It’s definitely looking like one of those summers. The south and east have been dry, and the word drought is being bandied about, while the west and north have seen a lot of rain, and fields are waterlogged, but it’s a bit hit and miss as to which rivers are getting the benefit of it. It’s been breezy on and off, at times a bit too windy for good angling and other times hardly a breath of wind and muggy, close conditions set in. Depending on where you’re fishing, it’s been anything from poor to perfect…

Specimen skate - one of 6
Specimen skate – one of 6

We’ll start with the perfect. Kevin Burns took his friends out charter boat fishing with Courtmacsherry Angling Centre. Skate was the target. There were six hook-ups, and six skate landed – all specimens! Other anglers out with Courtmacsherry Angling Centre have had good fishing too, with specimen blue sharks and even specimen cod brought to the boat. We’re givingĀ Courtmacsherry Angling Centre’s anglers Catch of the Week for this impressive performance. Senan Stanely was fishing a Clare pier for wrasse and has a great video showing just how easy it can be to catch fish. A great guy for promoting angling, he even shared his rod with by-standers and onlookers so they could enjoy the fun. Further up the coast at Killala Harbour, anglers charter boat fishing caught pollack, ling, pouting and spurdogs with Donal Kennedy. Not too far away fishing the Sligo coast was Archie Sztejno with his son Xavier who had his PB wrasse and pollack.

pike
Birthday boy Ben with a 102cm pike

One lucky angler celebrated his 70th birthday by catching pike to 102cm with Kevin Lyons at Melview Lodge. English angler Ben had two days pike angling followed by two days coarse fishing. The second day of coarse fishing was the better of the two and a good bag of hybrids and roach was caught. In other predator fishing news, American anglers out with Bodo Funke had some super perch over 40cm, giants by Irish standards.

tench

In other coarse angling news,Ā CM Lakelands Feeder Club held two separate matches last Sunday on Loughs Skeagh and Drumkearragh.Ā Both venues saw top catches of 11kg weighed in. Artur PikeSeeker likes to target tench at the end of June and into July. He has been getting some nice fish in the 50cm bracket. The second of the two qualifying matches for the š—”š—¹š—¹ š—œš—暝—²š—¹š—®š—»š—± š— š—²š˜š—µš—¼š—± š—™š—²š—²š—±š—²š—æ š—–š—µš—®š—ŗš—½š—¶š—¼š—»š˜€š—µš—¶š—½ was fished at Oaklands at the weekend. Grazvydas Karalius took first position with 34.720kg. Staying at Oaklands,Ā Adrian Browne won the first John Kearney Memorial Match with 37kg. The VDE Baggers visited Gaulmoylestown Lake and had epic carp fishing – Caolan King had a whopping 229lb, closely followed by Paul Hutchman with 223lb and Aaron Hutchman with 216lb.

Fishing on the Nore

Peter Driver at Piscarifly tells us the River Nore is fishing fairly well at the moment. The evening rise is in full swing, so thereā€™s plenty of good dry fly action. Paddy Dunworth has been busy guiding on the Maigue, where visiting anglers are enjoying their time on the water despite the river being so low. On the lough front, we have news from Lake O’Flynn whereĀ daddy long legs, sedge and fry patterns are working best.

Benjamin Weltz, River Erriff
Benjamin Weltz, River Erriff

Water levels on theĀ Munster Blackwater remain low, but grilse are starting to run, with fish between 2.5 and 3.5kg reported from the lower and middle sections.Ā Catches also improved on Lough Lein and the River Laune. There were 8 grilse reported from the lake and 3 better Salmon to 18lb were also caught. There were similar numbers of grilse caught on Lough Currane and a few fish were caught on the Inny and Roughty Rivers. Leaving Kerry for Galway, we learn that Costello has seen some great sea trout fishing with anglers getting as many as 17 to the boat. The Erriff is also seeing good sea trout numbers and a few salmon, as rain seems to be doing some good there.Ā Rain in the Moy catchment has cooled water temperatures, andĀ there were fish caught throughout the system, with around 50 coming from the Foxford area alone.Ā Sea trout fishing on the Moy Estuary was seeing trout to 2 and 3lb caught, but winds saw most trips cancelled.

Other news

Bass Angling Workshops

David Norman has added additional dates to his Bass Lure Fishing Workshops schedule –Ā Thursday 10th & Friday 11th July. For more information seeĀ New dates added – Angling Adventures West Cork bass workshops

World Club Championship Coarse Fishing

The National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland are appealing to members of all communities for their help in stewarding the 44th edition of theĀ FIPSed World Club Championship Coarse Fishing for Clubs, which will be fished on Inniscarra Reservoir on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th July. If you would like to get involved, please visit https://www.ncffi.ie/wcc25-2/volunteer-wcc25/ for more details.

Contact:

And now the weatherā€¦

It looks like a good weekend for anglers as Saturday is set to be a dull day with patchy light rain and drizzle. The best of any sunny spells will be in the south and east, where it will be warm and humid. Highest temperatures will range between 14Ā°C in the northwest and 22Ā°C in the southeast, in a moderate westerly breeze. Much the same on Sunday, but it will be a fresh day with a gusty northwesterly wind. Next week will start out cloudy with just occasional sunny intervals. It will be dry in most places with just the odd shower. Highest temperatures ranging from 14Ā°C in the northwest to 20Ā°C in the southeast, in a moderate northwesterly breeze.

Donā€™t forget to double-check theĀ forecastĀ before heading off, and if youā€™re going to sea,Ā check the tides.

Safe fishing to allĀ andĀ 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 toĀ reports@fisheriesireland.ieĀ and donā€™t forget that all of our fishing reports are available on our dedicatedĀ Angling Ireland Facebook page.

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