David McCormick winner of the IFSA Master Angler Boats Competition
Congratulations to David McCormick winner of the IFSA Master Angler Boats Competition at Cork Harbour over the weekend of the 1st to 3rd of July.
The Master Angler Competition pits the winner of each clubs internal league against each other. The master angler winner will be the captain of the world team in the following year. The next 9 anglers, positioned 2nd to 10th qualify for the world team fish off. They join the other 20 anglers qualifying in a ‘Fish Off’ pool from the previous year.The fish off selects the 2nd to 5th members of the World team plus a substitute.
Royal Enfield CAC first leg of the annual junior league which is now running for over 35 years kicked off on July 4th with 32 young anglers ranging from 6 up to 18 plus taking part. Great mix of ability and boys and girls taking part.
The league runs for 4 weeks and is supported by Senior members of the Royal Enfield Angling Club who provide welcome advice, tips me training on the nights.
Guide Vincent Appleby reports from Lough Currane …
30/06/2016: There was some cracking fishing on Lough Currane in the fly and trolling department today, we start at the bungalow and the trolling department, Killarney angler, Mr. Kevin Lavery, caught two fine Salmon /Grilse ranging from 3 ¼ lbs. Up to 5 ½ lbs. and finished his day off in the Sea Trout department with one Junior, All while fishing with his Gillie Mr. Tom O’Shea of www.flyfishingatloughcurrane.com Staying at the Bungalow, US angler, Mr. Charles Mackey, caught a fine 3lbs. Grilse on the troll, while fishing with his Gillie Mr. Neil O’Shea of www.oshealoughcurrane.com Now we head down the North Shore, a guest, fly fishing caught 3 Salmon/ Grilse and released two and kept one in the 7 lbs. Class, while fishing with his Gillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy of www.fishingwithdom.com and just for the record in Dominick’s backdate department, yesterday they caught 1 Salmon on the fly. Now we head for the West end of the Lake and my fish of the day goes to Steven Donnelly of Caherciveen, who caught his first ever 5lbs. Salmon on the troll, while fishing with his mate and all I can say is may it be the first of many. Wind NW light to fresh with good cloud cover. Amount of rainfall yesterday was 7.1 mm.
Steven
01/07/2016: Lough Currane produced some cracking fly fishing today in both Salmon and Sea Trout departments and here are the results of the day, in first place in the Salmon department, a guest fishing with his gillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy of www.fishingwithdom.com caught 4 Salmon, their weights are as follows, 10 lbs, two Salmon in the 8 lbs class and one in the 7 lbs. class of which three of theses salmon were returned to fight the spawning grounds of the Commeragh River and Dominic’s guest finished the day off with a fine Sea Trout of 4 lbs. Now to the total C&R Sea Trout department, Dublin Angler, Mr. Enrico Fantasia, caught 5 Sea Trout, ranging From Juniors up to 2 lbs. All while fishing with his Gillie Mr. Neil O’Shea of www.oshealoughcurrane.com Now we cut across the Lake to the South side, Local Gillie Mr. Roger Baker of www.cloghvoola.com and in His Own Words. Saw a white-tailed sea eagle just before catching this one, four and a half to five lbs. and a peregrine falcon just after releasing her safely (holding on to the wrist of the tail until they pull themselves free). Wind strong NW with heavy showers throughout the day.
Ger Marten
02/07/2016: Another cracker of a day on Lough Currane and the fly department. We start on the South side of the Lake, Mr. Terry Bradley, caught a fine 7 lbs Salmon on the fly while fishing with his Gillie Mr. Frank Donnelly of www.Lakelandshouse.com Now we cut across to the north side and the Bungalow, Limerick angler Mr. Ger Marten caught and released 3 Sea Trout and finished his day with a fine 4 lbs. Salmon, all while fishing with his gillie Mr. Neil O’Shea of www.oshealoughcurrane.com now to catch of the day and that goes to UK angler Mr. Mark Knowles, while fly fishing with his Gillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy of www.fishingwithdom.com caught 3 Grilse and just for the record Mark has been Dominic’s guest for the last few days. Wind NW fresh with reasonable cloud cover.
