Hugh and Desmond Byrne on a Lough Lene Island with rainbow trout
Michael Flanagan from Midland Angling reports on an exciting, if wet, day on Lough Lene in pursuit of rainbow trout…
Mullingar lads Hugh Byrne and brother Desmond were back in Mullingar last weekend for a spot of fishing. The Hugh lad is based in Dublin and a solicitor with E.S.B. and the Desmond lad is based in Navan where he has his own Dentist practice. They really enjoy they fishing, and on this angling adventure we got soaked to the skin in that torrential rain that fell last Saturday shortly after lunch. It was certainly water off a duck’s back as the lads rattled into some huge rainbow trout, and Desmond also managed to catch a small pike spinning on his favorite Mepps lure.
Hugh and Desmond Byrne on a Lough Lene Island with rainbow trout
We had no shelter from the rain as we trolled across Lough Lene, and took time out to dry off a little on one of the Lough Lene Islands, where I took a pictured of Hugh and Desmond with their prized catch.
In such angling conditions I do be a bit afraid of taking out the Nikon camera, having already lost one to water damage. Over the years we had some underwater photographs of fish with cameras I had for this job, but these did not last the test of time.
Midlands Angling provide a top class Guiding service covering many of the top coarse and game waters across the Midlands. Visiting fly anglers have landed some fine trout while out with Midland Angling Guides, pike anglers also recorded some net bursting catches including many pike over 20lbs. Top waters include Lough Ree, Ennell, Owel, Lene, Mount Dalton, and Glore Lake just to mention a few. Michael Flanagan Midland Angling
Pike and Trout angling guide.
John Grace, James Smith and Ross Naylor with good Bream and Hybrid catch.
Kevin Lyons of Melview Lodge reports on the coarse fishing around the Longford area…
John Grace, James Smith and Ross Naylor with good Bream and Hybrid catch.
John Grace along with friends James, Ross and Cormac were up for a Long weekends fishing with Kevin at Melview Fishing Lodge. The guys are no strangers when it comes to fishing the waters around Longford as they have now stayed a number of times with Kevin for both pike and coarse fishing. On arrival with prebait close to hand it was all systems go for John, James and Ross. The first session after prebaiting the night before saw them catching roach, small skimmers and a couple of nice bream. The sessions that followed saw more and more bream being caught, friend Cormac joined them for the last one and he was rewarded with a couple of nice tench and small bream.
Cormac Daly joins the session late and manages a couple of nice Tench.
The guys always put a lot of time and effort into their fishing be it when they come for pike or coarse fishing. To be fair, the last day did see the clouds open and it rained hard and I think if they had stayed on for another day or two the lake would have produced well for them due to the preparation they had done beforehand. Thanks Lads and hope to see you again soon.
Situated just off the N4 near Longford Town, Melview Lodge Guest house is right in the heart of the Upper Shannon and many surrounding lakes. The Erne Waterway with its many Loughs and Lakes is only minutes away.
Kevin has 19 years experience of fishing in Ireland and is happy to offer a guided tour on your arrival, and to advise where the on-form waters in the area are. We can arrange your bait order so it’s here when you arrive. Melview offers free use of 17ft lake boats with engines to our guests (pay fuel only) and Kevin is happy to assist with any pre-baiting requests. Maps and other information regarding fishing are also available.
Lindsey Clarkes reports from Owenea Fishery – Monday 4th to Sunday 10th July 2016.
Water levels were variable on the Owenea this week. On Monday, the river was a little on the low side with the gauge only reading 0.16m. The river then dropped to Wednesday when the gauge read 0.14m. On Thursday there was a decent fresh and the gauge rose to 0.24m. The river then fell but at the weekend we received great conditions with good floods on Saturday (0.36m) and Sunday (0.34m). The gauge average for the week read 0.23m. The fishing was fairly good over the week and there were around 20 salmon caught. Given here are some of the catches taken from the Owenea Catch Register.
