There was a lovely bit of settled weather at the end of last week and many fisheries benefited from the warm, calm days we experienced. Chief amongst these were the charter boats, particularly off the Cork and Clare coasts. Many of the rivers are still not quite back to normal following the last fall of rain and the cold conditions, but things are improving for coarse, pike and game anglers too…

25lb anglerfish
A 25lb anglerfish wins Catch of the Week for the charterboat Silver Dawn out of Kinsale

There were at least 22 salmon caught on the Drowes last week. Amongst the fish were a few in double figures and and an early grilse of 4lb. The Ballisodare Angling Club had some great fishing to mark the opening of their waters and the river conditions meant that fish were taken on fly and spinning. Over 30 fish were caught in the first 10 days of their season. The Moy has seen a small improvement in fishing and as levels continue to drop fishing should continue to get better. Meanwhile, out on the estuary the first sea trout of the season have been reported. One of best performing fisheries last week was Carrowmore where 24 salmon to 16lb were reported, half of which were returned. The Delphi fishery had their most productive week of the year too and 12 fish were caught.  Moving down the west coast to Galway, and at the Galway Fishery itself there were 4 salmon landed to 14lb. There are clearly some good fish in the system as 4 other salmon were lost on Monday alone. The Feale continues to produce a few salmon. After last week’s floods the river came into good order and produced some nice fishing on spinner and fly. Since last Friday, 3 more fish have been caught but the river is running a little low now. Lough Currane had a couple of good days in the last week too and 8 salmon and a couple of good sea trout, one over 6lb, were reported from the lake. The Bandon Salmon Anglers report a steady trickle of salmon scaling the river all the time. Prospects there are great as the water is dropping slowly, tides are building and cloudier conditions are forecast. Water levels on the Lee were high for all of last week and only 5 fish were reported, 3 from the ESB fishery at Inniscarra.

Anglers reported a quiet enough week on Corrib, with the Duckfly finished and the Olives yet to hatch in significant numbers. Although the weather remained extremely cold on Mask, there were good hatches of small Cinnamon Sedge on a daily basis and a few hatches of Olives, which resulted in plenty of surface activity. Lough Derg’s trout are coming to trolled minnows and wet flies and anglers’ attention there is on the impending Mayfly hatch. The trout fishing on Lough Sheelin was not as bad as might have been expected given the heavy rain, hail, frosts and insidious cold conditions. The reported catch was well up on previous weeks at 55 trout and and better fish are beginning to show. Many of our rivers and streams will have fished a little better during the warmer days just gone by, and the return to cooler conditions is unwelcome. Anglers will probably encounter smolts on their run to the sea and are asked to unhook and handle these young salmon carefully as they set out on the next part of their life-cycle.

There have been some great pike to over 1m reported by some of the guides on Lough Derg over the last week or so. Good fishing was also reported from some the east Clare lakes though there are a lot jacks in the catches too. In the Cavan area, water levels are high and temperatures are low. Although there have been plenty of reports of jacks and small fish not too many bigger pike are being reported at this time.

Sunday was cool and breezy in the South East but coarse anglers at Oaklands managed some good weights at a competition there. The winning bag was 62lb, and second place bagged 55lb. The fishing has been tough with a small improvement as we move past the mid-week mark at Portumna’s Waterways Ireland Festival which started on Sunday. The heaviest bag on day 1 was over 29lb but since then top weights have been closer to the 15lb mark as the Shannon still is heavy enough. On Muckno the Trapper Championship was fished by 55 anglers who were encouraged by the continuing improvement of weights there, as the lake slowly warms.

Following what was a decidedly wintry week, the weekend was a bit of welcome relief. In particular, the charter boat skippers were happy to be out on the water. Mike Dennehy of Silver Dawn reported some exceptional fish on wrecks south of Kinsale. Amongst the fish were specimen coalies and and even a 25lb anglerfish, which makes a very worthy Catch of the Week. Some of the West Cork charter boats were also out and reported a good mix of pollack, wrasse, coalies and cod. A 5lb sea trout on mackerel feathers for Tom Collin’s Loc an Iasc in Union Hall was something we’ve not reported before. The weekend also saw the Clare Dragoon and Lady Gwen II out off the Clare coast. Both reported a mix of fishing with a good range of species landed for the time of year. Shore anglers reported some enjoyable fishing from Mulranny Pier last week with several species landed including some good flounder and a conger. Down in Cork Harbour the first report of mullet this year was sent to the office, which is a late start for this popular species. There are also reports of bass in the harbour from shore marks. Along the north east coast good flounder fishing was reported though the main quarry, bass were absent.

Unfortunately, it looks like the colder weather is returning. Saturday will be a cold day in a moderate northerly breeze. It will be mostly dry with isolated showers, mainly in the north and east. Top temperatures of just 9 to 11 degrees.  Sunday will be mostly dry with scattered showers in the north and northwest. There will be good sunshine at first but it will become cloudier later. It will continue to be cold in a light to moderate northwesterly breeze. Top temperatures again just 9 to 11 degrees. The cold weather will continue into the early days of next week with scattered showers and sunny spells. Winds remaining mostly moderate north to northwesterly. Nights too will be cold and frosty. I counted 8 swallows in the garden this morning. It seems that any number of these cheery fellows do not a summer make.

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

Myles Kelly

Catch, Photo, Release

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Casting lesson
Bandon Angling Association welcomed fly fishing instructor Glenda Powell to their waters at the weekend. In the morning Glenda taught the Juniors the basics of fly fishing. In the afternoon she taught spey casting techniques to the Seniors. A few fish were caught on the river last week which was also welcomed by the club!