Shannon to Dublin pipeline: An Irish water dilemma, Irish Times
Lorna Siggins’s second of her three-part series runs the rule over mounting challenges. Desperate times call for desperate measures, no more so than in Dublin in 1893. A drought that began in March and continued for most of the year prompted one letter writer to this newspaper to suggest using explosives to burst clouds over the Phoenix Park. “We all can perceive every evening the thick black masses of rain-cloud gathering… Irish Times, 25/07/16. Read the full article ‘Shannon to Dublin pipeline: An Irish water dilemma‘.
Shannon to Dublin pipeline: An Irish water dilemma, Irish Times
Campbell Baird Fly-fishing in Stunning Surroundings
The West of Ireland played host film makers Philippe Collet and Philippe Proix who had returned to Ireland recently to complete their film on Mayfly fishing for wild brown trout in Ireland. During this part of the trip they fished Lough Corrib with well-known angling guide Basil Shields, Oughterard and Lough Feagh in the Culfin Fishery with angling guide Jackie Coyne, Culfin Anglers. The lads were accompanied by well known international angler Campbell Baird.
In Search of Wild Brown Trout. Jackie Coyne Guides Campbell Baird on Lough Feagh Recently
The hatch of mayfly on Corrib was sparse during the trip but it was expected to improve with the better weather over the coming days. In four days of fishing the lads had circa 17 wild brown trout on Corrib mostly on mayfly and sedge with the best fish measuring in at 55cm taken by Campbell Baird.
Colin Wright With A Nice Corrib Trout Taken on Mayfly
Mr Colin Wright from Belfast who also visited Corrib recently and was guided by Basil Shields. Colin had some nice fishing on Sunday 17th July and was looking forward to the rest of his time on Corrib. The improvement in the weather conditions on Sunday have led to expectations that the mayfly fishing will improve over the coming days.
Campbell Baird Fly-fishing in Stunning Surroundings
On the Monday 18th the group fished with well-known angler and fishing guide Jackie Coyne at the Culfin Fishery in Connemara. Fishing for small wild brown trout in mountain lakes can only be described as sublime. The setting was simply breath-taking and catching fish a welcome bonus. As the grey skies gave way to brilliant sunshine the spectacular beauty of the twelve bens was revealed and it was time to move to a different location.
Just Fantastic! Fishing for Wild Brown Trout in the Mountain Loughs in Connemara
We had one of the most unexpected weather warnings we could imagine here in Ireland earlier this week – a sunshine alert! Two days of fairly universal scorching weather was then followed by mixed weather around the country and some rain yesterday. Before this weather had been mixed. There were days when wind upset coarse fishing in the north east and fog put the dampers on small boat sea angling in the south, and of course there was some serious sun to contend with, but nevertheless we have a packed angling update this week…
The Owenea started last week with floods. The raised water levels saw plenty of angling on the river and 50 salmon were reported. Good water on the Drowes saw 60 salmon caught and on Lough Melvin a couple of salmon were caught on troll and fly. At Ballisodare anglers caught 163 salmon. Their Kids Day was a big success and junior anglers accounted for 58 of the catch. Fresh water and an increase in angling effort saw the reported Moy catch rise to 793 salmon for the week. Salmon were caught on all fisheries from Ballina to East Mayo. The Delphi Fishery is still waiting to see a good run of grilse. On the nearby Erriff River a few grilse have been taken and there are also some encouraging catches of sea trout. Lough Inagh reports a constant influx of fresh salmon and sea trout and Costello and Fermoyle has seen big runs of sea trout and some fine salmon fishing when the water levels were right and they were in the mood. It is a similar story at the Galway Weir where fishing has slowed down in last week – not due to a lack of fish but to the fish just not taking.
