It was too good to be true. The sunny weather of the weekend faded away for some, but for others it was washed away fairly dramatically in Thursday’s rains. It felt warm at times last week and there has definitely been a step forward in the season, whitethorn is blooming, the trees are looking greener, fly hatches are getting bigger, fish are feeding well (at times)…

We have a few salmon reports to get the Update started this week. On the Moy, three spring salmon to 12lb were caught and released on the Foxford Salmon Anglers water and the East Mayo Anglers Association reported two fish to 10lb. Lough Curanne in Kerry saw another couple of springers caught and staying in Kerry, anglers had another couple of fish on the Laune as water levels dropped.

“The fly is up!“

News just in from Lough Corrib is that “the fly is up!”. April hasn’t been plain sailing for Corrib anglers, but last week saw good reports coming in from all over the lake, and with Mayfly on the menu in the last couple of days the fishing should really heat up over the weekend. Anglers fishing Lough Conn’s Devaney Cup didn’t have an easy time of it, catching mostly undersized trout in difficult conditions. However, they report seeing small hatches of mayfly, and water levels are starting to drop, so there is an expectation that fishing will improve there too. Eighty boats were out on Lough Arrow on Sunday for the Stream Development Competition. It started damp but turned into a lovely day, especially for Ciaran Reilly who took first place with a trout of 570mm.  We cross the country from west to east where the Dublin Trout Anglers Association had a hugely successful Anna Livia Trophy on Bohernabreena Reservoir. Record sizes and numbers of trout were caught, the biggest being Fran Nugent’s 3.315lb fish. Southward now to the River Nore where the bit of heat saw better hatches of Olives and March Browns last week. Most fish were still coming to nymphs, but they were starting to come to the dry fly too.

Innovative lure maker, Artem Novikov, crafted a unique caster lure which he used to great effect on tench. Fishing over groundbait he caught 4 tench between 45cm and 47cm.  The final match in the 25th Munster Team of Four was won by Munster Polish Team at Ballyshunnock at the weekend. The winners of the League overall were once again Oaklands Blue, who also took the honours last year. The CM Lakelands Feeder Club fished the Dromore system.  Brenton Sweeney fished 3 lines, 18 metres, 33 metres and 40 metres to catch 120 roach for 5.790 kg, best on the day. The club also announced the dates and venues for their new event, the CM Lakelands Open Cup.

Blue skies and bright sunshine made for tough pike fishing in the 4th heat of the O’Casey’s Pike Angling Club river league. Some decent fish were caught with winner Paul Reynolds catching 5 fish for 18lb 15oz. Italian anglers fishing in the Midlands area put down a couple of hard days last week before the pike switched on and they started catching. With a few fish over 1m landed they returned to Italy happy anglers in the end. In the Longford area French pike anglers fished the fly for pike. They endured some windy conditions which were not the best suited to fly fishing but managed a good number of fish over their holiday.

Our saltwater reporting starts off the Clare coast where charter skipper Sean Maguire is back fishing on his Boat Isle of Aran. His crew, over the the USA, caught a good mix of pollack, some good coalfish and some mackerel were also putting in an early appearance. Galway Bay skipper, John Fleming was also back in action this week. Sunny weather made for a fun day out and the crew had some nice pollack, wrasse and a few early mackerel. Canadian angler, Mark Dunlevey reports on his trip out on with Donegal’s Northwest Charters. Catching pollack, coalfish and wrasse he enjoyed the kind of day that makes your shoulders ache and your heart race. We finish our coastal round up with the Killybegs Mariners who had some fine shore angling over the weekend with spotted rays,  thornback rays, a mix of flats and some sea trout caught and released.

And now the weather

Continuing mixed with spells of rain and showers over the Bank Holiday weekend. Temperatures will also trend cooler.

Saturday will bring a good deal of cloud and scattered showers. Showers will turn heavy, through the afternoon and evening, especially in Connacht, Ulster and the midlands with isolated thunderstorms possible. Slightly cooler with highest temperatures of 12°C to 16°C and light southerly breezes.  Much the same on Sunday but eh winds, light, will shift to the northeast. It will be drier and a little cooler on Monday in light to moderate northerly breezes.

I’ve seen worse forecasts, and there are no weather warnings in place at the time of writing, so get out and go fishing. Just 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 this May Bank Holiday weekend, 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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