Lough Currane and River Inny updates from Vincent Appleby and the Waterville Lakes and Trust…
The Appleby Reports
2/5/18 Good news to report on the Sea Trout front and congratulations to Waterville House and at www.watervillegolflinks.ie because on the 25th of April a guest fishing out of Waterville House and fishing with his Gillie Mr. Terence Wharton Snr. Caught and released a fine 2 ½ lbs. Sea Trout while trolling and as we all know, local angler Mr. Kevin O’Shea caught the first Salmon for 2018 on the world famous Butler pool so again congratulations to Waterville House on getting the double grand slam. Now back to the present day and sadly all fly reels and trolling reels were all quiet on the SW front. Wind NW fresh with Showers. Maximum air temperature 11.6c. Today’s weather, Wind W then veered NW and light misty rain throughout the day.
3/5/18 The Currane anglers are still waiting for the first May action of a wild Atlantic Salmon and certainly waiting patiently for a historic Lough Currane specimen Sea Trout. But to be fair to the Currane anglers, in the last few days we have had another reasonable flood, so one should give the lake a chance to settle down. Just for the record there has been 18.1mm of rainfall so far this May and that doesn’t include today’s rainfall, 2.3mm. Maximum air temperature 12.8c.
4/5/18 Straight to the Lough Currane action and it all comes from the North Shore. I will leave the best to last and its all in the trolling department. Local angler Mr. Jim Sayers, fishing out of www.flyfishingatloughcurrane.com caught a fine 9 lbs. Salmon on the troll, now we head down to Vincent’s harbour, UK angler Mr. Phil Staniforth caught a fine 9 lbs. Salmon on the troll while fishing with his Gillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy of www.fishingwithdom.com and not satisfied with their fine performance, they put out their trolling rods again, low and behold they were into another fine 9 lbs. Salmon which they sportingly put back and hopefully will spawn this coming December or early January. Local Gillie Mr. Michael O’Sullivan of Waterville Boats and at [email protected] reported that in his hired out boat department, Northern Ireland angler Mr. Andrew Wishart caught a fine Salmon. On a personal note its great to get photos of Salmon being released so keep catching and releasing and remember to send your photos in, as Neil and Dominic have done so far this season. Wind W light and overcast. Rainfall 1.2mm. Maximum air temperature 13.7c.
5/4/18 Catch of the day goes to Mr. Noel Clancy of Co. Kildare and Waterville, while trolling caught a cracker of a 10 lbs. Salmon and for the rest of the Currane anglers it was all quiet on the SW front. Wind SW. with good cloud cover. Rainfall 1.0mm. Maximum air temperature 14.3c.
6/5/18 Fish of the day goes to Dutch Angler Mr. Niels Woermeijer, caught a fine 9 lbs. Salmon on the troll while fishing with his Gillie Mr. Neil O’Shea of www.oshealoughcurrane.com and Neil also reported that he did see another angler catching salmon and for the rest of the Currane anglers it was all quiet on the SW front. Wind SW light to calm with reasonable cloud cover. Maximum air temperature 13.3c.
7/5/18 The Lough Currane Anglers reels were all quiet on the SW front on this misty Bank holiday Monday, on the weather front there was a light misty rain at times with a light breeze from the SW. As the Lough Currane anglers flies were on the slack side, we will head over to the Artist Mr. Vincent Donnelly and his fly tying:
Rainfall 2.0 mm. Maximum air temperature 12.5 c.
8/5/18 I start today’s notes in the complaints department and for good reason and its to you anglers who fish the upper Lakes could you please leave the rain cover cups on the petrol tanks all the time and at the end of your day always put the Tank on the stern seat and just for the record those cups stop the rain going into the tank. Now Straight to today’s Grand slam angler and that goes to UK angler, Mr. Phil Staniforth and for good reason, for starters its Phil’s Birthday and he celebrated in style by catching a fine 8 lbs. Salmon on the fly, while fishing with his Gillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy of www.fishingwithdom.com Now Fish of the day and Text of the day and it reads as follows, Hi Vincent, just in case the other anglers failed miserably in their duties today, am glad to report that myself (Barry Martin) and the man from Cork sporting the finest hat in all the world saved the day – fresh 8 lb salmon on the troll at the grassy at 7 pm. All I can say is Some Salmon some hat and some Text, brilliant in all departments. Wind fresh with reasonable cloud cover.
That is your ration from the last week on Lough Currane, from your Gillie and the Waterville Fishery, no spin no fly’s just facts.
Vincent Appleby
www.salmonandseatrout.com
The Trust report
First Conservation Hatchery salmon caught on Currane
The last week has seen several more 2 sea winter salmon caught in the Currane system but no further sea trout have been reported. The good news is that the first ‘fin clipped’ salmon have now been reported! All in the 7 – 10lb range and reportedly, all in excellent condition. This is good news for our conservation hatchery, as the feedback, from the scale reading of these fish, will greatly contribute to our better understanding of the salmon stock dynamic in the Currane System.
More serious news is that a very worrying situation is developing with regard to the famous Currane sea trout stocks. This is the third year running that the runs, of what the anglers call their ‘bread and butter’ 2 – 4lb fish, have failed to arrive in significant numbers. This decline is significant as, although there has been a year on year decline in our sea trout stocks generally since the excellent runs of the early nineties, this latest set back has developed extremely rapidly.
In 2014 Inland Fisheries Ireland carried out a survey of juvenile sea trout and salmon stocks in the Currane system following similar surveys in 1986, 1994 and 2004, to enable a comparison with those years. That survey showed that the streams held very healthy stocks of both sea trout and salmon fry, what the scientists call 1+ class. It would have been reasonable to suppose that these healthy stocks would have translated into healthy runs of sea trout in particular. Initially these would have been runs of post smolts, locally known as ‘Juniors’, followed a year later by the larger 2-4lb fish. Unfortunately this scenario has not materialized. So what is going wrong?
Volunteers, now working with the Trust, have been concentrating on in-stream habitat, clearance of blockages and generally maintaining the principal spawning streams in the catchment for the last several years and that had undoubtedly contributed to the healthy results produced by the 2014 survey. That work not only continues, but this year is to be extended to take in more streams in the catchment as well a greater concentration on habitat improvement where this has been damaged by flooding, siltation etc. The Trustees are determined to do what they can to help what few sea trout do manage a spawning run, have the best spawning habitat possible.
Most anglers and fishery scientists know that the real problem lies out at sea with the multiple stresses that the sea trout suffer in their marine habitat.
Rod Robinson
Waterville Lakes & Rivers Trust
Go fishing…
Vincent Appleby
Eureka Lodge, Caherdaniel West, Co. Kerry.
Telephone: +353 (0)66 9475248
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.salmonandseatrout.com
Waterville Lakes and Rivers Trust
The Waterville Lakes & Rivers Trust, formed by concerned volunteers in 2016, is one of the new Rivers Trusts to be set up in Ireland and is currently aspiring to Charitable Status. Its remit is to protect the fresh and coastal waters of the Iveragh Peninsula.
Find out more and how you can contribute at
Find out more about Lough Currane…
The rivers and lakes of Waterville drain a large catchment and are regarded by many as the foremost Salmon and Sea-Trout fishery in the country. The lake system is well developed with access to boats and guides being readily available to the tourist angler. The Sea-Trout caught here are renowned for their size and quantity. For more details see
