W
eatherwise last week has been a typical autumn week with a mix of sunny intervals and showers, cool mornings and generally breezy conditions. Parts of the country saw some heavy rain last weekend which resulted in rising water levels in places but thankfully didn’t cause severe flooding which was forecast for several regions.
Now that the salmonid season has come to a close on most waters, the main angling focus lies on pike, coarse and sea angling with the coming weeks probably among some of the best for pike fishing in general. So it actually comes as a little surprise that we only received a handful of pike reports this week.
However, let’s start in Boyle where Bodo Funke of Angling Services Ireland has been out on the water again after a short break, this time guiding two Dutch lure anglers who both managed to land some metre pike with one of them a personal best.
Meanwhile the Limerick County Pike Angling Association managed to find a venue that wasn’t affected by flooding for their latest outing last Sunday. Their efforts paid off and they were rewarded with a fine day totaling 35 fish for 110lbs. Longford angler Gintaras Vosylius has been in touch reporting some super river pike angling. Gintaras has only had two short sessions on the River Inny with the deadbaits so far this season, but managed to land a cracking river pike on each visit. Over to County Monaghan where day tickets are once again available for pike fishing on Milltown Lake near Castleblayney. This popular pike venue has already produced some excellent pike during opening week and could be well worth a visit.
Concluding our pike news for this week we would like to congratulate Team Ireland who finished third in the recently held World Predator Championships on Lower Lough Erne. The competition which took place over three days was fished by boat using artificial lures only for perch and pike with fish measurements turned into points. Â Team Lithuania came in as clear winners finishing in first place on each of the competition days, with Latvia in second overall.
While Irish predator teams were competing successfully at the World Championships in County Fermanagh, the Senior and U25 feeder teams were battling the world’s best at the World Feeder Fishing event in Hungary. And battle they did, as the U25 team secured the silver medal, second only to the host nation! This was truly an outstanding performance from John Browne, Brian Clark, Dominykas Kuklys and Charlie Richards who represented our U25 team in Hungary…well done lads!
Staying with coarse angling and feeder fishing in particular, last week Robertas Zilaitis won the 2024 Celtic Masters Feeder Festival with a total weight of 69.700kg. The festival was fished over 5 days at Inniscarra, Co. Cork with 49 anglers competing. Further north at Portumna, coarse fishing has also been excellent over the past weeks with several festivals and club matches taking place producing great weights for anglers. Anyhow, this time of year usually marks the start for numerous winter leagues through the country and this year is no different, with the Enfield Winter League commencing last week on sections of the Royal Canal and round 1 of Lower Bann CAC Winter League fished at Portglenone. The Erne Winter League with a record attendance of 51 anglers kicked off as well and was fished in good conditions; the tournament will be fished over ten rounds in total.
On the sea angling front things were a little quieter as previously…probably due to the unsettled, breezy conditions of late. Having said that, some great fishing was had during the week by sea anglers around the coast. Starting in the east, Kit Dunne of Wicklow Boat Charters enjoyed top class fishing with a group of anglers from the Netherlands who had 40 sharks to the boat on their first day and 70 on their second. The Dutch anglers had new personal PBs broken on bullhuss, tope and spurdog with a specimen spur being the icing on the cake so far as their trip isn’t over yet. We believe, this combined result deserves to win this week’s Catch of the Week!
However, boat anglers were also successful along the west coast. Skipper Seán Maguire reported some fine mixed fishing aboard the Isle of Aran along the Clare coast, while a little further north, Blue Shark Angling Galway, based in Ros A Mhil, also caught some nice fish on recent trips, with plenty of tope on the ground. They also found some good sized pollack and some surprise red bream! Another surprise catch was reported from Northern Ireland where a rare triggerfish was caught during an outing with Causeway Boats.
At shore, Killybegs Mariners continued with their great beach fishing of previous weeks with more painted ray, good sized flounder and fine turbot.  Elsewhere, members of South Shore SAC had to scramble to find a venue for last Sunday’s match as the planned venue, Kilgormon Beach was deemed unfishable on the day. They settled on nearby Ballinoulart Beach, which looked promising, with a nice surf running and were rewarded with plenty school bass, flounder, dabs and whiting.
