The past week has seen a lot of rain and warm conditions pass over most of the countryside for most of the week and this brought a lot of anglers out on all waters.  This week’s update has a lot of angling stories from all waters but salmon fishing is dominating most the stories this week.

It was a good week on the River Bandon where there were some good salmon reported during the week.  It was another productive week for anglers fishing on Lough Currane where salmon to 17 lb. and some nice sea trout were reported.  There were some nice salmon reported from the River Laune also.  Down on the Dingle peninsula, more sea trout were reported from the Owenmore Fishery with the fishing getting better every day.  Low water conditions impacted on salmon fishing at the Galway Weir but good numbers of grilse are now moving in with every tide. The first few grilse of the season was reported from the Kylemore Fishery in Connemara on stretches of the river. Over in Delphi eleven anglers landed 13 salmon in a few days in the past week.  There was good salmon fishing reported from the Owenduff River on the Rock House beats.  There was 260 salmon reported from all the fisheries on the River Moy in the past week.  Sandeel was the favourite bait to lure sea trout on the Moy Estuary in the past week.  Angling catches for salmon increased considerably with 152 salmon reported on the Ballisodare Fishery.  A fine 10 lb. salmon was landed by young Arran Long on the River Bonet. Stephen Brennan had an enjoyable day’s fishing on the Owenmore River in North West Mayo where he caught and released a fine fresh salmon.  The grilse run is in full swing on the River Drowes and anglers enjoyed the fishing.  Unfortunately the salmon fishing on Lough Melvin was not great and up on the Owenea River, water levels were low all week with no fish reported.

Prebaiting worked well for Dominic
Superb catch by Dominic Backer wins him our ‘Catch of the week’

Peter Doherty won the 2014 Irish Trout Fly Fishing Associations (ITFFA) National Rivers Trout Championship which was held last weekend on the River Liffey and the fishing was excellent for all competitors. Sunshine and downpours didn’t dampen the spirits of the multinational anglers on the Suir fishing with Andrew Ryan. Angling guide Mick Flanagan reported that trout fishing on many venues in the midlands was excellent with good catches of trout from many waters in and around the Mullingar area.  There were still some Mayfly hatching on Lough Sheelin in the past week but most trout were taken on the good spent gnat fishing in the evenings in the past week.   The Mayfly season is over on the western loughs but some anglers are catching some nice trout fishing caenis imitations flies.  Trout fishing slowed down on Lough Conn and Cullin but nonetheless some good trout were reported in the past week. Trout up to 42 cms were recorded at the very successful “Lough Fern Classic” Catch & Release Trout Angling competition last weekend. 50 anglers from all over Ireland fished over the two days with a prize fund of €2000 up for grabs and the fishing was excellent.  Angling guide Jason O’Riordan reported that the rainbow trout fishing on Carrigavantry was excellent in the past week for himself and a client.  Jason also reported on some excellent brown trout river fishing nearby landing some big trout in the clearer water conditions.  In Co. Kilkenny at the Adaire springs fishery produced some quality brown and rainbow trout fishing for anglers in the past week.

Angling guide Peadar O’Brien guided a Belgium visitor to catch some nice double figured pike on Lough Muckno recently. A total of 17 enthusiastic contestants from the Fishmaniak Club took part in a weekend competition on the River Erne at Belturbet and managed to catch 58 pike all together. Angling guide Barry Darby from Mullingar had several clients out pike fishing on Lough Ree and the fishing was superb with many good fish taken on lures and returned.  Over in Claremorris, 14-year old Harvey landed 5 good double figure pike while fishing with angling guide Kenny Sloan.

There was a good range of species reported by anglers deep sea fishing out from Malahide in the past week.  The first specimen smoothound of the season was landed with skipper Kit Dunne deep sea fishing out from Wicklow where there was some fine Bullhuss landed.  Steven Brennan reported on some fine Stingray fishing from the shore in Kerry.  A party of five Sligo anglers had a great day’s deep sea fishing with skipper Donal Kennedy fishing out from Killala. Deep sea fishing has improved for anglers fishing with charter skipper Michael McVeigh at Downings in North Donegal where they are catching a great range of species.  A fine specimen 44.03 lb. tope was recorded at the Lough Swilly International Tope and Whitefish Festival.

Senior and junior members of Carrickmacross Anglers took part in a cross border coarse and trout competitions over the weekend fished at venues on both sides of the border and they all enjoyed some lovely fishing. Stanley Martin, Wigan won the annual Edenderry Festival on the Grand Canal in a keenly contested event. The two angling festivals down on Inniscarra Lake in Co. Cork produced some wonderful fishing for the anglers from the UK and Ireland.

It was a good week for a Grandfather and Grandson having a fishing holiday at Melview Lodge, Longford where they enjoyed some superb catches of bream, tench, hybrids and roach on a variety of local waters. The grandson Dominic Backer from Yorkshire had superb catch of tench and bream and wins our Catch of the Week.

The weather is getting warmer and the hotter as predicted in the days to come and fishing on inland waters will probably get a little harder.  Sea anglers should benefit most from hot dry weather and a trip to sea should produce some good fishing,

Tight lines especially in Ireland,

Paul Bourke
Catch, Photo, Release

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A golden beauty. Photo compliments of guide Jason O'Riordan, Game Fishing Ireland
A golden beauty. Photo compliments of guide Jason O’Riordan, Game Fishing Ireland