It has been a fairly dry week overall, showery at worst with some fairly calm conditions and bright sunshine at times, but plenty of overcast skies too. Temperatures have not broken any records either, and it looks like a less than memorable summer is unfolding. Some heavy rain in the west this morning may give hope to salmon anglers for weekend sport, however, and it is with salmon angling that we start.

The River Erriff suffered from low water for much of July, but rain later in the month brought a few spates, and a very creditable 86 salmon were recorded, with good grilse runs arriving over the last few weeks. Low water has meant few reports in this week, but there are credible reports of good grilse runs along the west coast in recent weeks. After a worrying spring and early summer, it is good to see good numbers of grilse arriving.

Ian Carter caught and released this nice fish in the Falls Pool

The Laune and Killarney system probably needs a bit of water, and there were just a few salmon reported here. The Munster Blackwater could also do with some rain, with a lot of fish holding in the estuary and lower river but proving rather sulky.

The World Cup Flyfishing Championships take place this week on Lough Mask, and we hope to report on this next week, with the best of luck and good wishes to the competitors. Lough Corrib saw some really good fishing at times during July, where the second hatch of mayfly arrived early and provided good sport for anglers fishing wet and dry mayfly patterns.

One of Johnny O’Brien’s better fish taken on a dry mayfly

Lough Lene has been fishing well for Mick Flanagan, where fishing into darkness on good buzzer nights is tempting fish. On this week’s Ireland On The Fly podcast, Daire and Tom chat with Oughterard native Paul Molloy about growing up on the shores of Lough Corrib, which fostered a great love for trout fishing.

To coarse angling, and Charlie Vallendar finished top of the pile after an intense five days of fishing at the Lough Muckno July Festival last week. He managed two tidy bags of 19kg+ on Day 2 and Day 4 and more than held his own on the three other days to finish with a total of 67kg+.

Leo Lynch kept up his winning streak in the Sensas/Dennett Summer league at Oaklands, coming out on top again with 75.880 kg. Elsewhere, Athy & District Anglers held the final leg of the John Shaughnessy memorial mini summer league  on Sunday in very sunny conditions, so the weights were poor enough. Ryan Olohan did enough on the day to take third and the overall league win. On foreign waters, the VDE Baggers represented Ireland at the World Club Championships in Slovenia, where they learned plenty but failed to make the podium this time.

Finally to sea angling, and we have some great reports to share from all around the coast. In west Clare, some diverse crews on the Isle of Aran caught a great diversity of species, from plentiful pouting to blue shark. Staying in Clare, anglers on the Clare Dragoon enjoyed great blue shark fishing as well as plenty of fish on the reefs.

On the east coast, Kit Dunne reports that the fishing in Wicklow has really switched on, with some fine pollack and ling falling to soft plastics, a great way to fish for them.

In Donegal, charter boat angling was very productive, with Adrian Molloy reporting the first bluefin tuna of the 2024 season, while anglers on the Kiwi Girl landed some fine porbeagle. The Killybegs Mariners club also went afloat on two small boats and caught a fine 19 species between them – great fishing!

And in Galway Bay, John Fleming reports continued good fishing for porbeagle shark, as well as plenty of species on the bottom, including some nice gurnards.

Tub gurnard

Our Catch of the Week goes to Adrian and crew on tuna.ie for the first bluefin of the year.

And now the weather

A wet morning here in the west has seen the rain slowly clearing eastwards, with brighter conditions following as it clears into the Irish Sea this evening. Highest temperatures of 17 to 23 degrees, warmest in the east, with moderate to fresh and gusty southerly winds.

Saturday will be a bright day with good spells of sunshine and a scattering of showers too, especially for the north and west. Highest temperatures of 16 to 19 or 20 degrees in mostly moderate southwest to west winds. A dry start on Sunday will be a false dawn, with a very humid airmass moving in and heavy and persistent rain spreading from the west through the afternoon. Be aware that local flooding is possible, and it will be a blustery day, the winds strong and gusty in coastal parts of the west and south.

A wet start in the east on Monday, but fresher weather as the rain clears eastwards, and the early part of the week looks fresher, with bright spells at times and moderate to fresh winds.

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

IFI Staff
Catch, Photo, Release

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