Monday 30th April  to Sunday 13th May 2018 (2 weeks).

Water levels were fair to good overall on the Drowes over the fortnight. The gauge read 0.51m on the 30th but decent rain meant the river steadily rose over the next 3 days and the gauge read 0.57m by the 3rd May. The river then began to fall and by the 13th May the gauge read 0.46m, a little lower than its best level. Angling was good with good numbers of salmon recorded and some very good spring fish were reported.

Eddie Roulston and his son Nash recorded a salmon apiece
Eddie Roulston and his son Nash had a salmon each

On Monday 30th April, Eddie Roulston and his son Nash recorded a salmon apiece weighing 10 & 8lb respectively caught on a Flying ‘C’ lure from the Upper Mill & Stakey’s and Michael Bothwell accounted for a 6½lb salmon on a fly from the Sea Pools.

On the 2nd May, Phil McGrath reported an 11lb salmon caught on prawn from the Mill Pool and also caught and released another salmon weighing around 7½lb.

On the 3rd, Paul McCausland recorded a 14lb salmon caught on worm form the Black Hole and Julian Ciconte accounted for a 10lb salmon caught and released on a spinner from Spa Well.

grilse
Billy Grimes caught a grilse of around 5lb

On the 4th, Billy Grimes recorded a grilse of around 5lb caught from the Mill Pool. Stevie O’Donahue logged a grilse of about 5lb caught on fly and Alan Curry caught and released 2 double figure salmon on a fly from the Upper Mill and Crooked Hole.

On the 5th, Ciaran Boyle caught and released a grilse weighing around 5lb on a fly from Briney’s and Rob Law caught and released a 15lb salmon from the Mill Pool.

On the 6th, P.J. Bailey logged a 10lb salmon caught on worm from Red Roof and David Anthony accounted for a 6lb grilse caught on a spinner from the Mill Pool.

Mark Barbour with his 13½lb salmon
Mark Barbour’s 13.5lb salmon. It seems of interest to the rare Drowes Water Terrier! Beware, it can appear anywhere on the River and nick your fish!

On the 7th, Mark Barbour recorded a 13½lb salmon caught on a fly from Fall Run and 9 year old Kieran McEvoy caught and released a 9lb salmon on prawn from Tinker’s Hole.

spring salmon
Julian Ciconte releases his 18lb salmon. Julian wins Catch of the Week for this super fish. #CPRsavesfish

On the 11th, Julian Ciconte caught and released the best salmon to date of the 2018 season. This was a salmon in excess of 18lb.

salmon
A couple of day later Julian did it all again with a 16lb salmon #CPRsavesfish

On the 13th, Julian recorded another fine salmon of 16lb caught and released from Briney’s and P.J. Bailey accounted for an 8½lb salmon caught on worm from the Black Hole.

The river is starting to drop to lower levels but heavy rain is forecast for the weekend and Monday. Prospects look very good for the coming week and weekend.

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River Drowes

The Drowes Fishery is one of Ireland’s premier spring salmon and grilse fisheries. The river is some 5 miles in length, with over 70 named pools, flowing from Lough Melvin at Lareen Bay and entering the sea at Tullaghan, just outside Bundoran. The Drowes has a wide variety of water suitable for all fishing methods, including several miles of good fly water and deeper slower moving pools suitable for spinning and bait fishing.

For information and bookings on the Drowes Fishery & Lough Melvin see http://www.drowessalmonfishery.com
Tel: 071 9841055 (8am to 12 noon).
Mob: +353 (0) 87 8050806

For info/Guides/boat hire on Lough Melvin contact Sean Maguire’s Tackle Shop, Main Street, Garrison.Tel. (048) 686 58194

Lough Melvin, Rossinver Fishery: For info/Guides/boat hire/bookings etc. contact Sean Carty. Tel: 083 1197428.