Bluefin Tuna, Donegal Bay. Photo courtesy of David Morrissey.
Bluefin Tuna, Donegal Bay. Photo courtesy of David Morrissey.

In general the last week has been pretty typical for summer in Ireland. Temperatures are more or less average for the time of year, with some parts getting plenty of sunshine and others getting plenty of rain. As ever when we get conditions like these it’s been pretty good for sea anglers, but not so great for those on the rivers and lakes…

The salmon fishing could be a little better, many rivers are low and those that got floods did not see catches improve by a whole lot. The notable exception was the mighty Moy which saw its reported catch hit 691 fish last week. The best of the fishing was between Ballina and Foxford. There was also good fishing reported from the Erriff, Delphi and the Munster Blackwater. With broken weather and plenty of rain forecast hopes are high that more rivers will see the fishing improve over the coming days.

Ghillie James Devers nets a fresh grilse for Rob Malcom on the Ridge Pool

Fake salmon licence shop

A rogue website which claims to sell salmon and sea trout angling licenses for Ireland was reported to the Gardai by Inland Fisheries Ireland earlier this week. Anglers are reminded that the only authorised website for salmon & sea trout licenses is www.store.fishinginireland.info. Any member of the public, who has submitted personal or financial details to a fraudulent fishing license website, should contact their local Garda station directly to report the incident.

A happy Malcom Patrick on Corrib

Trout fishing on Lough Corrib has picked up in the last week, particularly now that the lake is getting its second hatch of Mayfly. One angler had 22 trout to dry Mays over 5 days. Fishing on Mask has been tough but the lake is busy as anglers practise in advance of the World Cup. The River Nore in the south is fishing well in the evenings where the hatches have been dense – caddis patterns are doing best.

Coarse anglers around Mullingar are reporting some good fishing for tench, bream and perch. In other coarse angling news, Monaghan County Council has opened its new €140,000 angling facility at Lough Muckno, Castleblayney, Co. Monaghan. The facility, which was funded by Inland Fisheries Ireland through its National Strategy for Angling Development, sees the the addition of 40 new coarse angling pegs along the shoreline. There’s also extra parking, and improved access for cars. It could be worth a visit over the long weekend.

pike lough derg
Jacek with a Lough Derg pike

Ireland’s top lure anglers took to Lough Derg at the weekend for the first round of the qualifiers and team selection for 2020’s Boat Lure Team. It was a tale of two days with better fishing on the Sunday. Tomek Kurman and Jacek Gorny took first place in this round easily enough. If you would like to see what its all about, why not join the team for Round 2 on Lough Ree 17th & 18th of August.

Anglers on Galway Bay are getting some great shark fishing recently. It was all about the blues last week, but this week porbagles took all the headlines as up to 5 sharks a day were tagged and released. In the south west, anglers fishing from Courtmacsherry are reporting a good mix of catches from wrecks, reefs and the estuary.

Tommy McGee with a Galway Bay porbeagle shark – Catch of the Week

While there is no sport or commercial fishery for Bluefin tuna in Ireland, authorisations will be soon be granted for 15 angling vessels to participate in Tuna CHART (Catch and Release Tagging) a pilot Bluefin Tuna Data Collection Programme. The programme will see the 15 authorised vessels catch, tag and release Atlantic Bluefin tuna for data collection purposes off the Irish coast. The authorised vessels, which are located in Cork, Clare, Galway, Sligo and Donegal will support scientific work to increase knowledge of the behaviour and abundance of Bluefin Tuna in Irish waters.

A full list of authorised skippers can be found at https://www.fishinginireland.info/sea/bluefin_tuna_fishing.htm

Find out more about this project at: www.fisheriesireland.ie/bluefin

And now the weather…

Saturday, will start dry with in most areas with some sunshine. However, showery rain in Munster will become widespread during the day. There will still be good dry and bright intervals for the afternoon and evening as well. Maximum temperatures 18 to 22 degrees in mostly light to moderate southeasterly breezes, fresh in western coastal areas. Unsettled weather continuing up to and including Wednesday next, with a risk of heavy, thundery downpours at times. Temperatures around normal, or a little above. Not much of a forecast for the Bank Holiday weekend, but at least the salmon anglers will be happy.

Safe fishing to all this bank holiday weekend 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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