A busy week in fishing circles, with the sunshine hampering the salmon anglers but sea anglers taking advantage of the weather and bringing in some impressive fish. A tough week to choose a catch of the week with many firsts of the season and a fantastic trout…

Both the Laune and Owenmore fishery saw some lovely sea trout. Strong SW winds beat the anglers back on the Currane early last weekend but as the week wore on this Kerry gem had some fine fish with sea trout up to 5lbs and salmon to 9lbs.

Saturday was the best day in Delphi with a cracking salmon weighing 10lbs 15ozs. The river was in fine order and the angler fished the Grilse pool with a Willie Gunn.  Two other super fish were also caught on the same day; a 9lbs 8ozs on a cascade from the Whin Pool and an 8lbs 6ozs on a Willie Gunn off Finlough.

Low water levels played havoc with the fishing at Ballisodare. Luckily Friday night saw a good downpour and visiting anglers enjoyed some nice fishing on Saturday at the falls. The fish weighing 8lb and 5lb both on the worm. It was the same scene on the Moy with the weekend rain bringing a welcome relief. A total of 7 salmon (3 released) between 7 lbs and 11 lbs were caught all on bubble & fly. Out at the Moy estuary a happy Adrian Logue from Northern Ireland boating a number of nice sea trout including a fine fish over 40cm.

Galway weir had better numbers in the rivers and anglers reported 15 fish landed in the week. Costello fishery got off to a great start with a splendid 10lber and a 4lber caught on beat 1 and another lost. It was tough going on the river Erriff as levels were low, however May 19th saw UK angler Leigh Hookes catch a fresh salmon weighing 11.6lbs on a Black Frances.

Back down the country on the River Suir angler Tony O’Dwyer played a cracking 15lb salmon and managed to capture it all on video. Tony used a park shrimp hothead and released the silver beauty back safely into the river to say hello to him another day.

The Munster Blackwater’s Fort William beats had a couple of 8lbers and a 14lb salmon caught and released by Eamonn Power and to prove it’s never too late, 87 year old Michael MacEwan landed his first salmon off the Ellis beat. Ballyduff Bridge had a 13lber and a few good fish lost also. Glenda Powell reported a well-deserved grilse for young angler Tadhg Collins who was unfortunate to lose a big fish the previous morning. A rise in the water levels on the Bandon saw 7 fish being caught, the best being 12lbs. Over at Inniscarra three salmon to 14.5lbs were landed by local anglers all on the fly. The River Ilen had 12 fish to 9lbs.

Paul Geraghty with a beautiful 13lbs Corrib trout he caught and released is our first joint 'Catch of the Week' winner
Paul Geraghty with a beautiful 13lbs Corrib trout he caught and released is our first joint ‘Catch of the Week’ winner

Lough Mask’s Mayfly season is slow to start with hatches sparse. Bright sunshine and changes in wind direction didn’t suit anglers this week. Wets and dries worked best as the week wore on. UK angler John Young had a fine 5.5lb trout. The wind is to shift back to a northerly direction towards the end of the week which is good news. Mayfly on the Corrib isn’t so good either with easterlies and sunshine ruining the day. Ashbourne man Paul Geraghty surpassed all his dreams when he landed a stunning 13lb trout, with a leopard pattern any big cat would envy! Paul sportingly released this trophy fish which he caught trolling. This is one our joint ‘Catch of the Week’ winners.

Lough Gill Festival Cup Trout Competition was won by Ricky Fabozzi and Jim Henry with a 4lb trout on a dry Yellow-Black Wulff. The two lads also made their way over to Lough Arrow where they had 30 trout over 4 days using Golden Olive Bumble and Sooty Dabblers. Most of the fish were released. Well done to Julie Gerry who won the Leinster championships on Owel with 9lbs 4.6ozs. On Lough Ree Guide Mick Flanagan tells us there was a huge number of May fly hatching, and the evenings were giving a nice bit of spent fishing. Some nice trout were to be had there.

Sheelin became alive with free rising trout as the May madness began. The areas that showed the best catches were at the back of Church Island, Sailors Garden, Chambers and down along the western shore. The heaviest fish this week was 7½lbs for Bradley Chalmers. At Lough Derg off Holy Island Eamon Giblin delivered a fish of a lifetime. This 6lbs 14ozs spectacular wild brown trout took a Spent at Dusk and fought for 45 minutes before it could be netted.

The River Boyne is in very good condition at the moment with some mayfly starting to emerge, while the Fane reports good hatches of olives and sedges occurring.

