While much of the country has enjoyed largely sunny weather for the last week there were plenty of cool evenings and in parts of the west and north west windy and wet conditions predominated. The weekend saw great reports from a number of salmon fisheries and trout anglers enjoyed good sport on east coast rivers and on Lough Corrib. There was plenty of action on the coarse front with a number of festival reports and as lake temperatures are unseasonably low, pike fishing was also busy at times. Blue shark are being reported from Cork to Donegal now and the more settled weather has seen a general improvement in charter fishing.

Dan Hawker
Dan Hawker about to release the biggest fly-caught salmonfor the Blackwater Lodge this year. This lovely fish wins Dan Catch of the Week.

There was some great salmon fishing on the Blackwater Lodge beats of the Munster Blackwater over the weekend where almost 50 fish were landed from Friday to Sunday. The last few days were a lot quieter, but there was a lovely 13lb salmon caught and released by Dan Hawker and this fish wins Catch of the Week. The Bandon also had some great fishing over the weekend with fish to 15lb landed on fly. The Laune Anglers report that fishing is improving on the river as salmon are coming up with every tide, but it is still a struggle to get fish on the river. There were about 20 salmon and almost as many sea trout reported from Lough Currane last week and anglers are generally upbeat about the fishing. Anglers are getting as many as 20 juniors a day on the Owenmore Fishery which has never had as many of these small sea trout in the system. Better sea trout and salmon are also to be had. At Delphi last week appalling weather saw angling come to a stop on a couple of days and anglers did well to catch the 20 salmon reported. The weather also impacted the fishing on the Erriff and 11 fish were landed between Wednesday and Sunday, 4 of which were caught by one angler on Saturday. Spirits were high at Kylemore last week where their catch of 14 salmon and grilse saw them surpass their total catch of 2014. One angler caught 5 fish to 7lb in just half a day’s fishing! Fishing conditions on the River Moy didn’t change much since the previous week. High water levels still impacted on the tidal beats with the rest of the river fishing quite well. Very high water levels were also a problem at Ballisodare with the worm being the most effective method.

Angling guide and casting instructor Eamonn Conway reports that the River Fane was up last week with the recent rain improving the trout angling there. Meanwhile, on the Boye, angling guide Marc O’Regan advises that the river at Trim has had some lovely fishing on BWO, Sherry Spinners and Sedges. Gormanston and District Anglers report that traditional wet fly tactics are working well at Wavin Lake. Fishing was tough on Sheelin last week. Just about every fly got a swim as the Green Peter and Murough fishing has tapered off and anglers had to work hard for their fish. On Lough O’Flynn Michael McDermott won the Michael Malone Cup in miserable conditions with a good trout of 3lb 0.3oz. Anglers on Lough Corrib fared better, reporting  plenty of action and excellent fishing on a variety of wets and drys.

There was good bream fishing reported from the mid Shannon with fish to 4.5lb landed by one angler. Further up river the annual Lanesborough Pike Anglers children’s competition took place on Saturday 8th August. Twelve children took part and all caught fish. Tony Kersley won the 4 Day Clones Festival with 74lbs 4oz. Cold temperatures and high water meant some venues did not fish as expected but there was a general show of bream across the venues. Good reports came in again this week from Ramor, even on the brighter days – we also have some footage of the huge shoals that are building up in parts of the lake. At the Lough Muckno Team of 5 event there was an exciting finish as the teams vied for the top spot. Meanwhile there was some great fishing by the competitors of IADA’s Junior Irish Open also fished on Lough Muckno. Castle Lake in Bailieboro, Co Cavan is also fishing well and can be a good venue for an evening’s entertainment. Portobello AC had a good day on the River Barrow at the weekend. Fishing in the crystal clear Graiguenamanagh Angling Club water they found the fish to be very shy but still managed weights to 5.690kg.

Fishing the IFPAC National Pike Championships 2015/16  qualifier on Sunday, 46 anglers caught 118 pike to 13lb 10oz at a County Longford river venue. Staying in Longford 8 year old Gaius from Germany enjoyed some fun pike fishing with Melview Lodge. Some exciting fishing was reported from Lough Derg where pike to over 100cm have been caught recently. Further south at Lough Allua in Co. Cork visiting novice anglers enjoyed great sport catching good numbers of pike between 70cm and 80cm.

Shore anglers in the Arklow area report good fishing for a range of species. The highlight of the trips recently was a lovely 10lb bass which took a squid bait. Small boat anglers in Cork Harbour are enjoyed good bass fishing last week despite the poor weather. Reports from this week (Tuesday and Wednesday) are the the shark fishing has taken off again with as many as 13 and 15 hook ups to a boat. Charter boats in West Cork are also reporting good sharking as well as good general mixed species fishing, while shore anglers around Bantry Bay and on the Beara Peninsula are getting good ray, huss and pollack fishing. There were reports of blue shark in Kerry. Reports of bass fishing from the county are more varied and it has been a bit hit and miss this year for some. Charter anglers off the Clare and Galway coasts are getting their share of the blue shark fishing too. And there is also plenty of enjoyable fishing for rays, huss, tope and other species.

The weather for the weekend will not be so good, depending on you point of view. Friday will be a fresher day countrywide, with some scattered outbreaks of rain but dry in many parts. It will brighten up in the afternoon with highest temperatures of 15 to 19 degrees in moderate occasionally fresh west to northwest winds. Saturday will start dry and sunny in most areas but cool with a risk of a few showers in light to moderate, southwesterly winds. Sunday may turn out to be a mainly dry day as well with sunny spells as winds  become slack in most areas but temperatures will remain several degrees below normal for mid-August.

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

Myles Kelly

Catch, Photo, Release

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Salmon fishing on the Bandon
A beautiful start to a great day on the River Bandon… Courtesy of Jason Nash