Declan Gibbons reports on the final week of the 2018 season on Corrib, an up and down season due to the cold spring and hot dry summer, but one which provided some great fishing at times and Corrib continued to produce some of the finest wild trout to be found anywhere.
“I would like to thank the contributors (businesses, clubs & individuals) to the weekly angling report for their co-operation, verbal reports , text reports and pictures that added to the weekly report in which Lough Corrib is promoted. We all hope that the winter spawning season of 2018 is a fruitful one and look forward to corresponding with you all in 2019.
Regards Declan”
Starting off in the Cornamona area, the Cornamona Anglers hosted their end of season Last Cast Competition – the Egan Cup – on a catch-and-release basis pairs competition. 18 rods participated and 13 fish were caught and released.
1st Place went to Martin Kinneavy & Mike Coyne with 6 fish. In 2nd place was Barry Molloy & Gerry Dixon with 4 fish, and in 3rd Place Eamon Gavin & Peter Walsh with 1 fish.
The Longest Fish prize went to Eamon Gavin with a fine trout of 54cms.
Gerry Dixon was presented with The Phil & Paul O Sullivan Cup (Overall Angler of the Year ) by Conor O Sullivan on behalf of The O Sullivan Family.
Staying in the Cornamona area Tom Doc Sullivan http://www.tomdoc.com reports of Tommy Keoghan & Dermot Leonard from Trim, Co Meath fished for two days and boated twelve good trout including two good fish of 3.5lbs and 3.25lbs. As a bonus they also picked up a 4lbs grilse with all fish sportingly released, and caught on wet flies in the Inishdooras and Inchagoill areas.
Cong Angling Club hosted their Last Cast Catch & Release Competition ( Longest Fish Competition ) on Sunday. 22 anglers took part in the competition and 6 fish were caught, measured, photographed and released. Winner on the day was Johnathan O’Grady with a fish measuring 41.5cms, second place went to Philip Comber with a fish measuring 40.5cms. Third place went to Robbie Connelly with a fish measuring 37.5cms.
Larry McCarthy of Corrib View Lodge, Glencorrib http://www.corribangling.com reports a busy last week to the season. Robert Rankin and his fishing partner Donnacha were guided by Larry over 3 days and caught and released 7 trout between 1.5lbs and 2.5lbs, all on wet fly. Cork brothers Paul and Mick Mellamphy for their outing on Saturday had 5 trout, all released. Ger Murphy and his fishing partner Frank had several fish for their 2 days including a fine trout of 4lbs. Larry himself and friend Dennis Moss on the last day had good sport in the Cornamona area with trout up to 3.5lbs, all on wet flies.
In the Greenfields area on Thursday last friends Conor Ledwith and Willie Roche enjoyed a late season day’s fishing, with Willie landing a nice trout of 2lbs on a Red Arsed Peter and Conor landing a beautiful fish of 4lbs on a Pearly Dabbler, with both fish sportingly released. Ted Wherry with Frank Costello on Friday last enjoyed an afternoons fishing in the Inchagoill area and landed a fish of 2lbs. Galway angler Harold O’Toole on Wednesday last reported good fishing in the deeps with several trout to the boat.
Basil Shields of Ardnasillagh Lodge (091552550) reports on good action enjoyed by guests during the final week of the season with all fish released at the lodge. Dublin duo Eddie Rowe and Michael Sheils had 6 fish for 2 days on dries with the best fish being around the 2lbs mark. Richard Burgees from Carlow had 6 fish on dries for a total of 257cms; Richard’s best fish were 52cms, 49.5cms and 49cms with all fish released. On Thursday last Michael Keane had 4 fish on wets and Michael Byrne had 6 fish on wets. On Saturday last PJ Dornan had 6 fish with the best fish 49cms and had a total of 228cms on wets, all sportingly released. Eamon O’Nualain had 2 fish for 91cms on dries and Declan Kehoe had 1 fish for 51cms on wet fly, all released.
Staying in the Oughterard area UK visitor Adrian Blackwell had a superb trout of 4lbs while fishing on Corrib with Joe Fitzharris, and the pair had an excellent afternoon on Corrib on Thursday landing 5 fish for an estimated 12lbs, all fish carefully returned to go and do the most important job of spawning and replenishing the stocks on Corrib. Adrian & Joe had a 4lbs fish as in the photo, along with a 3lbs, 2 x 2slb and a fish of 1.5lbs, all in the Oughterard Bay area of the lake on sedge, silver dabbler, and claret dabbler, and saw other fish pitching which were all good fish.
The Oughterard Anglers hosted The Hession Cup on Saturday last (all legal methods) with 28 rods participating and 19 fish were caught. First place went to Gareth Little with 3 fish, second place went to Gerry Molloy with 4 fish and third place went to Jim Glynn with 2 fish. Kevin Molloy of Baurisheen Bay Boat Hire, Guiding & Self Catering (087-9604170) reported a slower final week to the season and was out himself on Tuesday last and had 3 trout on wets ranging in size from 1.5 – 2lbs. Frank Doyle & friend from Cork on Saturday had 4trout, best fish being around the 2lbs mark, all sportingly returned.
Swiss angler Roland Waefler stayed with 2 friends as guests of Hugh O’Donnell in Clonbur , and on a windyy day trolling they landed a fine 12lbs ferox trout.
