Frank Reilly reports that the last 2 weeks on Corrib have seen pretty good fishing during the good duckly hatches, although the duckfly is petering out now, with some olives starting to appear.
The week up to the 6th saw mixed reports of duckfly hatches, with the north and south ends having the best hatches, and anglers reporting poor hatches in the Greenfields area. Fishing in the Cornamona area for the week was slow with very few anglers fishing. Peter Curran fished for one day and landed 2 trout for3lbs. The Greenfields area had mixed fishing, with 22 anglers fishing for 38 rod-days and landing 27 trout. Seamus O’Loughlin from Ennis fished with a friend for 1 day and landed 7 trout (all returned) for 12 lbs. Don Stiffe and Mick Bradley also fished for 1 day, landing 2 trout (both returned) for 4 lbs. Lloyd Vincent and Ian Mc Ginley, England fished for 2 days and landed 7 trout (all returned) for 13 lbs. Sean Dixon, Ennis fished for 2 days and landed 5 trout for 9lbs. The Ennis Anglers held their first competition from Greenfields on Sunday the 6th April with 8 anglers landing 10 trout. 1st was Basil Shields with 2 trout for 5.5lbs. Joint 2nd was Brian Mc Inerney and Tommie O Loughlin, also with 2 trout each.
The Oughterad Anglers held the Bartley Mc Gauley Cup on Sunday the 6th of April with 42 anglers landing 15 trout. In 1st place was Mike Faherty with 2 trout for 1.52kgs. 2nd was Willie Molloy with 2 trout for 1.2kgs. 3rd was Mick Coyne also with 2 trout for 1.16kgs. The winner of the youth section was Cillian Tierney, with 1 trout for 0.65kgs. Fish of the week went to Joe Creane, Roundstone, with a trout of 6.5lbs. The catch of the week was Larry Kelly, Dublin and John Jack, Scotland with 38 trout (all released) for 53lbs for their week.
The lower lake saw good fishing reported, with 6 anglers landing 24 trout for 20 rod-days. John McCarthy, Tuam started his season well landing 4 trout (all returned) for 7.5lbs. Larry McCarthy and Dara Lynch fished for 1 day and landed 7 trout (all released) for 13.5lbs.
Frank was in touch again this week to report that the duck fly hatches are coming to an end, with anglers reporting small hatches of olives. The number of anglers fishing in the Cornamona area is well down on other years, with anglers reporting poor fishing, however Peter Curran fished for 2 days and landed 3 trout for 5lbs.
Anglers fishing the Greenfields area reported the best of the fishing was early morning or late evening. The Galway Garda A.C. held their first competition on Wednesday the 9th April 2014 with 12 anglers landing 3 trout over the limit. 1st was Phil Donoghue with 1 trout for 3.2lbs. 2nd was Seamus Kelly with 1 trout for 1.4lbs. 3rd was Christy Reilly also with 1 trout for 1.2lbs. Mick McCluskey and Morris McDavitt (Northern Ireland) fished for 5 days and landed 12 (10 released). Frank and Paddy Guilfoyle from Ennis fished for 1 day landing 4 trout for 7lbs.
Anglers fishing the lower lake again reported good fishing. Larry McCarthy, fishing with one angler landed 37 trout for 7 days (35 released) – their best fish was 4.75lbs. John Ryan and a friend from Dublin fished for 2 days and landed 7 trout for 15lbs. Larry provides boat hire, guiding and B&B accommodation and can be contacted at www.corribangling.com
Simon Tarpey also enjoyed some good fishing on Corrib during the duckfly, his best fish coming on a day out of Birchall with friend Robbie Pitman. The trout weighing 5.25lbs was taken on a size 16 dry post hackle midge. Robbie ably assisted on the oars as the fish took a while to get in. The beautiful trout was weighed and then sportingly returned. Well done Simon!
