Despite rainfall totals for the month of June being below their long term averages and sunshine totals for the month of June being about 10% above average, the month was a full 3°C colder on average than June 2023 and colder than the long term mean overall. The first week of July hasn’t been any better, and with cool, gusty, changeable weather to continue into next week, anglers will have to choose their sessions wisely to get the most out of them.

To sea fishing first and we have news this Friday morning that the Irish men’s and women’s senior teams have both claimed the gold medals at the Home Nations Shore Championships held in Scotland. The under-16 team took silver in their event and the under-21 team took the bronze – well done to all on a tremendous result.

Back home, the windy conditions of late have made for uncomfortable boat fishing at sea, or kept some skippers inshore, but reef and wreck fishing has been excellent for those willing to brave the choppy seas. In West Cork, anglers fishing with Courtmac Sea Angling Centre have had a skate bonanza offshore, great conger and ling on the reefs and everything from ray to good size bass inshore, while the Silver Dawn has started to get some shark action to add to their great skate fishing.

Two fine skate
Two fine skate

Closer inshore, Angling Adventures West Cork had fine bass and wrasse on the kayaks before teaming up with Eire Bass in east Cork to land some unusual species on the fly! In Galway Bay, the Brazen Hussy II has done well on the reefs and also landed the first couple of porbeagles of the summer, while on the shore, the Galway Bay SAC held the latest leg of their Master Angler League on Whitestrand where weavers, bass, flounder and some nice turbot kept the anglers busy. In Donegal, Killybegs Fishing Trips had a very rare catch – a torsk – a fish that skipper Michael hasn’t seen since working on a trawler in the nineties, while Adrian Molloy of tuna.ie landed bluemouth, megrim and the first two blue sharks of their season.

Before we leave the coast, we have one more offering of interest to the saltwater angler, as Cormac Walsh of the Lure Fishing Podcast returns with a really insightful chat with south east bass expert, Pat Gallagher – this one is not to be missed.

In freshwater, coarse angling has been mixed with some late spawning roach deserting the swims, as was the case for the VDE Baggers’ match on Muckno; club members had to work hard to bag a bream or hybrid to be in the placings. It was a similar story for anglers competing in the Ireland’s FeederKing qualifier at the same venue, where skimmers and small hybrids made up the weights, but some bigger bream separated the wheat from the chaff. A handful of the Munster CAC made it to Silvergrove in Clare for a knock up where small weights meant a tight finish, but over on Oaklands, in Wexford, small weights are uncommon and Leo Lynch emptied peg 32 for a weight of 131kg to win the match there.

Oaklands

The ever-active Lough Ree Lanesborough Angling Hub have begun their summer coaching series – an initiative that IFI are proud to support. During the series, budding young anglers are taught how to land coarse fish in a safe environment by the club’s fully qualified coaching team of Philip and Mary. If you are interested or know somebody who might be interested in taking part, contact the club at [email protected].

Another young angler catches at Lanesborough

The relatively cool weather hasn’t done the pike fishing any harm, with some great catches on river and lake. In the midlands, well known angler Mick Flanagan – who was kept off the loughs because of high winds – had great sport on the surface as he caught Inny pike with a combination of frog and duck lures. Not too far away on Lough Ree, a grandfather/grandson team took a day’s guided fishing with Chris Scally of Fish Tales, where they broke PB after PB. Also after big pike on a wild lough was well known lure angler Senan Stanley, who fished for all the freshwater predators with pal Daniel; perch, pike and some smashing trout made the day a memorable one for them!

69cm trout

Also fishing for trout were father/daughter trio PJ, Rosie (6) and Annie Maguire (9). The trio were only trolling 10 minutes on Inchiquin when the rod Rosie was holding buckled over. Rosie wins our Catch of the Week for the fabulous 9lb trout that she landed single-handed – well done Rosie! Peter Driver of Piscarifly reports that the Nore has been fishing well, but we don’t have reports in from any other rivers this week – apart from the Ireland on the Fly Team who speak with John Buckley about the Irish team’s sixth place finish at the FIPS-Mouche World Championships in France.

Rosie's big trout from Inchiquin
Rosie’s big trout from Inchiquin

Finally, we turn to salmon angling, where fishing improved on the Galway Weir Fishery and the Erriff whenever the water levels came right in June. The Weir saw 150 fish caught during the month, with a good average size of 6lbs or so and very few below 4lbs.  On the Erriff, fish were of a similar size with a few fish in the 8-12lbs bracket as well. The River Moy saw its best season of the year so far with over 400 salmon reported, while sea trout anglers on the Moy Estuary enjoyed a decent week’s fishing. Grilse are making their presence known on the Munster Blackwater near Ballyduff, where some good spring fish are also featuring in the catches. Over in Kerry, the rivers badly need water but anglers fishing on Currane have landed both salmon and sea trout this week, with 8 salmon reported and sea trout up to 4lbs.

An Erriff salmon

In other news

Inland Fisheries Ireland calls all sea anglers to participate in the 2024 IMREC Survey. The Irish Marine Recreational Angling (IMREC) Diary was launched in 2021 to help monitor recreational catches of marine species in our waters. A primary aim of the project is to collect data that will help all stakeholders to better manage, conserve and protect the fisheries resource, thereby providing benefits for recreational sea angling in Ireland and supporting those small businesses involved in the sea angling sector.

And now the weather…

Friday evening will bring long spells of rain with the chance thunderstorms and spot flooding, with a yellow rain warning in parts of the east overnight. Highs of 14°C to 18°C with a light southwest or variable breeze. lows of 7°C to 9°C overnight.

Saturday will bring sunny spells and showers extending south east through the afternoon, turning heavy in parts. Highs of 13°C to 17°C with a moderate west wind. Clear spells and scattered showers overnight, lows of 7°C to 9°C in a light westerly.

Sunny spells and showers on Sunday, with some heavy or possibly thundery downpours likely in the afternoon. Highs of 13°C to 17°C in a variable breeze. Showers to die out early on in the night, leaving a mostly dry night with clear spells. Lows of 6°C to 9°C in a light northeasterly breeze.

Monday and Tuesday will see more sunny/showery weather with highs of 14°C to 20°C in a light breezes.

Don’t forget to check the forecast before heading off and if you’re going to sea, check the tides.

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] and don’t forget that all of our fishing reports are available on our dedicated Angling Ireland Facebook page.

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