With the shamrock well and truly drown, the eyes bloodshot and the head feeling a little tender perhaps you should grab that crumpled up green t-shirt and head out for a bit of fishing. The fresh air and the good weather will bring a bit of life to the battered body and you can always pass off the bad odour from the shirt on the local farmer spreading slurry !…

Local angler, Noel Maloney broke the ice with the first salmon of the season from the mighty Moy. This spring salmon was taken on Ballina Salmon Anglers’ water and weighed 12 lbs. Another first was had by the Galway Weir Fishery where local angler Dave Lenihan tipped the scales at 3.33kg (7.5lbs) with his fish from Jimmy’s Pool.  Fishery Manager Seamus Hartigan tells us that water levels still remain high but should drop in the coming weeks.

The Drowes had a great weeks fishing. Friday had 4 fish, 3 on fly and 1 on spinner and Saturday had another 3, two on spinner and one on prawn. Carrowmore lake welcomed anglers to its new season with perfect weather.  Vincent Rigney from Westport landed the first Salmon of the year on the lake weighing in at 11 lbs. Two more salmon were also caught on the day.  Over at Lough Gill and Glencar lake opening day also had some action, much to the delight of Kenneth Conway from Sligo who caught the first salmon trolling a copper Devon Minnow from Gill and Ricky Fabozzi caught & released two fine sea trout weighing 2.5 lbs. and 3 lbs. respectively on Glencar.

Our 'Catch of the Week' winner is Stephen Slattery who had a lovely salmon on fly from the river Feale which he released
Our ‘Catch of the Week’ winner is Stephen Slattery who had a lovely salmon on fly from the river Feale which he released

Down south on the river Feale, Peter Daly from Limerick got a good fish of 11.5lbs spinning and Stephen Slattery released another fine fish which he caught on the fly in the Finuge stretch. This is our ‘Catch of the Week’ winner.  The Bandon which was in perfect order had 3 fish while the Lee clocked up two more weighing 12lbs on a fly and another at 8lbs landed while spinning on club waters by local anglers. Ghillie Vincent Appleby captured the smiles and the fish on film as the Currane supplied some specimens for its patrons.  Michael O’Sullivan caught a 4lbs. Brown Trout on the troll, Anulal Hitmiang (Tam) had a 9.25 lbs specimen sea trout and Mark Knowles of UK caught the first Salmon on the fly in the 10 lbs bracket.  Even TD Michael Healy-Rae managed to pop his head into the photo when he saw the fish !

The Munster Blackwater water levels are good at present and ideal for spinning and fly fishing. Earlier in the week South African  Piet Du Toit caught and released a double figured sea liced salmon while fishing with guide Glenda Powell. With a lot more rivers open now since March 17th there is more of a choice of venues for anglers and the weather looks good for the coming week.

Lough Sheelin’s Gary McKiernan landed the heaviest trout this week at 7lbs. Tomorrow sees the first competition of the year being fished.  The Kilroy Cup starts at 11 am from Kilnahard pier (members & new members welcome).  Easter Saturday March 26th will see the popular Sheelin Classic trout competition.  All boats should be on the shoreline and ready to go by 10.50am.

Although the weather was quite cold on Lough Lene last Friday some fine fat rainbows up to 7lbs were caught along with a lovely brownie of 5lbs caught on the troll by Frank McKeown. Lough Owel had some brown trout too but not quite as big with water levels in the lake still high.

Lough Mask had good hatches of small buzzers in some of the sheltered bays with the odd trout rising. Wets worked well with two anglers getting 7 trout for the day (best fish 2lbs).

Adaire Springs Fishery in Kilkenny celebrated 5 years of business this week with cracking rainbows and brown trout being caught. Well done to owners Ned & Geraldine Maher.

A cool St Patrick’s Day didn’t help the anglers at Inniscarra lake for their competition. All catches were on the feeder.  Charlie Greaves came in first with 6.380kg.  The angling festival is set to run from Friday 18th to Sunday 20th March. On Sunday Ballybay Angling held their annual 4 Man Team Event on Lough Muckno.  Best weights were had at Yellow Island where individual winner Steven Whyte had 4.250kgs.

Pike anglers enjoyed their trip to Melview Lodge where within 30 minutes they had landed 3 pike.  Angler Aidan Traynor created quite a stir with his 19lb beauty from Lough Corrib.  He tells us it was a slow day to start but then things began to heat up as this cracking pike nearly broke the rod in half.

There were nothing out of this world in the line of fishing for our sea anglers this week, but Tomasz Ekert did spy the film crew for the new Star Wars film as he fished at Sybil Point in Kerry. A couple of nice silver stars for Tomasz but no big bass.  Perhaps the aliens frightened them away.

Safe fishing to all and tight lines, may the force be with you….

Nancy Hearne

Catch, Photo, Release

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Butlerstown Trout Anglers - Annagh Lough
Butlerstown Trout Anglers – Annagh Lough