Terry Bradley
03/07/2016: Lough Currane was on the slack side in all departments, but there is one angler who would beg to differ and that is Mr. Martin Coveney of Cork, who caught a nice 4 lbs. Salmon/Grilse on the troll while fishing with his Gillie Mr. Neil O’Shea of www.oshealoughcurrane.com and you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to work out the rest of the manipulating Anglers failed miserably in their duties in procuring a Wild Atlantic Salmon, or one of Lough Currane’s magnificent Specimen Sea Trout, mind you I say that, but there is good few Anglers who would rather catch a few nice Juniors!! Wind West light with bright sunshine.
04/07/2016: Lough Currane again produced some good fly fishing, so lets get straight to the action, UK Angler, Mr. Michael Fish, while fly fishing with his Gillie, caught two fine Grilse, ranging from 4 lbs. Up to 5 lbs. and just for the record released one. Now to catch and text of the Day from the Gillie and I quote, Mr. Peter Glover, got 3 Grilse and one Salmon on the fly and one 3lbs. Sea Trout. NW fresh with good cloud cover with showers.
05/07/2016: UK angler Mr. Mike Fish, takes all the headlines and for good reason, on his last day out, while fishing with his Gillie, caught a cracker of a 9 lbs. Salmon and just for the record I will put the picture up as soon as I get it. Now for the rest of the news, well there isn’t any, well put this way the mobile is on the quiet side of life, like some of the Lough Currane Anglers reels. Wind SW fresh with good cloud cover.
UK Angler Mr. Mike Fish with 9lb salmon
Breaking news on the Sea Trout front and the fly only department. Renowned Cork fly Angler, Mr. Tom Murphy saw some good action on Lough Currane and in his own words and I quote. My wonderful Currane. Kept a brace from five. Nice evening here for fishing. Met a lot of fish. They’re a bit shy tonight.
06/07/2016: I start with a backdate, in the hired out boat department www.oshealoughcurrane.com there were two salmon caught all on the drift, in the past few days. Now back to the present and in the fly department Mr. Peter Glover was in good form with his fly rod and the truth of the pudding is in the eating of, Peter caught two Grilse and finished his day off with 2 Sea Trout, all while fishing with his Gillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy of www.fishingwithdom.com Now we head for the trolling department, Mr. Earl Gill, while fishing with his Gillie Mr. Frank Donnelly of www.lakelandshouse.com caught a 5 lbs. Salmon. You can say another good day in all departments. Wind SW strong and with good cloud cover with rain this evening.
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
Angler Colm Murphy fished the Corrib yesterday late afternoon and had some great sport. Rain and a big wave produced some lovely fish on the dap and fly. Colm tells us they hit upon a small hatch of Mayfly and beautiful Corrib brownie hammered his Octopus. Great fight, a quick photo and them released.
Francis Flaherty with a lovely trout from the Clare River
Angler Francis Flaherty who was fishing on the Clare river and tells us there are some nice trout about. Francis caught a couple of fine trout on the worm.
Francis Flaherty with a lovely trout from the Clare River
Angling activity on Lough Corrib the week gone by was somewhat quieter with less anglers about and changeable weather conditions and sparse hatches thus culminating in a quiet spell. The little fishing that was had was on caenis and sedges.
Larry McCarthy from Corrib View Lodge, Glencorrib www.corribangling.com reports a slow-down in caenis hatches but some sport was still available early mornings over the last week. Tony Ling, Mark Thomas and Tim Gawthorn from England all enjoyed early morning success catching 18 trout over 3 days with all fish returned. Larry himself took advantage of two free mornings and caught 11 fish up to three pounds on Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully with some settled weather Larry is hoping to see action to sedges or possibly the start of Corrib’s smaller second hatch of mayfly.
