Well it is summer time here in Ireland and earlier today the first blue shark was caught and released in Union Hall in West Cork.  The weather unfortunately does not always agree with that assumption as we have witnessed hail, sleet and cold windy conditions on many days in the past week.  Anglers certainly don’t let the weather ever stop them even in those bitter cold days and it has been another great week’s fishing both in freshwater and at sea.

Blue shark
Evan McGovern wins Catch of the Week with the first blue shark of 2015

Salmon of 14 and 17 lb. were some of the big salmon reported from the River Suir near Carrick on Suir last week.  Salmon fishing on the Munster Blackwater has been generally rather quiet but it is nice to report a nice 11.5 lb. fish coming to the fly on Lower Kilmurry on the Blackwater Lodge beats. Fishing has improved in the last number of days with better fishing and more salmon caught on fly and spinning.  19 salmon up to 19 lb. were reported from the ESB Fishery on the River Lee last week.  Two salmon were reported from the River Bandon but anglers are expecting the fishing to improve when water levels drop.  Fishing is steadily improving on the smaller salmon rivers in west Cork weekly.  It was another good week for sea trout fishing on Lough Currane and a fine specimen 9 lb. taken on fly was the biggest of the week for Justin Clayton-Jones.  The salmon fishing is improving on the River Laune weekly and some nice fish were reported in the past week along with some nice sea trout.  The first salmon of the season on Lough Inagh fell to an American lady visitor and hopefully it will the first of many in this beautiful location.  The first grilse and a few salmon were reported from the River Erriff near Leenane.  216 salmon were reported for the week from the River Moy with water levels fluctuating in the mixed weather conditions but fishing is improving weekly.  62 salmon were reported from the Ballisodare fishery with some big spring fish featuring in catches.  Anglers fishing on the River Drowes reported good sport for salmon all week with very consistent fishing with fly and flying C lures taking fish regularly.  The River Owenea produced some good salmon fishing in the past week with 20 fish reported taken on spinner and fly.

High water levels made trout fishing difficult at times on the River Boyne and tributaries but anglers using goldhead nymphs and streamers did catch some nice fish. It was another challenging week for anglers fishing on Lough Sheelin but there was some really fine trout taken on a variety of Mayfly patterns. The trout fishing at Carrigavantry and Knockaderry continues to be excellent with some lovely trout coming to the fly.  On the huge Lough Ree, despite the very windy cold conditions there was some fine trout fishing reported by a few anglers mayfly fishing on this great lough.  On Lough Corrib, there was another hectic week for anglers Mayfly fishing with more great trout recorded from many areas of the lough but hatches of Mayfly are starting to decline in recent days.  The excellent trout fishing continued with many more trout taken on Mayfly on Lough Mask when weather conditions allowed good fishing.  It was another great Mayfly fishing week from Lough Conn and Cullin in Co. Mayo and many trout were reported on a variety of Mayfly patterns.  Over in Lough Arrow despite the poor cold conditions anglers still caught some fine trout mainly on wet Mayflies.  On Lough Melvin it is nice to report that good catches of Sonaghan trout were caught in the past week and there were good hatches of Mayfly enticing trout to the fly.  The Loughanure angling club ran a very successful competition on the lough at the weekend and many trout were recorded on the day.

Every week now at present there are many coarse angling festivals being held weekly on Inniscarra Lake and despite the cold conditions, the catches this week were excellent with good catches of fish recorded by UK visitors and anglers from home.  Angling guide Kevin Lyons had a party of UK visitors from Devon fishing on some small loughs near Melview Lodge in Longford and they enjoyed some fine bream along with some nice tench in the past week.   Brian Conniffe reported to us some fabulous tench and bream fishing on the River Shannon near Banagher.  Peter Claydon from England enjoyed some excellent coarse fishing in the Drumsna area of the River Shannon while visiting on a cruiser.  Well known match angler, John Potters won the annual Ballinamore Festival which attracted some quality anglers from home and the UK.  They enjoyed some excellent fishing throughout the festival.

There was some fine pike fishing reported from Lough Allua in West Cork where pike up to 95 cms were taken by Dutch clients by angling guide Greg Latour.  Angling guides Pierre Monjarret and Paul Bourke had some serious pike action on Lough Derg last week with many fish over a metre recorded on lures in shallow water and beside weed beds.  Angling guide Kevin Lyons reports that his clients out pike fishing in very miserable weather on many days last week.  They did manage to catch some pike however with fish up to 107 cms recorded.  Angling guide Bodo Funke reported another good week for his fishing clients in the upper Shannon region with several good pike recorded including a great fish over 110 cms.  In the Drumsna area one UK visitor on a cruiser reported some fine pike fishing in the Upper Shannon area.

Charter skipper Dick Hayes operating out from Kilmore Quay had a party of angler from the Rusty Hook anglers out last weekend and they enjoyed some fine codling fishing and caught many other species as well.  There were still a few twaite shad being caught at St. Mullins on the River Barrow up to 2 lb. 7 oz. Charter skipper Tom Collins from Union Hall recorded the first Blue Shark of the year for one of his anglers Evan McGovern and the fish was tagged and released after a quick photo.  This great fish wins our Catch of the Week.  Charter skipper Siegy Graber reported that he had more parties of anglers from Germany out fishing around Valentia and they enjoyed superb pollack fishing along with many other species on the days they managed to get out.  Shore angling in the south Donegal area produced some wonderful species of sea fish with some fine turbot, plaice, tub gurnard, pollack, wrasse and many species of Ray.  Up in Downings, charter skipper Michael McVeigh had another group out and despite good catches of conger and tope, Michael is looking for better quality fishing for his clients. In Lough Swilly, there was some fine tope fishing recorded at the 49th International Sea Angling Festival with 29 tope recorded along with nice blonde and thornback ray.  Up in Co. Antrim, charter skipper Hamish Currie reported some fine Cod fishing for clients fishing out from Red Bay along with some huge skate the best one estimated to weigh 203 lb.

At last the weather looks to be getting a little warmer now and the strong winds are not as strong now and anglers will enjoy the best of angling in more tranquil settings.  Trout anglers will be hoping for some spent gnat fishing in the coming days and weeks on our trout loughs in particular.   There is plenty of new clippings in this week’s update and there are competition notices also but please be safe when enjoying the best of Irish Angling.

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

Paul Bourke

Catch, Photo, Release

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River Nore
This week’s banner image is the River Nore upstream of Ballylynch Bridge by John Flynn IFI