The last week has seen the broken Irish summer continue. The blustery weather has brought in plenty of rain and most rivers have had some bit of a flood. Unfortunately the winds made for difficult conditions at sea and along our shores, but for those who could take advantage of the opportunities that arose, there was always the chance of a good fish somewhere…

Lough Derg
Jim Chadduck and his daughter Amy on Lough Derg where Jim had this 104cm pike. This pike wins Jim Catch of the Week.

Jim Chadduck had a great pike of 104cm last week on Lough Derg. Jim, fishing with his daughter Amy and guided by TJs Tackle and Angling Centre, was delighted with his catch, a personal best. Earlier this week there were some good pike on Lough Allua where the fish have gone a little deeper as the water temperatures increase.

The broken weather was welcomed by many salmon anglers who saw grilse running after the rains and were assisted in their efforts by breezy weather and dull skies. The recent rain did not do much to the water levels in the Boyne which is still low and clear. There have been some good salmon to 15lb reported and though there a few smaller sea trout in the lower river there is a lull in the fishing as most of the fish are dispersed through the system. Fisheries on the Munster Blackwater having been reporting 1 or 2 fish a day for the last week but the fishing picked up a bit after Sunday’s flood. One notable fish was an 18lb salmon caught by Jack Hughes on the Fortwilliam Fishery. Although the River Lee has been low and the fishing generally quiet, there were a dozen grilse and salmon to 9lb on the ESB fishery at Inniscarra.  The Bandon Angling Association tells us that they have the best summer fishing conditions they’ve seen in a couple of years but although there are a few fish being reported catches are modest. Some West Cork rivers have fared better, amongst them the Ilen has done particularly well with 30 fish to 10.5lb reported last week. Lough Currane has seen a number of sea trout caught, mostly in the 3 to 5lb bracket, and the feeling there is that the sea trout are starting to co-operate again. Anglers again report that there are few fish to be had in the Laune despite ideal conditions, but fishing is expected to improve when the draft net season closes. Nigel Rush reports that the grilse run appears to be finally underway at Kylemore and in the last 9 days 17 fish have been landed. The Erriff is definitely enjoying a good run of fish as they have had as many as 59 salmon in the last week. For the second consecutive week, the Moy system produced over 600 salmon. Anglers experienced fluctuating water levels all week with catches becoming more widespread. The mid-river fisheries in particular saw an increase in catch numbers. Anglers on Glencar Lake enjoyed very good sea trout fishing in recent days with some lovely fish to 2.5lb landed. The Drowes was low for most of last week but the rains brought the water up over the weekend. In the end there 20 salmon for the week even though there were few fishing. There were a few small floods on the Owenea and decent numbers of salmon caught during the good water periods. Amongst the grilse some lovely salmon to 14lb were taken.

Congratulations go to Scotland who won the 5 Nations Championships fished in the Cork/Kerry area. A very gallant Ireland took silver and Belgium joined them on the podium in third place. TAFI reports that Ireland’s wild trout fisheries proved to be the best in the world and all the competitors were in awe of the beautiful locations in Cork and Kerry. Lough Sheelin was back on song last week and over 100 trout to 8lb were caught by anglers as the sedge fishing gets into full swing. Corrib and Mask also fished well. Both lakes are seeing some good hatches of late may fly as well sedges. Reports from Lough Arrow are that the good Peter fishing enjoyed in the last couple of weeks is continuing to provide reliable sport and anglers on Lough Melvin are also reporting some good catches.

There were some great reports from the coarse angling festivals last week. Muckno Mania finished with a flourish where Lee Klimczuk not only held his lead but turned out another masterclass performance on the last day to win with 61.210kg. Lough Sillan saw Portobello Anglers on its shores over the weekend and Alex Radu won their 1 day event with 9.300kg of bream. Recreational anglers also enjoyed some good catches and Kev Shore reported on some great tench fishing in Cavan where Norman Guy and he had a lovely bag of fish between 4lb and 6lb.  Already anglers from the UK and Ireland are warming up for the Bob Parker Memorial match on Saturday and many are staying on for the Belturbet and Clones festivals which follow straight after. It’s not too late to book in for these events.

Weather has been a little unkind to charter boat fishing for most of the last week and much of the fishing has been confined to inshore marks. The Clare Dragoon in Carrigaholt saw a return to tope, spur dogs and pollack after their encounters with 6 gill shark. Anglers on Tigger out of Clonakilty had some great cod fishing recently with good coalies and ling thrown in too, though that is starting to dry up now and the focus will firmly switch to shark when the weather improves. Small boat anglers in Cork Harbour who managed to make the most of the weather windows recently did enjoy some good fishing with bass, pollack and blue shark reported, but in general it has been tough enough. Richard Cake, who won the Irish Bass Festival with a great fish of 74cm, would be first to agree that the conditions were tough along the south coast over the weekend as the winds made for very weedy water and difficult fishing overall. But we end the sea angling reports with a high. Kit Dunne had a late report, just in, of 2 specimen tope of 47lb and 49lb in the last couple of days for Wicklow Boat Charters anglers.

Met Eireann tells us that the outlook is for the weather to continue cool and very changeable. Still no sign of any warm dry settled spell. That said Saturday should offer an opportunity to get out on the sea, but Sunday will be wet and blustery.

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

Myles Kelly

Catch, Photo, Release

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Sea trout action on Glencar Lake!
Sea trout action on Glencar Lake!