A heatwave at the end of May was thought to portend an end to the mayfly season, but it was a short-lived event and was quickly followed by cooler, broken weather which saw hatches continuing, albeit smaller and patchy, for the first 2 weeks of June.
Cornamona based guide Tom Doc Sullivan of www.tomdoc.com says his guests caught 2-3 fish per day over the first 2 weeks of June. Mike Murphy fished the 6th and 7th and landed 11 fish to dry mayfly patterns. Richard Flint fished the 10th and 11th and landed 9 fish, also on dries. There was only one blank day, and even that angler rose 8 fish to his flies. Tom remarked on the large number of smaller trout this month, with most fish averaging 1-1.5lbs and the best fish so far 2.25lbs.
Paul Heaney from Corrib Anglers Guiding Service says there were still small trickles of mayfly around Inchagoill and a few other places up to the 18th of June, but the trout appear to be more interested in sedges now. Paul says many anglers found good success over the past month with a mayfly booby fished on the top dropper – a great attractor fly according to Paul. Certainly the photo I saw showed a well-chewed fly! It will be interesting to see if the same fly works as well once the second mayfly hatch gets underway in July. Paul says there have been massive hatches of sedge this week in the Annaghkeen area, with a great evening rise.
Kevin Molloy of Baurisheen Bay Boat Hire & Guiding (tel. 087 9604170) reckoned that sport was good for the early part of June but has slowed significantly since mid-month. Small hatches of mayfly were still going in the Oughterard area until the third week but are pretty much finished now. Trolling is picking up again, with some nice trout caught. Neil Hogan spent a day trolling and landed 6 trout. Bernard Franklin and his two sons were flyfishing for their day out and reported 4 good trout. Kevin himself was out another day and had 4 trout to the fly, and also reported seeing a good number of salmon pitching along the shore.
Caenis
The weather for the first half of June was fairly unsettled, with very few calm mornings. Although Caenis hatches were abundant, the conditions for targeting Caenis-feeding trout with tiny dries were few and far between, with most mornings simply too windy. However, the odd morning provided suitable conditions, and some boats had tremendous sport.
Two UK anglers, Bill Latham, a professional guide on the chalk streams and Andreas Topintzis the Salisbury & District Angling Club’s manager, had a memorable morning with guide John McCarthy early in the week commencing 15th June, with an excellent fish each both caught on Caenis patterns.
The morning broke with near perfect conditions – warm and with a very light breeze – and the pair caught from the outset but the highlight was yet to come for each angler.
John found a pod of fish moving off the windward side of one of the many islands and moved the boat stealthily into position, allowing Bill to get a shot at the feeding fish. A long accurate cast put his flies in close proximity to what John had described as a slab of a fish. After a few short heart stopping seconds the point fly was engulfed, starting a lengthy battle of give and take as the fish stripped off yards of backing before being subdued after approximately 10 minutes.
The fish was not weighed but was somewhere in the region of 5.5 lbs and measured 23 inches.
Andreas then moved into the hot seat at the bow of the boat and a short while after spotted a fish feeding steadily up the edge of a very narrow wind lane. Skilful boat manoeuvres allowed Andreas to get his flies to the fish which took immediately they landed on the water. Another long and at times tense battle followed with the fish determined to run around rocks and get tangled in a weed bed. Finally, the fish was netted and again was measured at 23 inches with an approximate weight of just over 5lbs. Both anglers were staying at Corrib View Lodge.
