Finally the water levels on Lough Mask have begun to return to a more normal level after what seemed to be a never-ending winter. The past week brought a slight raise in air temperature and more spring like weather conditions, which has brought a few anglers to the lake. Sparse hatches of small buzzer have been reported in some of the sheltered bays on the warmer days, with the odd trout seen rising. Good hatches of small sedge were reported out among the islands late last week and trout were taking full advantage of the free meal.
The majority of anglers on the lake at the moment are reporting plenty of fish, but the average size is small.
Regular Mask visitors Tom Sweeney and Mick Hegarty from Cork had 4 pulling wets on Monday last (best fish 1.5lbs). David Nevin from Newport fished on 3 occasions with Martin McCoy late last week and they had 7 keepers plus several under-size (best fish 2lbs). Ballinrobe Anglers Kevin Sheridan and Tom Conroy had 2 nice fish on dries on Friday. Kevin fished again on Saturday with Billy Graham from Northern Ireland and they had 3 keepers plus several under-size. Well known Mask angler Mick Dunne had a day to remember pulling wets on Thursday last, putting 12 trout on his score card (best fish 1.75lbs). John Munroe and Joe Fitzharris fished buzzers and dries in calm conditions on Friday and they had 3 fish for the day (best fish 2lbs). Ronan Cusack, Kevin Egan and Willie Cullinane fished for 3 days last week and they had roughly 20 trout on buzzer and wets.
The outlook for the end of this week is for southerly wind direction and a welcome rise in air temperature.
