While we were all battening down the hatches in preparation for a long winter, little did we know that summer was holding a bit extra in reserve to give us a much welcomed sunny spell over most of the past week. So, while record numbers headed to Croke Park at the weekend for football and to Carlow this week for the ploughing, did any anglers manage to make it out on the water?
Well on Lough Ree they definitely did as anglers turned out in force to participate in the Lough Ree Pike Classic held over the weekend and hosted by Camlin & District Anglers. Plenty of 100cm+ fish were caught with Joe McDermott and Pat Healy coming out on top with a total length of 490.5cm for their 5 longest fish giving a very respectable 98.1cm average length. Largest fish of the competition went to Simon Gibson with a whopper of 111.5cm.
Not to be outdone by it’s upstream neighbour, Lough Derg also produced a cracking fish for French angler Alexander Ferré who landed another whopper while fishing with his dad Eric. Alex’s pike was measured at 112cm and prompted him to say “Thank you Irlande” for giving him a true fish of a lifetime.
With two cracking pike coming from the mighty Shannon loughs of Ree & Derg it’s only fair to award this week’s Catch of the Week jointly to Simon and Alex, well done guys.
Things were a bit quieter on the trout front as the season draws towards it’s close but there was still plenty of action on Lough Corrib this week as anglers had good sport with fish up to 4.5lb coming to wets such as Daddies, Dabblers and Peters. Members of the Irish Ladies Flyfishing Association travelled to Loughanure Lake, Co. Donegal last weekend and had a very enjoyable day in wet and windy conditions as all managed to catch a fish or two.
Salmon angling was also pretty quiet this week with few reports in but the end of the season seems to be going well on Lough Currane as there was plenty of action there with salmon, sea trout and a few brownies all putting in an appearance in anglers catches.
Festival season is still in full swing on the coarse angling scene and we have reports in from festivals in Arva and Inniscarra. At Arva 76 anglers took part in the Arva International Angling Festival the week before last with Carl Hempinstall coming out on top with 60.9kg. The Arva King of Clubs took place in the area the following week with catches improving and Gavin Butler coming out on top with 79.62kg. Inniscarra saw the Granvilles Cup take place with Marco Hoffman winning out with a super 27.1kg catch on the final day.
The blue skies this week saw plenty of blue shark being caught from charter boats in Galway and Courtmacsherry. The Brazen Hussey fishing out of Galway Bay reported their first specimen sized blue shark of the season as angler John Ebbs caught a blue measuring 186cm. Blues were on the menu in Courtmac too but it was the skate that really got anglers excited as a group of Belgian anglers managed five specimen sized skate. General fishing also improved in the Cork area as the Rebecca C in Ballycotton reported good catches of pollock and cod.
And now the weather…
So, it looks like our Indian Summer will last for another day as Friday will see dry and sunny conditions across most of the country. Cooler weather is not too far away though as a fresher weather system will move up from the southwest tomorrow morning bringing a drop in temperatures and some rain. Monday will see some strong winds in many parts of the country and Tuesday will see some heavy rain. So if you like fishing in the sun it looks like today’s going to be your last opportunity for a while…
Safe fishing to all this coming week and tight lines, especially here in Ireland.
Shane O’Reilly
Catch, Photo, Release
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Headlines
Salmon angling news
- Dubs defeat doesn’t dampen fishing down on Kerry’s Lough Currane
- Mixed weather affects fishing on the River Moy
Trout angling news
Coarse angling news
- Catches on the up as Gavin Butler wins the Arva King of Clubs
- Tough conditions don’t deter anglers in Arva International
- Good catches continue on Inniscarra
