The nice spring weather has brought a lot of angling activity on many of our inland waters and at sea.  Water levels are still quiet high but are dropping daily at present.  There is some wintry weather promised in the next few days but hopefully it will not curtail the tremendous fishing effort which anglers are enjoying at present.

ferox trout
Radek Vyhlidaal from the Czech Republic, with his magnificent 93cm ferox from Lough Corrib wins Catch of the Week

There are still high water levels on Lough Corrib and it is still impossible to fish at the famous Galway Weir. Over in Delphi there was five days without rain last week and four more salmon were recorded.  On the fifth day, Lisa Engbert from Sweden hooked and landed a lovely salmon of 11 lb. 15 oz. from Fin Lough on a black and orange tube fly. Steve Neely caught some nice sea trout up in Donegal using the black minnow lure while returning several kelts he caught also.  Eight year old Alana Kelly fishing with her dad on Lough Currane captured her first salmon of 8 lb. and there were some nice salmon reported during the week there also.  The season opened on the River Slaney and four springers were reported including two lovely fish for Eamonn Power. The first salmon of the season from the River Moy was reported on Thursday 13 March. It was caught by local angler Val Mitchell to be followed by a second fish on the following day. A fine sea trout of 4 lb. was captured on the Ridge Pool but the pool is still free to fish for salmon until the first salmon is landed there.  The Drowes in Donegal continues to provide nice salmon fishing daily.

There was a lot more activity for anglers, trout fishing this week and while it has been a very slow start to the season on Lough Corrib in the west some nice trout have been recorded on some days. However there was another big monster Ferox Trout landed this week.  Radek Vyhlidaal from the Czech Republic caught a magnificent 93cm ferox trout which he caught and released from the lough.  The fish was estimated to weigh well over 20 lb. and is our Catch of the Week. On Lough Owel in the midlands there was a few nice trout reported mainly to anglers fishing small lures.  Flies and small lures accounted for some nice trout from nearby Lough Lene.  On the River Liffey, fly hatches were scarce but trout were coming to Spiders and beaded nymphs patterns according to Pat Cleere.  Up in Lough Sheelin, good numbers of trout were reported on fly in the past week including trout up to 6.3 lb.  The two Waterford trout reservoirs at Carrigavantry and Knockaderry produced some super fish for anglers fly fishing in the past week with some super trout up to 6 lb. reported.  Over in the west, Loughs Conn and Cullin produced some good trout to the fly and small hatches of olives were spotted in recent days.

On the sea there was some lovely Pollack reported for Jim Clohessy and Kevin Murphy fishing lures on the new BIG1 boat outside Cork Harbour.  There was plenty of activity reported from shore and boat in Donegal with pollack and coalies taken by boat anglers and some nice flounders reported by shore anglers.  Young angler James Brennan from Wexford recently qualified to fish for the Leinster shore team and is catching some nice bass on lures.

There was some good pike activity this week with some Dublin anglers taking some fine pike while fishing with angling guide Kevin Lyons on waters near Longford.  The Newgrange Active Angling club held a competition on loughs near Kingscourt Co. Cavan and only smaller jack pike were recorded on the competition day but it was enjoyable all the same.  Angling guide Sean Jordan usually fishes for bass but turned his attention to pike angling and caught some fine specimens on lures and flies.

World Pairs winner, Cathal Hughes was at his best in winning the St. Patrick’s Festival at the weekend on Inniscarra Lake catching 28.700 Kilos of bream, hybrids and roach to beat the 38 other anglers from Ireland and the UK.  David Byrne reports on a nice catch he made on a small lake near Baileborough in Co. Cavan including some nice rudd and perch.

There are many other notices and news clippings in the Angling Update this week and they can be accessed through the ezine.  Prospects for plenty more good fishing look good despite the cooler weather promised this weekend

The featured image for this week’s ezine was taken at Finea Bridge at Lough Sheelin, a beautiful spot that features in a famous Irish song.

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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Salmon fishing reports

Trout fishing reports

Sea angling reports

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Coarse angling reports

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Finea Bridge on Lough Sheelin
Finea Bridge on Lough Sheelin – The Garden of Eden has vanished, they say But I know the lie of it still; Just turn to the left at the bridge of Finea And stop when halfway to Cootehill. Name that tune…