Lough Derg
American honeymooners Sam and Randy on Lough Derg

Last week’s storms have blown through and left behind a real Indian summer. Temperatures in the last couple of days have topped 20C, but the nights and early morning have been much cooler. The conditions seem to be suiting salmon anglers well and after a tough summer they deserve a good end to the season…

This week those rivers that had water saw a huge improvement in salmon catches. The Moy, Erriff, Bandon, Lough Currane and Munster Blackwater enjoyed some great days and a number of fine fish were caught. Individual anglers caught as many as 9 salmon in a day and there were big fish in the catches too. Catch of the Week goes to Gary Lamont who caught and released a salmon estimated to weigh 21.5lb on the Blackwater Salmon Fishery beats.

Catch and Release
Gary releases his big salmon – estimated at 21lb #CPRsavesfish

There were good numbers of anglers out on Lough Sheelin with good catches of trout being reported. All reports, however, echoed continually with the words ‘but they were hard got’. Fishing on Lough Corrib was slow last week due to Storm Ali mid-week and rising lake levels. Sport being very mixed with action on dry olives, dry sedges, Daphnia and fry feeders. We didn’t hear much from Lough Melvin this year but it has been fishing well for sonaghan recently and there were also good reports in from stocked fisheries like Carrigavantry and Lough O’Flynn.

Eoin Rogers, U15 Champion
Eoin Rogers, U15 All Ireland Champion beat off stiff competition with an impressive display on Town Lake, Killeshandra

Coarse anglers are busy with festivals at the moment at there is a lot to report from the competition scene. Excellent bags were returned in the Arva King of Clubs and  Gavin Butler took first place with 68.180kg. In the first Lanesborough Autumn Festival, Irish international Tommy Dowd came out on top with a two day total of 38lb 6oz. Darius Karaliunas and Vaidas Jagela came home in 1st place in the Irish Open Pairs Championships fished on Lough Muckno. Their 2 day total of 30.525kg was just 100g ahead of the next pair – that’s a tight finish. Recreational anglers are also getting some good fishing and Cavan CAC reports good catches on Eonish while Belgian anglers fishing in the Longford area have been getting some good tench and bream.

It’s getting to peak pike fishing now as more and more pike anglers relish the cooler conditions. Winds associated with last week’s storms impacted on a number of lake fisheries but good pike have been caught at venues like Lough Derg and up through the midlands.

Trigger Fish – an unusual species for Cork Harbour

The Cork Small Boats Festival took place over 4 days between the 15th till the 22nd. The weather wasn’t great for much of the event but the anglers stuck it out. There were 32 species caught in total and the overall winner was Skua with 24 species. In other sea angling news Donegal Bay continues to reinforce its reputation as a shore angling paradise while the productive skate fishing at Courtmacsherry also continues to impress.

And now the weather…

Friday is to be dry with long spells of sunshine in most areas, however some cloud will tend to bubble up through the afternoon, mainly in northern and eastern counties. Cool, despite the sunshine, with highs of 12 to 15C in light north-easterly or variable breezes. Over the weekend weather should be predominantly settled, but weak fronts will produce small amounts of rain and drizzle at times, mainly in the west and north. It will be cold in the early mornings and at night, especially under clear skies, so don’t forget a woolly hat.

Safe fishing to all 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].

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