We had one of the most unexpected weather warnings we could imagine here in Ireland earlier this week – a sunshine alert! Two days of fairly universal scorching weather was then followed by mixed weather around the country and some rain yesterday. Before this weather had been mixed. There were days when wind upset coarse fishing in the north east and fog put the dampers on small boat sea angling in the south, and of course there was some serious sun to contend with, but nevertheless we have a packed angling update this week…

The Owenea started last week with floods. The raised water levels saw plenty of angling on the river and 50 salmon were reported. Good water on the Drowes saw 60 salmon caught and on Lough Melvin a couple of salmon were caught on troll and fly. At Ballisodare anglers caught 163 salmon. Their Kids Day was a big success and junior anglers accounted for 58 of the catch. Fresh water and an increase in angling effort saw the reported Moy catch rise to 793 salmon for the week. Salmon were caught on all fisheries from Ballina to East Mayo. The Delphi Fishery is still waiting to see a good run of grilse. On the nearby Erriff River a few grilse have been taken and there are also some encouraging catches of sea trout. Lough Inagh reports a constant influx of fresh salmon and sea trout and Costello and Fermoyle has seen big runs of sea trout and some fine salmon fishing when the water levels were right and they were in the mood. It is a similar story at the Galway Weir where fishing has slowed down in last week – not due to a lack of fish but to the fish just not taking.

Catch and release
Kieran Conlon landed and returned four grilse on the Laune on Sunday

Heading south to Co. Kerry we find that the rivers in the Kingdom also started last week with floods. On the Feale, anglers welcomed the water and the salmon that came with it as good numbers of fish were caught. On the Laune there was a mix of grilse and salmon to double figures landed, particularly over the weekend. The weather conditions made fishing tough on Lough Currane and the catch was a bit lower there in the last week. In West Cork both the Ilen and Ouvane reported some good fishing. Worth mentioning was a 14lb salmon on the Ouvane taken on a Flying C. Anglers on the Bandon had 20 salmon last Monday alone thanks to the rain and improved water levels. This week saw those levels fall but grilse and bigger fish continued to run – an 18lb fish was caught and released.   There were 28 salmon on the Lee last week mostly at Kingsley Weir. The Munster Blackwater is still seeing decent numbers of fish entering the river and one angler had 5 salmon last Friday at Ballyduff Bridge. On the East Coast anglers on the Castletown enjoyed a good run of sea trout following rains in that part of the country last week. The Boyne has also had some decent sea trout fishing in the lower river while some good salmon of 12 -13lb have been reported upstream.

Beautiful Wild Brown Trout from the River Fane
Beautiful Wild Brown Trout from the River Fane

Trout anglers report that fishing on Lough Mask is improving and there were good mayfly and sedge hatches on Lough Corrib. Lough Inagh and some of the other Connemara lakes also had good brown trout reports last week. On Melvin there were a mix of ferox and smaller fish caught on fly. Two of the ferox reported were over 10lb and both were released. Sedge fishing provided good night time fishing on Lough Sheelin. This time of year trout fishing on rivers can become difficult as water levels drop, but in the north east the Fane saw some great fishing following rains which freshened the river and woke up the fish. Olives in the day and sedges at night worked well but small nymphs in the right hands proved deadly.

700lb shark
Another Monster sixgill shark for the Clare Dragoon. This one was 3.5m and estimated to weigh 700lb

There were plenty of blue sharks caught in Irish waters last week with boats from Donegal to Cork getting in on the action. Off the Sligo coast there was some good charter fishing reports that included catches of tope. Charter boat anglers fishing from some of Galway’s boats also had good fishing –  one boat getting porbeagle shark. The big news from the shark angling scene though, was the catch of a 3.5m sixgill shark estimated to weigh 700lb. The enormous shark was caught by a lucky angler fishing on sixgill specialist Luke Aston’s Clare Dragoon. This huge fish is Catch of the Week.

Stone bass
Stone bass, a regular summer visitor to Irish waters

At Union Hall, Courtmacsherry, Kinsale and Cobh charter boat and small boat anglers were getting good fishing although both heavy banks of fog and windy weather limited access to some fishing grounds at times. Specimen blue shark were reported at Kinsale, Courtmacsherry had stone bass and specimen whiting while in Cobh everything from bass to blue sharks was reported. At Wicklow specimens continue to pour in for anglers charter boat fishing. Tope and smooth hounds to specimen size were taken amongst catches of rays and bullhuss. Shore anglers are also enjoying good fishing along the Irish coast. The Killybegs Mariners continue to prove that Donegal Bay offers some of the best fishing this country has to offer while visiting anglers on the Beara Peninsula show that the varied rock marks there are hard to beat too.

Portumna Coarse Angling Club
Portumna Coarse Angling Club

Coarse angling festivals are thick on the ground at the moment and Lough Muckno hosted 3 big events in the last week – the Irish Open Garda, IADA Irish Open and the July Festival, which is still being fished. Catches improved from one event to the next and by the time the 5 day July Festival started on Monday top anglers each day were weighing in nets of about 30lb. It will be interesting to see how this competition ends. The Ballybay 5 Day Classic finished on Friday last week and what a fantastic week’s fishing it was. A total of just over 1011kg of fish were weighed in over the course of the 5 days and some big weights were taken from all venues during the week. Kevin Johnson was the overall winner with 75.500kg.

The Barrow Bonanza will be fished later next month and reports from the river are that the fishing is good as test fishing continues. The Portumna Coarse Angling Club had a knock up at the Sheebeen Stretch and first place was taken by at 40lb 12oz bag that included a dozen bream. Further up the Shannon system the Madcaps had a good day at Shannon Harbour where some lovely tench were caught.

All smiles on Lough Allua
All smiles on Lough Allua

Hot, sunny weather often sees pike fishing come to a complete halt. We’ve not had too much of that so piking continues at all the regular venues. There were good fish caught on even the brightest days earlier this week at Lough Derg. In Co. Cork deadbaits proved productive at Lough Allua though most other venues had their catches on hard and soft lures. Midlands waters are producing some good fishing with Ennell and Lene in the news.

This weekend will see more broken weather according to Met Eireann. Saturday will be cloudy in the morning with scattered outbreaks of rain and drizzle. In the afternoon there will be some passing showers but otherwise it will be generally dry with good sunny spells. Highest temperatures of 18 to 22C with light westerly breezes. Heavy rain will gradually clear eastwards during Sunday morning. The afternoon will be bright and fresh with occasional showers but also good spells of sunshine. Highest temperatures 18 to 21 degrees in moderate westerly breezes. Anglers couldn’t ask for much better than this…

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 contact@fisheriesireland.ie.

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Bass fishing at Cobh
Bass fishing at Cobh