The weather was a little cooler, a little windier and a little wetter in the last few days so it’s almost hard to remember that temperatures to 29C made fishing more than a little difficult at times last week. Conditions were sometimes dull and overcast, suiting many anglers, and although there were some showers, salmon fishers in particular would have welcomed more rain. There were some great catches from coarse anglers but sea anglers probably had the most exciting fishing with good results from boat and shore…

Water levels were low on the Owenea most of last week. Although a decent flood on Friday improved the salmon fishing briefly, water levels quickly fell away again for the weekend. Catches on the Drowes were well down as water levels there dropped from day to day. Lough Melvin fared even worse and only one salmon was reported last week. Mixed weather lead to a big decrease in angling effort on the Moy and just 231 fish were reported. The Erriff fishery produced a few salmon last week for its anglers despite low water. In Co. Kerry the Laune was running lower than most anglers would like to see it and though there were signs of fish in the system, they were not in a taking mood. It was a similar story on Lough Currane where only a handful of fish were reported last week. The West Cork spate rivers are still turning out a few grilse but rain is needed to improve the runs and catches. Low water on the Bandon has made what salmon that are in the river sulky, and a good flood is needed there. The Munster Blackwater seems to be a little quieter than in recent weeks but on the Blackwater Salmon Fishery beats, 6 salmon were caught on Monday this week.

Lough Melvin’s trout anglers did better than their salmon chasing colleagues and at times the lake fished quite well. Lough Arrow also had some good fishing to report. The evenings were best and most anglers were fishing the Green Peter. There were some good catches on Lough Mask last week. There are reports of big numbers of small trout across the deep and anglers are reminded to handle these undersize trout carefully to ensure a safe release. Lough Corrib is often peaceful this time of year, but good fishing is possible and a number of anglers are getting good trout on wets and drys. Sheelin has proven tough in the last few weeks and anglers are waiting for the Green Peter to bring the lake up a couple of gears.

Last week we reported that Kevin Johnson caught over 70kg to win the Ballybay 5 day festival. Well, he did it again at the Muckno July Festival, catching 73.420kg to take first place. Ballybay is also in the news again this week as the NCFFI All Ireland’s were fished there at the weekend. Vaidas Jagela was the winner of this competition with 23.300kg. On the River Shannon at Portumna a 2 day event at the weekend saw some fine bream feature in the catches and Ian Kelsey made a weight of 43lb 13oz to take first prize. The River Barrow is also fishing well and a knock-up fished on Sunday saw catches over 25lb recorded. One angler had 240 dace for 20lb. Pleasure anglers are also getting coarse fishing and many Co. Cavan venues are reporting consistent fishing with weights in the region of 50lb being landed.

We don’t have much in the way of pike angling to report this week, but the fishing can still be very good during the summer months. In the Longford area a group of Belgian anglers had 66 pike last week. The best of these was 104cm. A mix of hard and soft lures caught the fish.

Not the worst season. Almost 100 Sea Bass so far and a new PB - 76 cm
Tomasz Ekert wins Catch of the week for this 76cm bass. A new PB and nearly his 100th of the season

At Wicklow, charter boat anglers are really getting stuck into the tope fishing. Up to a dozen in a day are being brought to the boat and specimens to 163cm have been recorded. Small boat anglers in Cork Harbour are getting pollack and even cod on fly while bass are being taken on soft plastics. Good breaks of mackerel are seeing plenty of anglers out on the sea front at Cobh. It was all ling for one of Kinsale’s charter boats last week as one trip resulted in a catch that featured 3 specimens and 27 fish between 15 and 25 pounds.  A father and son team fishing at Clonakilty reported some great bassing on soft plastics from the shore as 7 fish were caught in a 2 hour session. A group of anglers charter boat fishing from Union Hall caught a mix of blue sharks, skate, conger, ling and more. Good ling and pollack fishing was enjoyed by anglers fishing from Valentia Island and shore anglers in Waterville Bay reported some great bass fishing. Good bass reports also came from the Dingle direction and catch of the week goes to Tomasz Ekert for his 76cm bass. Tomasz’s fish is a new PB and nearly his 100th bass of the season.

The August Bank Holiday is here and lots of you will be going fishing. Don’t take your safety for granted. If you are afloat, wading or fishing from the rocks please wear a life jacket. Many anglers think that if they are not at sea, they are not at risk. It is worth remembering that 62% of all drownings are inland, and on average 11 people drown in Irish waters every month. Don’t take risks, check the tides, weather and wear a life jacket.

The weather forecast for the weekend is for Friday to be a sunnier and drier day with just isolated showers. Highest temperatures of 17 to 20C in moderate northwest winds. Saturday and Sunday will be much the same as winds slacken to light breezes.  It looks like Bank Holiday Monday will be mainly dry and bright and that the rain halts just to the southwest of Ireland. Not much wind is expected either in this setup. After Monday however, there are strong indications that the weather will become unsettled, with spells of rain and strengthening winds.

If ever the forecast was saying this weekend was made for fishing it this one…

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 [email protected].

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Just Fantastic! Fishing for Wild Brown Trout in the Mountain Loughs in Connemara
Just Fantastic! Fishing for Wild Brown Trout in the Mountain Loughs of Connemara