The Indian Summer was very much in evidence this week, particularly in the last few days and the glorious conditions made for tough fishing for salmon anglers looking at the September 30th deadline. Other anglers seemed to be less effected by the bright sunshine and some good reports came in from pike guides, coarse angling competitions and sea anglers…

Tony Kersley Tubertini UK LTD takes the win at Sheemore
Tony Kersley Tubertini UK LTD takes the win at Sheemore and Catch of the Week

The salmon and trout fishing season closed for many on Wednesday. The bright, warm weather of the last week was not really ideal for game anglers and consequently there were many rivers that were empty on closing day. A few fisheries will remain open to 12 October and next week’s change in weather conditions may see a late flurry of activity on these rivers and lakes. In general it was a quiet week for salmon and trout anglers. The best of the reports came from the Munster Blackwater where a few big salmon marked closing week, and the Moy where some good fishing was had on the Mount Falcon water. A few good sea trout to over 6lb were reported from Lough Currane and it is one of the fisheries that will remain open (for sea trout) until 12 October. Trout anglers on Loughs Conn, Cullen and Corrib reported a strong finish to their seasons and Lough Sheelin, which had trout to 8lb on fly last week, is open to 12 October.

Connacht are the NCFFI Inter-Provincial coarse angling champions for the second year in a row. The competition was fished over the weekend in the Suck Valley. Rory Dunne had top weight on both days, helping the Connacht to their first place finish. The fourth and final qualifier to select the NCFFI youth teams to fish in Portugal also took place on the River Suck, at Donamon. Fishing on the pole in bright conditions, the anglers worked hard for modest weights of around 2kg. Sean Tallon won the Madcaps open on the River Shannon at Athlone at the weekend. His catch of 7kg was enough for first place, not a bad result for his first outing with the club. Catch of the Week goes to Tony Kersley who caught 43.05kg over 3 days at the Sheemore Festival fished in Co. Leitrim. The top 6 anglers averaged 12kg a day in this popular event.

Pike anglers have had some great fishing on Lough Derg in the last few days. Numerous fish over 100cm have been reported by visiting anglers including some really impressive pike of 109.5cm, 111cm and 112cm. One guide on the lake had as many as 11 pike over 90cm and 3 over 100cm on Wednesday of this week. Good fish was also reported from Lough Allua and kayak angling proved successful for one angler on waters in Galway and Mayo.

Congratulations to Stephen O’Sullivan of Galway Bay SAC on winning the Cartys West Coast Shore League for the third year in a row. There was another great week of fishing in Dingle at the 2015 Daiwa Irish Pairs. Shakey Stevens and his new partner Ben Arnold finished in first place. Shakey also won the John Browning Memorial Trophy for the best bag at Inch – a day with fewer flats than usual but 43 bass were landed. Bass to 76cm, bullhuss to 107cm and conger to 185cm were measured in during the event. Around the corner in County Cork, anglers fishing from Clonakilty had great cod fishing with fish from 6-12lb coming to the boat on every drift. At Carrigaholt charter skippers are reporting the odd blue shark, skate and plenty of pollack, cod, wrasse as well as some good ling, bullhuss and spurdog.

If you are on the committee of your angling club we are asking that you get in touch so that we can add you to our mailing list for updates on regulation changes, sponsorship opportunities and public consultations. Please email us at [email protected] to arrange this.

IFI would like to remind all salmon and sea trout anglers to submit their 2015 logbook and unused gill tags to the relevant IFI office using the pre-printed envelope supplied at time of purchase. Your contribution to the management of our wild Atlantic salmon stocks for 2016 is very important. 71% of anglers returned their logbook and unused tags last year.

Friday will be another dry day but fog will clear only slowly in the morning. However, the afternoon and evening will be generally sunny. Winds remaining light and variable throughout. Highest temperatures 13 to 16C. Saturday will be cooler and mostly cloudy with just a few sunny spells. The cloud may produce the odd patch of drizzle. Highest temperatures 11 to 14C in almost calm conditions. On Sunday it will become wet in the afternoon, particularly in Muunster. The fine spell will be over and we will be back into a changeable Atlantic regime next week. It will be wet and windy at times with the winds up to gale force and some rough seas and some spells of heavy rain likely.

Safe fishing to all and tight lines, especially here in Ireland.

Myles Kelly

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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Red sky at Red Roof on the Drowes
Red sky at Red Roof on the Drowes