Since the return to milder conditions mid-week, trout angling on Loughs Conn & Cullin took off considerably, writes Declan Cooke, with superb catches being reported from many anglers. Paul Caslin and Peter Gray had a red letter day on Lough Cullin with 14 good trout boated as well as numerous smaller ones. All fish were returned.

Peter Gray with a lovely L. Cullin trout
Peter Gray with a lovely L. Cullin trout

There are still some olives hatching on both lakes but the Mayfly has now appeared on Cullin and parts of Conn and trout have started feeding on them enthusiastically. The Ginger Dabbler was the most successful fly and took most of the trout on Louhg Cullin early in the week.

Later in the week, numbers venturing out on both lakes built up in a big way, culminating in a huge show of trout anglers fishing in four separate competitions over the bank holiday weekend.

The Albert Berry Cup had 52 anglers taking to Lough. Cullin on Saturday 2nd May and a total of 85 trout were weighed in. The winners were Thomas Lynch and John Murphy with 11 trout.

The Conn & Cullin Anglers had their annual competition with the Dublin Trout Anglers on Saturday. The two teams competed against each other in this catch & release competition and recorded a magnificent 160 trout for 46 anglers. The Dublin team prevailed on the day with 85 trout versus 75 for the local team. The best individual performance went to Fran Nugent from Dublin with 13 trout. For which he received the Ross & Tolan Cup. John Walsh was second with 6 trout, 2 of which were just over 3lbs.

One of the more prominent competitions of the season is the Pratt’s Cup which was fished on Lough Conn on Sunday 3rd May. Results were excellent, with 48 anglers accounting for 85 trout including some serious quality fish. Billy McGee was the winner with four lovely trout weighing just under 5 lbs. Second was Declan McKibbin with 4 fish for 4.8 lbs and in third was Joe Ferguson with one lovely trout of 3.2 lbs.

Conditions are promised fairly amenable to trout angling over the coming days and with hatches of mayfly improving all the time.