The past week has seen difficult fishing on Corrib, with flat calm or light winds and bright sunshine making mayfly fishing next to impossible, as hatches petered out a lot. Indeed, mayfly hatches have been disappointing all over the lake this year and the mayfly season of 2016 will not go down as a vintage one. With temperatures hitting the early 20s and the sunshine beating down, the best fishing over the past week has been to buzzer, with Caenis hatches also providing good early morning sport since the weekend.
In the Cornamona area Tom Doc Sullivan (087-6113933) was guiding visiting angler Neil Carmichael, fishing for 5 days and catching 11 trout on wet fly patterns for his visit. Nicholas Steedman and Jenny Carter also enjoyed their visit, catching some nice fish on wetfly.
Staying in the Cornamona area on Saturday last the Cornamona Anglers held their Junior Competition with 28 rods participating, and young Cornamona man Micheal Greaney taking first prize. On Sunday The Cornamona Anglers held their Annual Mayfly Competition, with 40 rods participating and 11 of those weighing in 19 fish for 32.73lbs, averaging 1.72lbs per fish. The EJ Sullivan Memorial Cup was presented for the first time by Tom Doc Sullivan, in memory of his father, Dr. Eamon Sullivan, who was extremely popular in the area. The inaugural winner of the trophy was Peter Curran, with 4 fish for 5.5lbs. Second place went to Gerry McDonnell with 3 fish for 4.8lbs and in third place was John Somerville Jnr with 2 fish for 4.2lbs.
In the Oughterard area Kevin Molloy of Baurisheen Bay Boat Hire, Guiding and Self Catering (087-9604170) reports on Kerry angler JJ Canty having excellent sport for three days fishing on wet fly, landing 11 trout – best fish being 3lbs. Visiting Welsh Anglers Tony Procter and Victor Bonvitton enjoyed their visit to Lough Corrib catching 19 trout for 3 days, sportingly returning 17 of the fish. Also in the Oughterard area Gerry Molloy (www.loughcorriboughterard.com) hosted 2 visiting anglers from Brittany who enjoyed good sport catching 12 trout over 13 inches – all released – and numerous smaller fish on dries and dapping. The McCarthy group from Kildare enjoyed some good sport catching 22 trout for their week’s stay in Oughterard.
Basil Shields of Ardnasillagh Lodge, Oughterard (091-552550) hosted Shannon angler Mark Kinnane, who landed 11 trout for one day, all on buzzer – best fish 3.25lbs. Padraig Fahy, Moycullen and Tony Bevan, Scotland enjoyed a good day’s fishing, landing 9 trout mostly on buzzer to 5.4lbs. Gary Maguire from Fermanagh had 6 fish for 2 days to 3lbs, 5 of which were caught on buzzer and one on a wet mayfly.
Larry McCarthy from Corrib View Lodge, Glencorrib (www.corribangling.com; tel. 093 31718) says there has been a huge improvement in fishing over the past week, with some great catches on buzzer and Caenis. A party from Cumbria enjoyed some fantastic fishing on the lower lake earlier in the week with several fish in the 3-4lbs mark on dry buzzer patterns. Mayfly was sporadic but some good days were reported at the lodge with 4 to 5 sizable trout to each boat out mid-week. Caenis appeared mid-week and Larry, fishing with Owein Melling from Wales, caught 19 over 2 days with many in the 4lbs bracket.
Danielle Price, also from Wales, had a memorable morning, catching her first ever trout, a beautiful fish of 2lbs 10oz, on a Caenis pattern as well.
On Sunday last Headford and Corrib Anglers hosted their Annual Wet Fly & Dapping Competition with unfavourable conditions in the area which saw Loughrea Brothers Robert and Basil Reilly with 2 trout for 3.5lbs take first place.
In the Cong area Stephen Lydon of Lydons Lodge, Cong ([email protected]; 094-9546053) reports of fishing being mixed during the week. On Tuesday last Gabriel Cosgrove had 4 trout dapping in the Castletown area ranging in size from 1.25 – 2.25lbs. On Wednesday John and Peter Moran had a fish each, both sportingly released, and on Thursday John and Conor Moran had a fish each on wets both sportingly returned.
Galway angler Harold O’Toole had excellent fishing on the Lower Corrib, catching 4 trout on Saturday for an estimated 9lbs and on Sunday had 2 cracking trout for an estimated 13lbs all caught on buzzer and sportingly released.
