Wet, wet, wet… the story of the week. A change in the jet stream steered a few depressions in over Ireland this week, with wet and windy weather dominating the week. Many rivers and lakes are very high, making for difficult fishing conditions, and we don’t have a huge amount of fishing to report on. This weekend traditionally sees angling activity start to pick up, with St. Patrick’s Day on Tuesday, and hopefully the weather starts to improve for everyone.

 

Trout

The big lakes are all open now, and early season sport was reasonably good on Corrib, where trolling produced most fish, but wet fly and streamers also caught trout. The duckfly hatch should get underway in the next week or so, and a lot more anglers will be out for that. Katie Molloy was out with angling guide dad Kevin, and her trout wins our Catch of the Week.

Katie Mpolloy enjoyed her day out with Dad Kevin on Corrib

 

Senan Stanley took himself off to Cavan for his first visit to Lough Sheelin, where he fished lures and landed some cracking trout. Check out the report and video here.

The Irish Ladies Flyfishing Association have issued a call for entries for their first national team qualifier at Emy Lough, Co. Monaghan on April 11th. More details here.

There are also details of a new byelaw governing angling methods and catch-and-release on the lower River Dodder.

Salmon

To salmon fishing now. Many rivers have simply been too high to fish, but David McEvoy reports from Delphi, where a few spring salmon have been caught in the last week, hopefully heralding a good run of fish.

Pike

Pike anglers are enjoying good sport recently, and Florent Zsitko from Pike Pro Ireland sent in a great report of a recent trip on Lough Derg, where the afternoon produced some fantastic sport.

The Dromore Anglers found it much tougher on Lough Erne, but conditions were against them, and a 5lbs fish for Simon McLarnon was enough to take the win.

Coarse

Coarse angling reports are thin on the ground this week, but Lough Muckno is fishing well at the moment. The latest round of the CM Lakelands Winter League saw 17 anglers competing, and a  fine catch of 9.200kg took the win for Piotr Horbiński.

Sea

It’s been a rough week weather wise, but skipper Kit Dunne managed to take advantage of a weather window on Sunday to get out, and his guests had spurdog to 102cm, along with whiting and dogfish. No tope on this trip, but they will be starting to show soon.

Shore clubs are getting into full swing with competitions now, and Richard Dodd provided an entertaining report of a match on South Beach, Arklow for Borough SAC, where a quiet start was followed by a hectic finish and plenty of fish for everyone.

Rinnashark SAC were also out at Cheekpoint Strand, although the fishing was decidedly slow for the nice conditions they enjoyed, and Alan Mulcahy took the win.

More competition dates are being announced, with the Connacht Open Shore on March 29th, and the Irish Kayak Fishing Club have released their calendar of competition dates for the year. And James Raymond of Irish Angling Advenmtures is holding another community meet up at Carrigaholt on the 29th, all welcome.

Other news

Spring has (allegedly) sprung, and a lot of anglers will be going afloat in the coming weeks, on inland lakes and on the sea. Now is a good time to make sure your boat and engine are safe and serviced, that oars, ropes, chains, anchors etc are in good condition. And very importantly, make sure your lifejacket is serviced – it is illegal to go afloat in a small vessel without a lifejacket, and legalities aside, it could save your life!

And while you’re checking your gear, check out these tips for a personal biosecurity kit, that could help stop the risk of spreading invasive species.

And now the weather

Cold today with sunny spells and showers, some wintry, merging to give longer spells of rain or sleet for a time. Brightening up towards evening and showers will become  confined to Atlantic coastal counties. Highest temperatures of 5 to 8C, with moderate to fresh westerly winds.

Saturday will start off mainly dry with bright or sunny spells, best in the east. Scattered showers will extend eastwards through the morning and afternoon, gradually dying out in the evening. Highest temps of 7 to 9C in light to moderate W/SW breezes. Sunday will be a cool, breezy day with sunny spells and scattered blustery showers, some turning wintry with a chance of hail or sleet, mainly in the north. Afternoon highs of 5 to 10 degrees in fresh to strong westerly winds.

Monday and Tuesday look unsettled, with rain, showers and breezy S/SW winds, but the signals are for drier, brighter weather for the latter half of the week.

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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