Kevin O’Boyle reports from Loughs Conn & Cullin…
Again, fishing was very difficult and slow on the lakes. Winds were a consistent feature of the last week, with some big swells sweeping down the lake towards the Northern end of Lough Conn. Anglers took health and safety into account and only a few hardy anglers ventured out. For over 70% of the anglers, they had tough going but for the other 30%, it was a case of the right place at the right time.
Westerly winds across Lough Cullin at the start of the week saw some hatches of Mayfly in bays around the lake. A few boats had some good sport with a good few sizeable trout to the boat. This included Gary Binley from Foxford and Peter Roche from Cloghans, who boated a few up to 1.5 lbs., all released. Wet flies including Green Dabblers, Golden Olives and other Olive patterns produced the results.
On Lough Conn, wet fly patterns including Dabblers, Muddlers, Stimulators and Bumbles were the most successful. Hatches remained sporadic and high winds persisted throughout the week. Some good fish were caught in these tough conditions, but not for the fainthearted!
Fishing out of Murphy’s Boat Hire in Massbrook, Rob O’ Connor from the Midlands and Richard Mc Hale, Knockmore, encountered a lot of trout with some good keepers to the boat, all released, including a 4 lbs. salmon on a Green Peter.
Liam Mc Hugh and Tom Cooney from Edenderry had some good fishing with a few keepers to the boat, all released.
Peter Roche, Paul Caslin and Stephen Browne, fishing different days out of Cloghans Bay had some fish, despite the inclement weather. They had some good trout to measure, and all were released.
Anglers are waiting for some settled weather and raised temperatures on the lakes.
