Kevin O’Boyle reports from Loughs Conn & Cullin…
There were favourable conditions on the lakes for most of the week until the weekend when some bright and warm sunshine made the fishing more difficult. Overall the lakes are not fishing well, with little or no fly life hatching. Shallow bays are still fishing better than deeper water. Best flies over the week included, dry Mayfly patterns, Mayfly nymphs, dry Olives, Bumbles, Dabblers,Wolffs and Olive emergers.
A few parties fished out of Murphy’s Boat Hire in Massbrook over the week with some reasonable trout fishing. While most anglers encountered a lot of small and undersized fish, still a few keepable fish were reported caught.
A party of 4 anglers from Kildare fished Lough Conn over the June Bank Holiday weekend going out from Murphy’sBoat Hire and despite tough conditions they managed to catch a number of trout including a nice 16 inch fish for group member Dermot Preston. Dermot’s trout took a wet mayfly attractor.
A group of 6 anglers from Wicklow, averaged 3 keepable trout each over 3 days,on Lough Conn. All these fish were released.
Bob Alias and 5 friends from Manchester had some good fishing at Coleman Shallows and averaged 3 trout each, best fish was 1.5 lbs, all caught on Mayfly patterns.
Jim Martin and Gary Piggott from Belfast, along with Dave Norton and Dave Cawley from Dublin reported a lot of small fish to the boat. All fish were released including some trout for around 1.25 lbs.
In North Conn, Stephen Byrne and Andrew Black from Dublin had some good fishing along the islands near Castle Island, with a good few fish to the boat, best weighing 1.5 lbs.
Lough Conn and Cullin Anglers held their annual Whit Weekend trout fly fishing competition for the Tolan Traynor Cup. 92 anglers fished over 2 sunny days. 14 trout were weighed in the first day and 13 trout for the second day. A 13 inch limit was applied. Mr. Padraig Traynor was the overall winner with 2 trout caught in Kents Pool, on a Mayfly Emerger for just over 3.5 lbs. Padraig won a Sheelin Boat for his efforts. Second place went to John O’ Neill with 2 fish and third place was claimed by Micheal O’ Toole with 2 fish. There were numerous other prize winners.
Elsewhere, Simon Leonard from Ballina, had 2 nice trout, fishing along Kents Pool and Inishlea Point.
A party of Polish anglers had a few trout and some perch while fishing Tolans Bay and Longford Bay on dry Olives one evening.
Regulars Peter Roche and Gary Binley reported some fish caught in Cloghans Bay and outside mostly caught on Green Wulffs. The best fish to the boat weighed 1.5 lbs and all fish were released.
Reports from Lough Conn say that 10 salmon (grilse) were caught, 7 trolling spoons and 3 on the fly, 2 of these released.
