It was another very warm week for angling in Ireland although there were periods of heavy rain in some parts of the country.  Many rivers and loughs are very low indeed and we need some consistent rainfall to help liven up the inland fishing scene.  Sea anglers are enjoying a bonanza with many big species reported in this weather but there is a scarcity of mackerel in some parts of the coast at present.

Lady angler Michelle Gallagher lands a super tope and is our 'Catch of the Week' winner
Lady angler Michelle Gallagher lands a super tope and is our ‘Catch of the Week’

Some recent rain brought some better salmon fishing on the Cork Blackwater at Blackwater Lodge.  There was steady salmon and sea trout fishing reported from Lough Currane despite the hot humid conditions.  Most other smaller salmon rivers in the Cork Kerry area were very low last week and very few fish were reported. There were a few grilse and sea trout reported from the River Laune despite the low water conditions. It was another good week on the Galway Fishery for grilse and many young anglers enjoyed some fine sport during the week.  There was a great improvement in the grilse run at Ballynahinch last week and fishing improved for the many anglers fishing the river beats.  Heavy rain also improved the grilse fishing at the Kylemore Fishery in Connemara.  There were very low water conditions all week at Delphi but a few nice fish to over 12 lb. were recorded during the week. Sea trout and grilse were taken regularly by anglers fishing on the River Erriff all through the week. It was another good week on the River Moy despite the very low water conditions with fish recorded from all fisheries over the whole river.  The Ballisodare Fishery also recorded a great week for anglers catching grilse in good numbers. Over in west Mayo, there was some salmon and better sea trout fishing reported from Carrowmore Lake and the Owenmore River. There were very low water conditions on the River Drowes but despite this, there were some good catches of grilse recorded.

A group of French anglers enjoyed excellent fly fishing for trout on the River Boyne with angling guide Peter Cunningham. The same French group led by well-known angling writer David Gauduchon fished with angling guide Eamonn Conway on the River Fane in low water conditions.  Despite this the group managed to land some lovely trout.  In the National Disabled Angling Facility, they held their Festival Fishing Competition and great fun and many rainbow trout were caught on the day.  Andrew Ryan from Clonanav reports that anglers fishing the Suir and tributaries are enjoying very good sedge fishing for trout in the late evenings.  There were more hatches of different sedges in the evenings on Lough Sheelin and more trout are now rising to them and better sport was enjoyed by anglers. Broken weather, better hatches of sedges and mayfly improved the trout fishing on the Corrib last week.  The hot conditions did not deter anglers enjoying some good sport with the dry fly on Lough Conn last week.  On Lough Melvin, there was good fishing reported for Sonaghan trout by angler’s wetfly fishing.  The Loughanure Angling Club held a competition on the lough last Sunday catching some nice trout on the day.  Up in Cresslough the angling club reported some excellent rainbow trout fishing at Lough Na Tooey with fish up to 8 lb. recorded.

A group of anglers from the Carrigaline SAC fished with charter skipper Kit Dunne out from Wicklow and they caught some super fish including tope, smoothound, Bullhuss and Rays.  Angling guide Sid Jones also fished with his son Dan and the rest of the family on one day to celebrate his son’s birthday with skipper Kit Dunne.  They caught some fine tope and birthday boy Dan napped himself a fine tope on the day. Brothers William and angling guide Jim Hendrick had some lovely bass from rock marks with lures and on rocky outcrops on fly in the south east.  William also went afloat to catch some nice bass.  Angling guide Gerard Doran enjoyed some great action taking bass on a range of popping and surface lures in the south east.  A specimen garfish of 1.1 kg. was the highlight of some good deep sea fishing enjoyed by anglers fishing with charter skipper David Edwards out from Clonakilty in West Cork.  The Galway Buccaneers SAC had a deep sea outing with charter skipper Kevin MacGabhann and they had a great day’s fishing recording 14 species on the day.  New charter skipper John Fleming in Galway reports on several groups of anglers he had out fishing in Galway Bay last week and they caught a huge range of species.  In Killala Bay, skipper Donal Kennedy had several groups out deep sea fishing recording a great range of species.  Charter skipper Daryl Ewing reported some wonderful tope fishing for his clients. One of them, Michelle Gallagher caught a fine big tope which was quickly photographed and returned and this wins our Catch of the Week.  The Lough Swilly Sea Angling Club held their 2nd league trip from Rathmullan last Sunday and they were rewarded with 14 different species while sea fishing in the Lough.  At Downings, charter skipper Michael McVeigh reported some excellent deep sea fishing for his clients including a very colourful specimen cuckoo wrasse. Over in west Donegal, the Magheraroarty & Islands SAC went deep sea fishing with skipper Neil Gallagher and they fished west of Tory Island recording 9 different species including megrim and bluemouth.

A group of young anglers attended the summer camp of Carrickmacross Coarse Angling and Youth Development Club at Brothers Lake at Carrickmacross catching some fine fish and receiving expert advice and instruction.  Night fishing was the key to some lovely bream and tench recently caught on Lough Derry near Drumconrath.  An incredible 126 Kgs of mainly Carp won the two day festival at Oaklands Fishery in New Ross for Danny Murphy.

A party of Portadown anglers fished with angling guides Peadar O’Brien and Tom Cogan on Lough Muckno and had a super day taking many double figured fish topped off with a lovely 20 lb. pike.  Peadar and Tom were busy this week and took a group of French anglers out fly fishing for pike on several waters in Co. Monaghan taking many pike up to 20 lb. which were all released quickly.  The Fishmaniak Club had an outing to the River Shannon at Banagher at the weekend and 22 anglers enjoyed good pike fishing catching and releasing 72 pike.

Finally there are many notices particularly about competition in our other news and competitions sections of the Update and this weekend, the FIPS-ed World Feeder Championships are taking place on Inniscarra Lake near Macroom in Co. Cork. The following weekend,the National Coarse Fishing Federation’s All Ireland competition is taking place on the lakes in Killeshandra.

As always be safe while enjoying the best of Irish fishing and please wear a life jacket if going afloat, Tight lines especially in Ireland,
Paul Bourke
Catch, Photo, Release

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Headlines

Salmon fishing reports

Trout fishing reports

Sea angling reports

Coarse angling reports

Pike fishing reports

News clippings

Other news

  1. NCFFI All Ireland Championships to take place this weekend
  2. Irish Fly Fair dates set for November 15th & 16th 2014
White Island on Muckno taken from the boat house – courtesy of Brian O’Neill
White Island on Muckno taken from the boat house – courtesy of Brian O’Neill