photo courtesy of Irish Bass Festival

The Irish summer continues, bringing rain, wind and more. The weather has been unsettled over the past weeks and some evenings even felt a little cold. However, there was sunshine to be had in places, but overall fishing has been mixed. Nevertheless, we have some success stories to tell….

Salmon angling on the River Moy continued to be excellent throughout the month of July with many fresh fish caught right through the system. Meanewhile, the recent rains improved fishing on the Boyne considerably with good numbers of grilse running the river. The fly pools on the Drumcliff River in Co. Sligo produced a few fine fish and salmon anglers on the Garavogue also benefited from the ‘wet’ summer.

Sisters Dara & Bronagh Murphy, Dublin, being successful on the River Moy

 

Trout fishing was generally slow during the past week with anglers on Sheelin finding conditions quite challenging. While there was some day time fishing, the bulk of Sheelin’s fishing successes was in that last half hour before dark and into the night. Angling has also been tricky on the Western Lakes. On Corrib, however, some guides reported excellent fishing for the week gone by with anglers enjoying great sport on predominantly mayfly and sedge patterns. On Mask, there is plenty of excitement around the shores this week as anglers squeeze in any spare hours to practice for the up-coming World Cup at the weekend.

 

Giovanni Marenghi London with his magnificent 60cm trout
Giovanni Marenghi, London, with a mgnificent Sheelin trout

 

Coarse fishing in the Lower Shannon Region has been quite busy this week with all the usual spots receiving positive reports. Moystown, Mickie’s Pond and Bullock Island were all fishing very well.  The canal stretch close to Shannon Harbour is also holding its own recently with tench being in plentiful supply.  One group fishing in these areas reported 350 fish being caught in the Bullock Island area over a three day period. We don’t have much in the way of pike angling to report this week, but the fishing can still be very good during the summer months. In the Banagher area a group of French anglers had good numbers of pike last week. The best of these was 28 lbs.

It was a busy week for sea anglers be it from shore or boat.  The Irish Bass Festival was fished recently and nearly 80 anglers took part. Catches this year were excellent and fishing was good from both the rocks and estuaries. The majority of the fish caught were in the 50-65cm bracket but the top 3 fish were all well over 70cm!  The fourth leg of the Irish Kayak Angling All Ireland Championship was fished in Wexford. There were 28 kayakers taking part in the event, aiming to fill a species card of one smooth hound, one bass, one flatfish and a dogfish with the joker of the day, a thornback ray. Wexford based bass guide, Sid Jones, seems to be on a winning streak these days. Staying up all night catching 10 bass up to 74 cm wins Sid this week’s Catch of the Week!

 

One of Sid Jones’ ten night bass winning him Catch of the Week

 

In other news, four fishing clubs have been announced finalists in Inland Fisheries Ireland’s Fish & Film Competition. The competition, which was launched in June to encourage young people to spread the word about fishing, asked entrants to take film footage of their fishing adventures which could later be promoted online. The clubs are now appealing to the public to watch and share their film entries which can be found at www.fisheriesireland.ie/fishandfilm

The August Bank Holiday is here and lots of you will be out fishing. Don’t take your safety for granted. If you are afloat, wading or fishing from the rocks please wear a life jacket. Many anglers think that if they are not at sea, they are not at risk. It is worth remembering that 62% of all drownings are inland, and on average 11 people drown in Irish waters every month. Don’t take risks, check the tides, weather and wear a life jacket.

Met Eireann tells us that over the coming Bank Holiday weekend, Saturday will bring bright or sunny spells and further scattered showers with some of the showers turning heavy locally during the afternoon and early evening especially over the northern part of the country. Outbreaks of rain in western counties will extend eastwards on Sunday morning but the rain will turn rather light and patchy as it spreads east. However, a spell of heavier and more persistent rain will move in from the Atlantic during the afternoon. On both days highest temperatures will range from 15C on northwest coasts to 18C in the southeast. The outlook for the Bank Holiday Monday is rather good with any lingering rain in Leinster and east Ulster clearing quickly during the morning leaving a bright day with sunny intervals and just passing showers.

Not a bad fishing forecast for anglers on holiday or looking forward to getting out in the next few days.

All that’s left to say is Safe fishing to all and tight lines, especially here in Ireland.

Markus Müller

Catch, Photo, Release

#CPRsavesfish

 

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