One fine Corrib trout caught by Larry McCarthy
Kevin Molloy of Baurisheen Bay Boat Hire (+353 (0)87-9604170) reported that a group of visiting German anglers enjoying a great day on Lough Corrib on Tuesday last landing three trout on wets and on the troll with the best fish being 3.25 lbs. Kevin himself was fishing on Friday last and had one trout of 2.25 lbs. on a wet sedge pattern.
Anglers on the Galway Weir enjoyed a very good week with a total of 109 fish being caught. Weather conditions and water levels were ideal for salmon angling. There was a great show of fish and anglers and tourists alike were amazed with the amount of salmon pitching and showing in the system. Only 9 fish fell to shrimp with the rest being caught on fly. Some of the results were as follows:
24th June – Werner Meckle from Germany had 3 fish on fly, as did Aidan Brophy, Dublin, while and Eamon Power and Brian Hennessey from Waterford also had their quota but released 4 fish between them.
25th June – Aidan Twoomey, Waterford, showed his father Thomas how it is done with a 2-0 score line. Andrew Davin from Northern Ireland had 2 fish for 4 & 5 lbs. Brian King caught a nice fish of 7.5 lbs. on the fly and added another of 3 lbs. His mates, Gerry Hartigan and Damien Nolan, from Limerick had a brace each, ranging from 4 to 5 lbs.
All above fish came to the fly bar Gerry’s which took a shrimp.
26th June – Dr. Frank O’Hara had 4 fish on fly and released one, all averaging around 4.5 lbs., Fintan Murphy, Oranmore, landed 3 fish about the same average weight (two on fly one on shrimp. Greg Forde took time off his busy schedule to grass a lovely six-pounder on fly.
27th June – Ned Cusack again landed a nice grilse on the shrimp of 4 lbs., while Spanish anglers Jose and Jesus Maquiteria had 4 fish to the fly from 4 lbs. to 6 lbs. Peter Butler, the infamous writer on coarse angling, caught 2 fish on the fly which was a great achievement after he had major surgery on his hands last year. Local angler, Neil Spellacy, had a great day with 5 fish all between 4 and 5 lbs. on fly, releasing 3 to a killer fly he tied the night before, which he went home without!
28th June – Annie and Peter Taylor, UK, had a fish apiece on fly and shrimp. Sean O’Toole caught a brace in quick time on the fly of 4 lbs. each, while Henry Cosgrove ,Tuam, and Stephen Cullinane, Galway), had a brace as well.
29th June – Dave O’Reilly caught 2 fish of 5 lbs. on fly, while a visiting angler from Belgium, who never took a fly rod up before his day on the Weir landed a 4 lbs. fresh run fish.
Bernhard Mannion with a fine Ballisodare ten-pounder
Markus Müller, Angling Information Manager with IFI Ballina office reports fromBallisodare:
Luke O’Connell reported that fishing remained very good at Ballisodare with a total of 234 fish being caught (78 released). The majority of the grilse averaged 4 – 5 lbs. with the odd double figure fish also caught. The fly and worm were the most effective methods with fish at the Falls showing little interest in a prawn. Results were as follows:
Monday June 27th – Jim Keenan had two nice fish on the fly weighing 7 lbs. and 5 lbs. at the Falls. James Kennedy also had a 7 lbs. fish at the Falls on the worm. A visiting group of French anglers enjoyed a good day landing 10 fish between 4 anglers (3 released). The best fish of the group was caught by Loat Paul on the prawn weighing 12 lbs., while the rest of the grilse were in the 3 – 5 lbs. bracket. Juvenile angler, M.J. Graham, caught 2 nice grilse on the worm.
