It’s been a cold and blustery start to April and though sea temperatures are at the magic 10C along southern and western coasts, the almost continuous winds have really restricted fishing by charter boats and shore anglers. Freshwater anglers had a much better go of it. There were lots of reports from the salmon and trout fisheries and coarse and pike anglers also had plenty to report…

There was lovely water on the Drowes again last week and the river continued to fish well. In all, about  20 salmon were caught on a variety of methods. Most of the fish were between 5 and 8lb but one 14lb fish was taken spinning. The River Bonet has also produced a number of fine spring salmon recently. Despite changeable conditions Carrowmore Lake fished well over the past two weeks with a number of double-figure fish being reported. There were 5 fish off Delphi last week, all between 8 and 9lbs. Moving to the south west, there were 4 fish reported from the Feale. Fishing was not stellar on Currane but there is a steady trickle of fresh fish entering the system. Last week  salmon to 13lb and sea trout to 4.5lb were caught by anglers on the lake. The Bandon has been pretty quiet  but one salmon was caught last week and another earlier this week, though there have been no sea trout. There were no new reports of salmon from the Lee or Munster Blackwater.

News from some of Ireland’s trout streams is that fish are taking nymphs and wets well enough but are slow to rise to hatching flies. About 30 trout to 4.5lb were caught on Lough Sheelin last week. Lures fished deep are most productive and though a fair few fish have been caught in the shallows, these too are taking lures rather than traditional wets or buzzers. Cold conditions on Sunday made fishing on Lough Arrow difficult as there were no hatches to liven up the mostly dormant trout. In the end 11 fish to over 2lb were landed. On Lough Melvin the fishing has been good with most rods fishing wets and decent sized trout are being recorded. Anglers on Lough Corrib seemed to have the best of the fishing last week with great catches and fish 6lb reported. Duckfly hatches have started to slow down in some areas of the lake but Olives are starting to appear which should provide good opportunities for the coming weeks.

Cold easterlies and heavy rain made Saturday’s Calin Bogdan Cup at Oaklands a tough affair but Thomas Quinalin came out on top with 77lbs on the method feeder. Lough Muckno  is now getting into gear with a flurry of small fish on all sections, present in great numbers, making it a match man’s dream. Alan Larkin made the most of conditions to win the Winter League which finished there over the weekend.

One pike angler was in touch to tell us about his exploits in Co. Roscommon where he had some great fishing last week. After a run of 7 small jacks he had a pike of 28lb which he followed with a pike of 15lb. He returned to the lake a couple of days later and did even better for himself. River venues are also fishing well and the Barrow has produced pike to 106cms and weighing in at 21lbs 10ozs in the last number of days. Pike to 25lb were reported from the Clonmacnoise area of the River Shannon. Pike angling does not always go to plan but that doesn’t mean it has to be a blank as one angler on the Cong River found when his 19cm pike lure was annihilated by a smashing trout.

John Mc Donagh with his Specimen Spurdog of 16.5lb
John Mc Donagh with his Specimen Spurdog of 16.5lb gets Catch of the Week

Despite  difficult conditions at Waterfoot, Gelngormley SAC reported some nice catches during an all night session with the main species being flounder, rockling, coalies and plaice. Charterboat anglers have not had many opportunities to get on the water, but on one a rare settled day last week Kit Dunne’s boat was out in almost summery conditions and 14 specimen spurdog were recorded along with 2 bullhuss and a few more bits. John Mc Donagh wins Catch of the Week with his Specimen Spurdog of 16.5lb. Charter Skipper John Fleming in Galway was out at the weekend and his anglers had some good size pollock, coalies, ling, whiting, and a  ballan wrasse around 3lbs.

Other items of interest to anglers will be the the establishment of a panel of anglers by the ESRI to take part in ongoing surveys. To become a member of the panel please sign-up on the ESRI’s website (It should take less than 1 minute) http://www.esri.ie/angling/
In addition Inland Fisheries Ireland have designed a survey to evaluate the Irish bass fishery, bass angling and the current regulations in place which relate to the bass fishery in Ireland. If you would like to participate in the survey, please follow this link https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/IrishBassSurvey
Finally, IFI annouced the  the establishment of the 2nd National Inland Fisheries Forum (NIFF) earlier today. Angling federations, groups and individuals are requested to nominate candidates for membership on the Forum. For more information on the National Inland Fisheries Forum please follow this link.

The cold, wet weather is likely to continue for a while yet. Met Eireann tells us that it will be bitterly cold this weekend. After a hard frost on Friday night there will be cold start to Saturday with thundery, wintry showers in most parts, falling as snow on higher ground. It may be drier on Sunday, but it will be wet, windy and wintry in the south and east. The outlook is for somewhat milder weather next week, but remaining unsettled. Don’t forget the thermals if you’re heading to the water this weekend.

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

Myles Kelly

Catch, Photo, Release

If you have an angling story to share with the Irish Angling Update please send it to [email protected].

Headlines

Salmon fishing reports

Trout fishing reports

Pike fishing reports

Coarse angling reports

Sea angling reports

News clippings

Other news

Glorious spring sunset overlooking the Bandon.
Glorious spring sunset overlooking the Bandon – Jason Nash