On Wednesday, Davy Sullivan recorded a 3lb grilse caught on a fly from beat 9. On Thursday, Michael McLaughlin reported a 12lb salmon caught on a fly from beat 7 and Michael McCrory accounted for 2 grilse weighing 4 & 5lb caught on a fly from beat 5 with the smaller of these being released again. On Friday, Alan Watson reported a 5lb grilse caught on a fly from beat 9. On Saturday, Davy Sullivan logged a 5lb grilse caught on a fly from beat 9. On Sunday, Dessi Coyle recorded a 5lb grilse caught on a fly from beat 6. Frankie Byrne registered 2 grilse weighing 3 & 4lb caught on a fly from beat 5 and Finn McCrory accounted for a 6½lb grilse caught on a fly from beat 5.
Lindsey Clarke reports from LOUGH MELVIN – Monday 4th to Sunday 10th July 2016.
Lough Melvin seemed to remain sombre and brooding this week! Strong winds remained a problem at times. There was no great angling effort and the lough was fairly quiet. There were a few grilse caught trolling but few rods fished for the same. Trout fishing was very variable. Some days, decent catches were recorded and on other days, anglers reported that the trout fishing was very hard with fish very hard to tempt!
Lindsey Clarke reports from the RIVER DROWES – Monday 4th to Sunday 10th July 2016.
The Drowes had lovely water levels all week. On Monday, the gauge read 0.6m. Over the week the river dropped very slowly and by the end of play on Sunday the gauge was still reading 0.58m. This was another good week on the Drowes and despite a lower than expected angling attendance, there were some 65 salmon caught for the week. Given here are some of the catches for the week taken from the Catch Register at the fishery office. On Monday, Stephen Smith recorded 2 grilse weighing 3lb each caught at the Eel Weir. On Wednesday, M. McDonagh recorded 5lb grilse caught on prawn from the Money Hole and Gareth McAteer accounted for a 4lb grilse caught fly from the Blackwater. On Thursday, Dennis McLaughlin recorded a 4lb grilse caught on a fly from the Blackwater.
On Friday, John Ellis recorded 2 salmon weighing 9½ & 3lb caught on prawn from the Trout pool and the Sand Hole with the smaller of these being released. Darryl Kennedy reported a 4lb grilse caught on a fly from Melly’s. Phil McGraw logged 4lb grilse caught on prawn from the Soft Hole. John Fox registered 5lb grilse caught on fly from the Blackwater. Maurice Kettles recorded a 3½lb grilse caught on a spinner from Corry. Calum Kettles reported a 3½lb grilse caught on a spinner from the Ash Hole and Davy Gray accounted for 2 grilse weighing 2½ & 4½lb caught on shrimp from Briney’s. On Sunday, Tony Parker recorded 2 grilse weighing 2 & 4lb caught shrimp from Briney’s with the smaller of these being released again. John McArleen reported a 5lb grilse caught on shrimp from the Blackwater. Michael McEvoy logged a 4lb grilse caught and released on shrimp from the Blackwater and 7 year old Kieran McEvoy landed his first ever salmon. This was 4lb grilse caught on shrimp from the Blackwater. Well done Kieran. Visiting English rod Hugo Master recorded 11 grilse weighing from 3 to 5lb caught from various pools on worm, shrimp and fly. Water levels will remain good over the coming week and prospects look very good for the coming week.
For info/bookings etc on the Drowes Fishery & Lough Melvin see the website: http://www.drowessalmonfishery.com/ or Tel: +353 (0)71 9841055 (8 am to 12 noon)
Guide Vincent Appleby reports from Lough Currane where the next generation shows the older ones how it is done…
07/07/2016: All the Salmon and Sea Trout headlines come from the Bungalow and at www.flyfishingatloughcurrane.com UK angler Mr. Keith Francis, was in brilliant form in the C&R department today as he manipulated his fly rod and flies upon the Lough Currane waves and it wasn’t long before he saw some great action in the Sea Trout /Junior department, Keith caught 7 Juniors then came his catch of the day which was a fine 5 lbs. Grilse, all while fishing with his Gillie Mr. Tom O’Shea of www.flyfishingatloughcurrane.com and their choice of Flies were a Claret Bumble and Delphi and using a intermediate fly line. Wind SW light with reasonable cloud cover.
