The stormy conditions of late have given away to a lot more settled weather this week with afternoon temperatures occasionally rising to the low teens and fair amounts of sunshine in places. However, this hasn’t really been reflected in increased angling activity which is probably no wonder as many waters still need time to settle after the recent run of storms and heavy rain.

This has been the case for Lough Conn where trout anglers, after a fairly promising opening day, have been struggling over the past few weeks. The situation on Lough Corrib is similar with fly hatches not yet underway, and trolling or lure fishing still the methods of choice for most anglers. Nonetheless, Tomi Kurman of Tomi Guided Fishing had a guest out on Corrib for only his third day trying for ferox so far, and what a day they had with 5 takes and 4 trout landed, all between 64 and 78cm. This surely deserves our Catch of the Week!

A stunning ferox trout for Tomi’s guest

Many midland anglers, like Mick Flanagan, put the pike rods back in the shed for a while this week as trout fishing began on the midland loughs. Mick reported good fishing from Lough Lene where rainbows and over-wintered browns were the target.

Mick Flanagan with a nice Lough Lene rainbow

Salmon fishing has also been on the slow side with only a few fisheries producing fish since the start of the season. On the Moy, anglers are still waiting for the first salmon of the new season, while boats on Lough Currane also drew a blank for the week. Further north on the River Drowes, however, dropping water levels after the recent floods resulted in much better angling conditions, and anglers were rewarded with some good catches, some of them into double-figures.

12 lbs. spring salmon from the Drowes ready for release

Staying north, we received a report of a fine spring salmon caught on the River Lennon which has produced early fish in the past. 

Not only salmon anglers will be delighted to hear that Inland Fisheries Ireland has published a new book on historic salmon flies. This new book featuring the ‘1902 Cork Collection of Salmon Flies’ will bring a “long-lost treasure” of Irish angling to new generations around the world. The wonderfully illustrated publication is available online in different formats.

Shane O'Reilly of Inland Fisheries Ireland with the 1902 Cork Collection of Salmon Flies
The manager of the project Shane O’Reilly of Inland Fisheries Ireland with the “1902 Cork Collection of Salmon Flies”

It is hoped to put the collection on display once more and members of the public are being encouraged to contact IFI with any suggestions they may have.

One of over 380 patterns from the “1902 Cork Collection of Salmon Flies”

Over to pike fishing, which has also been affected by high water levels. We received a number of competition reports from around the country. O’Casey’s Pike Club held their 2nd heat of the 2022 league last weekend on a lake in Co. Monaghan, while  Limerick County Pike Anglers were out and about last weekend as they continued their winter competitions. Leinster Pike Anglers also held their first competition of 2022 last week on three lakes in Cavan.

Waist deep wading produced results for the hardy Leinster Pike Anglers

Coarse anglers have also been engaged in various matches during the past week including the Leinster Coarse Anglers who were back on the banks for round four of their winter league. Elsewhere, C/M Lakelands held a feeder only club match at the weekend which was won by Brenton Sweeney with a nice bag of skimmers.

Decent bags for anglers at the C/M Lakelands feeder only club match

Finally over to sea angling, where reports have been scarce for quite some time due to the three storms which pounded the country in short succession. However, members of Killybegs Mariners SAC were out again and managed to catch some more mini-species and a few decent pollack and coalies from a number of rock marks in Donegal.

Mini-species fishing is becoming more and more popular. Here: a rock goby.

In Other News

The Irish Specimen Fish Committee would like to update anglers on progress with the 2021 Annual Report and Awards Day. The report is being finalised now with a view to being published in April. The usual Awards Day event held in February every year was postponed due to the COVID-19 situation, but it is planned to have an event at some stage in 2022. There are also some new Specimen fish rules for 2022. Further information is available here.

Inland Fisheries Ireland in conjunction with Blackrock Education Centre would like to invite primary school students around the country to design a poster that encourages greater conservation of Ireland’s native fish. This national poster competition is part of the ‘Something Fishy’ educational programme and officially kicks off this month. Free resources with further details about the competition are available from www.somethingfishy.ie

“Something Fishy” poster competition for primary schools

And now the weather

It will remain generally dry and clear tonight with widespread frost and icy patches forming as temperatures fall back to between minus 3 and zero degrees. The weekend will stay mostly dry and sunny with afternoon temperatures ranging between 7 and 10 degrees in light to moderate northeasterly winds. The start of the week, however, will see cloud building up with patches of rain or drizzle, chiefly affecting southern and western counties. Current indications suggest Wednesday and Thursday will turn increasingly windy with outbreaks of rain likely.

Safe fishing to all and tight lines, especially here in Ireland.

Markus Müller
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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