Red Devils fan, Rodney Hulme left the soccer to one side on Tuesday and went fishing. He scored well on Lough Gowna with his first tench at 4lbs. Austin Conway was also on a winning streak this week when he won the junior NCFFI All Ireland Canal Championships at Daingean Canal. Down at Fermoy it was Geoff Scollick from Bradford turn, as he won the Fermoy Spring festival on the Blackwater with 26lbs 4ozs. Fishing was hard but his experience won out.

Young anglers were out in force at Athlone. The Mini MADCAPS had their introduction to whip fishing, groundbait mixing and catching fish. Great fun was had and the youngsters had nice catches of small roach and perch. Improved bags of fish were reported from the Cavan areas. A few Bream were caught this week during the Ballinamore festival, best weight on Church Shore 17kg, mixed bags mostly Roach and Hybrids.

Super pike fishing was had on Lough Derg this week with plenty of 100cm fish. Andrew McKenzie had a great session on the lake with guide Cedric Charpentier of PecheIrelandePassion. His best was 112cm and a very impressive 24lbs. The Midlands lakes and Ennell in particular provided French visitors with 22 pike on a variety of lures while out with Guide Mick Flanagan. As usual Melview Lodge guests didn’t leave empty handed. After a week’s fishing in three or four various venues they were able to catch some great Pike – 127 to be precise! They fished mainly with jurk bait lures and had a couple of good ones on dead baits. Gulladoo, Rockfield, and Tully lakes also report a good number of pike, medium in size.

Sea fishing excelled this week with many firsts. Kiwi Girl in Donegal reports their first skate of the season. Excellent specimen sized at 180lbs for Kingfisher Billy Walllace and a 150lbs one for Declan Kilgannon himself measuring 185 cms. Kayak angler Graham Smith paddled the same waters and clocked up lovely tope off Malin Head. Fellow kayak angler Garry Robinson was at the far end of the country down in Wexford where he encountered a procession of smoothhounds, punctuated by the occasional dogfish and codling.

Valentia Island had huge mackerel at 46cms, plus some great pollack, wrasse and a minke whale keeping the Sioux charterboat company. Moving up the coast to Loop Head and the Shannon Estuary, Luke Aston tells us that the mackerel were scarce but there were good catches of pollack coalfish, ling, haddock, red gurnard whiting and a fine cod over 11lbs.

Skipper John Fleming was pleased to get out in Galway after the long spell of northerly winds. The fish are back in abundance and he’s ready for the new season. Killala Bay was the destination for a group out with Donal Kennedy. Among the catches were pollack up to 6lbs, pouting, coalfish and gurnard.

Our second 'Catch of the Week' winner is Skipper David Edwards with a very early blue shark
Our second ‘Catch of the Week’ winner is Skipper David Edwards with a very early blue shark

The eye opener this week in the sea fishing was a very early blue shark for Tigger skipper David Edwards on Monday. A fine 75lb female which put up a good scrap and was quickly returned to the water after a few photos. This first of the season gives David joint ‘Catch of the Week’. He tells us that there were also several sightings of whales on the day.

Anglers are reminded that this week is the last chance to complete the survey to evaluate the Irish bass fishery, bass angling and the current regulations in place which relate to the bass fishery in Ireland. If you would like to participate in the survey, please follow this link https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/IrishBassSurvey

The Economic and Social Research Institute ESRI (www.esri.ie) is undertaking research on the socio-economics of inland fisheries within Ireland, with the objective of providing evidence that will support policy decisions regarding the management of fisheries resources and angling within Ireland. As part of that work they are currently establishing an angler survey panel.  Members of the angler panel will be invited to participate in occasional short surveys to elicit their views on various topics.

To become a member of the panel please sign-up on the ESRI’s website (It should take less than 1 minute) http://www.esri.ie/angling/

The outlook for the weekend is that tonight will be mainly dry with variable amounts of cloud, light easterly breezes and it will be mild. A light, mainly east to northeast air flow will persist for Saturday and Sunday. There will be a mixture of sunshine and cloud in all parts of the country on both days, with temperatures reaching the high teens generally, and a little higher locally inland, during the afternoons. These above normal temperatures will cause heavy showers to break out randomly, with a few possibly developing into thunderstorms. However, the showers will quickly die out after sunset, with clear spells developing overnight.

Dry on Monday but Tuesday will see outbreaks of rain spreading westwards across the country in the morning but these then clearing in the afternoon.

Get out, get fishing and enjoy !

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

Nancy Hearne

Catch, Photo, Release

If you have an angling story to share with the Irish Angling Update please send it to [email protected].

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Robbie the pet robin inspecting some flies : Photo Shane Gallagher, Drowes
Robbie the pet robin inspecting some flies : Photo Shane Gallagher, Drowes