calm
Hot, bright still conditions were the common theme of last week’s angling reports…

Wow! We have had some of the most angler unfriendly weather over the last couple of weeks but Irish fisheries continue to produce some excellent fishing. Despite the hot, bright weather pike anglers are getting some great fishing on Lough Derg with a 17lb trout falling for a German tourist’s lure. The Bandon and Delphi have both had low water but both rivers turned up 20lb salmon on the fly. Coarse anglers have had to contend with flat calms, clear water and bright sun but on the first day of the Lanesborough Festival a local angler had 23kg on the Hotwater Stretch. Could it get any better? Well, yes. Sea anglers have had really good fishing, blue sharks, big skate, bass and to top it all what appears to be the first verified catch of a thresher shark by an angler in Irish waters…

Thresher shark from Kinsale
John Harrington wins Catch of the Week for his thresher shark from Kinsale

Sea angling circles are buzzing with the news of yesterday’s catch of a thresher shark by John Harrington. John was fishing on Sea Breeze III out of Kinsale when he hooked in to this most unusual shark. After a truly epic battle the shark was tagged and released. Although threshers do turn up now and then in commercial catches and have been sighted close to shore, this is the first angler catch in Irish waters.

Last week’s fine and settled weather saw charter boats from Donegal to Kerry and around to the East coast taking to the seas with some great results. Fishing out of Downings, Michael McVeigh found mackerel scarce but coalfish so thick that it was hard to get through to the better fish on the wrecks. At Mullaghmore skate are providing many of the thrills. One boat had 11 skate in a single day at the weekend and 4 of these were of specimen size. Tope, congers, cod, ling, wrasse and all the usual suspects are about in good numbers off the Clare coast and the fishing off Kerry is also going well with blue sharks making an appearance there. Cork’s charter skippers are also getting blue shark. Union Hall is seeing blues, while skate and congers featured in Courtmacsherry’s reports. Boats from Kinsale and Cork Harbour are also getting blue shark. As many as 12 were had on one small boat alone last week. Anglers fishing out of Kilmore Quay encountered blue shark while further along the coast out of  Wicklow the fishing  there is good with spurdogs, smooth hounds, some to specimen size, landed recently. Bass anglers on the south coast and particularly around Co. Waterford are getting some very good bass fishing and fish to 80cm have been caught and released.

20lb salmon
One of the 2 salmon in the 20lb bracket reported last week. This one is from Delphi.

There was very good fishing at Ballisodare last week with 74 fish caught, 28 of which were released. Drought conditions on the Moy saw sections of some tributaries run dry, and salmon fishing was not easy, but several fisheries had decent fishing particularly around Ballina. Out on the Moy estuary there were good catches of sea trout to 1.5lb. Carrowmore was low but fished well, not surprisingly the most productive period was in the evenings. The Galway Fishery had no trouble with water and a good run of grilse saw many anglers doing well despite the sunshine. The Laune is quite low now and although the odd salmon is being met it is mostly the seatrout that are entertaining anglers there. There were a few good days on Lough Currane last week, and despite a couple of blank days 14 salmon were caught. The Ilen and Meelagh Rivers in West Cork were pretty quiet and its no surprise as the spate rivers are having a tough time of it now, but the Bandon is still turning up the odd good salmon and fish as big as 21lb have been landed. The River Lee saw catches increase and 21 salmon were reported, mostly from the lower river. The run of fish on the Munster Blackwater is continuing. One angler had as many as 4 salmon for a morning’s fishing. On the River Suir there are a few grilse running the river now, though the levels are very low.

Lough Mask is quiet now that most anglers have returned home following the Mayfly season. There are still fish to be caught though and small dries and buzzers are doing best. Caenis hatches on Corrib are providing spectacular sport for anyone willing to get out on the lake early, but be warned we mean early – a 5 am start is needed to make the most of the fishing. The Mayfly fishing on the lake was poor enough but some anglers had better luck on the dapp. On Lough Ennell there were good fish feeding on Welshman’s Buttons during the day, but getting near enough to cover a feeding fish in the calm conditions was no easy task. Better luck was had on the Buzzer late in the evening. Fishing on Lough Sheelin was tough last week and it seems the elation of the long anticipated mayfly and reputed ‘easy fishing’ had come to an abrupt end before it ever really started. Despite this almost 500 trout to over 8lb were reported by anglers – Spent Gnats doing most damage.

Peter's 17.4lb trout from Lough Derg
Peter’s 17.4lb trout from Lough Derg

Lough Derg continues to produce good numbers of 100cm plus pike despite the sunny weather but one angler got a bit of a surprise when he discovered the huge fish he was playing turned out to be a 17lb trout. German angler Peter managed to pretty much do it all again when he caught a 10lb trout the same afternoon. Peter who fished with his wife Michaela was also on Lough Muckno last week where they had pike to 101cm. Trolling on the River Suck proved successful for a pair of anglers who had 14 pike on Sunday evening. A Scottish fly angler who could not tempt an Ennell trout switched tactics and tried for pike. Fishing a perch imitation he had a some lovely pike to double figures.  Other midlands venues are also producing decent pike at present and might be worth a visit over the weekend.

Andy Burnett From West Yorkshire is the Lough Ree Lanesborough Coarse Fishing Festival champion 2016. Andy had 33kg of fish after 3 days in Lanesborough and Clonahee which won him a cheque for €1000. Andy’s Day 1 catch was a very impressive 23kg on the Hotwater stretch. County Cavan venues are producing some good catches for pleasure anglers at Trinity, Dereskit and Killykeen. The Arvagh Festival is underway as we write and Tony Greene is in the lead going into the fourth day with a total of 42.730kg. The Edenderry 3 Day festival will finish tomorrow and it will be a close run affair. The canal is fishing well enough given the sunshine and some nice bream are in the catches. The Daingean King Of The Canal was fished at the weekend. 54 anglers took part and Paul Holding was the winner with 11lb 9oz.

Tomorrow will be mostly cloudy with outbreaks of rain in the morning giving way to scattered heavy showers in the afternoon. Top temperatures of 17 to 20C in light variable or southwesterly breezes. On Saturday many areas will have a mainly dry day but some scattered heavy showers will occur. A warm, humid day with temperatures of 18 to 22C in light southerly breezes. Sunday will see some sunny spells but overall it will be a mostly cloudy day with scattered outbreaks of rain. Mild and close with temperatures of 17 to 20C in light westerly breezes. Turning fresher in western areas later. Next week the weather will continue much the same but it will feel fresher and less humid than this week.

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

Myles Kelly

Catch, Photo, Release

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