Philip Thornton and Kevin O’Boyle report from Ballina on the last hurrah on the River Moy.
The final week of what has been a challenging season from an angling perspective saw a reported catch of 81 salmon, with 39 of these released. Water levels remained low for the month of September with no sign of any significant rainfall until the last three days of the month.
Water levels taken from www.waterlevel.ie on the Monday morning 26th at Ballylahan Bridge were 0.222m and rose early Wednesday morning to 0.531m before dropping slightly. A significant rise was seen in the early hours of the 30th and continued to see out the season. The closing stages of the season saw an improvement in catch returns as anglers got out to make the most of the fishing.
The effort to conserve the Atlantic salmon was made evident this week. East Mayo Anglers reporting a total of 1037 salmon caught for 2022 of which 43% were caught and released. This is an encouraging statistic in an effort to help stocks flourish.
The Moy Fishery reported 4 sea trout for the week, all released.
Cloongee Fishery reported 7 salmon caught.
Mount Falcon Fishery reported 12 salmon for the week, all caught on prawn and released.
Coolcronan Fishery reported 1 salmon for the week, caught on bubble and fly.
Armstrong’s Fishery recorded 10 salmon, caught on the bubble and fly.
Gannon’s Fishery recorded 4 salmon, 2 released.
The Foxford Fishery reported 15 grilse, with 10 released.
Foxford Salmon Anglers reported 9 salmon caught.
East Mayo Anglers reported 14 salmon for the week of which 11 were released.
Ballina Salmon Anglers reported 8 salmon, 4 released.
Attymass Anglers reported 1 salmon.
So that’s it for another year! Our thanks to regular contributor Kevin O’Boyle and all his colleagues at the Moy Fishery and Ballina District for their help over the season. We’ll be back with regular reports from the River Moy next Spring.