Denis Murphy
08/07/2016: www.lakelandshouse.com takes the main headlines so lets get straight to the action and in the Salmon fly department, Mr. Denis Murphy, was in cracking form while fishing with his Gillie Mr. Frank Donnelly of www.lakelandshouse.com caught 2 grilse and 1 salmon 4lbs. 5 lbs. 7lbs all caught on the fly. Now to Franks hired out boat, Seatrout department Andrew Gifford from UK caught 2 sea trout on the fly, there weights are as follows, two and half and one and half lbs. Now we head across the lake and the North Side and the Bungalow, UK angler Mr . Mark Fleming caught two Trout to his rod, while fishing with his Gillie Mr Neil O’Shea of www.oshealoughcurrane.com All in all not a bad day’s manipulating in the fly department, for the rest of the angling community they failed miserably in their duties. Wind SW light with reasonable cloud cover.
Ken Towner
09/07/2016: Lough Currane was at a standstill for the majority of the day with a gale force SW wind blowing down the lake and that was no harm because there was a nice flood coming down the River Inny. So on that note we head across the Valley to the River Inny and catch of the day and that goes to Northern Ireland angler Mr. Andy Wishart, who caught two Salmon ranging from 7 lbs. up to 13 lbs. while fishing with his gillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy of www.fishingwithdom.com and just for the record you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know there were a few anglers manipulating up there on the River, I will leave the rest to your imagination or if not its more plus than minus?
Master Shay McCarthy
10/07/2016: Breaking news or you could say old news, Straight the facts and the apology department, I failed miserably in my reporting duties on the 8th of July reason being I didn’t check my email box properly because if I had I would of seen a fine photo of a Salmon caught my UK angler Mr. Ken Towner so again I apologise for my bad reporting. So on that note here is Ken’s story of that day in his own words in a email that he sent. Hi Vincent, caught a 9 ½ lbs. salmon caught on the fly along with a 2 ½ lbs. Sea Trout caught also on the fly. Today 8th July with Gillie Vincent O’Sullivan. The fly was a hairy Mary stolen from Gillie Dominic McGillicuddy.
Andrew WishartAndrew’s full catch
Now back to the present and here is today’s action and it all comes from the River Inny and for good reason. Lough Currane was on the wild side with a strong SW wind blowing down the Lake with light rain to heavy rain for most of the day. So on that note we head for the action on the Inny and here is the action as it filtered through to me. They say you can’t keep a good fly angler down, well today was a perfect example of that, Northern Ireland angler, Mr. Andrew Wishart caught a cracker of a Salmon in the 11 lbs. class and finished his day off with a fine Salmon in the 6 lbs. class. All while fishing with his Gillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy of www.fishingwithdom.com Now we head up to the next Pool and my Catch of the day and that goes to Local angler Master Shay McCarthy, who caught his first 4 lbs. Salmon on the Spin and may it be the first of many, all while fishing with his uncle and renowned Gillie Mr. Neil O’Shea of www.oshealoughcurrane.com and as Neil said and I quote, Shay McCarthy, is the fifth generation Gillie in the making and there is no argument to that and you can’t beat youth.
11/07/2016: Young Waterville angler Master Shay McCarthy is keeping his reputation in the Salmon department and for good reason, this morning while fishing on the River Inny caught a cracker of a 10 lbs. Salmon on the spinner all while fishing with his Uncle and local Gillie Mr. Neil O’Shea of www.oshealoughcurrane.com and www.curranelodge.ie and staying with the Inny, UK Angler Mr. John Eames, also caught a cracker of a Salmon in the 14 lbs. class on the fly. On that note we leave the great River Inny and cut across the Valley to the Premiership Sea Trout Lake in Ireland and Lough Currane and the Home of the Waterville Fishery, the Bungalow and the fly and C&R Sea Trout department, Mr. Niall Greene, while fishing with his Gillie Mr. Tom O’Shea of www.flyfishingatloughcurrane.com caught two Sea Trout both in the 1 ½ lbs. class. And for the rest of the angling community the either failed to catch or they failed to report their catches, in either case they are a disgrace in all departments and I have spoken by the authority of my Good Self!! Wind North light to fresh with reasonable cloud cover and just for the record the amount of rainfall this month so far is 37.6 mm.
