It’s been a very dry week across the country, with high pressure to the north and lows to the south pulling in dry easterly winds from Europe, rather than our usual moist Atlantic air. Indeed, gorse fires have been common this week, including this one close to my home in Co. Galway. This fire hit the Lough Corrib Special Area of Conservation in an area where the increasingly rare curlew nest, and will have impacted on this year’s nesting season.

While many of these fires are started illegally, the onus is on everyone to ensure we don’t start them accidentally. Anglers lighting fires to cook food or boil water should be extremely careful to make sure all fires are completely extinguished when they finish. Remember the guiding principles of Leave No Trace when you’re fishing!

With the lack of rain, many rivers are low at the moment. Despite the low water, salmon are still taking well on the Moy. The Blackwater has continued to improve, with lower water levels bring many beats into prime condition. Bandon fished well last week, but Currane only saw a couple of fish, and the Boyne fishing slowed down with the low water. The Slaney has been fishing well this season, with great sport reported from the lower beats.

David O’Hagan landed his first ever Slaney fish on the Lower Hut pool, a fine fish of around 9lbs

Fishing for sea trout on the Moy estuary has been exceptional this week, helped by excellent water clarity.

Fishing on Lough Conn was reported to be tough, with anglers having to work hard to catch fish, while over on Sheelin, the cuckoo may be calling, but the fish are not listening. Hopefully the change from easterlies will bring on a change, with mayfly hatches expected to really appear then. River fishing has been very good, with good sport reported from the Bride and other Blackwater trributaries, and sport on the Nore is beginning to flourish. Trout anglers in the southwest can look forward to the Kerry rainbow trout fisheries opening this weekend, while we also feature a superb introduction to streamer fishing from the guys at Impact Fly Fishing.

Nore trout

The coarse angling festival scene is in full swing, and we have reports from a number of competitions. These include the All-Ireland Canal Championships, where tough fishing didn’t deter Codin Jurj, who overcame the bright sunshine to take the title. Cavan angler Neil Mazurek won the Dave Bacon Memorial feeder competition on Inniscarra. We also have reports from the Portumna Spring Festival  and the Munster Team of Four league, among others.

Neil Mazurek
Neil Mazurek

A party of anglers from Luxembourg enjoyed great fly fishing for pike in Co, Longford, among other activities, but we are short on other pike reports this week. Pesky easterly winds!

The easterly winds may not help sea fishing either, but there was great pollack fishing reported from Galway Bay, and from west Clare this week. The water is starting to warm up and sea angling should really take off over the next few weeks.

Lovely weather and a fine pollack for this angler

Other News

Surveys & IMREC Sea Angling Diary

IFI has launched a new survey that will tap into the knowledge of trout anglers in Lough Sheelin and also a sea angling diary to help understand the health of fish stocks in our coastal waters.

Spotted Success

The Sheelin survey features questions for anglers about their trout catch and about different aspects of the fishery now compared with when they started fishing on the lake. Each participant also has the opportunity to enter into a prize draw for angling tackle, with one €200 voucher and two €100 vouchers to be won. If you fish for trout on Lough Sheelin you can find out more here.

The Sea Angling Diary allows you to create an account and easily submit angling sessions on your phone or other device, providing information which will contribute to the evaluation of our marine fish stocks.

The application also creates a handy personal dashboard for your own use and each logged diary session will be updated here. This gives you the user an opportunity to view when, where and what fish you have caught along with any other notes (tides, rigs etc), that you may have submitted. A summary is also provided to give you an insight into how your season is progressing.

Irish Spring Angling Fair – This Weekend!

Final reminder about the Irish Spring Angling Fair on the 30th of April and 1st of May – tomorrow and Sunday! The organisers promise that it’s going to be a fantastic weekend for all anglers, and they are looking forward to welcoming you all to the show. With demos, instruction, workshops and more on fly casting, coarse tactics, fly tying, sea angling as well as plenty of shopping to be done there really will be something for all anglers –Sea, Salmon, Trout, Pike and Coarse.

spring fair

And now the weather

After the fine spell, we are due a break in the waeeather. Turning cloudy this evening, with some light drizzle along western coasts later. Generally cloudy tonight with outbreaks of rain and drizzle developing in many western parts by morning.

Saturday will be mostly cloudy day with outbreaks of rain or drizzle. Some persistent and heavy rain over Ulster, but parts of the southwest will have good dry periods. Highest temperatures of 11 to 15 degrees, with southwest winds; fresh in the north and light or moderate in southern parts.

Sunday will see rain or drizzle, but gradually turning drier later with a chance of some late sunny spells in the north. Light variable breezes. Highest temperatures of 13 to 17 degrees.

Bank Holiday Monday will bring a good deal of cloud and some bright or sunny intervals with some scattered light showers. Highs of 13 to a rather warm 17 degrees, in light breezes. Tuesday will be a little cooler with light northerly breezes bringing in a few light showers and variable cloud cover.

Current indications suggest it will turn a bit warmer again for Wednesday and Thursday with variable cloud cover, some nice sunny spells, just a few showers and very light winds.

Safe fishing to all and tight lines, especially here in Ireland. If you’re heading to the coast, don’t forget to check the tides.

Kevin Crowley
Catch, Photo, Release

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

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Salmon Fishing Reports

Trout Fishing Reports

Coarse Angling Reports

Pike Fishing Reports

Sea Angling Reports

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