We are well into January now and the winter has yet to bite properly. Despite some cold days over the past week, with occasional wintry weather, we are back to mild Atlantic weather today, with almost a springtime feel in the air.

Salmon angling was slow again this week, with no fish reported from the few fisheries open around the country. Lough Currane is now open and seeing  a few boats every day, but only kelts have been recorded so far.

Elsewhere, Delphi Fishery is looking forward to their season opening on February 1st, and they have some fishing packages available for prime spring dates.

The first salmon caught on and released on the Drowes Fishery will win the lucky angler a 1kg bar of silver. This is one of a number of innovative ideas being run on the river to mark International Year of the Salmon. The full list of open rivers for 2019 is available at fishinginireland.info/salmon/salmonregs.htm 

prize
A bar of silver for a bar of silver!

 

The weather has certainly suited coarse anglers, and the Munster Coarse Anglers made a long overdue return to Plassey on the River Shannon, in the heart of Limerick City, and were rewarded with plentiful catches of roach and dace. Lough Muckno provided numerous small fish for the CM Lakelands club in their penultimate match of a tightly-contested league.

 

Sea angling has benefited from the mild winter so far, and some charter skippers have taken the opportunity of the more settled weather at times to get out off the coast. Skipper Mark Gannon from Courtmacsherry enjoyed good skate fishing with a group over the weekend, including our Fish of the Week with some nice pollack also taken inshore.

Another fine skate for Mark's guests
Fish of the Week is this Common Skate caught out of Courtmacsherry

 

Shore competition anglers from Ireland and the UK are flocking to Wexford this week, where the annual Winter Beach Festival kicks off 3 days of intense competition today. We hope to have a full report on how it went in next week’s update. South Shore SAC are sure to be well represented, and their recent competition at Morriscastle provided hectic fishing, with dogfish and whiting providing most of the sport – well-known match angler Paul Whelan taking top honours with a great catch of 43 fish – I’m sure he was tired afterwards!

 

Some anglers may be interested in a change of career, and Inland Fisheries Ireland has launched a recruitment campaign for Seasonal Fishery Officers all around the country. There are up to 40 positions on offer across six River Basin Districts. The closing date for applications is 5pm on Friday, 8th of February 2019. To find out more about the roles and how to apply, visit www.fisheriesireland.ie/careers

 

While we have mild weather today, it is expected to cool down and become more unsettled overt the weekend, possibly quite windy too, with a change to colder weather expected around the middle of next week. Frosty nights and wintry showers are expected, so wrap up warm and stay safe if venturing out.

 

Safe fishing to all and tight lines, especially here in Ireland.

Kevin Crowley
Catch, Photo, Release

If you have an angling story to share with the Irish Angling Update please send it to [email protected].

Headlines

Salmon angling news

Sea angling reports

Coarse angling news

Other news