Regular contributor Ronan Cusack reports that angling on Mask proved challenging last week, yet Carra produced the goods over the weekend. Recent weather conditions have been excellent for fishing, however, the much sought after daphnia-feeding trout from the deeps of Lough Mask have so far refused to play ball.
Partry Angling Club held their annual development competition over the weekend which was supported by a very impressive 168 anglers from all over the country. This event allows anglers to fish on either Lough Mask or Carra and the combined catch from each boat is then weighed in at the Lough Inn Bar and Restaurant in Partry that evening. This year’s winning team was well known Castlebar angler Peter Byrne and Johnny Moroney from Ennis. The lads had 5 trout for 10.00lbs. In 2nd position were Owen McGreal, Partry, and David Duffy, Westport, with 4 trout for 8.19lbs. Third position went to Seamus O’Loughlin and Brian McInerney from Clare, with 4 trout for 5.96lbs. The first three catches all came from Lough Carra. This year’s heaviest fish came from College bay on Lough Mask and was caught by Eamon Kennedy of Newport, weighing 3.74lbs. Fly life on both lakes is scarce at the moment but hopefully this will improve over the next few days.
Some of the stats from the competition included: 37 boats in total weighed in fish, including 21 boats from L. Carra, with 46 fish weighing 72.855lbs, and 16 boats from L. Mask, with 33 fish weighing 45.645lbs. The average weight of fish on Carra was 1.58lbs, while the average weight of fish on Mask was 1.38lbs.
