Happy New Year to all anglers on a bright day from Ireland here in Dublin after a very wet festive week’s weather which kept anglers away from the fish. It has been a very quiet start to the New Year and salmon anglers fishing the River Drowes and the River Liffey in the hope of landing the first salmon of the season have had no luck so far. All our rivers are very flooded and consequently, anglers struggled to fish yesterday never mind try to hook a salmon in the conditions. Weather prospects look bleak for the rest of the week too with more Atlantic wet weather systems along with stormy conditions forecast to swing in over the country for many days to come.
Very few anglers ventured out over the Christmas period but there was a pike competition up in Monaghan between the Newgrange anglers and the local O’Casey’s anglers on a nearby lough. In the high water levels a few small pike up to 6 lb. were recorded on the day and the Newgrange anglers took the honours on the day. Other anglers struggled on other flooded loughs in a few places around seeking some pike action with little reward. There were no sea angling reports over the festive season so far but I am sure we will have some reports in soon.
In other news, Minister O’Dowd announced 87 rivers open for salmon fishing in Ireland in 2014 and a full copy of the new regulations for the new season can be accessed on our fishing website at: https://fishinginireland.info/salmon-reports/87-rivers-open-for-salmon-angling-in-2014-minister-odowd-also-retains-lower-licence-fee/
A lavish new Irish Sea Trout book “Nomads of the Tide” is now in the bookshops written by Chris McCully and Ken Whelan and covers 50 waters all around Ireland.
With a bit of luck, a first salmon of the new season should come to the net soon and we will have the story and photo of the catch along with plenty more angling stories in 2014
Tight lines especially in Ireland.
Paul Bourke
Angling Information Officer