Concluding this week’s Angling Update, we have a look at Lough Currane one of the few remaining salmonid fisheries which are open until tomorrow. Vincent Appleby who has led us through the angling year in a profound and witty fashion reported on a few last sea trout for the Currane & Inny anglers…with just one day to go on Lough Currane, sea trout anglers already look forward to the start of the 2025 season.
We would like to take this opportunity to remind all salmon and sea trout anglers to return their angling logbooks (setting out their fishing and catch record) and any unused gill tags by 19 October 2024!
Finally, we would like to recommend the latest episode of the Ireland on the Fly podcast to our readers. In this week’s episode Darryl Mooney talks about his involvement as the fly manager of the upcoming Irish Fly Fair and some of the incredible fly tyers who will be jetting in from around the world. Plus Darryl tells Tom & Daire about an incredible trip to Bosnia for grayling that he had this summer and gives some interesting insights of the flyfishing industry.
Other news
Irish Fly Fair
The 12th annual Irish Fly Fair and International Angling Show is back in Fermanagh next month. This prestigious event will be held at the fabulous four-star Killyhevlin Hotel and grounds overlooking majestic Lough Erne. Dates are set for 16th and the 17th of November and doors open at 10am both days.
Specimen Fish
The deadline for submitting specimen claims is approaching fast. If you were lucky enough to catch a specimen fish this year and want to claim it, get your paperwork into the ISFC as soon as possible so that the ISFC can assess it. All specimen claims to be submitted by 31 October. Further information is available here.
And now the weather…
Tonight will be dry in many areas with clear spells in Leinster and Munster. Rain will develop In the northwest by midnight and will extend over much of Connacht and Ulster overnight, heavy in places. Lowest temperatures of 1 to 5 in the south and east and from 6 to 9 degrees elsewhere with light to moderate southwest winds, fresher near northwestern coasts.
Saturday will be a windy day along northwestern coasts with outbreaks of rain. The rain can turn heavy in places. Highest daytime temperatures will reach 8 to 10 degrees in Ulster and 11 to 13 degrees elsewhere. Saturday night will be cold and mostly dry with clear spells. Lowest temperatures of 1 to 5 degrees with light, variable breezes.
Sunday will see a mainly dry start with cloud gradually thickening from the Atlantic through the day. Patchy outbreaks of rain and drizzle look likely to affect coastal counties of the south and west from afternoon, with the rain turning heavier and more persistent during Sunday evening and spreading elsewhere.
Current indications suggest that mixed and changeable conditions will persist for most of next week.
Safe fishing to all and tight lines, especially here in Ireland.
IFI Staff
Catch, Photo, Release
If you have an angling story to share with the Irish Angling Update please send it to [email protected].
All the angling news
Salmon Fishing Reports
- A few last sea trout on Currane as season runs to a close
- 2024 Salmon & Sea Trout Angling logbook returns
Coarse Angling Reports
- Full house for first round of Erne Winter League
- Robertas Zilaitis wins 2024 Celtic Masters Feeder Festival at Inniscarra
- Round 1 of Lower Bann CAC Winter League fished at Portglenone
- Richard Pulford wins Portumna festival, good fishing continues
- Enfield Winter League commences
- Silver and bronze for Irish teams at World Championship events
Pike Fishing Reports
- Metre pike for Dutch lure anglers in Boyle
- Rain doesn’t stop play for Limerick County Pike Anglers
- Silver and bronze for Irish teams at World Championship events
- Pike season begins on Milltown Lake
- October best for Inny piker
- Mackerel hit and miss, but good bycatch in Clare
- Great fishing in tough Conditions for Dutch anglers off Wicklow
- Scramble for venue leads South Shore SAC back to Ballinoulart
- Rare catch for Causeway Boats
- More painted ray and some nice flatties for Mariners in Donegal