The snow has cleared and Ireland is now seeing alternating bands of windy, wet weather and fine sunny days. Some days start one way and finish the other and while much of  yesterday was glorious, today is miserable once again. It’s no surprise that anglers are finding it hard to get out and make the most of what opportunities there are.  That said we have a good spread of reports this week from all disciplines and parts of the country.

Lough Currane reported its first fly caught salmon of the year on Tuesday.  The windy weather is making the lake unattractive to many anglers, but as always Lough Currane has its moments. The Laune is is a bit on the high side for fishing the Laune Anglers waters. It is running clear though recent rains may change that. Further up the system a dozen salmon were reported from the Flesk. A second salmon has been reported on the Bandon, the 7lb fish was caught on fly at Bandon weir and released. The levels on the Munster Blackwater are up following last night’s rain and the river will be high and rather dirty for tomorrow, though with more dry weather forecast, conditions should improve for the weekend. Mixed weather dogged anglers at Delphi too but those who stuck it out caught fish and 3 salmon were reported last week.

Martin Connor wins Catch of the Week with his 5 ¾ pounder, March 1st caught using a White Humungus
Martin Connor with his 5 ¾ pounder, caught using a White Humungus

Snowy weather marked the opening days of the trout season on Lough Sheelin but the fish didn’t mind too much and some good trout were taken on fly.  Fishing improved towards the end of last week as the weather warmed up a little. The best trout reported was a 5 3/4 pounder caught by Martin O’Connor using a White Humungus. Anglers are slower to take to Lough Owel but those that have made the effort are getting trout on the troll.  Lough Lene is fishing well and some fine, full finned rainbows have been reported recently. Anglers not practising Catch and Release are reminded of the 3 fish limit. There were also good reports of early season rainbow fishing from other parts of the country at White Lake, Lough Ardaire and Rathcon. There is not much to report from corrib as the weather has prevented many anglers getting out on the lake. At a competition fished from Greenfields on Sunday 16 anglers returned 6 fish.

The Irish Federation of Sea Anglers (IFSA) All Ireland Open Shore Fishing Championships took on Saturday at Ballinesker Beach in Co. Wexford. 148 anglers competed for the top prize. It was known from the outset that the fishing was going to be tough, given the weather and time of year.  When the scores were compiled Harry McKee, Jnr from Belfast took the gold and the IFSA All Ireland Open Shore Fishing Championship 2015 title. In the ladies event Lisa Gormley took gold and the title of IFSA All Ireland Ladies Open Shore Champion. In the junior event Daniel Reynolds came in first position retaining his title.  Yesterday in Co. Kerry, Tomasz Ekert  got his bass fishing season off to a good start and his traditional starting venue produced two nice bass which he tagged and released as part of the National Bass Programme. If you catch a tagged bass don’t forget to report it to IFI. Staying in the Kingdon, last month 5 members of IrishKayakAngling.com all met in Waterville to try to rack up some numbers for their ongoing species competition. They enjoyed good weather and good fishing catching 9 species.

Ballybay Angling Association also enjoyed good fishing on Sunday with nets of around 10lb-11lb making the top 3 places in their knock-up competition at Namachree. At Ballyhaunis Dara Finnegan won the 8th round of the Winter League with 16.600kg, Mark Leonard was second with 13.980kg. Also hosting a competition on Sunday were Enfield Coarse Angling Club, and Seanie Ward (Trabucco Ireland), Propsperous CAC fished the pole to 11m with maggots and pinkies for his fine catch of 16lbs 6oz to win the day.

Pike anglers report good fishing from some Erne system venues while the fishing at Lough Glore was slow enough as the lake has become very coloured following the rains. Better midlands fishing was reported from Lough Ennell.  Castleblaney & District Anglers held a competition on Milltown Lake on Sunday. Fishing was great for some and poor for others, in the end David Dennis won with total catch of over 33lb.

Once more we go to press with gale warnings, small craft warnings and Status Yellow wind warnings in place across much of Ireland. However the outlook is for a mostly dry, but cool weekend, despite some sunshine at times, and there will be frost and fog each night also.

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

Myles Kelly

Catch, Photo, Release

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148 anglers took part in the IFSA All Ireland Open Shore Fishing Championships