Declan Gibbons reports on a week of difficult conditions and unpredictable fishing. Some days were miserable, particularly Saturday, but saw big hatches of olives and good fishing, while some better days saw very poor hatches and difficult fishing.
In the Oughterard area on Sunday 147 anglers took part in the International May Fly Competition held as part of the Mayfly Fesival that has become an important fixture on the calendar in Oughterard.
The competition was run on a 14 inch limit which saw 54 anglers catch 92 trout for 121lbs.
First place went to Waterford man Donal Hayes who won the Tommy Tuck Perpetual Cup with 4 trout for 9.61lbs. 2nd place went to local man Kevin Molloy with 3 trout for 7.36lbs, and 3rd place went to another Oughterard man, Pat Healy with 4 trout for 6.43lbs
The team category was won by Team Ireland, made up by Donal Hayes, Pat Healy, Willie Molloy and Darragh Faherty, and they took home the Naughton Cup for their efforts. Second in the team category was Team Australia which comprised Kevin Molloy, Harold O Toole, Tom Kelly and Seamus Kelly.
The Michael John “Elvis” Joyce trophy for heaviest fish was won by Eamonn Molloy, with a trout of 1.78kgs. The Ladies Prize was won by Lorna Lambert, while the Junior Prize was won by Tom Fox.
John Hart & Donal Forrest from Cork, fishing out of Healy’s Corrib Wave guesthouse in Oughterard (www.corribwave.com ; tel. 091 552147) landed 5 trout for 8.5lbs. Also staying at Healys for a day’s fishing was visiting Belfast angler Harry Harrigan, who had 4 trout on wet flies.
On Tuesday last the Flaming Reels Fishing Club (Cork City Fire Brigade) enjoyed a days’ fishing from Gerry Molloy’s Angling Centre (www.loughcorriboughterard.com), with 6 rods catching 9 trout ranging in size from 1lb to 3.2lbs, mostly caught on Yellow Dabblers, Claret Dabblers and the Red Spinner wet fly.
Basil Shields of Ardnasillagh Lodge (086-0869758) reports a big improvement in fishing in the last week, with the visiting Balbriggan duo of Peter Mccann and John Gallagher catching 7 fish for 2 days on wetfly, with the best fish being 7.5lbs! Visiting English anglers Trevor Hesseltine and George Gurks had 7 fish for 2 days on buzzer. Shannon angler John Fitzgerald had 12 fish for 2 days on buzzer. Peter Boyle from Cavan had 11 trout for 1 days fishing on buzzer, best fish 3.5lbs
Also fishing out of Ardnasillagh Lodge was well known Irish horse trainer Kevin Prendergast and John Martin Smith of the Curragh, Kildare, landing 7 trout on buzzer for their day’s fishing, with the best fish being 3.25lbs. Kevin caught 6 out of the 7 fish at 84 years young!
Kevin Molloy Of Baurisheen Bay Boat Hire and Guiding (087-9604170) reported brothers Liam and Padraig Dennehy had 3 trout on wetfly on Thursday last, with the best fish being 3lbs, while on Friday Padraig had a great fish weighing between 5 and 6lbs. Kevin himself fished on Friday catching 3 on wets and on Saturday catching 4 on wets, all on wet mayfly patterns.
Guests staying at Camillaun Lodge (www.camillaun.com; tel. 091 552678) also enjoyed some good fishing, particularly Kieran Smyth from Cavan had 4 trout for 6lbs in one day on Sunday the 7th May, mostly on Sooty Olive and Olive Dabbler patterns. Elena Torrero also enjoyed her visit, landing some nice trout.
Larry McCarthy of Corrib View Lodge (www.corribangling.com; tel. 093 31718) also reports a dramatic improvement in fishing over the last week with some great catches for guests. Gareth Jones and his friend Tony Cartwright had a hard but very rewarding week with fish every day to dry olives and buzzer. Some of the days were notable including Thursday, when Gareth had 8 trout with one over 4lbs and a beauty of 6lb 8oz. On Saturday they had 10 trout to 4lb on olives. Jeremy O’Brien also had good fishing for his week with fish every day to olives including several over 3lbs. With warmer weather promised mayfly will be on the agenda for next week.
Finally well done to all the junior anglers who competed in the Junior Mayfly competition held as part of the International Mayfly Festival, in Fahertys Angling Centre, Oughterard. Congratulations to Emily Tuck who was this year’s winner with a fine haul of 10 fish. Conor and Sean McDonald came joint second with 7 fish each, and James Lowry and Cian Yelverton came joint third with 3 fish. The Oughterard club are doing great work encouraging junior anglers and it’s a credit to the club to see so much interest in angling in the local youngsters.