Fifth generation Gillie in the making, Master Shay McCarthy
12/07/2016: It’s a mixture of Troll and fly on Lough Currane, renowned Northern Ireland Mr. Andrew Wishart, while fishing with his Gillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy of www.fishingwithdom.com caught a fine 7 lbs. Salmon on the Troll and finished their day off in the fly department and it wasn’t long before Andrew was into a another fine 7 lbs. Salmon which was sportingly returned to fight the wild elements of the Commeragh River come this December. Now we head up to the Upper lakes and Lough Derriana and catch of the day. In the Anglers own words or as good as. Mr. Tom Murphy of Cork take the helm. The end of a great day’s fishing on Derriana with Liam Ellis. A fine specimen (the fish). A dozen Juniors and plenty of brownies. Well done Liam. Now Mr. Liam Ellis will have the last say on today’s action, Sea-trout 7 lbs 9 ozs, netted by Tom Murphy, all I can say is a fine double act to finish today’s notes and congratulations to both anglers for keeping the reputation of the Waterville Fishery in the specimen Sea Trout Fly department. Wind N light to fresh with reasonable cloud cover.
Tagged in all
That is your ration from the last week on Lough Currane, from your Gillie and the Waterville Fishery, no spin no fly’s just facts.
The rivers and lakes of Waterville drain a large catchment and are regarded by many as the foremost Salmon and Sea-Trout fishery in the country. The lake system is well developed with access to boats and guides being readily available to the tourist angler. The Sea-Trout caught here are renowned for their size and quantity. For more details see
Fishery manager Colin Folan with a fine 13.5lbs salmon that he caught at the Derryclare Butts on a size 14 Badger fly. The fish was released after the photo.
A belated report from fishery manager Colin Folan is only included this week as I was away last week, covering fishing up to the end of June.
“The season is well and truly upon us. After a prolonged drought, the rain has arrived, and with it a welcome delivery of silver bars. To date 31 salmon, 60 sea trout and 250 brown trout have been recorded. The water levels are splendid and salmon numbers are above average. The sea trout numbers are below average and in fairly good nick, however some cracking brown trout have been landed. The catch numbers have been roughly split evenly between Lough Inagh and the 4 river beats with the top patterns for salmon being a Jungle Alexandra, Daddies and Badgers, while the trout are favoring Octopus, Bibios and Claret Bumbles.
Tom McManus with a 6lbs salmon at Lough Inagh, caugth from the Derryclare Butts on a Lemon and Grey fly.
The 2016 FIPS MOUCHE Masters was held in Galway during June and Lough Inagh was one of the four prestigious venues to host the event. Teams from Ireland, Scotland, Holland, Finland, South Africa, USA, Japan, Finland, Italy and France were competing. Congrats to the Italians for taking the gold, Scotland for the silver and Ireland bronze. A special mention to local anger Jackie Coyne (Connemara) who took top rod and with it World Champion. Four sessions on Inagh produced 98 trout for 20 rod days).
Last weekend also saw the sixth running of the Tom Joyce Memorial for the Recess Anglers on Lough Inagh. 15 anglers recorded 6 salmon, 8 sea trout and 31 brown trout. Top rod went to Patrick Burke with 2 salmon, 2 sea trout and 4 brown trout.
I am delighted with the number of quality Salmon this year, with Andrew Crouchman, Cyril Conlon and Colin Folan (pictured below) landing double figured fish.
Fishery manager Colin Folan with a fine 13.5lbs salmon that he caught at the Derryclare Butts on a size 14 Badger fly. The fish was released after the photo.
For bookings and inquiries, contact the hotel reception at Lough Inagh Lodge on 095 34706.
Fishery manager Terry Gallagher reports on fishing from 29th June to the 10th July.
