IT was a wet and windy weekend and after a brief lull at the start of the week it became wetter and windier in most places. Yesterday saw most fisheries empty as winds exceeded 60 knots (72 mph). It is incredible to think that during a week of such extreme weather any productive angling was possible. Obviously going afloat was rarely a viable option, but making the most of weather windows or just sticking out the conditions on offer paid surprising dividends to anglers of all codes over the last 7 days.

Dutch Angler Mr. Tim Van Der Laan with his 9 lb. sea trout

The new moon of last week heralded a welcome change in wind direction and temperature, which brought rain and increased enthusiasm to salmon anglers. This resulted in a surge in catch reports from the Moy, with twelve salmon reported for the week. Lough Beltra also benefited from the change and salmon to 12lb were landed with the Green Peter doing well.  A few salmon and seatrout were taken off the Laune over the weekend and earlier this week. Though the river is now in flood it running clear and should be in good order for tomorrow. The Killarney Lakes fished a little better before the winds became too strong. Lough Currane had a good weekend with some fine salmon landed and though the winds drove most boats off the north side of the lake on Monday afternoon tucked away in a quiet spot on the south end of the lake was Dutch Angler Mr. Tim Van Der Laan who caught a fine 9 lb. sea trout. More salmon were reported in the last couple of days despite the winds there.  An early sea trout was taken on the Slaney towards the end of last week and despite a dirty flood on Monday some fresh sea liced spring salmon were landed. The Munster Blackwater is in flood at the moment and it will be Monday before that river is in order though spinning may be an option in some places. The low water that has prevailed at the Galway Weir has suited salmon anglers who favour the fly and some good spring fish to 13.5 lb were landed. Some good salmon were taken from the Delphi Fishery earlier this week following a huge flood there on Sunday.

A new bye law has been introduced on the River Suir. All salmon angling is by single barbless hook until 1 May and worm, shrimp and prawn are banned as bait for the 2013 season. From May 12th to September 30th the bye-law provides for a bag limit of 5 fish for the season subject to a daily bag limit of 1 fish. Once the daily bag limit has been caught salmon anglers must fish catch and release using single barbless hooks.

On the western lakes Duckfly hatches have been in full swing and are probably almost finished now, with the olives set to start hatching shortly. Stormy conditions have restricted angling on Lough Corrib, particularly on Sunday but some good trout to 4lb have been reported. Ducklfy hatches brought on by the increase temperatures last week made for good fishing on Lough Mask also. Trout ranging from 6  lbs 11lbs 8 ozs have been caught early season anglers on Lough Derg using a variety of lures. Good hatches of Duckfly were reported at Lough Lene where not even the rain could dampen the spirits of the anglers catching trout to 3lbs. There was some movement of fish at the weekend on Lough Sheelin but it was sporadic and it was difficult for the fishermen to cope with the gusty conditions as well as focusing on their fishing – but trout to 6lbs 4 ozs were landed all the same!

Some really big bags of roach were had at Lanesborough last week with weights of 71lb recorded but as the winds increased in strength the catches declined.  Fishing into the teeth of a gale anglers at Lough Muckno still had some nice hybrids, though 13lbs 10oz was the size of the biggest bag.  At Lough Gowna bream to 3lbs fell to triple maggot last week and roach to over 1lb were reported.

Two Belgium anglers fishing at Portumna caught 27 pike for 4 days fishing with several fish around 20lbs, their biggest fish measured over 1m.  All fish were caught on lures and most of the fish had not spawned. Another pike angler at Portumna had a 9.7 lb trout on a roach deadbait. In the Longford area  2 Dutch anglers caught 49 pike, mostly smaller fish with the biggest around 14lb.

Sea anglers will be encouraged to hear that the bass fishing in Dingle was good over the weekend.  The bass angling had been quiet for the last couple of weeks but seems to have warmed up again with the change in weather.

We notice that there are still a lot of lake anglers who are going afloat without any life jackets or floatation devices, even in conditions we have had recently. We remind all anglers that wearing adequate life jackets in lake boats is not just the smart thing to do but it is also the law.

In other news the Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Fergus O’Dowd, T.D. invites members of the public and interested parties to attend a public information meeting to canvass views on the major elements of new inland fisheries legislation, in advance of the statutory consultation period.

After the violent winds of the last couple of days (there is still a Small Craft Warning in place: Westerly winds will reach force 6 or 7 this afternoon and evening on all Irish coasts and for a time early tonight in the south and southeast) anglers will be reassured to hear that over the next couple of days the south-westerly winds will slacken. The weekend and much of next week will see a mix of dry spells and rainy showers with temperatures reaching 12-14C though tomorrow will be cooler than of late.

Tight lines,
Myles Kelly
Catch, Photo, Release

If you have an angling story to share with the Irish Angling Update please send it to [email protected].

Headlines

Salmon fishing reports

Trout fishing reports

Coarse angling reports

Pike fishing reports

Sea angling reports

News clippings

Other news

Lough Melvin
Lough Melvin