Kieran Conlon landed and returned four grilse on the Laune on Sunday
Heading south to Co. Kerry we find that the rivers in the Kingdom also started last week with floods. On the Feale, anglers welcomed the water and the salmon that came with it as good numbers of fish were caught. On the Laune there was a mix of grilse and salmon to double figures landed, particularly over the weekend. The weather conditions made fishing tough on Lough Currane and the catch was a bit lower there in the last week. In West Cork both the Ilen and Ouvane reported some good fishing. Worth mentioning was a 14lb salmon on the Ouvane taken on a Flying C. Anglers on the Bandon had 20 salmon last Monday alone thanks to the rain and improved water levels. This week saw those levels fall but grilse and bigger fish continued to run – an 18lb fish was caught and released. There were 28 salmon on the Lee last week mostly at Kingsley Weir. The Munster Blackwater is still seeing decent numbers of fish entering the river and one angler had 5 salmon last Friday at Ballyduff Bridge. On the East Coast anglers on the Castletown enjoyed a good run of sea trout following rains in that part of the country last week. The Boyne has also had some decent sea trout fishing in the lower river while some good salmon of 12 -13lb have been reported upstream.
Beautiful Wild Brown Trout from the River Fane
Trout anglers report that fishing on Lough Mask is improving and there were good mayfly and sedge hatches on Lough Corrib. Lough Inagh and some of the other Connemara lakes also had good brown trout reports last week. On Melvin there were a mix of ferox and smaller fish caught on fly. Two of the ferox reported were over 10lb and both were released. Sedge fishing provided good night time fishing on Lough Sheelin. This time of year trout fishing on rivers can become difficult as water levels drop, but in the north east the Fane saw some great fishing following rains which freshened the river and woke up the fish. Olives in the day and sedges at night worked well but small nymphs in the right hands proved deadly.
Another Monster sixgill shark for the Clare Dragoon. This one was 3.5m and estimated to weigh 700lb
There were plenty of blue sharks caught in Irish waters last week with boats from Donegal to Cork getting in on the action. Off the Sligo coast there was some good charter fishing reports that included catches of tope. Charter boat anglers fishing from some of Galway’s boats also had good fishing – one boat getting porbeagle shark. The big news from the shark angling scene though, was the catch of a 3.5m sixgill shark estimated to weigh 700lb. The enormous shark was caught by a lucky angler fishing on sixgill specialist Luke Aston’s Clare Dragoon. This huge fish is Catch of the Week.
Stone bass, a regular summer visitor to Irish waters
At Union Hall, Courtmacsherry, Kinsale and Cobh charter boat and small boat anglers were getting good fishing although both heavy banks of fog and windy weather limited access to some fishing grounds at times. Specimen blue shark were reported at Kinsale, Courtmacsherry had stone bass and specimen whiting while in Cobh everything from bass to blue sharks was reported. At Wicklow specimens continue to pour in for anglers charter boat fishing. Tope and smooth hounds to specimen size were taken amongst catches of rays and bullhuss. Shore anglers are also enjoying good fishing along the Irish coast. The Killybegs Mariners continue to prove that Donegal Bay offers some of the best fishing this country has to offer while visiting anglers on the Beara Peninsula show that the varied rock marks there are hard to beat too.
Portumna Coarse Angling Club
Coarse angling festivals are thick on the ground at the moment and Lough Muckno hosted 3 big events in the last week – the Irish Open Garda, IADA Irish Open and the July Festival, which is still being fished. Catches improved from one event to the next and by the time the 5 day July Festival started on Monday top anglers each day were weighing in nets of about 30lb. It will be interesting to see how this competition ends. The Ballybay 5 Day Classic finished on Friday last week and what a fantastic week’s fishing it was. A total of just over 1011kg of fish were weighed in over the course of the 5 days and some big weights were taken from all venues during the week. Kevin Johnson was the overall winner with 75.500kg.
The Barrow Bonanza will be fished later next month and reports from the river are that the fishing is good as test fishing continues. The Portumna Coarse Angling Club had a knock up at the Sheebeen Stretch and first place was taken by at 40lb 12oz bag that included a dozen bream. Further up the Shannon system the Madcaps had a good day at Shannon Harbour where some lovely tench were caught.
