The weather is still very changeable in Ireland is the past week with strong winds, squally showers and some lovely periods too.  This has caused problems for many anglers who want to enjoy our Mayfly fishing at this time of year.  The fly is well up in places and very patchy in others and there is very little established fishing on many of our famous trout loughs yet.

skate
Gregory Roche wins Catch of the Week for his capture of 2 skate weighing 174lb and 210lb

James from ”Absolute Fishing” fishing tackle reported some fine bass fishing around the Tramore area. Skipper Tom Hall from Union Hall had an experienced group out at the weekend and one of group Gregory Roche hooked and landed super skate of 170 lb. and 210 lb. and this huge fish wins our Catch of the Week.   There was some lovely pollack and cod fishing and a range of other species taken on the charter boat Sioux outside Valentia Island in Kerry on the first charter of the year reported by skipper Siegy Graber.  Charter skipper Luke Aston reported some super fishing for clients with plenty of species Skipper John Fleming from Blue Shark Angling in Galway had well known Dutch visitors Jan Tinnermans and his family out over the weekend and they caught some lovely Cod and Pollack along with Gurnards and Wrasse on the “Brazen Hussy 2”.  Graham Smith from Inishowen in Co. Donegal had a great short session landing two fabulous tope on this kayak.

Salmon fishing is still tough on the Munster Blackwater but some fish were reported at Fortwilliam and at Blackwater Lodge in the past week.  Two good sea trout of 6 lb. and 4 lb. were the highlight of the week on a quiet week on the River Bandon.  It was a much quieter week on Lough Currane where one nice sea trout of 5 lb. and the occasional salmon were reported for the week.  There was high water conditions on the River Owenmore near Dingle but on some days there were some good sea trout fishing.  A new record salmon of 20 lb. 11 oz. was recorded on the Rock Pool at Delphi on a Garry Dog tube fly.   The improvement in salmon fishing on the River Moy continues with 83 salmon recorded mainly from the middle to upper sections fishing best. Over in Carrowmore Lake, 13 salmon were recorded in three days on Carrowmore Lake. Not far away some good salmon up to 16 lb. were reported from Lough Beltra.  Big floods impacted on the salmon fishing on the Ballisodare River but some good salmon up to 16 lb. were recorded.  The river Drowes is producing very steady salmon fishing in the first two week of May with 30 salmon already accounted for.

Andrew Ryan from the Clonanav Fly Fishery was very pleased by the turn out at the weekend demos at the weekend and the anglers learned the art of fly fishing and caught many fish.  Anglers had a bumper week’s fishing at Carrigavantry in Co. Waterford with great hatches of olives bring many fish to the net.  Fishing was difficult at times on Lough Sheelin at times last week but in the better conditions the fishing was excellent with buzzers taking many good trout up to 6.5 lb.  The hatches of Mayfly were fairly patchy on Lough Corrib but nonetheless anglers were catching good trout on buzzer and olive patterns.  Good hatches of Olives with a sprinkle of Mayfly along with some good hatches of buzzers helped anglers to catch plenty of trout on Lough Mask last week. It was another good week on Lough Arrow where there were good catches of trout with some fish coming to the Dap.  Good catches of Sonaghan Trout were reported taken on fly at Lough Melvin during the week.  Angling guide Michael Tiernan reported good Mayfly fishing for his clients fishing on Lough Conn with trout taking the fly now and many other anglers enjoyed good brown trout fishing at most parts of the Lough.

The Drogheda Coarse Angling Club Spring League held at Concra Wood last Sunday and Glenn Rooney won with 4.695 kg. in tough weather conditions for the anglers taking part.   The Angling Council of Ireland ran a coaching session for the Irish Youth Angling Club on the Grand Canal at Rogerstown and they enjoyed the day catching some fish.  14 members of the Ballybay Angling Association fished on the White Island section with Dominic Wilson winning the day with 6.9 Kg. in the difficult conditions.  The Killeshandra four day Festival attracted 38 anglers and local angler Andrew Lightbown    won with over 15 kg. of fish.  There was some nice catches recorded at Lough Gowna where UK angler John Grogan had the best daily catch of 67 lb.   The Waterways Ireland Classic attracted a huge entry to this festival and on day two the winning catch was over 30 Kg.  The festival continues to the weekend

A Dutch couple staying at St. John’s house at Lecarrow enjoyed a great week’s pike fishing with the best pike measuring 102 cm which was taken on a lure.   The Craigavon Lakes played host to the Predator Team Ireland Qualifiers where 22 anglers fished for a place on the Irish Team and 100 pike were landed over the two days on lures.  There was some fine pike caught on the day for the latest National Pike Championship qualifier held on a west Cavan venue last weekend. At Melview Lodge, groups of French and Dutch anglers fished several venues but fishing was difficult but 12 year old Bart from Holland landed his first pike.

Sadly this week two angling giants passed away here in Ireland.  Firstly well-known angler, television and radio presenter Derek Davis who was a terrific all round angler who enjoyed the sport to the full and I had the great pleasure of fishing with him on a number of occasions.  Air dheis de raibh a anam dilis.  The other notable angler was the great angling guide Pat McLoughlin from Kells who was a terrific trout angling guide on the Kells Blackwater River and also guided many anglers including me on Lough Ramor for pike on several occasions.  Air dheis de go raibh a anam dilis.    Both great anglers will be sadly missed and we sympathise with both families for their great loss.

Don’t forget the close season started today for bass angling all around Ireland and it remains in force until the 15th of June.  Anglers can fish for other sea species but please refrain from fishing for bass at this time.

There are many other competition notices and other news in this week’s update and as always please be very careful when going afloat and wear a life jacket as it is safe and it is the law.

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

Paul Bourke

Catch, Photo, Release

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Pat McLoughlin
Angling guide Pat McLoughlin, who sadly passed away yesterday, on his favourite Kells Blackwater