Low water levels and bright sun made salmon fishing tough this past week. While spate rivers suffer in this weather, the bigger rivers can still provide reasonable fishing. The Moy actually saw its best week of the season so far with over 100 salmon reported. On the Blackwater the bright conditions have not been much help either. However, anglers who were persistent enough still manged to catch some nice double figure fish including a beautiful 12lbs. salmon from the Ellis Beat for Cork fly angler Alan Nolan. In contrast to Lough Currane, where things have been fairly quiet for most part of the week, Carrowmore Lake in the far north west of the country still offers reasonably good lough style fishing for spring salmon.
On Lough Sheelin the hatch of mayfly has been sporadic to say the least and it is reported there has been no massive hatch like last year. Odd drifts of spents are going out but not every evening and the chill in the wind has not helped matters. However, despite the tricky conditions some anglers have been rewarded with good catches of trout in the 3 to 5lbs. range. While fishing on Sheelin still seems to be on the tough side, anglers on Lough Arrow reported prolific hatches of mayflies during the day and good buzzer fishing in the evening. From the Western Lakes we have only a few reports but this will hopefully change next week. In river trout angling we have reports from the Suir and the Nore and fishing is picking up considerably as the temperatures continue to rise and hatches increase. On the River Suir, well-travelled angler, Leif Stävmo, from Sweden caught one of the largest stationary river browns he ever landed (which makes our Catch of the Week), while well-known fishing guide and fly tier Jimmy Tyrrell did well on the Nore tempting his first wild browns of the year.
Coarse angling has been very good this week in spite of the bright sunshine. Tench fishing has picked up in the Longford area where Elvin Garnett from Yorkshire staying at Melview Lodge had some great catches of tench and bream. Also fishing out of Melview Lodge, Dutch anglers Ronald and Bert had some cracking catches of bream during their annual fishing trip to Ireland. Competition anglers have reported good bags from several venues including the Fermanagh Classic Fishing Festival which was won by James O’Doherty from Enniskillen with an impressive weekly total of 71.87kg! Well done James! Elsewhere, Damien Maddock wins Templemore & District Anglers’ first coarse match of the year with a total of 19lbs. 10oz., while Garreth Smyth scooped first price with his bag of 19lbs. 03oz. at Edenderry Coarse Angling Club’s second open match of the season which was fished on the Grand Canal.
Pike reports continue to be scarce but visiting anglers from France and Germany reported good fishing in Co. Cavan. Fishing out of Belturbet, two French anglers enjoyed an excellent week’s pike angling on the River Erne with fifty fish caught & released. Last weekend, Newbridge & District Pike Anglers Club successfully held the 1st IFPAC All Ireland Junior Pike Championships qualifier of the season, while Lough Gowna & Upper Erne Anglers Association ran the Harry Kinkade Memorial pike competition on Lough Gowna.
While the bright and calm weather impacted negatively on salmon and pike fishing for most of the time, sea anglers had a great week and some fine fishing was enjoyed by local and visiting anglers alike. Skipper Luke Aston from Carrigaholt reports another Sixgill just a few days after Charlene Dillon caught and released her massive 15 feet long shark.
This time, it was a father and son team fishing with Luke and towards the end of the second day of their trip, a 10ft Sixgill was caught after a 40min fight! We also got great reports from Dungarvan Offshore Charters, Wicklow Boat Charters and Irish Deep Sea Charters from West Cork. Valentia based skipper, Siegy Grabher, also reports fantastic fishing from Kerry, while further north, clients of Donal Kennedy enjoyed great variety fishing in Killala Bay. There was also good shore fishing to be had last week. Anglers taking part in the West Coast Shore League recorded some excellent turbot and flounder.
And now the weather…
Saturday will be rather cloudy with occasional sunny interludes. There will be a few patches of light rain or drizzle, mainly affecting the western half of the country. A humid day with top temperatures ranging 16 to 20 degrees in moderate southwesterly breezes.Sunday will start with rain clearing quickly into the Irish Sea on Sunday morning to leave a bright and breezy day with sunny spells and a few passing showers. Highest temperatures of 15 to 18 degrees in moderate to fresh westerly breezes. Current indications suggest the beginning of next week will be a little more unsettled with widespread showers on Monday, some heavy and prolonged…
Safe fishing to all and tight lines, especially here in Ireland.
Markus Muller
Catch, Photo, Release
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Headlines
Salmon angling news
- Best week on the Moy so far this season!
- Good salmon fishing on Carrowmore continues despite low water elvels
- Waterville report w/e May 21st
- Quiet lately but Slaney wakes up at weekend
- A few good salmon caught and released on the Blackwater
- Forecast of rain in Kerry sees hopes rise with salmon and sea trout anglers
Trout fishing reports
- Some action reported from Lough Sheelin
- Trout and About with Jimmy Tyrrell on the River Nore and its Tributaries
- Good Mayfly and Buzzer fishing on Lough Arrow
- River Suir impresses well travelled angler and tackle developer
- A fine Corrib brownie for Gearóid
- A Fun Day Out on Lough Sheelin for Patrick and Sinead
Coarse angling reports
- Dutch anglers have great week’s fishing.
- Yorkshire based angler Elvin Garnett has great week’s fishing in Longford area.
- Damien Maddockwins Walker Cup at Templemore
- Garreth cathes 19lb 3oz to win canal Open at Edenderry
- James O’Doherty wins Fermanagh Classic Fishing Festival with 71.87kg
- Big bags to 40kg on Day 2 of the Fermanagh Classic Fishing Festival
Sea angling news
- Killala Bay fishing well
- Local lads do the business with Dungarvan Offshore Charters
- Second six-gill this week for Clare Dragoon in Carrigaholt
- Super fishing onboard Sioux in Valentia
- West Cork fishing well for Irish Deep Sea Charters
- Some excellent fishing at the West Coast Shore League
- Watch: Marcin Kantor shad fishing video diary
- May a month of firsts for Wicklow Boat Charters
Pike angling reports
- French anglers enjoy great pike fishing on the Erne
- Successful pike competition on Lough Gowna
- Junior pikers have great day with Newbridge Anglers in All Ireland qualifier
- Hard Work Pays Off for Nico and Christian in Cavan