All smiles on Lough Allua
Hot, sunny weather often sees pike fishing come to a complete halt. We’ve not had too much of that so piking continues at all the regular venues. There were good fish caught on even the brightest days earlier this week at Lough Derg. In Co. Cork deadbaits proved productive at Lough Allua though most other venues had their catches on hard and soft lures. Midlands waters are producing some good fishing with Ennell and Lene in the news.
This weekend will see more broken weather according to Met Eireann. Saturday will be cloudy in the morning with scattered outbreaks of rain and drizzle. In the afternoon there will be some passing showers but otherwise it will be generally dry with good sunny spells. Highest temperatures of 18 to 22C with light westerly breezes. Heavy rain will gradually clear eastwards during Sunday morning. The afternoon will be bright and fresh with occasional showers but also good spells of sunshine. Highest temperatures 18 to 21 degrees in moderate westerly breezes. Anglers couldn’t ask for much better than this…
Greg Latour of Tir na Spideog reports on the pike fishing on Lough Allua…
A pike to be happy about
14 July: A successful guiding day today with 2 personal bests beaten by my German guests. The faces tell the story of 2 great fights of a 90 cm and a 92 cm pike, both caught on Lough Allua on roach deadbaits in 4 meters of water .
Tir na Spideoga Fishing Lodge is situated on the shores of Lough Allua, about 5km from Inchigeelagh Village, overlooking a narrow but long water system, also called the ‘ Inchigeelagh lakes’. Lough Allua ranks amongst the top pike fishing waters of Ireland, regularly producing pike of 20 and 30 lbs. and still it is one of the least known pike venues on the island .
Boats and engines including petrol can be rented at €35 a day and no permit is required
Charterboat skipper Daryl Ewing of Sligo Boat Charters had brothers in arms Bill Herron and John Herron out fishing with him over the week. Here’s some of their catch!
Sea Star is based in Rosses Point, Sligo (10 mins from Sligo town on local bus route). Services available include deep sea angling, reef fishing, shark fishing (August-October) and eco tourism cruises. Trips can be tailor made to suit anglers and include modest half day, full day and evening trip rates for groups, individuals, and children. Rods and tackle are available for hire on board and skipper can arrange accommodation if contacted in time. Gift vouchers are also available. Sight seeing tours for non anglers.
New members are always welcome to Edenderry Coarse Angling Club.
Royal Enfield Angling Club are affiliated to the National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland and are members of the Angling Council the National Governing Body for coarse and predator angling. www.ncffi.ie
Ronan Cusack reports that thankfully with the World Cup just around the corner, angling on Mask has shown signs of improvement. Local angler John Burke from Tourmakeady fished on Thursday last with two visiting anglers from Manchester and they had 5 good keepers from the deep (best fish 1.5lbs). John reported that the going was tough for the early part of the week, only averaging 1 fish per day. World Cup PRO Denis Kelleher fished with Tom Winters from the UK on Friday last and they had 4 trout on a combination of wets and dries (best fish 2.5lbs). Denis said that the deep was lively on wets but there were better fish to be caught in the shallows on dries. Gerry O’Brien and his son Damien had 4 fish over the weekend on wets and dries (best fish 1.75lbs).
Weather conditions are to turn more favourable towards the weekend, with a drop in temperature and a bit more cloud cover.
Kildare angler John Dardis with a nice brace of grilse taken on Lough Inagh, July 2016
Fishery manager Colin Folan says unbelievably unsettled weather has set in the last couple of weeks. From baking heat to gusting gales, we have had it all. However, no one can complain with the lack of water in the river, and thankfully there is a constant influx of fresh salmon and sea trout. Anglers are also having a ball with the brown trout at present, with a few fish of 2lbs, 3lbs and a beast of 9lbs landed by regular angler Ronan Power on Lough Inagh. Ronan fished in tepid conditions for three days, and at 6.50pm on his final day he got stuck into a leviathan! Ronan’s boat partner and brother Brian yelled “We’re gonna need a bigger net!” Ronan replied ” We’re gonna need a bigger boat!” The fish took a size 10 Fr. Ronan (a fly named after him) on 6lbs leader on a floating line. See photo below.