Fishing success continues to hold up at Costello as fish are now being caught throughout the system. Father and son team, Denis and Tadhg Collins returned for their annual visit, fishing all the lakes during their 6 days at Costello. Both returned home to Cork very happy after recording 6 salmon, plus 2 lost as well as 41 sea trout. Interestingly, they had the best success on the upper lakes where they were landing very fresh sea trout which still had lice (not too many lice thankfully).
Sean Kelly fished the river on 2 separate occasions and met with success on both of them. Sean fished River Beat 4 one afternoon where he landed a fine grilse of 5lbs 4oz in the Rack Pool. On his second outing he caught a 3lbs grilse while fishing the Round Pool on River Beat 3.
Regular visitor Fergal Chambers was delighted with the 6lbs bar of silver he landed after an epic battle while fishing the Dinner Pool on River Beat 1. Neil Spellacy also returned to fish Beat 1 and like before he had 2 grilse, this time 2 fine fish of 5lbs. Geoffrey Fitzjohn also had 2 grilse of 5lbs, both taken on River Beat 2. Two was also the magic number for Seamus O Neill as he banked grilse of 5lbs and 3lbs 8oz during his evening fishing the productive Cottage & Dinner Pools on River Beat 1. Finally, of note was David Sandford’s day on Glenicmurrin Lough. David braved very tough conditions and landed 5 sea trout, 3 of which were 1lb 8oz.
At the time of writing another flood is working its way through the catchment so fishing should continue to be good for some time to come.
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
A Loughrea business was convicted over pollution discharge into the Laragh River in Co Cavan, causing a major fish kill between 12-14 August last year.
In addition to the fine of €4,000, Glan Agua was directed to pay legal costs and expenses to Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) to a total of €63,352.94 including €59,262.94 towards appropriate mitigation measures.
Glan Agua was prosecuted by IFI following investigations into a fish kill on the Laragh River after the discharge of chorine from Knockataggert drinking water treatment plan….
Fishing is still going strong in Galway, with the grilse run well into it’s 8th week now and 108 fish recorded for the week. Water levels are still at one gate open, and a lot of fish are showing in the river. 19 fell to the shrimp with the rest to the fly, which, with water levels being perfect for wading is providing great sport, with all anglers getting ‘ takes’ but holding on is another matter! 18 fish were caught and released on fly. A few ‘harvest’ fish have been seen in the river which makes it very exciting as they run into the double digits.
Trevor Stafford had a 3lbs grilse on fly, Owen Trill also fished the fly and had a 5lbs fish. Louis Brennan from Tuam landed a 6.5lbs fish on shrimp.
Eoin Warner had 5 fish for two days, releasing 3 from 3 to 6lbs on fly. Spanish visitor Sebastian Canerero had a 4.5lbs grilse on the fly, while Marc De Veletian who can’t make up his mind if he is from France or Mayo had a brace on fly, both 4lbs which he released. Andy Smith from Dublin had two fish on fly to 4.5lbs.
Dr Frank O’Hara had 5 fish for two days releasing two, from 3 to 5lbs on fly. Philip Clifford, Limerick had his quota on fly including 2 at 4.5lbs and a 6lbs fish. Gerard Hartigan also had 3 fish between3 and 4.5lbs, including 2 on shrimp.
Fintan Murphy from Oranmore had 2 nice fish – one at 3.5lbs on shrimp and a lovely 7lbs fish on fly. Dublin man Dave O’Reilly had a 5lbs fish on an evening rod flyfishing. Gary Kilroy from Mullingar had a beautiful fresh harvest fish of 11.5lbs on shrimp.
The 5th was a very special day for the ‘ elder lemons’ as James calls them – 3 men who have a combined age of 279 years caught 5 fish for a session on the weir, with Bert Lynch from Galway landing the heaviest at 8.5lbs. Bert finished with 2 fish, longtime German visitor Wolfram Hoppe had 2 fish for 4 and 5 lbs and our own Ned Cusack was not to be outdone with a 3lbs grilse.
Colm Adams from Dublin scored a hat-trick of grilse from 4-5lbs on fly, and will be hoping the Dubs can do the same on Sunday!
