The past week saw a continuation of the unseasonal weather. Unsettled conditions with localised heavy rainfall prevailed for most of the time causing further flooding and high water levels on many lakes and rivers throughout the country. World Drowning Prevention Day also took place during the week. In this context, it is still worrying how many anglers go out on small boats on lakes and the sea not taking appropriate precautions. This is also reflected in the number of photos we see of anglers in boats without lifejackets. There have been adverts on the radio all week asking us all to ‘do one thing’ to save lives. Particularly, boat anglers should ‘do one thing’ and wear a lifejacket or a personal floatation device when going out.

We received remarkably few salmon fishing reports this week which is probably a result of the amount of rain that fell recently, leaving many rivers unfishable. The Moy, however, produced good numbers of salmon for the week ending 23rd July just before another flood later that week made most of the river unfishable again. With regard to salmon angling, IFI would like to remind anglers to return their completed salmon angling logbook, as many anglers especially 1-day licence holders and 21-day licence holders may have completed their fishing for the season.

While we haven’t had many reports from the big lakes recently, it is great to hear that Lough Conn has obviously woken up again after the effects of the June heat and the heavy rains that followed. Anglers are catching and seeing trout in most parts of the lough which raises hopes for some better fishing in August and September before this year’s trout season comes to a close. Staying in the northwest, junior angler Nathan Austin did it again! Nathan, who already made our angling reports a couple of weeks ago with a superb pike from Lough Derg, landed another fantastic fish. This time he caught a 78cm trout trolling wobblers on a lake in Co. Mayo. Well done Nathan!

Nathan with his fantastic trout

Meanwhile, Paddy Dunworth of Celtic Angling was pleased to get back on a high and mighty River Deel in Limerick after more than a fortnight of flooding, guiding some American fly anglers who caught their first Irish wild brown trout.

Tom Bowen from the US with a wild Deel brownie

River trout anglers should definitely tune into the latest episode of the Ireland on the Fly podcast featuring the fabulous brown trout fishing to be had on the River Nore. This time, Tom and Daire speak to Dan O’Neill who guides on the Nore and also gives some insights into what it’s like trying to make a career out of fly fishing in Ireland

Elsewhere, Dodder Anglers and Dublin Trout Anglers joined forces recently to host a family fun day out at Southern County Fishery, Co Carlow. Over 30 people turned out on the day and 14 young anglers enjoyed the chance to learn about fishing and to have a go at casting a line.

Our last trout report for this week comes from Tomi Guided Fishing who have been back on the water after a break and don’t seem to have lost their great ability to get big ferox trout and pike for their clients.

Ferox for client of Tomi Guided Fishing

While July usually is a quieter month for pike fishing, predator enthusiasts throughout the country will be looking forward to this year’s Lough Ree King of the Lake Festival which will take place on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th September. This year, Lough Ree Lanesborough Angling Hub expanded the competition area to cover the entire length of Lough Ree, from Tarmonbarry Lock to the bypass bridge in Athlone.

High water levels and heavy rain also had coarse anglers adapting methods and changing venues for their matches. This was the case for four UK guests of Melview Lodge who did well on some Longford venues despite the bad weather and high water levels using both float and feeder methods.

Some nice tench, bream and skimmers for guests of Melview Lodge

High water levels, however, impacted on Tulla & District Angling Club’s pairs competition last weekend, while a day-long downpour did little to deter Leinster Anglers to fish the 3rd leg of the Leinster (open) Qualifier 23/24 on Annaghierin Lake near Shercock in Cavan. Staying in the Midlands, Tullamore & District Angling Club held a round of their junior league last Tuesday which was very well attended and won by Caoimhe Carroll with 5lb 14oz.

VDE Baggers’ fund raising match on Lough Muckno to support Youth Team Ireland also saw a great turnout. The €830 raised will definitely help the youth team on their way to the world championships at the end of the month.

Over to sea angling where the bluefin tuna season is up and running since this week. The first bluefin of the year, a fantastic fish estimated at 800lbs., was caught in Kerry shortly followed by more tuna catches reported from Donegal Bay.

First BFT of the 2023 season

Staying in Donegal Bay, anglers aboard the Fiona Tee enjoyed great mixed fishing including a rather rare John Dory. Mentioning rare species, we received a report from charter skipper Tommy McCallion about a juvenile amberjack caught by one of his clients off the Sligo coast. Amberjacks are normally found a lot further south and are more plentiful in the Bay of Biscay and have only been recorded occasionally in Irish waters.

Amberjack…very rare in Irish waters

Further south, along the Clare coast and the Shannon Estuary it was nonstop tope action together with some blues, porbeagle, spur & huss for Carrigaholt Sea Angling. Mark Gannon of Courtmacsherry Sea Angling Centre also reported some excellent fishing for his guests including four specimen skate, while  Jim Clohessy of TopFisher.eu was rewarded with some chunky pollack and the odd cod after a month-long wait due to the bad weather.

Specimen skate from Courtmacsherry

However, shore-based sea anglers also did very well during the week. David Norman of Angling Adventures West Cork availed of a window of opportunity during the recent unsettled weather landing a cracking sea bass. The Killybegs Mariners crew continued to catch big pollack from some Donegal shore marks, while shore anglers in the southeast experienced what could only be described as a tope bonanza! We received two great reports of several shore-caught tope from Wexford beaches in recent days which make our catch of the week!

Super tope fishing on Wexford beaches

Finally, we would like to draw your attention to IFI’s interactive, Irish Marine Recreational Angling Survey (IMREC) app, which enables anglers to log their catch details on their phones as they fish. According to new data Cork, Clare, Donegal, Kerry and Wexford had the highest catch rates per county.  Sea anglers of any experience are invited to sign up to the IFI IMREC app via the IFI website, and an explanatory how-to video guide to IMREC is available here.

Shore fishing
Shore fishing

In other news

A newly-published report by Inland Fisheries Ireland reveals a record percentage of wild salmon were released after being caught by anglers in 2022. Inland Fisheries Ireland’s  Wild Salmon and Sea Trout Statistics Report 2022 shows that five rivers in four counties accounted for 53% of all salmon caught in 2022 and outlines the total number of fish caught by all methods (commercial and angling, including catch and release).

Salmon released into water
Salmon released into water

The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications along with the Ministers for both Housing, Local Government and Heritage and Rural and Community Development are inviting applications from suitably qualified applicants to fill five vacancies on the Board of Inland Fisheries Ireland.

Fisheries owners and other angling businesses will be interested to see that amongst the various essential criteria is the following:

E. Angling Development and Tourism
Demonstrable Knowledge of the tourism product in peripheral areas and rural and coastal economies (in particular, an awareness of angling tourism, angling development, rural development, and employment and marketing potential in these areas where alternative opportunities may be limited based on development of angling tourism and community-based infrastructure.)

The closing date for applications is 15:00 on Wednesday 2nd August 2023

And now the weather….

Tomorrow will be a blustery day with sunny spells and showers. Some of the showers will be heavy, especially across the north and northwest with the potential for localised flooding. Daytime temperatures will range between 16 and 20 degrees Celsius with fresh westerly winds.  The beginning of next week will remain unsettled with further outbreaks of rain or showers expected. Current indications are that it will remain fairly changeable through the rest of the week with a mix of bright spells and showers expected.

IFI Staff
Catch, Photo, Release

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