It has been another fantastic week in Ireland for Nivea, Ambre Solaire, Cien and La Roche Posay, as temperatures once again hit the mid to late twenties for large parts of the country and factor 50 was in demand. The fine spell of weather makes all finds of fishing more difficult, but the exceptionally high water temperatures are once again ruining the best made plans of salmon anglers.

Those high water temperatures and low water conditions are causing problems for salmon anglers in places, with some IFI managed fisheries either closed or likely to close under our warm water protocols. The Galway weir did fish well after the previous closure towards the end of last week, with 18 fish landed on Friday as soon as the fishery reopened. The Erriff was slow to start this season, with the first grilse reported landed by Niall Lynch in the Middle Garden Pool on June 29th. In Sligo, the last two weeks at Ballisodare Fishery have been very successful, with grilse arriving in big numbers and a bigger average size than previous years. In Kerry, there were several fish reported from the Laune and Killarney lakes, while over on Currane, there were 6 salmon caught last week and anglers also landed a couple sea trout.

Garrett Ruigrok with a grilse approximately 5.5 lbs, caught on Beat 2 and subsequently released. Garrett has been having a great season in Ballisodare having in excess of 10 salmon caught with all released.

To trout fishing, where young angler Adrien landed an incredible 86 cm wild trout while fishing with Florent from Pike Pro Ireland on Lough Derg. Adrien jointly wins our Catch of the Week. It was a productive month at Ballinlough Fishery near Westport, Co. Mayo, where 28 rods accounted for a total catch of 80 trout. Ballinlough is a shallow, limestone lake of 22 hectares located 3.2km north of Westport and is managed by IFI, with permits available online. A total of 40 Loughanure anglers took part in the McBride Memorial Competition where conditions were tough, but everyone enjoyed a great day out on the water.

Lake O’Flynn & District Anglers Association held their latest C&R competition where most anglers had good catches, with some boats reporting 10+ fish. Ryan Cummins won the top honours on the day. Dan O’Neill reports that there has been plenty of action on the River Nore in Kilkenny, with his dry ‘Mohican Mayfly’ doing most of the catching.

In other fly fishing news, there is an exciting opportunity for women interested in learning about fly fishing at Laois Angling Centre, near Portlaoise, on Saturday 25th July 2026, with a second event planned for Saturday 22nd August. No experience is necessary but booking is essential. To receive a booking form, please email the PRO Maddy Kelly: prowomenanglersireland@gmail.com.

Later this month, the island of Ireland will host the 23rd FIPS Mouche Youth World Fly Fishing Championship 2026, with fisheries in counties Donegal and Tyrone hosting anglers from 11 nations. Congratulations to Rosses Anglers Association who will be providing a number of venues for the competition and the headquarters for the event at Ballybofey. Inland Fisheries Ireland are proud to be a sponsor of this prestigious event. Permits for some of the rivers featuring in the event (Quiggery and Dennett) are now available through the onthewater.ie website.

Coarse fish are the more resilient than salmonids in warmer water and there have been some exceptional reports from our coarse anglers this week, especially on the tench front. We’ll start with Eoin Mahony’s trips to Cavan on consecutive weekends recently, where he followed up a possible Irish record tench with a specimen bream smashing both of his PBs – he jointly wins our Catch of the Week for these fine fish.

In Roscommon, a very exciting session saw Steve Chapman net 18 tench with an average weight of 4-5lb each, with bites still coming thick and fast by the time he had to leave. Innovative lure maker Artem Novikov of reported on a super overnight tench session in the Midlands, where he used an unusual choice of bait – tinned peas! There were tench and the odd bream in the mix too on the canal at Daingean for the Leinster Coarse Anglers, but unfortunately not enough to bring the weights up.

There were no bream on the Royal Canal at Hill of Down for young angler Jim Hayes, but he did land a fine hybrid while fishing there recently, and we hope he lands many more. Thankfully there were good numbers of bream on the feed on the Ulster Blackwater at Argory, and the Lurgan Coarse Anglers made the most of it. Still in the north, the VDE Baggers held a club match over the weekend to fundraise for the young anglers heading to the Junior Float Fishing Champs in France this August and thirty anglers enjoyed some great fishing on the Erne.

The CM Lakelands club held their third qualifier for their Open Feeder Cup on Muckno, where three more happy anglers qualified for the grand final in September. The IASCaire Feeder Fishing Club have announced details of their summer double header, interested anglers should contact them for details. At Oaklands lake, the two day Dunbrody Festival was held last weekend and a smashing haul of 178.410 kg won the contest for the Burnley Bagger, Kieran Reeves, well done to him. Finally on the coarse fishing front, our very own Andy Burnett has given us match angler’s commentary on the recently held 30th FIPSed European Coarse Angling Championship, which took place in the Cavan Lakelands, and the value these events have for local tourism.

Bodo Funke of Angling Services Ireland reported some great pike fishing action,  just before the high temperatures kicked in, highlighted by Fabrice from France landing a 109cm pike on a lure and German angler Uli, a long-time visitor to the Boyle region, who set a new personal best with two fantastic pike measuring 110cm and 108cm in a single day.

Fabrice with a fine Boyle pike

In saltwater, guests of Carrigaholt Sea Angling found lots of hard-fighting pollack on the reefs, with large numbers of smaller fish around Loop Head. Mackerel numbers were hit and miss but they found enough for bait. In Cork, the Silver Dawn had a good mix of species including a couple of specimen hake and plenty of blue whiting on an action packed trip. Further west, David Norman of Angling Adventures West Cork finally ventured out on his first kayak bass trip recently. He had a lovely fish early on, but had to work hard for a few more.

And now the weather

The outlook is for plenty of hot and dry weather over the weekend and into next week, so make sure to lash on the factor 50 if you are planning on venturing out.

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, 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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