Luke from the Ballisodare Angling Club reports on the opening week at Ballisodare…

Eddie Harte with the biggest fish on opening day, just over the 10lb mark, taken on a posh tosh tube at harrissons.
Eddie Harte with the biggest fish on opening day, just over the 10lb mark, taken on a posh tosh tube at harrissons.

April 1st – The season didn’t take long to kick off at Ballisodare with Michael O’Kane catching the first of the season almost immediately on his 3rd cast. The 6.5lb salmon fell to a Park Shrimp conehead at Harrisson’s. Jimmy Cuffe followed shortly after with a nice 8.2 lb sea liced fish, taken on a shrimp fly at Joe’s. Richard Watters had the first on the worm, a nice fish just under 8lb. Other anglers who caught on the worm were Hilary Mitchell, 8.8lb, Colin Biggs, 5lb and Gareth Norris, 6lb. Successful fly anglers were Philip Soden, 8lb, Denis Crawley, 7lb, Ronan O’Connor, 8lb, Eddie Harte, 10lb, Mark Graham, 6.5lb. Tom Devaney released a nice 9lb fish taken on a Posh Tosh tube. Great opening day with 12 salmon caught.

April 2nd – After heavy rainfall the river rose, too high for the fly, there were 3 fish caught on the worm. Joe Power 7lb, Fechin McMorrow (Snr) 8lb and Richard Watters 6lb.

April 3rd – With the water high and the temperatures down few anglers ventured out on Sunday. Sean Gallagher and Tony Scallon did however, and were rewarded with fish of 8.5lb and 9.5lb respectively, both caught on the worm.

April 4th – Richard Watters managed another fish of 6lb on the worm. #due to high water, that was all reported on Monday.

April 5th – The water started to drop and the colour started to run off today. John Connolly had a 5lb fish on the worm. Gerard Merrick had a fine 10.5lb fish taken at Harrisson’s on the fly, the fish fell to a Willie Gunn variation. John Murray and Vincent Henry released fish both weighing 7lb taken on Willie Gunn and Posh Tosh patterns.

April 6th – 3 in total for the day. Chris Kitchen had a fish 6lb on the worm. Visiting angler Anthony Doherty from Limerick had a nice 9lb fish on the worm. John Murray released a fish of 9lb on the fly.

April 7th – Tom Devaney had a nice fish of 8.5lb on the fly, David O’Connor also had a nice 8lb fish on the fly.

April 8th – Few anglers fish with no fish reported.

salmon release
Tom Devaney releasing a fish of approx. 9lb, taken on a posh tosh tube in Joes on 09/04/2016

April 9th – The weather turned very cold with showers of snow and hail, with few anglers fishing. Tom Devaney released a 9lb fish on the fly in Joe’s on a Posh Tosh. Bernard Harte also released a fish of 5lb on the fly (small Willie Gunn tube) in Joe’s. Visiting anglers William Rainey and Paul O’Hagan had fish of 9.5lb each on the worm.

April 10th – Trevor Goulden had the only fish of the day, a well made 8.5lb sea liced fish taken on a Willie Gunn at Harrisson’s.

Go fishing…

The Ballisodare Fishery is situated on the Wild Atlantic Way in the picturesque village of Ballisodare, in the North West corner of Ireland, just a 10 minute drive from Sligo Town.  It’s a great place for both novice and experienced anglers to catch salmon. Whether you fish with fly, worm, shrimp or prawn, Ballisodare is the place where you will maximise your chances of catching this often elusive species, and there is nothing like having a salmon on the end of your line to get the adrenaline flowing!

Web: ballisodarefishingclub.ie
Office Telephone: 071 91 30513
Mobile: 086 610 3423
Secretary Mobile: 086 251 5064
Email: [email protected]