Mixed weather last week was followed by torrential rain and strong winds in places over the weekend. The early part of this week saw an improvement in conditions and there were good reports from many parts of the country, though salmon fishing has yet to pick up…

Low water, floods, hot weather – these factors have all conspired against salmon fishing and most rivers put another slow week behind them. Sea trout fishing on the other hand has not suffered as badly and rivers and lakes across Kerry and in Connemara reported good catches. Lough Currane and the Owenmore Fishery have both benefited from the weekend’s rain while further north there were plenty of sea trout, from Delphi to lakes in south Connemara.

Trout reports were sparse but some good fishing was had on Lough Sheelin where fish to 7lbs were landed. A mix of wet fly and dry fly tactics are meeting with success. Catch of the Week goes to Christopher Defillon for his 7lb trout, returned.

Christopher Defillon with his weight of the week – a superb 7 lb trout (released)
Christopher Defillon with his Catch of the Week – a superb 7 lb trout from Lough Sheelin (released)

River anglers had good trout on the Bandon where one 4lber was reported. Better known for its salmon, the Bandon’s trout fishing is often overlooked. The upper lakes of the Lough Currane system also provided good sport for trout anglers and in the north west of the country Lough Conn and Arrow saw anglers reporting some entertaining days on the water.

Lough Garadice is hosting the World Pairs at the moment but over the weekend the Fishmaniaks held a pike and perch competition there. Saturday was a washout, but Sunday was better – perch to over 30cm and pike to 94cm were landed. Lough Allua in Cork is fishing well at the moment. The advice is to go deep but the exact method doesn’t matter as all manner of baits and lures are being taken. Once again Lough Derg put forward a strong argument for it to be recognised as the country’s best pike venue. Anglers from home and abroad fishing with the guides based on the lake had loads of pike with no shortage of 1m plus fish measured and released.

Day 3 of the World Pairs saw no change at the top of the leader board as German anglers Jens Koschnick and Thorsten Kusters continue to keep the top spot, which they claimed at the end of Day 1. Their running total now stands at over 136kg, 20kg ahead of their nearest competitors. Recreational anglers in the Longford area had bags of bream to 138lb. Kevin Lyons of Melview Lodge was key to the success here. Naas and District Anglers fished a competition in the Ballybay area and bream helped to make up good weights.  Inniscarra in Cork is also hosting a number of competitions and festivals at this time. The Vinters Cup was one of the closest on record with just 600g between the top four. Congratulations to the winner John Bohane with 44.620kg, 2nd Robert Bell with 44.360kg and 3rd was Alistair Ogilvie with 43.880kg. The Dublin Angling Initiative had 2 big events recently. One saw a group of youths from Sphere 17 night fishing at the Meadows Fishery in Maynooth where carp to over 30lb are a very real possibility. The other was at the Irish Wheelchair Association competition at Lucan, on the Grand Canal. The competition saw over 200 anglers, with physical disabilities and other mobility impairments competing. The winning team were from IWA Clontarf – Congratulations to Derek, Eric, Lee and Ian!

Although the weekend was fairly miserable and winds have often been up, sea anglers still had plenty to be happy about in the last week. Bass anglers all along Cork’s coast are reporting lots of fish about, with some good size fish in the mix. The season’s shark tales continue with Kilmore Quay back in the frame again as Kit Dunne and Co. managed plenty of blues and even porbeagle. Porbeagle also featured again at Courtmacsherry and Baltimore. Some unusual fish popped up in the reports with Trigger Fish landed by small boat anglers in Cork Harbour and shore anglers in Killary Harbour. Shore anglers are getting some great fishing just now with big pollack coming to lure anglers from many rocky marks across West Cork, Kerry and up in Donegal.

As we go to press there is a Wind Warning in place: Southerly winds later veering southwesterly, will increase 55 to 65 km/h on Friday and will gust 90 to 100 km/h at times. Winds will be strongest on exposed parts of the northwest coast. The outlook is for wet weather over the weekend. Winds will pick up again on Sunday and the early part of next week will continue wet and windy.

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

Myles Kelly

Catch, Photo, Release

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Sunset on Beara