Having enjoyed a dry and balmy start to April, the weather gods have balanced the books over the past week by giving the country a good soaking. Rainfall amounts have been 3 to 5 times the average in most areas, with the south getting the worst of it. No surprise, then, that it has been duller than normal, with the sun often hiding behind thick banks of cloud, and the south again faring worst. Temperatures have remained around average, though, and the wet and mild weather has brought on a spurt of growth, as our hedgerows are now bursting with whitethorn flowers, nature’s promise that summer (and better fishing?) is only around the corner…

It seems that the coarse anglers have been the most active over the past week, as a number of club competitions and festivals took place around the country. Beginning in the north, the Erne Easter Festival was held in the Enniskillen area over the weekend, and the fishing was pretty good, with some of the daily bags reaching double figures. Gary Johnson fished the 3-dayer very consistently, averaging over 10kg a day to give him a final weight of 31.325kg and taking him to the festival win ahead of Aaron Hutchman, who had managed the biggest single bag of the week, an exceptional 23.425kg caught on day one of the festival. A little further south, the IASCaire Feeder Fishing Club hit a local lake in Co. Cavan for the third round of their spring league. Unfortunately, the fishing didn’t quite compare to the quality north of the border, and the guys had to grind it out, with Dykun Pavlo taking the win with 5.650kg.

Aaron Hutchman had the biggest bag of the week on Day 1 of the Erne Festival

The fish were certainly switched on down in Portumna for the Boathouse Bar 5 Day Festival, as daily bags in the 40lb and 50lb class saw some fine weights registered, none better than Dave Brooks, who’s tally of 276lb saw him finish 10lb ahead of Bruce Pennell in second. Weights were also pretty good down at Inniscarra, where the Dave Bacon Memorial Feeder Festival took place over three days. Thirty anglers competed for the trophy, but it was Neil Richards who was on a winning streak, backing up his festival win earlier in the week, to complete a fine double win by finishing top of the pile for this one, with a 33.95kg total. Unfortunately, we have saved the worst till last in the coarse angling round-up, and the unlucky Munster Coarse Anglers fished an extremely tough 2-dayer on Lough Bridget in Co. Clare. There were seven dry nets over the two days as anglers had to scrounge for every bite, with the result that a pretty paltry 3lb 13oz bag for Patrick O’Neill was enough for him to take the win. Now, to some notices of upcoming events. Firstly, the Belmont & District Fishing Club are hosting an Open fishing competition on Sunday, the 27th of April, on the match stretch of the Grand Canal at Shannon Harbour, and all interested anglers are welcome to participate. Secondly, any aspiring canal angler could do worse than to head for Daingean this weekend, as the All-Ireland Canal Championships will take place there over two days, and you will be able to see some of the top canal anglers in action.

Portumna festival winner Dave Brooks averaged over 50lb a day

Trout fishing seems to have been pretty patchy over the past week, with our reports indicating that fish were hard to come by. Dan O’Neill found the River Nore to be unfishable for part of the week, but when he did get out with a client, they were able to winkle an odd trout or two out using a pheasant tail fished under an indicator. Over on the river Suir, George McGrath did well to find a bit of decent dry fly fishing, as a hatch of olives brought the fish up, and George has kindly shared his killer fly pattern with us. Things were tough enough on the loughs, and the twenty anglers fishing the Leinster TAFI competition on Lough Owel had to deal with a cold and windy lake. A huge hatch of olives in the afternoon failed to bring fish to the surface, but Fergal McKiernan managed to tempt five fish to finish in pole position. Lough Sheelin anglers also struggled with cold, northerly winds, which have put a hold on the buzzer fishing, which usually comes to the fore in late April. Anglers who persevered did pick up the odd fish, though, the best of which was a fine 5.5lb trout taken by Martin Ryan fishing with wets. We wrap up the trout news out in the west, where angling guide Jasper Matthews saw a bit of action for clients fishing wet flies, and even managed one for himself fishing dries.

Best Sheelin fish of the week, a 5.5lb trout for Martin Ryan

To sea angling now, and it seems things have been relatively quiet around our coasts over the past week, but even on a lean week, we can always count on the Killybegs Mariners for a fishing report, and they fished the ninth round of their shore league over the weekend, where Chris Whyte took the win with 98 points. At the other end of the country, the New Ross & District SAC held a club competition at Ballyhack over the weekend, and they got into the thick of it quickly, with plenty of double and triple shots of flatties coming in. However, it was a 52cm bass that swung things in the favour of James Ryan as it helped him to the win on the night. Bass angling on the south coast seems to be picking up, and Cormac Walsh took advantage of some good tides and mild weather recently to tempt a few bass on hard plastics. Keith Barker also got in some good bass fishing in the Waterford area, where an early morning session brought him four super bass between 64cm and 74cm.

Chunky bass from the Waterford coastline

To salmon angling now, and news that the rainfall over the Easter weekend brought some fish into the Ballisodare system, and the first couple of salmon for the season were landed by Noel Barber. They both weighed around the 7/8lb mark and were caught using a Snaelda tube fly. Those same rains failed to do much to raise water levels, or spirits, down on Lough Currane, where Vincent Appleby reports another slow week on the lake, although we did hear of at least one salmon caught on the lake by a visiting angler. Daire Whelan of the Ireland on the Fly podcast did his first ‘on the river’ broadcast from the Slaney during the week. And, chances are, he’ll be eager to do one again pretty soon, as things turned out a bit better than he had expected. We wrap up the salmon section with news of some recent brown tag lotteries, as results were posted for both the Easkey and Roughty draws, which were held during the week.

angler lands a salmon at Ballisodare
First fish of the season at Ballisodare

To pike fishing now, and a group of four visiting French anglers had a fantastic trip to the midlands area recently. Staying at Melview Lodge, the group had 183 pike, with plenty in the 90cm+ bracket and a few over the magic meter mark. Angling guide Senan Stanley was also amongst the pike during the week, albeit in an unconventional way… Fishing for perch with a tiny lure rod and a 2-inch lure, a cracking pike smashed the lure, and he managed to boat it despite the light tackle. Finally, 10-year-old angler Evie Harkness from Ballymena stuck to her task last weekend as bites were hard to come by on a small lake in Cavan. Her grandfather patiently rowed her around the lake while she cast lures into the margins to no avail. But a switch up in tactics finally brought a reward, as a nice pike engulfed her trolled lure and was quickly landed, measured, photographed and returned. Coming in at 91cm, it beat her previous PB of 80cm, and it wins Evie this week’s Catch of the Week.

All smiles for Evie, with her new PB 91cm pike

We wrap up this week’s Angling Update with a reminder that the Irish Spring Angling fair will be taking place over the May Bank Holiday weekend. It’s going to be a highlight on the Irish angling calendar and there will be something of interest for anglers of all disciplines.

And now the weather

Today has seen widespread rain across most of the country, with some heavy showers in places. The rain should clear eastwards as the day progresses, and tonight will be relatively dry with temperatures of 3 to 8°C. Saturday will see spells of sunshine in most areas with the odd light shower, and temperatures of 13 to 17°C. There will be some rain overnight on Saturday, but this should clear on Sunday morning, giving a mostly dry day with some well-scattered showers. Monday will be much the same, but it looks like Tuesday will see a break in the weather and we can look forward to a more settled spell of warmer, drier weather.

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.

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