It’s a great summer we’re having! A bit earlier than usual, but what can you do? We’re enjoying (enduring?) a long dry spell that has been getting warmer and warmer and there’s still more to come. Unfortunately a number of rivers and lakes are running low and some are heating up. So freshwater anglers, please take this into consideration when you are handling and releasing fish. Sea anglers are not complaining though as the settled conditions are just about ideal for getting out…

We’ll start with salmon angling this week. There were reports of another few salmon from Ballisodare since our last report. There are some fish about but with the conditions there are not many anglers about. It was another tough week for anglers on Currane where the bright sunshine was compounded by light winds, never a great mix for lake fishing.  Staying in Kerry we had just one salmon reported from the Laune as water levels on the river remain low. Levels are dropping on the Moy but there were a few salmon landed here and there including the first of the season from the Ridge Pool. Sea trout anglers in the Moy Estuary are meeting a few fish and hopefully this continues through the season.

The Ireland On The Fly podcast talks about the salmon run on the Munster Blackwater with Conor Arnold. The show opens with a report from Tom Doc on the mayfly fishing on Corrib and it’s all well worth a listen.

Glen Calvert, beating the odds on Lough Sheelin

With that we’ll get into the trout angling reports. What better place to begin than Lough Sheelin where hordes of anglers afflicted by Mayfly Derangement Syndrome have been busy trying to outwit trout with carefully tied and delicately presented decoys. Unfortunately the trout are not as fanatical as the anglers and were less inclined to play their part given the conditions – brutal. Word of mouth from other mayfly venues confirms that this is not a localised phenomenon. Getting a trout is not impossible but it is hard work. On Lough Conn there is a good hatch of mayfly but angling pressure has been low (unsurprisingly). Anglers on Lough Corrib report that fishing been tough in the bright sunshine, but when there is a good breeze sport is possible for those prepared to search for fish. River anglers are getting some better sport it seems. There are good daytime hatches being seen on the Nore and there are opportunities for more experienced and beginners anglers on rivers in Co. Limerick. Staying with beginner anglers Tolka Trout Anglers are offering free angling tuition and water awareness lessons on Wednesdays.

Cathal and Jacko with their big bream

On to coarse angling next. Johnny Bailey won the Blackwood Bait and Tackle Gaulmoylestown match with an impressive 123lb 13oz.  Lugan CAC, former World Champions and current silver medallists, were in top form on a challenging Lough Muckno at the weekend where they won the All Ireland Feeder Club Championship. Canal fishing at Monasterevin has been challenging due to fish spawning, warm weather, bright sunshine, and a huge amount of surface, drifting weed.  5lb 8oz was all it took for Bob Hulme to secure his win there. Oaklands Fishery had the first round of their Summer League at the weekend. The event was won by Sion Pritchard with 68.580kg. A couple of well known adventurous coarse anglers reported some great bream fishing from a non traditional venue – Lough Corrib. Another adventurer, Paul Waghorne, completed a 3 week angling safari that he reports on. Finally tickets are on sale for the Big Meadow 2-Day Coarse Match in Athlone and the All Ireland Method Feeder Championships Qualifiers.

In pike angling news there are reports of good fishing the Longford area where one Italian tourist has been getting fish to 113cm with Melview Lodge and French visitors are also enjoying great sport.

We’re nearing the end of our round up this week, time for a dip in the sea. First off we have the first blue shark of 2025 reported to these pages. Skipper Dave Edwards of Courtmacsherry caught and released a lovely 195cm blue shark last Friday afternoon which wins out Catch of the Week. Staying in Courtmacsherry, Mark Gannon reports good pollack fishing on the reefs and excellent bottom fishing for conger, skate, bullhusss and ling. Also in West Cork congratulations go to the group of sea anglers who raised €926 by holding a Darkness into Light fishing session. We have a small boat report from Cork Harbour where spurdogs, megrim, whiting and blue whiting provided the entertainment. Heading east we stop to once again offer congratulations, this time in Wexford to young Jake Melia who caught a 65cm bass at 6 years of age, quite the feat! Cormac Walsh of the Lure Fishing Podcast reports plenty of bass about in his area with some big garfish on the prowl too. To the north Kit Dunne reports good numbers of tope off Wicklow with his anglers getting plenty of fish on every trip. We circle back to Galway Bay to complete the sea angling round up. It was sunshine and species galore for anglers fishing with charter boat skipper John Fleming as they got stuck into pollack, coalies, ling, sandeel, poor cod, pouting, ballan wrasse, cuckoo wrasse and more in glorious weather.

Warm water warning…

IFI advises that the Moy, Erriff, and Galway fisheries may be closed to protect fish from potentially lethal thermal stress. In warmer temperatures, all anglers should limit handling to ensure fish are safely released. Unhooking fish without removing them from the water is preferable. When water temperatures exceed 18C any additional stress can be fatal to many fish.

And now the weather…

Saturday will be yet another dry day with plenty of sunshine. Highest temperatures of 17°C along eastern fringes to 24 or 25°C in the west, all in light to moderate easterly or variable breezes. These warm, dry and mostly clear conditions will continue through to Thursday, though a few mist and fog patches may develop with showers possible later in the week.

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 reports@fisheriesireland.ie, and don’t forget that all of our fishing reports are available on our dedicated Angling Ireland Facebook page.

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