We had the usual mix of weather over the last week which impacted angling to varying degrees depending on where you wanted to go fishing. In short it was another slow week for most of us. We had more strong winds, particularly at the weekend, which at times made boat angling impossible in many places. It was wetter than usual on much of the west coast with up to 199% more rain than normal and fields nationwide are somewhere between saturated and waterlogged, keeping the rivers somewhere between high and flooded. It’s been nearly a couple of degrees warmer for much of the country, though still frosty at night recently, so fish remain slow to feed most of the time. Those clear skies have seen the south east live up to its sunny reputation with nearly twice as much sunshine as we’d expect for the time of year, but that could have been a positive depending on your point of view…
The big news this week is that another spring salmon has been caught. Lough Currane’s anglers had put down another quiet week during which with strong winds had made the lake unfishable at times. But then on Wednesday Dominic McGillicuddy caught a fine 9lb fish which is Lough Currane’s first salmon of the season. Staying in Kerry, Anglers interested in entering the first lottery draw for a Roughty River brown tag have until midnight on Sunday, 23 February to apply. For more information see IFI opens first draw for Roughty River brown tags. There are still a couple of days to enter the brown tag draw for the first round of tags on the Easkey, anglers can apply until the 09 February. Anyone not motivated enough to fish for spring salmon in cold conditions but who is looking forward to salmon fishing later this year will enjoy Andrew McGall’s Summer Grilse on a Clearing Spate video.
Sea anglers had some great sport in the south east last week. Saul Page did particularly well in the Irish Winter Shore Angling Festival. He won 1st place in the individual competition and was also featured in the winning teams for of 2 man and 4 man competitions. Up in Mayo there was a good turn out for the The Michael Quinn Memorial Competition. The way the catches came it was open to the end but Billy Gilvarry had enough done to win the senior event and Danny Harty took the honours in the Juniors. It looks like the annual National Mullet Club Irish meetup may be becoming one of the main events in Irish mullet fishing. The winner of last years event was recently announced, so congratulations to Jim Murray for winning the NMC Irish Shield with 7lb 3oz thick lip mullet.
Coarse reports are thin on the ground. There have been some decent catches at times around Athy, and we’re also heard of a decent net of fish caught at Portumna, but it is from Scarriff where we got our only full report of the week. There were hundreds of roach caught but the weights were in the low single digits. Congratulations to Ian Kelsey and Kevin Leahy who tied for First Place.
Coarse and pike anglers have a lot of reading ahead of them in Dan O’Neill’s latest River Whispers blog. Junior and novice anglers will certainly find a lot of interesting tit bits that should help improve their angling. This week Dan looks at pike, perch and dace on fly, feeder fishing, method fishing and more…
And now the weather…
There will be a cold, dry and bright start for most on Saturday morning; cloudier across eastern counties however with some showery rain in places. Similar conditions will persist through the day. Cool with highest temperatures of 4 to 7°C in a light northeasterly breeze. There’s another cold night ahead with frost and icy patches in some areas as temperatures fall to between -2 and +3°C in a light northeasterly breeze.
Sunday will be mainly dry and cloudy, with just a few light showers near eastern and southern coasts. Highest temperatures of 5 to 8°C with light to moderate easterly winds.
Sunday night will be milder with Monday turning cloudy and breezy with outbreaks of rain possible in the northeast and southwest. Highest temperatures of 4 to 9°C. Hopefully the fishing picks up…
Don’t forget to double 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.
All the angling news
Salmon Fishing Reports
- Dominic McGillicuddy catches Currane’s first salmon of the season
- Few chances for Currane salmon anglers as strong winds persist
- Summer grilse on a clearing spate…
- IFI opens first draw for Kerry salmon anglers for 2025 – Brown tag conservation regulations come into force on Roughty River
