The Irish summer continues, bringing rain, gales and more. The weather is cooler now and some evenings even feel a little cold. There was sunshine to be had in places, though not enough to do any permanent damage to the fishing…

Lovely water on the Drowes last week meant that despite a lower than expected angling attendance some 65 salmon were caught. Anglers on Lough Melvin didn’t benefit from the numbers of salmon about due to strong winds. Fishing on the Owenea was fairly good and  around 20 salmon caught, particularly after Thursday’s and the weekend’s rain. Ballisodare fished well with 167 salmon landed, 52 of which were released. The Moy system accounted for a reported catch of 517 salmon for the week. Salmon were caught right throughout the system from Ballina to the East Mayo water. Sea trout anglers on the Moy estuary are said to be having one their best seasons in years, despite difficult weather conditions at times. Excellent sea trout fishing has also been reported on Carrowmore where anglers enjoyed some of the best sea trout fishing there in recent years.  The past week saw very good numbers of sea trout moving into the system including some cracking fish in the 3 lb to 5 lb bracket. One pair of anglers had over 50 fish in 2 days. At Delphi there were 12 salmon reported and sea trout numbers were, again, very encouraging. The salmon catch at Lough Inagh is, so far, above average – a relief given the prolonged drought experienced at the fishery last month. At Costello and Fermoyle decent numbers of grilse are in the system and apart from their 6 salmon, one group of anglers had 41 sea trout. Fishing is still going strong in Galway and 108 fish recorded for the week. Water levels are still at one gate open, and a lot of fish are showing in the river.

The Feale fished well last week before its levels dropped again. While the water lasted some great salmon to 14lbs were landed. Staying in the Kingdom, good runs of salmon have been observed on the Laune and some lovely fish were caught. Fly is the most popular method at the moment. Lough Currane and the upper lakes had some great fishing and when the winds were too high the River Inny provided a sporting refuge. In total 22 sea trout and 14 salmon to double figures were reported. The rains brought some great runs of fish in to West Cork’s rivers last week and 30 salmon to 1olb were landed on the Ilen alone. The Bandon had about 30 salmon to the high teens.  Finally, the good run of salmon on the Munster Blackwater continues and Fortwilliam Fishery says July looks like being a record month at the fishery.

It was a week of contradictions on Lough Sheelin as some trout anglers reported continuous blanks with nothing much happening  while others enthused about good fishing and plenty of action with sedges. Most of the angling successes are a twilight affair. Angling activity is quiet enough of late on Lough Corrib, but things are picking up with hatches of sedges and mayfly, and good hopper fishing to be had on many areas of the lake. Brown trout fishing has also picked up on Lough Arrow with some nice fish being caught, mainly on wet flies.

This blue came in at 220cm
This blue shark was estimated to weigh 115lb and wins Catch of the Week for Declan Kilgannon

The Irish Bass Festival was fished at the start of the month and 110 anglers took part. Catches this year were excellent and fishing was good from both the rocks and estuaries. The majority of the fish caught were in the 50-65cm bracket but the top 3 fish were all over 70cm. Shore anglers along the Wexford coasts are still getting smoothhounds on the night tides, but these were some of the smaller fish we ever saw photographed. Charter boats in Cork are reporting plenty of blue sharks in the area. Wreck fishing out of Kinsale is producing really good codling, coalfish and ling with megrim on the muddier grounds. Courtmacsherry is also getting a good mix of shark and wreck fishing. Skate are about in good numbers and good sizes, particularly in the Union Hall area. As an aside, one boat caught the same skate 3 times in the last few weeks – a testament to good fish handling if ever there was one.  At Valentia reef fishing seems to have been particularly productive while anglers off the Clare coast enjoyed catching tope and spurdogs as well as pollack and wrasse on the reefs. At Mullaghmore on Donegal Bay it was blue sharks that grabbed the anglers’ attention. Some great sharks to almost specimen length were landed. Catch of the week goes to one of these, caught by Declan Kilgannon – a beautifully coloured female just short of specimen length.

Anglers in the midlands area are getting good pike fishing lately. The fish were not huge but their numbers and enthusiasm for the lures made up for what they lacked in size. The recently fished Weir Cup on Derravaragh was won by a pike of 10lb 10oz. Meanwhile on Loughs Derg and Corrib bigger fish in the 100cm class are being caught.

At the Oaks Fishery in New Ross the Dunbrody Festival was won by Ireland Youths angler Enda Minogue who caught  a massive weight of 175 lb from the margins on peg 46. The Barrow is fishing well at the moment and bags to almost 40lb are being caught by pleasure anglers. Anglers staying at Melview Lodge found the fishing improved day by day as prebaiting really showed its worth. Good bream and tench were the reward for perseverance. Johnny McKinley won the Ballybay 2 Day Festival with 27.550kg at the weekend. The Ballybay 5 Day  Festival is being fished at the moment and Finnian Feeney had a whopping weight of 26.925kg yesterday, day 3 of the competition. Great weights are being reported on all sections of Lough Muckno on all methods in the run in to the two Irish opens and the July festival. One angler had 20kg on Sunday made up mainly of roach  from 6oz – 1 lb, several skimmers of 6oz to 1.5lb and a nice scattering of very decent hybrids.

Tomorrow is going to be warm and humid, with rain in the west according to Met Eireann. Saturday will be a mainly dry day with sunny spells. It will be another warm and humid day in many parts of the south and east with maximum temperatures of 19-22C, but it will be cooler in the north and west. Westerly winds will be light to moderate. Sunday is looking dry in many areas as well with a mix of cloud and sunshine. The warmest weather will be in the south and east again with temperatures around 20C and it will remain quite humid here as well. It will be a bit cooler in the west and north with a chance of some rain in coastal parts. Westerly winds will be mostly light.  The weather will remain changeable early next week, however there is a good chance of some more warm and dry weather in the east and south. The west and north are likely to stay cooler and duller with a higher chance of rain.

It should be a productive weekend for anyone with a rod in their hands, so get out there and go fishing!

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

Myles Kelly

Catch, Photo, Release

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Dunbrody Festival
Oaklands Fishery where Enda Minogue had 175 lb to win the Dunbrody Festival