It was another cold and mostly wet October week, but the sun was often eough, giving a bit of respite. While it was windy, it wasn’t so bad that it kept everyone off the water and we have river, lake, shore, small boat, charterboat and even kayak angling reports for you this week…

As the last of the salmon and sea trout rivers closed on October 12th we have a couple of final reports from Lough Currane, where a few sea trout were caught and released at the weekend. We also have a round up of last month’s fishing at Delphi. With the season over it’s now time to return your angling logbooks (fishing and catch record) and any unused gill tags by 19 October 2024.

Trout nymphs

It’s the off season for trout fishing too, and while we don’t have angling updates, we do have some excellent angling advice for beginner fly anglers from Dan O’Neill in his River Whispers series. We also have a round up of the river season from Ireland on the Fly who are talking to the very same Dan O’Neill this week.

perch
With such great reports this week we have a junior and senior Catch of the Week. Riain and Gearoid win the junior one with their perch to over 40cm

The River Whispers series also has a ton of advice for beginner coarse anglers, it’s well worth checking out. In east Clare, rookie anglers Rìain and Gearoid had a great day catching perch to over 40cm, despite the wet conditions. Further up the Shannon system at Portumna 3 clubs hosted separate competitions and there were were good weights recorded.

pike
Our other Catch of the Week winner, Gerald Schimetta

Austrian fly angler Gerald Schimetta had exceptional pike fishing with guide Bodo Funke last week. Fishing the fly he had 39 pike over 90 cm! Nine of these fish were over the coveted 1m mark with the best making 111cm. Gerald takes the senior Catch of the Week accolades.  Staying with fly fishing Norbert Renaud is back with a new video this week with some top tips for fly selection over the winter months. We also have reports in from the River Inny, where good doubles were taking deadbaits, another midlands venue where only jacks were biting, but there were a lot around, and Lough Erne, where big pike to over 20lb were caught from boat and shore in the Erne Pike Classic. Lastly in pike angling, the closing date for applications for Pike Master Ireland is today, so don’t delay if you’re thinking of taking part.

Bullhuss with beautiful leopard spots

We start our coastal round-up in Clare this week. Charter skipper Sean Maguire saw a good mix of species while fishing the drift, but once they were on anchor the dogs took over. It was another big shark story from Luke Aston whose crew brought 3 sixgills of about 800lb each to the boat after finding the bluefin tuna hard to tempt. Up in Donegal the tuna were more obliging and some great fish to over 500lb were caught despite some very rough seas. The Killybegs Mariners fished a competition at Malin Beg. Conditions were tough and the catches reflected this but some good sized flatties were landed nonetheless. Last week, we reported on a crew of Dutch anglers braving some tough conditions while fishing in Wicklow with Kit Dunne. Things haven’t improved for them but at least they’re still catching fish. Fishing around Wexford, Cormac Walsh of the Lure Fishing Podcast managed to get some nice bass on the top this week. Last Friday saw mirror calm conditions around east Cork and Jim Clohessy made the most of the opportunity and was soon catching ling to over 23lb, the biggest he’s had in a few years. Kayak angler, Dave Norman, finally got afloat to fish after a long break due to unsuitable conditions and he found good sized pollack waiting for him too. Finally, Inland Fisheries Ireland is proud to sponsor the 59th World Championship Boat Angling for Seniors which is being fished from Crosshaven this week. As of yesterday, Ireland were in 3rd place overall after 3 days of fishing. Fingers crossed for an Irish win!

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.

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.

Agus anois an aimsir…

As we go to press it is already windy in places with Storm Ashley set to arrive over the weekend. There are small craft and gale warnings in operation for all coasts of Ireland until Saturday night with exceptionally high supermoon spring tides with coastal flooding possible in coastal areas over the weekend. There are also Yellow and Orange wind warnings across the country for Sunday. Winds will ease on Monday to leave a predominantly dry day with sunny spells and just a few showers in Atlantic coastal counties. Maximum temperatures of 12 to 15°C in moderate to fresh southwest winds. Much the same on Tuesday with a few brighter spells thrown in.

Keep an eye on the weather and check the forecast for your area before making any plans.

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].

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