well the summer may be officially over, but Autumn is starting with some nice weather, with temperatures up to 24C today here in the West of Ireland.

August proved a very windy month, with the jetstream settled over Ireland and drawing in windy weather almost constantly. So a respite from the constant wind was welcome over the last week, with some fine settled days giving sea anglers in particular a much needed boost.

Charter boats have suffered of late with the windy conditions, so it is no surprise to see some good charter fishing reports this week from around the country. In Donegal, some Belfast anglers enjoyed fantastic fishing with Saoire Mara charters, the highlight being a fine 4lbs tub gurnard.

Near specimen size tub gurnard

In Galway Bay, settled weather produced some fine fishing for anglers on the Brazen Hussy II, while in Clare Luke Aston’s guests had some great sport on the deeper reefs, as well as some blue shark and tope. Also in Clare, the Isle of Aran was out in the good weather, and guests enjoyed some fantastic fishing, including some great spurdogs.

Fine spurdog

Courtmacsherry Angling had some fine fishing, with superb skate and ray fishing from inshore marks, while their first bluefin trip of the season was a success, with a fish of 87 inches brought to the boat and tagged. West Cork Charters also spotted bluefin inshore, but the plan was shark fishing and the plan was achieved, with 6 shark virgins catching their first ever blue, while skipper Dave Edwards also landed a fine stone basse.

First stone basse of 2024 for Dave Edwards

 

In Wexford, skipper Walter Rankin reports that fishing on the Karen Ann out of Kilmore Quay has been pretty good with a variety of species caught.

Sea temperatures are at their warmest now, with the greatest range of species available to be caught. One unusual species better known from warmer waters is the bonito, and one was caught this week at St. John’s Point in Donegal! The rarity of the catch makes this our Catch of the Week.

A very rare catch in Irish waters…Bonito from the shore

Another unusual catch was made by Cormac Walsh, he of the Lure Fishing podcast fame, who fished a likely mark for bass/pollack in Cork, but the fish that took his Sandy Andy lure was a very unexpected John Dory!

David Norman from Angling Adenture West Cork has had a frustrating time recently, with all of his August booking s cancelled due to weather, but he finally got out with Darren Cousins and put him over some great pollack fishing, including a new PB.

The senior anglers at the Belmullet Two-Day Festival had to play second fiddle to the young Gilvarry anglers, wth Billy taking the overall win and Sally Gilvarry the best junior angler title.

While August was frustrating for sea anglers, the wet and wndy weather was a boon for our spate rivers, with great fishing reported from the Erriff Fishery, with the best fish a 15lbs salmon for Kevin Mitchell.

Kevin Mitchell with his 15lbs fish (released after photo)

Fishery manager David McEvoy says that last month was the wettest August at Delphi since 1985, even beating 1986 when readers of a certain age (ahem!) will recall the remnants of Hurricane Charlie giving us a right soaking. The wet conditiosn produced great salmon fishing, with 79 salmon reported for the month, and sea trout fishing is going really well into September.

A fresh grilse for Rich Taylor (catch photo release)

High water on the Moy made for difficult conditions and much reduced angling effort, although 61 salmon were reported from the river for the week.Hopefully a bit of settled weather will bring it into fishing order again soon. In Galway, August was a washout, with 12 salmon reported for the early part of the month, but water levels rapidly increased and it looks like staying high for most of September too.  A few fish came from the Laune, although there were none reported from the Killarney lakes, and salmon fishing continued to be regarded as poor on the Munster Blackwater.

While rivers in the west have experienced floods, those in the east have been less affected, and some superb trout fishing was reported from the Nore by Peter Driver. Dan O’Neill also reports great dry fly fishing there for his guests.

Georges Milan with a nice trout

Kevin Lyons from Melview Lodge in Longford is better known for coarse angling, but he guided a US visitor to some excellent trout fishing on lure.

Richard from the US is all smiles with this cracking trout

A few fish were reported from Loughs Conn and Cullin. Elsewhere, Lough Arrow is open again and local anglers are back in action, including this fine fish for young angler Josh Smith.

Lovely Lough Arrow trout caught by local angler Josh Smith (age 11)

 

Coarse angling is getting busy with festival fishing again, and belated congratulations to Dara Finnegan on winning the inaugural Athlone River Festival match on the Big Meadow in Athlone recently.

Winner Dara Finnegan with fine net of Bream

Donal McGuirk won the 5th leg of the Leinster Open at Annaghierin Lough in Cavan, while Dutch visitors Bert and Ronald enjoyed some great fishing in the midlands while staying at Melview Lodge.

Bert and Ronald with one of their great catches of bream and tench

 

Conditions were tough for Lauren and Stephen, guests of Chris Scally from FishTales but perseverance paid off and they were rewarded with some good pike action on Lough Ree.

Also on Lough Ree, 35 teams fought it out for the Lough Ree Predator Challenge, the best yet in its 4year history, with some great pike to 108cm landed, as well as trout to 75cm and perch to 36cm.

Other News

go fishing fund

Inland Fisheries Ireland(IFI) is seeking applications to a new €250k fund enabling those who are disabled or disadvantaged to enjoy fishing and related activities.

IFI’s Go Fishing Fund 2024 will provide angling supports to people with a disability or restricted mobility, or people facing social, economic, or educational barriers.

Applications for the scheme can be submitted via IFI’s dedicated portal from today until November 7th, 2024.

For more details read our post here

And now the weather…

Warm and mainly dry for the rest of today with long spells of sunshine developing in most areas. It will be cloudy at times in the south with the chance of some coastal showers developing there later. Highest temperatures of 20 to 25 degrees with light to moderate northeasterly winds, fresher at times near eastern coasts.

Largely dry tomorrow with a mix of cloud and sunny spells, best in the west and north, with the odd shower in Munster and Leinster.. Highest temperatures of 19 to 24 degrees in light variable breezes. Turning dull and cloudy for Sunday with some patchy rain and drizzle and a chance of heavier rain in the southeast. Becoming drier towards the evening with sunny spells developing. Highest temperatures of 15 to 19 degrees in light to moderate N/NW winds.

Monday will start dry and sunny in the morning before turning cloudier from the west with well scattered showers following. A cooler day with highest temperatures of 14 to 19 degrees in moderate, occasionally fresh, westerly winds.
Tuesday sees sunshine and showers expected, most frequent in the north where they may be heavy. Highest temperatures of 11 to 16 degrees in moderate to fresh west to northwest winds, strong at times in the north and northwest.

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

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