The long awaited rains came and the rivers rose. The storm that brought the rain in from the Atlantic kept many boats tied up last week. Apart from sea anglers, plenty of freshwater anglers were reluctant to get out in it too, particularly at the weekend. Nevertheless despite it being one of the quieter weeks we’ve reported on this year, there were still some good catches…

The Munster Blackwater rose about 5 feet following some torrential rain across its catchment. For most there was little fishing to be done but we did see one report of a good salmon at Fortwilliam on Saturday. The river has been falling away nicely and should be fishable by all methods now. The Bandon was also in flood after the rains but was clearing again by Monday. A few fish were reported earlier this week and the river should be in fine shape now. Spate rivers across West Cork benefitted from the rain but none more than the Ilen which saw 40 salmon caught last week. In Kerry, angling on Lough Currane was curtailed first by the winds and then by the rain. The lake does not fish well when the water level is rising, but things should improve this weekend. Water levels were up and down on the Moy and fishing was not as good as in previous weeks. The recorded catch for the river was 181 salmon, mostly caught on spinner.

Fly anglers on Lough Mask gave mixed reports. Most continue to pursue the Daphnia feeding trout in the deeper water. The weekend was a real washout on the lake and anyone with a boat pulled up on the shores is advised that water levels are up considerably. On Corrib there were some good catches on the dap and wet fly before the weekend’s storms. Anglers on Lough Sheelin report good fishing recently with lots of fish between 1.5-3lb being caught, though better trout of 4, 5 and 6lb are also being landed.

Blue shark
Blue shark with a specimen length of 1.9m wins catch of the Week

East coast sea anglers are getting some great fishing out of Wicklow. Tope are the focus of most anglers out charterboat fishing but specimen smoothhounds are still about. Apart from the regular catches other species like red mullet, garfish and congers have been landed. Boats out from Kinsale are getting good blue sharks to specimen length with good ling, coalfish, cod and pollack reported too. Bass continued to bite at Clonakilty even on Sunday when conditions were far from perfect. Charterboat fishing is going well at Clonakilty and amongst the catches were some juvenile porbeagle shark. The reappearance of these sharks off the Cork coast is great to see. Courtmacsherry had good bass fishing last week. Small boat and charter boat anglers also had plenty of good reports – lots of species and some good sized fish. There was some good fishing for anglers afloat off the Clare coast too last week, before the winds picked up, and porbeagle were taken by anglers looking for blue shark. A group of anglers from Ireland and Germany enjoyed a great day’s fishing from Rosses Point. A number of species including cuckoo wrasse, ballan wrasse and ling were caught but the highlight was getting some really fine pollack to 9lb on fly gear.

A proud overall winner, Cathal Hughes, Galway, displaying his catch on the shores of Templehouse Lake, Co. Sligo
Overall winner of the IFI Open, Cathal Hughes, Galway, displaying his catch on the shores of Templehouse Lake, Co. Sligo

In coarse angling, Phil Rogers, Les Humphreys and Roger Beal from the borders of Hampshire and Berkshire had an exceptional week of fishing while staying at Melview Fishing Lodge, catching a total of 1,072 lb during their 6 day holiday. Low water made for difficult conditions for competitors fishing day one of the Barrow Bonanza on Saturday. The weekend’s weather saw the river rise 2 feet and though expectations were high that fishing would improve catches were once again modest enough. Mick O’Connor was the eventual winner on 8.275kg. The 2 day IFI Open Coarse Angling Competition was fished from the shores of Templehouse Lake at the weekend. An unpleasant easterly wind made for poor fishing conditions on day 1 but on day 2 conditions were ideal for catching bream.  Cathal Hughes made the most of the opportunity and caught 31.460kg on the day, more than enough to assure him of overall victory. There were big canal catches in the Ned O’Farrell match at Daingean at the weekend. Again day 2 was better than day 1 and weights to 12kg were recorded, more than twice the best weight from Saturday.

Some enjoyable pike fishing was reported at Derravaragh and the canal at Mullingar saw some lovely perch caught on spinners.

Met Eireann is forecasting warm sunny spells in all areas over the weekend. Cloud will build up at times also and there will be a scattering of showers with some locally heavy, thundery downpours possible. Highest temperatures typically 17 to 20C.  Next week will see more warm sunny spells in all areas and overall a good deal of dry weather is likely. Some patchy rain and drizzle will occur. Maximum temperatures typically in the high teens to the low twenties with winds from a mainly south to southwest direction. Perfect weather for all the kids contemplating the end of the summer holidays. Anglers might enjoy it too, if they can figure out how to avoid to the school run…

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

Myles Kelly

Catch, Photo, Release

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Last light on Lough Derg
Last light on Lough Derg. Courtesy of Paul Bourke