The weather over the last was a right mixed bag. We had some fairly dry days over the bank holiday weekend, followed by a wet and wintry spell, with sleet and snow in places yesterday. I suppose, at least we didn’t have any new storms to contend with! The days are slowly lengthening, with a noticeable ‘grand stretch’ in the evenings, and thoughts are turning to longer days and better weather ahead.

We start with sea angling, where club competitions are underway again for the new season. West Cork & District SAC held a competition at the Wall in Monkstown, a former renowned cod mark, but now producing mainly whiting. Hectic fishing saw Troy Francis pip JP Molloy to the win with 43 fish in a 4-hour match – that’s some catch rate!

Whiting were also the main quarry just the other side of the channel, where Rebel County SAC held a competition at Cobh, with over 300 fish between 19 anglers providing good practice at speed fishing, and Jim Cotter coming out on top.

The inaugural Micheal Quinn Memorial competition was held by Killala BC at Lacken, where heavy surf made for tough fishing, but former world champion Timmy O’Sullivan included a fine 36cm turbot in his winning catch to show that class is permanent.

Kit Dunne from Wicklow Boat Charters has endured a frustrating start to the year due to weather, but some better conditions at the weekend saw him get out with a crew for a short session. It proved a great decision, with 30 spurdogs landed, including 11 over specimen size. A few lucky anglers reached their 3 specimen quota for the year in jig time, so there were smiles all round when heading back to port.

Pike anglers are also enjoying great sport in some locations, and we have some fine fish to report this week. Peter Sheridan has spent a lifetime chasing, and obsessing over, an elusive river 30, and Bank Holiday Monday proved an auspicious day for him, when he finally achieved that dream with a cracking fish of 31lbs.

Peter with his dream fish

At the other end of the fishing spectrum, young Harry Walsh was a novice on his first pike trip with the Dublin Pike Anglers to the Erne. Fishing under the watchful eyes of some old club hands,  Harry stunned the wise old sages by landing his very first pike – the fish of a lifetime, a superb specimen weighing in at over 30lb 13ozs!

Harry’s cracking 30!

There was great pike fishing on Lough Derg too, where a guest of Paul Bourke (Irish Fishing Tours) had a number of great fish, capped off with a beautiful 109cm.

To coarse fishing then, where we have a most unusual report this week. Jonathan Andrews was fishing Lough Allen at the wekend for roach and hybrids when he landed a very silvery, herring-like fish that turned out to be a pollan, a native Irish species left over from the last Ice Age. These fish are rare enough, and almost never caught by anglers.

pollan

The VDE Baggers finished up their winter league at the weekend, with the leaderboard very tight coming into the match, and even tighter at the finish, with a 3-way tie for the title. It came down to a countback on weight, with Aaron Hutchman pipping John Walker and Grzegorz Bojczewski with a total catch of 31.010 kg.

Aaron came second in his section with this bag

An end peg draw proved useful for Adrian Browne, who won the 7th leg of Oaklands winer league with 75.8kg.

Salmon angling is still fairly quiet, with no fresh fish reported from Lough Currane yet. High winds at times meant little fishing effort, and we must wait at least another week for white smoke here.

Daire and Tom were back talking salmon fishing this week on the Ireland On The Fly podcast. With the opening of the Blackwater on February 1st, Daire & Tom caught up with Conor Arnold, the guide and casting instructor who they spoke to previously on the show, to find out how opening day went on the river and what we can expect over the next few weeks.

Kerry anglers who fish the Roughty are invited to apply for brown tags, with the first draw for tags being held on February 27th.

Catch of the Week

We had two amazing contenders for Catch of the Week this week, both 30lb+ pike that are simply spectacular fish. In the end, we went for the fish caught by first time junior angler Harry Walsh, a fine pike of 30lbs 13oz. It’s all downhill from here, Harry!

Harry and his monster pike

Other News

Courtesy Brian Ruane. ©Limerick City and County Council.

Permits for the ESB salmon fishery at Castleconnell on the River Shannon are now available on our permit shop here . Daily, weekly, and season permits can now be purchased online. This adds to the growing list of fisheries where permits can be purchased online, from Cork to Donegal and many points in between, with more being added all the time. Check out the list of permits you can buy online here.

 

And now the weather

Showers, showers, more showers. Showers today will be followed by showers on Saturday, some heavy, with spot flooding possible!  The best of the dry weather tomorrow will be in the north/northwest. Highest temperatures of 7 to 10 degrees in mostly light to moderate variable winds but with a fresher NW wind developing in the southwest.

Sunday sees early fog/frost clearing to leave a day of sunny spells and scattered showers, some wintry and most frequent over the west. Winds freshening with highest temps of 6-9C. Remaining unsettled for the early days of next week, with further showers, some wintry, rain and drizzle. The longer-term outlook suggests it is likely to remain unsettled, with further spells of rain at times.

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

IFI Staff
Catch, Photo, Release

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