overall fish of 6lbs. Buzzer nymphs took most of the fish.

It is wild and windy out there today, with broken showery weather forecast to continue for the rest of the week. It remains to be seen if mayfly hatches will be hampered, but if they continue to emerge then fishing should really improve, and prospects for the next couple of weeks are excellent.