Since our last update, the country has been thrashed by two consecutive storms, Storm Isha and Storm Jocelyn. Hurricane force winds and heavy rain caused power cuts for hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses and disrupted travel. Thankfully no lives were lost here in Ireland. However, with peak wind speeds of over 140km/h and status red weather warnings in place for counties along the western seaboard, the two storms were some of the worst hitting the country in recent years.

So, it is no big surprise that the recent week has been one of the worst for angling for quite some time. As a consequence, we received just one angling report from County Kerry. Vincent Appleby is back for 2024 with his weekly reports from Lough Currane, which opened on Wednesday 17 January. The first three days of the new season, until the lake became unfishable, were quite promising with good numbers of anglers out on the water although no fresh fish were caught.

Currane
Great food prepared by Ghillie and pro Chef Tam on the shores of Lough Currane on opening day

With only a handful of salmon fisheries open so far, game anglers from far and near are looking forward to February 1st when more salmon waters will open their doors. In this context, Glenda Powell of Blackwater Salmon Fishing has some news from the River Blackwater where the official opening day including casting, fishing and blessing the river will take place next Thursday.

Staying with salmon fishing, Inland Fisheries Ireland would like to announce that a draw took place today Friday 26 January to allocate an initial 55 Brown Tags for the taking of salmon on the Lower Lee in County Cork. The Brown Tags for the successful applicants will be issued by post no later than Monday 29 January.

Concluding our salmon fishing news, we would like to draw your attention once again on a fantastic piece of video footage of salmon preparing to spawn. Check it out here or see it full size on Youtube here.

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Just like salmon anglers, trout anglers won’t have to wait too long before they can cast a line again. In the meantime, they might like to tune into the latest episode of the Ireland on the Fly podcast. This time, Tom and Daire are joined by Eamonn Conway, a well-known angler from Dundalk, who in 2016 took the leap and decided to set up his own fly fishing company. Eamonn also talks about fishing the rivers around his native Dundalk and has some tips for how his setup can lead to better catches.

Avid flyangler Eamonn Conway

Angling podcasts have become increasingly popular in recent yearsā€¦so has the Lure Fishing Podcast with Cormac Walsh! Ā As it has been a slow week for fishing here in Ireland, the latest episode of Cormacā€™s podcast crosses the Atlantic to hear from Galway native John Glynn who targets striped bass in the NYC metro area.

Finally, we would like to draw your attention to a number of informative videos.

With the recent storms not making for great angling conditions, for many sea anglers, now is a good time to plan a few summer trips, or to check out new marks. Well, it might be an old video, but James Raymond from Irish Angling Adventures has given us a blueprint to use when researching new shore marks.

In the meantime, Coarse anglers might get some new ideas from Damien Foltyn of the Irish Feeder YouTube channel who has released a couple of informative videos for his followers.

In other news

The Irish Spring Angling Fair will be opening its doors again this year in south Kilkenny. Donā€™t miss what has evolved into Irelandā€™s largest and only angling show of its kind this May. Building on the success of previous years, this year, the Irish Spring Angling Fair promises to be bigger and better than ever! The two-day event takes place on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th May 2024 at Ardaire Springs Angling Centre, located just outside Mooncoin, Co. Kilkenny.

And now the weather..

It will remain dry for most of tonight with a mix of clouds and clear spells. A few showers will occur, still mainly in the west and northwest. Lowest temperatures of 4 to 8 degrees in a moderate to fresh south to southwest wind, continuing strong in the west and northwest.

The weekend will see rather mixed conditions with further spells of rain at times, heaviest and most persistent in the north and west. The rain could turn heavy in places with a risk of spot flooding. It will be rather mild with maximum daytime temperatures ranging between 11 and 14 degrees, a good bit cooler at night with lowest temperatures of 2 to 5 degrees generally.

There still seems to be a good deal of uncertainty in the outlook. However, currently it looks like it will be generally unsettled with spells of rain and breezy conditions continuing and pushing in from the west.

SafeĀ fishingĀ to all and tight lines, especially here inĀ Ireland.

IFI Staff
Catch, Photo, Release

If you have anĀ anglingĀ story to share with theĀ IrishĀ AnglingĀ UpdateĀ please send it toĀ [email protected]Ā and donā€™t forget that all of our fishing reports are available on our dedicatedĀ Angling Ireland Facebook page.

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