Tuesday June 28th – Noel Fairbanks, Warrick Bowden and Bernard McKeon had a good day on the fly at the Falls landing a total of 6 grilse averaging 4.5 lbs. Leslie Cooper landed a lovely fresh 10 lbs. fish on the worm at the Falls, Donagh McDonnell also had a nice fish on the worm at the Falls weighing 8 lbs., John Connolly released two fish weighing 4 lbs. and 5 lbs upriver. Sean Maye also released a 4 lbs. fish on the fly upriver.
Wednesday June 29th – The group of French anglers continued to be successful landing 8 more, all on prawn and worm. Albert Berry and Pat Foley caught 4 grilse fish between 5 lbs. and 6.5 lbs. on the fly at the Falls.
Thursday June 30th – Thursday was a good day with over 30 fish caught, with a decent number of these released. All fish were caught on the fly and worm and were in the 3 – 6 lbs. bracket.
Bernhard Mannion with a fine Ballisodare ten-pounder
Friday July 1st – Bernard Mannion had a fine ten-pounder on the worm at the Falls, while visiting anglers, Ciaran McCuddy and Padraig McMahon caught 4 grilse on the worm averaging 4.5 lbs. The French party had another good day on Friday landing 10 fish in total with two good ones of 7 lbs. (worm) and 10 lbs. (prawn). John Connolly released two small grilse under 3 lbs. upriver on the fly. Roy Cooper, Patrick O’Connor and Stephen Moore all had fish upriver on the worm of about 4 lbs.
Saturday July 2nd – Saturday was again a consistent day with 20 fish caught. The two best fish of the day were landed by Damien Quigley (6 lbs. on fly) and visiting angler Robin from Tottenham (6 lbs. on worm).
Sunday July 3rd – Sunday was also a very productive day with a good number of fish being caught. Amongst the successful anglers were: Hugh and Noel McKeever, Joan Bowen-Walsh, Johnny Shields, Gerry McHugh and Albert & Alan Shaw who all had grilse between 3 lbs. and 7 lbs. John Murray caught two sea-liced grilse on a ½ “ Willie Gunn tube, while David O’Connor also had fish on the same fly. Noel Barber caught & released two grilse on the fly upriver.
Markus Müller, Angling Information Manager with IFI Ballina office reports from the River Moy:
With a reported catch of 615 salmon the excellent fishing on the River Moy system continued for yet another week. Fresh fish were caught on all fisheries with overall angling effort increasing.
On the Ridge Pool, Northern Ireland flyanglers, Robert Logue & John Shaw, each had five fish and released three grilse each. Also on the Ridge Pool, John Ryan, Tipperary, caught a 5.25 grilse on fly.
A Russian group of four, led by Alex Neserove, landed 9 salmon over two days on worm & spinner on the Mount Falcon Fishery, while David Thomas, Scotland, had seven salmon (4 released) on prawn fishing the Coolcronan water. Joe McGee from Northern Ireland was successful on the Foxford Fishery with two grilse of 4 lbs. and 5 lbs. on worm and anglers on the Foxford Salmon Anglers’ waters caught in excess of 90 fish during the week.
The Cloongee Fishery also provided superb fishing with the Mark Parsley group form the UK catching 41 salmon over 8 ½ days on worm, spinner and bubble & fly. Thierry Coulm also reported a very good week for a group of French anglers with a total of 23 salmon mainly caught on bubble & fly.
Anglers on the East Mayo stretch also enjoyed excellent salmon fishing with a reported catch of 120 fish. Amongst the successful anglers were Paul Kelly, Sligo, with two fish at 3 lbs. and 9 lbs. on fly and Reg Bishop, UK, with an 11.5 lbs. salmon on worm. Also on East Mayo, Bertrand Savary, France, landed two grilse at 4 lbs. and 6 lbs. on fly, while Swiss visitor, Felice Ceruso, had two grilse on worm averaging 4.5 lbs.
See camera at Foxford
Markus Müller Fisheries Information Manager ——————————————–
Iascach Intíre Éireann
Inland Fisheries Ireland, Ballina
