Mask continues in flying form despite the recent return to cold and wet weather. Water levels remain high and painfully slow to go down as the rainfall continues. Duckfly hatches over the past week have been reasonably good on the warmer days with a scattering of sedges mixed in.
Thomas Burke of Burke’s Bar and Restaurant held the Ignatius Burke two day Perpetual Cup on Mask last week. The event was attended by 104 anglers from across the country. A total of 364 fish were weighed in over the two days. Alan Hough from Loughrea, Co Galway, was in first position with 4 fish for 9.62 lbs. Second place went to Nigel Greene from Fermanagh with 6 fish for 7.88 lbs. and in third position was Ronan Gibbons from Westport with 6 fish for 7.86 lbs. Alan Hough also had the heaviest fish which weighed 1.69 kg. Ann McWilliams from Kanturk won the best lady angler with 6 fish weighing 7.08 lbs. The organising committee has committed to increasing the size limit to 14 inches for next year’s competition in the interest of conservation.
John Joe O’Sullivan, Fermoy, fished Mask on Sunday last and reported 5 fish for his day (best at 2 lbs). Kevin Egan and his brother Michael had a good day on Friday last on wets finishing with 6 keepers (best at 1.75 lbs) and a few undersize fish. Ronan Cusack fished with his son, Conor, on Sunday and the pair accounted for 5 keepers on wet flies, two of which were on the one cast (best at 2 lbs. & all returned).
Eugene Fagan from Kildare reported having a trout of 4.5 lbs. on the Rocky Shore while fishing with Sean Maloney over the weekend. Elsewhere, father and son, Martin and David Connors, Armagh boated 6 fish on Tuesday (best fish 2.5 lbs.).
The outlook for the coming week is for more broken weather so the good fishing looks to continue
