There was a time when the end of Lent saw people in Ireland take to the streets to whip the herring out of town so they could get stuck into their Easter feast after a long fast. Most anglers reading these reports would know the chance of a herring would be a fine thing after the long, windy winter that reached into March and even April. Although it had settled a bit, the winds are up again, and some parts of the country even got a bit of rain, with the promise of more to come over the weekend.

Calm Currane just about to head out, 11 April 2025
Calm Currane; just about to head out, 11 April 2025

Whatever rain there was, it wasn’t enough for salmon anglers and reports from the south west are that the rivers there are still at summer low levels. Lough Currane’s anglers are a persistent bunch but they are not getting much back for their efforts. In other salmon angling news, Ireland on the Fly talks to Patsy Peril, who co-wrote (with Deirdre Nuttall) ā€˜Swimming Upstream: one manā€™s fight to save the Atlantic salmonā€™. Itā€™s a fascinating memoir about the life of a netsman on the River Shannon, the importance of salmon to the local communities and the impact of the hydro scheme at Ardnacrusha – this episode is well worth a listen.

bass
Specimen bass from Co. Kerry and more wins Catch of the Week

Sea anglers on the other hand were pretty busy last week. The easterly winds didn’t go away altogether but they were light enough for small boat anglers to make a run and we have shore and charter boat reports too. Up in Donegal the Killybegs Mariners started their night league. The weather made for stunning photos but the fishing was less thrilling. Moving down the coast, small boat anglers targeted thornback and undulate rays, and Tralee Bay didn’t let them down. Meanwhile James Raymond of Irish Angling Adventures was fishing from Kerry’s productive shore and hadĀ thornback, painted and undulate ray, with smoothhounds and bass to specimen size, our Catch of the Week. Small boat anglers in Cork Harbour were also out at the weekend. Offshore reefs produced good pollack and wrasse for one and a mix of fly and lure fishing along the coast turned up some bass for the other. Bass reports also came in from Wexford’s shores where one lucky angler had his first fish after years of trying. We finish our coastal roundup at Kilgorman Beach where the 2nd leg of the Leinster League found the fishing to be tough as a strong southerly made for difficult conditions.

trout
Glenn Calvert pale sea trout colours from Sheelin

Back to our rivers and lakes now for the trout fishing update which was also pretty busy despite the bite that the easterly wind always has. Dan O’Neil had some great fishing on the Nore recently, where water temperatures are low but the air temperatures are good, and he even enjoyed fishing in short sleeves for a while, as olives hatched around him. Peter and Mark Driver have also been out and about and have had a chance to enjoy the fishing on the Nore, Avonmore and the Little Brosna. Our Sheelin correspondent, Brenda Montgomery tells us the sunny weather and soaring temperatures did the lake no good,Ā as water temperatures remained low and hatches were poor. That said there were still trout to 6lb reported to her office. Denis Goulding reports that there has been a bit of buzzer fishing on Owel and that the Leinster Corcoran Cup was won with a fish of 6lb. On the River Liffey the North Kildare Salmon & Trout Anglers Association fished a competition over the weekend in very pleasant conditions. Olives were hatching and 52 trout were caught and released with plenty of other fish that didnā€™t meet the measure also returned.

Bruno with a fine pike in t-shirt weather

Flat calms and bright weather were not much good pike anglers last week, particularly those fishing our lakes. One angler bucked the trend though and set himself a new PB on Lough Ree while fishing with Fish Tales. Meanwhile, French anglers in Longford got their week’s fishing at Melview Lodge off to a great start despite the t-shirt weather.

To coarse angling now where festivals and competitions dominate our angling reports. It was nearly all roach in the Oā€™Callaghanā€™s Feeder Festival 2025 on Inniscarra so weights were slightly down from last year. Still, Neil Richards managed an impressive 33.25kg to win the event. One festival finishes and another starts. The Portumna Festival kicked off this week and already there have been some huge bags to over 60lb weighed in with 2 more days of fishing left. Up on Mucko the usually reliable roach were absent and so weights in the CM Lakelands Feeder Club open were not huge. Cavan Coarse Anglers wrapped up their league at Killeshandra over the weekend. There were hybrids to 4lb and some nice tench caught but small fish added up and 25g made all the difference in the end. The Erne at Enniskllen fished very well for the VDE Baggers who saw top weight of 22.9kg in their Slawek Siembida memorial match which raised Ā£500 for the Mindwise charity.

Finally, the Under 25 World Feeder Championships were fished in Spain last Friday and Saturday with Team Ireland finishing in eighth place overall fishing a very unfamiliar venue. A frustrating day for the team but they look forward to using the experience to get them back on the podium again.

Other News…

Sean Cassidy ofĀ onthewater.ie was back in touch once again with more good news. They have added three more clubs to their online permit shop. Anglers from home and abroad will welcome this development.

The Ā Southern County Fishing Resort Open Day was a big success and novice and beginner anglers enjoyed the presentations and workshops on offer.

And now the weatherā€¦

Heading into the long weekend we have a few weather warnings in place for wind and rain. There are Small Craft Warnings all day tomorrow and Saturday and Status Yellow rain warnings for Galway, Mayo, Kerry, Cork, Waterford, Wexford, Carlow and Kilkenny. With that you can expect tomorrow to be wet and breezy with showery rain, heavy at times with a risk of localised flooding. Highest temperatures of 9 to 13Ā°C with moderate to fresh easterly winds. Much the same on Saturday with the worst of the rain in the south east and the outlook is for a drier day on Sunday with the winds moving to the southeast. Bank Holiday Monday will be a classic April mix of sunny spells and showers with temperatures of 11 to 14Ā°C with a moderate to fresh south to southwest wind. That sounds like a good fishing day.

Inland Fisheries Ireland is reminding anglers to exercise great care for their own safety and that of angling partners this Bank Holiday Weekend. Check out our angler’s safety checklist here.

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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