Over the past seven days, rainfall amounts were once again below average across most of the country, with as low as 8% of normal at Casement Aerodrome, Co. Dublin; however, good news for river anglers on the western seaboard is that there were wetter than average conditions in parts of the west, northwest and far southwest. In these areas, between 28mm and 45mm of rainfall was recorded (120% to 190% of normal), with the most rain recorded in Co. Mayo, finally freshening up the rivers and loughs if only for a short while…

It’s in Mayo that we begin this week, where heavy rain over the August bank holiday caused water levels on the Moy to rise significantly and more rain since kept it high. When water is high, the spinner and the worm outperform other methods and that is how most of the 318 fish recorded on the Moy for the week ending August 11th were caught. In the south west, anglers struggled again on Currane, with mainly brownies and juniors moving to the fly, but over on the Inny a couple of good floods got the grilse moving and fish were landed on both spinner and fly.

Brendan Doyle with an 11 lbs salmon caught on the Ridge Pool

On the loughs and rivers, trout fishing has been slow. Celtic Angling made the most of the ‘dog days’ with some USA guests on the Deel while there were some very difficult conditions for those fishing the World Cup on Lough Mask at the start of the month. Anglers fishing on Lough Conn didn’t fare much better, with Sean Goulding the only angler to catch more than one fish as he won the Paddy McDonald Cup on August 10th. A new addition to the competition calendar, a one-day boat youth competition for trout, will be held on Sunday 8th September, at Rossinver Fishery Lough Melvin. The format will have two youth anglers per boat, fishing lough style and boatmen/boatwomen from around the country are volunteering to make this great event possible.

Three generations of New York’s Caseys fish the Deel.

With some good coaching and dedication, maybe some of the anglers who compete in the youth competition on Melvin can eventually represent their country at international level, just like the 15 young Irish anglers who won the gold medal to claim an unprecedented four-in-a-row at Grafham Water in England. This gold adds to their consecutive wins in Scotland, Wales and at home in Ireland in the last few years. The Irish team and coaches win our Catch of the Week this week for their tremendous achievement.

For those trout anglers as interested in the trout’s diet as the trout themselves, a Water Heritage Day Webinar will take place on Sunday, August 25th @ 10am, exploring the Mayflies of Ireland. The talk, hosted by Dr. Jan-Robert Baars, will cover the ecology and biology of mayflies, what we already know about mayfly in Ireland and share some interesting insights recently gained from the ongoing project

Predator fishing in freshwater has been slow this week, but that didn’t stop young Senan O’Reilly from catching a smashing 7lb pike in tough conditions on Lough Derg. Nor did it stop the Lough Derg Perch Bonanza, where Team Perch measured in a Top 5 of 178 cm to take the inaugural Perch Bonanza title.

Coarse angling has been steady in the past seven days. The final qualifier for the Ireland’s FeederKing event took place on Lough Sillan last weekend, with everything to play for ahead of the grand final to be held in September. At Oaklands Lake, Sion Pritchard won the seventh round of the Sensas Dennett Summer League netting nearly 37kg on the day. This weekend the NCFFI are hosting the World Club Championship Float Qualifiers on Inniscarra, where 10 teams will battle it out to represent Ireland at the World Championships which will be held on Inniscarra in 2025. On the weekend of August 24th & 25th, teams are invited to take part in the All Ireland Feeder Club Championships in venues around Carrick-on-Shannon – the winners of this can then go on to represent Ireland at the FIPSed World Feeder Club Championships of 2025 to be staged in Serbia.

Finally we head to the tides and in Clew Bay, Declan Moran finished top of the pile as he took first prize at the Annual Newport Sea Angling Festival. Over 60 anglers fished this fantastic event and prizes were awarded to all categories of anglers who competed over the weekend’s fishing. In south Clare, the Shannon estuary provided a safe haven for charter skippers, and both Carrigaholt Sea Angling and Fishing Adventures Ireland were glad to be able to shelter their crews from the worst of the winds and swells. Pollock and tope were among the species captured by those anglers, with one or two other species to keep things interesting.

Seeking similar respite from the rough seas were anglers fishing with Courtmascherry Sea Angling Centre, they found bass feeding within the estuary and used livebait to great effect there. On dry land and away from rough seas were the ever active Killybegs Mariners SAC who took a trip to a local pier during the week and managed seven species in an evening’s fishing: smoothhound, rock goby, black goby, ballan wrasse, whiting, pouting and poor cod. Last, but most certainly not least, is Cormac Walsh’s Lure Fishing Podcast and this week Cormac talks with Emlyn O’Toole, who Cormac describes as the ultimate bass angling ninja! Once again, the discussion is packed with tips, tricks and some great insight into how to approach bass fishing in Ireland.

bass

And now the weather

Friday night will remain dry for much of the country under broken cloud. Lows of 8°C to 12°C in mostly light southwest breezes.

Saturday will be cloudy with scattered showers, though parts of the south and east will stay fully dry with sunny spells. Highs of 15°C to 19°C in moderate southwesterly winds.

Dry under broken cloud on Saturday night, with lows of 9°C to 13°C in mostly light westerlies. Sunday will be dry with a mix of cloud, the odd shower and some sunny spells. Highs of 16°C to 21°C, in moderate westerly winds, with cooler, breezier weather moving in early next week.

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

IFI Staff
Catch, Photo, Release

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