Kevin Crowley with a superb 6lbs trout caught on a wet mayfly pattern on Lough Corrib. Kevin wins our ‘Catch of the Week’
Kevin Crowley with a superb 6lbs trout caught on a wet mayfly pattern on Lough Corrib. Kevin wins our ‘Catch of the Week’

It was another great week for Irish Angling with the weather very pleasant for anglers fishing at sea or on inland waters.  It was cool at times but generally despite some heavy rain showers during the week, conditions were good for fishing everywhere.  One or two cooler nights did not appear to impact the fishing.  Mayfly fever is here and many of our trout loughs have seen a huge increase in angling activity over the past week.

The rain in some parts of Ireland during the week brought some rivers up and there was a good increase in catches of salmon on some systems but poorer on others where low waters impacted on catches.  Down in Co. Cork there was some splendid salmon up to 16 lb. reported from the River Bandon and that big fish was returned to the water by Pat Mostyn.  Well done Pat. Other rivers in the Cork Kerry area produced a few salmon but catches were lower this week due to low water conditions.  It was a bit quieter on Lough Currane but there was another super specimen sea trout of 8 lb. 8 oz. taken by Paul Eustace on the troll. In the early part of the week, the salmon fishing on the River Slaney was excellent with Paul Ryan landing three double figure fish in an evening.  Heavy rain on the following day brought the river in flood for several days before the good fishing continued at the end of the week.  Over on the Dingle peninsula, there was some very good sea trout fishing reported from the Owenmore system with fish to 4 lb. taken on fly.  On the Kylemore fishery in Connemara there was some nice action for good salmon reported.  High water levels inhibited good salmon fishing at the Galway Salmon Fishery.  There was a great improvement in salmon fishing on all stretches of the River Moy in the past week.  The Ballisodare Fishery also produced better salmon fishing this week.  Low water levels on the River Drowes in Co. Donegal brought very few anglers to the fishery and only a small number of salmon were taken in the past week.  There were little or no boats out salmon fishing on Lough Melvin nearby.  Up on the River Finn, 24 salmon were recorded on one day on the Cloghan Lodge Estate Fishery.

There was some excellent trout fishing in the past week and on Lough Owel, DJ Byrne won the Corcoran Cup at the Irish Trout Fly Fishing Association’s (ITFFA) Leinster Championship with a fabulous bag of trout for 16 lb. 11 oz.  The Mayfly hatches increased the fishing effort on Lough Sheelin and there was some fantastic catches on Mayfly patterns with trout to 8 lb. reported in the past week.  The good trout continued this week on Lough Rowan, where fish to 4 lb. were recorded especially in the evening time.  On Lough O’Flynn in Co. Roscommon, young anglers enjoyed excellent trout fishing on the fly.  Over in the west there was some wonderful mayfly fishing reported on Lough Corrib and Kevin Crowley caught a lovely trout of over 6 lb. on a wetfly along with many other trout.  Kevin wins our Catch of the Week.  On nearby Lough Mask the fishing was described as brilliant by many anglers although mayfly hatches were poor.  A similar story was reported from nearby Lough Carra where hatches of Mayfly were at times sparse but plenty of trout were taken on anglers using wetflies mainly. Up on Lough Conn the Castlehill area of the lough produced wonderful trout fishing in the past week. Over on Lough Arrow there was some good trout fishing reported on mayfly and anglers are now looking forward to some spent gnat fishing in the coming weeks.

There was an increase in coarse angling activity this week and there some good catches of bream and hybrids reported from St. Mullins where early in the week there was some good catches of Twaite Shad recorded there.  Forty anglers fished in the rain and wind up on waters in the Killeshandra at the annual festival with Francis McGoldrick winning the event with 49.090 kilos of roach, bream and hybrids.  Over in Leitrim there were reports of good roach and some bream at the Mudflats on the River Shannon below Carrick on Shannon.  At Melview Lodge in Co. Longford, Belgium anglers enjoyed good bream and tench fishing on nearby loughs. On nearby Lough Machugh, there was fine tench recorded in the past week.  There was great catches reported for the 234 anglers with many from the UK taking part at the annual Waterways Ireland Classic Fishing Festival on Lough Erne at Enniskillen.

On the pike angling scene there was some fine pike up to big double figures reported from the River Shannon south of Athlone.  Up on the Dromore River near Cootehill two French anglers recorded 52 pike in four days fishing but 12 of these fish were over a metre long (circa 20 lb.)!  On Drumharlow Lake, parties of French and German anglers caught plenty of good pike mainly on lures with the biggest fish of 1.10 metres reported.  At Melview Lodge, a party of French anglers enjoyed excellent pike fishing with angling guide Kevin Lyons on a number of waters.  A Brazilian visitor revisited Ireland and fished with angling guide Richie Johnson for pike catching a great fish of 21 lb. 10 oz. on a midland lough along with many other smaller fish.

With the windy weather there was less sea angling activity this past week but some anglers were out bass fishing before the conservation period which started today and lasts for one month.  Angling guide Richie Ryan of Eire Bass has been enjoying some very good fly fishing for bass in the Cork Harbour area but with the close season for Bass now in force for a month, Richie went out and caught some nice mullet on the fly. Another salt water angling guide Damien Willis had great success in north Kerry catching some nice bass on the fly

IFI is taking part in an international survey with counterparts in the USA, UK and Australia to find out more about your opinions on fish habitat restoration work. The survey should take no more than 5 minutes and is available by clicking here. There’s a link at the end of the survey that takes you a separate, unlinked page where you can enter the draw for some great prizes including a €300 tackle voucher, measuring mats and angling books.

There is plenty of news on forthcoming competitions and events coming up with Fisheries Awareness Week in the clippings and other news sections of the Irish Angling Update,

Be safe this summer and enjoy your fishing,

Tight lines especially in Ireland

Paul Bourke
Catch, Photo, Release

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

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Today’s banner image was taken by Liam O'Gabhain, IFI during a routine patrol of Lough Corrib yesterday afternoon.
Today’s banner image was taken by Liam O’Gabhain, IFI during a routine patrol of Lough Corrib yesterday afternoon.