Settled weather in the last week should have seen angling improve all around the country but  on some river and lake systems raised water levels are still impacting the fishing. It is no surprise though that sea anglers were delighted with the conditions and there is a lot of small boat and charter angling to report on this week…

shark
Catch of the Week goes to Mark Gannon’s anglers for their 2m-plus blue shark

The rains that fell last week pushed water levels on the Boyne right up and as a consequence salmon angling was difficult on this east coast river. Floods on the Munster Blackwater fined down to give anglers a fair chance at salmon and anglers on the Blackwater Lodge beats recorded 23 fish over the weekend. In a quiet week on the River Lee around half a dozen grilse and a couple of double figure salmon were caught. On the Bandon there was some good fishing following the flood last week and about 15 salmon were reported, most on Bandon Angling Association waters. Other rivers in West Cork had little to report last week. Lough Currane was quiet at times in the last seven days due to slack winds and certainly there were few salmon caught. The sea trout fishing was a different matter though, and one party of anglers fishing the upper loughs had over 80 juniors and a number of better sea trout to 2lb – all catch and release. The much hoped for run of August salmon never materialised on the Laune and only a small number of fish were met and caught before the end of the month. Moving north to Connemara, fishing was tough on Lough Inagh for most of August, though sea trout (and trout) were more plentiful. The Erriff had 15 salmon between 26 August and 01 September. On the 27th as many as 7 of this haul were landed included a fine fish of 13lb. Around the corner at Delphi the wet and blustery conditions made for good fishing water, but the salmon did not play their part. Just 10 fish were landed, mostly grilse between 4 and 6lb. Water levels remained on the high side for the 3rd consecutive week on the Moy. The  system still produced almost 200 salmon for the week with all fisheries but the tidal section reporting some catches.  Sea trout anglers are getting good fishing on Glencar Lake where the Green Peter and Teal & Yellow are accounting for some nice fish. We finish this round up of salmon reports in Donegal where there was good water on the Drowes but not many fishing and only a few grilse were taken.

The trout fishing for Sonaghan was excellent again on Lough Melvin last week, particularly from Thursday to Sunday. There were 290 rods competing in the Lough Melvin Open Trout Championships where Laurence Gibb and Fechin McMorrow were the overall 2015 winners with 8 trout. It has been such a good season on Lough Conn that many of the regulars continue to spend their days and evenings on the lake. Even through the normally slack period of late August, Conn is still producing surprisingly good results to both wet and dry flies. There were not many reports in from Lough Sheelin. Philip Reid had a 7lb trout dabbling a Claret Stimulator in the surface wave off Crover shore on Thursday, but this was the only fish seen by Philip and his boat partner for the evening.

Congratulations to Sean Markey, Jody Kiernan, Ronan Murray and Alan Heasley of Ardee who won the IFPAC All Ireland Inter Club Championships with 23 pike for 48lb 10oz. The competition was fished on the Erne system around Belturbet and altogether 238 pike to 11 lbs 14 ozs were caught and released. Pike anglers on Lough Allua in Co. Cork had great sport recently. Last week one angler beat his PB 3 times in a row catching fish up to 102cm. Over the weekend a pair of novice anglers had 8 pike to 97cm.

On Saturday 29th August, Lakelands Angling Ballinamore, Co Leitrim played host to Ireland’s premier junior coarse angling event, the All Ireland Championships. There were 47 young hopefuls at registration and though high winds and showers of rain made most methods more difficult for the juniors there were some impressive displays of skill. Under 18 winer Harry Whitehead did particularly well with 14.430kg. Congratulations are also due to Novice winner Erin Bohan, Under 14 winner Eoin Rogers and Hayden Kellegher who won the Under 23s. It’s festival mania time on Inniscarra which is currently hosting 23 days of back to back angling events. The O’Callaghan’s One Day Open was won by Steve Thorpes’ excellent 13.300kg on the pole. This was followed by the 3 Day Celtic Cup which saw Alistair Ogilvy take first place with 44.750kg. Weights have not been as good as expected coming into the competition but it is hoped that they will rise with an improvement in conditions. Ballybay Angling Association fished a match at Concra Wood on Sunday. Johnny Keith was the leader of the 25 man field at the end of the day with 20lbs 2ozs. Meanwhile 29 anglers fished the four day Ramor Festival in Virginia, County Cavan. In a close finish Lee Klimczuk  was first with 35.840kg of mixed roach and hybrids.

Charter boat anglers off Wicklow have been getting some fine well marked Bull Huss lately up to 14lb. Tope have also featured in catches. More tope were reported from Kilmore Quay where one lucky angler had a fish estimated to weigh over 70lb. Small boat anglers on Cork Harbour are getting some good pollack and some nice bass on a variety of methods. Outside the harbour blue sharks, gurnards, cod, pollack and more are on offer to small and charter boat angler alike. Blue sharks were also taken by anglers out of Kinsale, Union Hall, Courtmacsherry and Castletownshend. A mix of ground fishing and skate were also reported. Catch of the Week comes from Courtmacsherry where one of the sharks from the last few days was a fine specimen over 2m long. Its no surprise that the charter boats on the Clare coast also were mixing it up with blue shark, cod, pollack and more. At one stage the Clare Dragoon was surrounded by dolphins, tuna and humpback whales, no shortage of fish there… Finally we report from Donegal where there is a shortage of mackerel – though there were still a few blue sharks about with 6 or 7 a day possible.

Apologies to Mike Dennehy for last week’s slip regarding the Catch of the Week. The fish we featured was his biggest from last year – he had reposted the fish in anticipation of this year’s tuna trials. We look forward to hearing how he gets on…

The 2nd International Sea Trout Symposium will take place in Dundalk, Ireland from 20th– 22nd October 2015. Targeted at scientists, managers and other fishery stakeholder interests in the public and private sectors, the central aim is to promote the wider application of an evidence-based approach to the future management and regulation of the sea trout and to ensure that its often very special needs become fully integrated into catchment management plans and environmental impact assessments. Anyone interested in attending can find out more at http://seatroutsymposium.org/.

There is a small craft warning in operation today. North to northwest winds will reach force 6 at times on coasts from Erris Head to Malin Head to Carlingford Lough. Tomorrow and the weekend will be mostly dry and bright but still cool for the time of year as northerly breezes continue. Highest temperatures will generally range 14 to 16C during the day. Next week will start dry and bright with good sunny spells and temperatures improving; maximum values of 16 to 18 C. Only light breezes, and fog patches will develop widely during the night-time. Rain will slowly spread from the west on Wednesday.

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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Wild Atlantic Way
Ballina on the River Moy, one of many great fisheries along the Wild Atlantic Way