A cold and misty start to the day
A cold and misty start to the day at Lanesborough

A bit of settled weather last week saw fishing improve at a number of venues around the coast and inland. The dry spell has meant many rivers are starting to run low, not great for salmon, but the increase in water temperatures sees the start of coarse fish spawning…

Anglers on the Munster Blackwater reported fish from Fortwilliam and the Ballyduff beats of Blackwater Salmon Fishery. There was another salmon from the Bandon, and though conditions are good it is still a bit early for this river to start fishing properly. No change at the Laune where salmon are scarce on the Laune Angler’s waters, but a few sea trout have been reported. Lough Currane only saw two salmon returned to the local paparazzi and the Feale also saw two fish reported. Better weather and falling water made for improved fishing on the Moy and at least 29 fish were landed through the system. Yesterday the Ridge Pool had its first fish of the year, which is an early start of the Ballina Fishery. Levels on the Drowes continued to fall and only 9 salmon were reported last week.

Fly anglers on the Boyne had good dry fly and nymph fishing last week. Sheelin is still a little cold and there were no major hatches to bring on the fishing. Nevertheless some good trout were landed including a fine fish of 7lb on a Silver Humungus. It’s a bit early for talk of Mayfly but Lough Derg’s anglers will be keeping an eye out for any early appearances.

2 tench
Frank Carty had the first TWO Tench of the year at 3lb 09oz and 3lb 02oz  winning him Catch of the Week

Coarse reports are a bit thin on the ground this week. There is some good news to report though – the first tench of the year were landed at Lanesborough. This popular Shannon venue has also seen the big shoals of roach move in for spawning and a few decent bream are on site as well.

French and Belgian anglers fishing around Longford have had some great pike in the last week. Good pike fishing was also reported in the Boyle area where fish to 105cm were landed. There was also some good competition fishing enjoyed by pike angling clubs. Best of these we heard of was the Ardee Pike Anglers competition where 160 pike to 13lb 06oz were caught and safely released.

Cork was a sea angling Mecca over the weekend as small boat, charter boat and shore anglers all reported good fishing. Lure and fly anglers had good bass and mullet fishing at venues in east and west Cork. Boat anglers fishing from Cork Harbour had excellent pollacking. West Cork charter reports were also good. Anglers across Kerry, Galway and up into Donegal also reported good catches.

Good Friday will be mostly cloudy with outbreaks of rain and drizzle, persistent in places. Highest temperatures of 9 to 13 degrees with moderate westerly breezes. Holy Saturday is likely to be mainly dry with some sunny spells but scattered showers may affect the northern half of the country. Top temperatures of around 9 to 12 degrees in a moderate west to northwesterly breeze.  Sunday will be mostly dry over the south but showers or showery rain may affect parts of the west and north. Top temperatures may reach 11 to 14 degrees in light to moderate southwest to westerly breezes. On Easter Monday  some patchy rain likely over the northern half of the country but the south is likely to stay mainly dry. Top temperatures again may reach 11 to 14 or 15 degrees.

For a lot of people this will be their first time out this year. Some might be a bit rusty on the ole water safety bit – so here it is again. Check the weather. Check the tides. Don’t take risks. Wear a life jacket.

Safe fishing to all this Easter 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].

Headlines

Salmon fishing reports

Trout fishing reports

Coarse angling reports

Pike fishing reports

Sea angling reports

Other news

News clippings