Ronan Power with a monster brown trout of 9lbs taken on Lough Inagh, July 2016. The fish took a Fr Ronan fly fished on a floating line.
Also pictured below is John Dardis (Kildare), with a brace of grilse landed from the Derryclare Butts on a Jungle Alexandra. Henry Harendza fished a few half days in July and landed 3 grilse to 7lbs from the Derryclare Butts. Michael Heery and Denis Murphy (Dublin) fished Inagh for a day and landed 2 grilse and 9 sea trout on daddies. Visiting Scottish angler Andy Bowman fished a day on the river beats in Inagh with fishery manager Colin Folan and Kevin Crowley (IFI) and between them managed 2 grilse, 10 sea trout and 4 brown trout. Most fish took a Silver Doctor and Blue Delphi. We are on par for salmon as last year, a small bit down on sea trout and way up on browns. Fishing and enquiries to hotel reception 095 34706 or email inagh@iol.ie , pre booking is essential!
Kildare angler John Dardis with a nice brace of grilse taken on Lough Inagh, July 2016
Fishery manager Terry Gallagher reports on fishing from Costello & Fermoyle, where the weather has provided anglers with a challenge over recent days, but perfect water levels and good runs of fish have provided some great sport.
Salmon were tricky to catch over the last week with a lot of fish seen pitching and unwilling to take the fly but there were exceptions! The really good news is that the sea trout fishing on the lakes greatly improved with a lot of fresh fish caught. Highlights for the week include Padraic McDonagh who caught a fine grilse of 6lbs on River Beat 1. John McManus ventured out onto Glenicmurrin Lough where he landed 8 sea trout. Sean and Anthony Bollustrum hit Clogher Lough just right and recorded a fine catch of 18 sea trout and numerous brownies. Special mention must go to Micheal Dillon, Micheal Martin & Sean Bollustrum who over the course of a day and a half fishing landed a very respectable 47 sea trout! Hugh McGuire was rewarded for his efforts on River Beat 1 with a 4lbs grilse. Geoffrey Fitzjohn was back on River Beat 2 when he landed a very fresh 5lbs grilse at the Crooked Pool. Seamus O Neill also landed a 5lbs fish while fishing the Cabbage Pool on Beat 1. Eamon O Brien was also delighted with the 18 sea trout he landed on Glenicmurrin.
Then came the hottest days of the year so far but Peter O’Callaghan & Co still managed to tease 4 nice sea trout from Glenicmurrin, and Kevin Crowley & Andy Bowman landed 5 sea trout up to 1.5lbs for only a few hours on Glenicmurrin. Finally, father & son team, Martin & Rob Byrne spent a day on the upper lakes where they recorded an impressive 16 sea trout and a 5lbs salmon.
For bookings and further information please contact Terry Gallagher at 087 23 999 88 or at the new Costello and Fermoyle email address:gallaghere.terence@gmail.com
James Quinn reports that fishing has slowed down on the fishery for the last week and this is not due to the lack of fish but to the fish just not taking. This is indicative of the whole system from the weir to Cong. The numbers of fish to be seen in the river and on the pool camera, which is a live feed, is fabulous. Angling conditions with one gate are excellent but the OPW have just opened another gate which is strange with the Lough very low and rivers low as well. Hopefully this will not cause the fish to run upstream out of the weir. We would ask anglers that are booked in to fish to contact the fishery regarding water levels or indeed the OPW.
We had just over 40 fish for the week on the weir with 35 on the fly and the rest on shrimp.
Killian Garvey from Dublin had a nice fish of 6lbs on fly. Ber Gilsenan from Multyfarnham had a nice brace on shrimp, and Brian O’Rourke, Tuam had another brace on fly.
Brian Howard had his quota on fly – all around 4lbs, and Barry Harten from the Midlands had his first ever salmon – and to make it ever sweeter caught on the fly – of 4lbs.
A German party of 3 anglers had 5 fish on the fly from 3lbs to 5.5lbs, while Andy Smith (Clonbur/Dublin) and Michael Rogers, Dublin had a nice fish apiece at 4.5 and 5.5lbs on fly and shrimp.
