Irish Angling Update 03 June 2022

It was another bright, dry week, which with cooler temperatures and a wind that was always up at the wrong times, meant fishing was tough for the most part both on rivers, lakes and at sea. Having said that, there’s generally always a place and time when it comes right, as this week’s reports show…

Lots of news in from the Moy system as heavy showers last week saw a bit of a flood on the river, and 143 salmon were reported. There was also some good sea trout fishing enjoyed on the Estuary. With reports of a decent head of fish moving into the river now, the weekend’s forecast should make for a good bank holiday. Just in time for the angler planning a trip to the Moy is the latest podcast from Ireland on the Fly featuring Paddy McDonnell, who unlocks the mysteries of the Moy…

Heading west, the news in from Carrowmore Lake is that after weeks of high winds, the lake has settled again, and anglers are back on the water. Water clarity has improved, and sea trout and grilse are running in good numbers.

Currane anglers endured a week of tough fishing conditions, and only a couple of salmon were reported. In other news for the lough, a new online survey has been developed by IFI for the Currane catchment to gather anglers’ knowledge – the survey method called FLEKSI was developed by IFI to help give an insight into the status of the fishery. Currane Anglers are needed for Citizen Science survey to examine fish stocks

The River Bandon, like so many other rivers, remained low last week. Not many fish are running the system, but there is always a chance of a salmon at the bottom of the river, and 6 fish were reported last week. With plenty of rain on the way, the fishing should improve.

Anglers on the Munster Blackwater have been getting some great fish on the lower part of the river. There were some exceptionally good quality salmon being reported, but no grilse.

Last week’s cool and breezy weather put a dampener on Mayfly fishing on lakes all across Ireland. Whether it was Conn and Cullin, Lough Sheelin or Lough Carra, the results were much the same, with frustration being the common theme. That’s not to say no good fish were had. There were trout to 9lb on dry fly on Sheelin, Carra turned up trout to 4lb on wets, and more than a few anglers on Conn and Cullin had trout to 2lb and over.

In the news from the rivers, the Nore fished very well at the weekend. There were decent hatches of fly, and the fish rose well. Good reports also came in from the Boyne, and in other river news, development works are planned for spawning streams in the Mask and Carra catchments.

Coarse anglers had some great festival fishing last week. The Ballinamore Angling Festival 2022 came to a close on Friday, with Roscommon angler Dara Finnegan winning with a decent 53.100kg for his five days of fishing. Marco Hoffman caught 23.450kg on the last day of Inniscarra’s Ottewill Trophy to win the competition with a total of 50.860kg. Staying in Cork, the winner of the 2022 Fermoy Spring Angling is Cedric Baldwin with 38lb 10ozs for the three days. Cedric also won this festival the last time it was fished in 2022.

The Lithuanian “Go&Catch” Fishing Club held a predator competition on Lough Gowna. The anglers had a fine time with pike to over 100cm landed. American tourists fishing on Lough Erne had a great guided trip with some super pike landed. Not too far away in Longford, six Dutch anglers managed 64 pike between them during 3 days of fishing, the largest being 92cm.

Starting on the east coast, specimen smooth-hound specialist Kit Dunne has reported the first specimen hound of the year for Wicklow Boat Charters. Tope to 1.5m have also been caught and released. In the south and south west spurdogs to specimen size featured in catches for charterboat anglers. Some big ling and skate were landed on the Silver Dawn out of Courtmacsherry. Further west, anglers fishing with Deep Sea Charters out of Glandore and Union Hall had skate and a good mix of species. Fishing from a smaller vessel David Norman had pollack to 80cm on soft plastics. Lastly shore anglers around the edges of Killala Bay had some decent rock fishing at Kilcummin and Downpatrick Head.

Stay safe

The Bank Holiday is likely to see many anglers take to the water for the first time this year. In your rush to have a good time, don’t forget to have a safe time: Remember your Angling Safety Checklist this June Bank Holiday Weekend.