During the past week rainfall was more than twice the norm over much of west Munster, Connacht and west Ulster and it was nearly three times the norm on northwestern coasts. By contrast it was much lower over the south and southeast where less than half the average was recorded. All this had a knock on effect on some of the angling with fewer reports than usual in this week indicating that many anglers gave the unsettled weather a miss, favouring of other pursuits.
The rain in the west didn’t deter John Baker as he had a successful trip to NW Ireland targeting a number of species including Ray and Pollack from various shore marks. Also in the west, charter anglers fishing in Galway Bay met a range of species including John Dory and plenty of Gurnards.
The high rainfall in the west of Ireland saw salmon fishing slow down as rivers such as the Owenea and Drowes were in an unfishable flood at times while on the east coast water levels remained high on the Boyne. However some anglers were able to time their fishing just right and none more so than Jonathan Murray who took advantage of a falling flood on the Erriff last Sunday to record an incredible catch of 12 fish to 8.5 lbs all on the fly.
Corrib and Sheelin were the places to be for trout fishing this past week with both loughs throwing up some quality fish in tough conditions including fish to 6 lbs on the fly for Sheelin and a trout weighing 14-15lb for Frank Costelloe on Lough Corrib caught on a Tasmanian Devil which wins our Catch of the Week.
#CPRSavesFish
Coarse angling reports were in short supply this week as the high rainfall had an impact, but the fishing on Inniscarra never slowed down as catches of up to 20 kg a day were recorded as Tommy Lawton won the Vintners Cup three day match with a total weight of over 54 kg.
The weather looks to be pretty decent over the next few days as rain is confined to showers and many areas will experience good dry spells with a bit of sun and temperatures in the high teens. It will become cooler but remain mostly dry on Monday and most of Tuesday but rain is expected to arrive from the west with strengthening winds later in the day.
Safe fishing to all this weekend and tight lines, especially here in Ireland.
Shane O’Reilly
Catch, Photo, Release
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Headlines
Trout fishing reports
- Some great trout on Corrib in spite of the weather
- Not many fishing a wet and blustery Melvin
- Sheelin’s restless waters signal autumn’s approach
- Some Cracking Trout for John Baker on Lough Sheelin
Salmon fishing reports
- Fish Running Through due to Water Levels on the Boyne
- Huge floods on the Owenea but the odd salmon landed
- Drowes flooded over weekend, few fishing
- A difficult month at Delphi despite good conditions
- Big water and plenty of salmon on the Erriff
- Good sea trout fishing on Costello despite high water
- Gales don’t stop the action on Currane
