Top Corrib guide Larry McCarthy reports on a busy May and June for his guests at Corrib View Lodge.
Anglers staying with us enjoyed a very successful month of May.
Buzzer fishing continued to produce excellent bags of trout until the end of the second week of the month. The Ballycurrin and Ballynalty areas fished particularly well, while plenty of good catches were also reported in the middle section of the lake from Burnthouse to Annaghdown. I generally tried to avoid the busiest areas, and wherever we found quieter water, the fishing was consistently productive.
Mayfly fishing remained reliable until the end of the third week of May, with anglers enjoying success on both dry and wet Mayfly patterns. The Kilbeg area produced a number of well above-average trout, while good returns also came from Annaghkeen, Molly’s Rock and Ballycurrin.
A change in weather conditions during the final week of May brought the Mayfly fishing to a halt, with Caenis making its appearance. Wet fly fishing accounted for more trout than we would normally expect in May, largely because the weather conditions favoured this method on many days.
Overall, May provided consistently good sport across the lake, with anglers enjoying excellent fishing from a variety of methods as the season progressed.
The settled conditions that began during the last week of May brought the expected early morning Caenis fishing. Although it started a little later than usual this year, the trout soon found the fly and we were on the water by 4.30am.
The final week of May produced some excellent Caenis hatches and, on several mornings, we enjoyed large numbers of fish to the boat. Bigger trout were in short supply, however, with most fish weighing between 2lb and 3lb.
The weather changed dramatically during the first week of June, with almost 10 days of wind and rain putting the Caenis fishing on hold. Fortunately, Mayfly and sedge continued to hatch, and the wet fly fishing during this period was exceptional. For example, while guiding Bob Holland from the UK, we boated more than 40 trout over six days. Bob landed 17 trout over 2lbs, all of which were safely returned.
The weather settled again on Sunday, 14th June, and the Caenis fishing resumed. Over the following three days, one guided angler caught and released 32 trout.
A regular group of six UK anglers, organised by Bill Latham, also enjoyed excellent sport. Bill and one of his party, Andreas, landed trout weighing 5lb and 5½lb respectively while fishing with John McCarthy.
Fly continues to hatch, but unfortunately the very high temperatures over the last week have reduced trout activity, and they are not feeding particularly well. As a result, we will take a short break from Lough Corrib for a couple of weeks until water temperatures fall. Once conditions improve, it will be business as usual.
Ferox fishing was also productive during May and into June. Tomi Kurman put guests over some beautiful spotted predators on his trips out. He even spotted a trout while the lunch was cooking on an island one day and the second cast with a lure caught a lovely fish.
Go Fishing
Corrib View Lodge
