Water levels remained low for the week ending 11 May on the Laune river. There was just 1 salmon reported. The fish was estimated to weight 8lbs and was caught by an angler spinning on Beat 3, Laune Angler’s water.
Vincent Appleby is joined by The Currane Angler in this week’s reports from Lough Currane…
May 7, 2025. There have been no reports from Currane anglers regarding the catch of any wild Atlantic Salmon on this bright and sunny day. The weather conditions included variable winds ranging from light air to gentle, shifting from East to Southeast, Southwest, West-Southwest, West, and West-Northwest. Yesterday’s recorded weather data showed no rainfall, a maximum air temperature of 14.6 °C, and 13 hours and 14 minutes of sunshine.
May 8, 2025. On this warm and sunny day, anglers at Currane hope for rain that never comes, despite some promising clouds. Winds varied from light to moderate ENE, NE, ENE, SE, S, to SSW. Yesterday’s weather included no rainfall, a maximum air temperature of 18.0°C, and 13 hours and 9 minutes of sunshine. As anglers know, St. Peter was the first Pope and patron saint of fishermen. Today, we welcome Pope Leo XIV and wish him well on his pilgrimage on behalf of all anglers and the people of Ireland.
May 9, 2025. The anglers at Currane experienced a quiet day with no notable activity. The weather was mostly sunny with occasional cloud cover, but fishing lines remained slack. The weather for the day was characterized by light to gentle and variable winds from the north, veering W, WSW, W, WNW. The previous day’s weather recorded no rainfall, with a maximum air temperature of 18.40°C and 12 hours of sunshine.
May 10, 2025. I apologize for the error made two days ago when the incorrect video was uploaded. The intended video was not “The Loaves and Fishes.” We are now presenting the Mad Fishermen’s Loaves and Fishes video for your viewing. Regarding our update from Lough Currane, although there was plenty of bread, there were no reports of fish catches. This result is likely due to the bright sunshine throughout the day and the variable light to gentle winds from SSE, veering to S, SSW, SW, and WSW. Yesterday’s weather included no rainfall, a maximum air temperature of 16.4°C, and 4 hours and 7 minutes of sunshine.
May 11, 2025. There have been no reports from the Currane Salmon and Sea Trout anglers, indicating that their flies and lures were ineffective. The wind conditions varied from light to fresh, changing directions among WNW, WSW, W, WNW, NNW, and N. Yesterday’s weather recorded no rainfall, a maximum air temperature of 16.1°C, and a total of 10 hours and 1 minute of sunshine.
May 12, 2025. There were no reports from Currane anglers, which is attributed to the strong northeastern winds pushing the Currane water into the Atlantic. Today’s weather featured NNE wind and bright sunshine throughout the day. Yesterday’s weather recorded a rainfall amount of 0.1 mm, a maximum air temperature of 13.8°C, and 4 hours of sunshine.
May 13, 2025: There were no reports from the Currane anglers on this day. The weather data from the previous day include a trace amount of rainfall, a maximum air temperature of 14.9°C, and 8 minutes of sunshine. My apologies for not giving all the facts but was on the road all day.
Vincent Appleby
Eureka Lodge, Caherdaniel West, Co. Kerry.
Telephone: +353 (0) 87 207 4882
E-mail:salmonandseatrout@gmail.com
Web: www.salmonandseatrout.com
Inland Fisheries Ireland wishes to remind anglers that the Conservation of Sea Trout (No.7 or Kerry District) Waterville Area Bye-Law No. 971 of 2019 remains in effect. This Bye-law prohibits the retention and possession of any sea trout (Salmo trutta L.) taken by any fishing engine or by rod and line in the Waterville area i.e. that part of the sea eastward of a line drawn from the most westerly point of Bolus Head to the most westerly point of Lamb’s Head and to all the waters discharging in to it.
The Bye-Law mainly affects seatrout fishing on :-
For more information on the daily conditions, all the craic and news be sure to check out Vincent Appleby’s Salmon and Sea Trout blog for regular reports with back dates, petitions, public consultation notices, readers letters and videos and more of what’s happening on Currane.
Transition Year students Nikita Greidans and Jack Keenahan are working together at Blackwood Bait and Tackle. As part of this school programme they are supplying reports to the Irish Angling Update…
On the 3rd of may we ran a match on Gaulmoylestown Lake, on the day we had 16 anglers participating, the weather conditions were ideal for coarse fishing. The draw was at 10am and all in was at 11.30, finally all out was at 4.30. at the start of the match peg 18 seemed to be performing the best but the winning peg on the day was peg 3
Overall, the day was a great success as almost all the anglers had a bag of 50lb minimum with one or two exceptions.
We would also like to thank the people who sponsored the prizes for the day. Thanks to Palmerson Stores, Portumna, Vivado Hunting and Fishing Tackle, Tullamore, Wild Hunter, Athlone and Loch Mahon, we greatly appreciate the sponsored prizes because without the sponsors the match wouldn’t have happened.
We cannot take orders through the website at the minute so please contact us directly for orders but you can use the website to view the products…
Sean Melia was in touch about a notable catch this weekend that made him a proud dad…
So it started with an early rise from bed on Saturday morning for Jake and straight to our favourite rock mark on a Wexford beach, rods and bait in hand.
We didn’t have to wait too long for Jake’s rod to get a hard smack producing a lovely bass at 65cm long and an estimated weight around 6lbs an amazing fish to start his angling career. Jake’s bass was caught and released without harm to fight another day.
Jake is 6 years old lost 2 bass that morning, landed 1 bass at 65cm… And made a very very proud Dad.
This week Daire Whelan and Tom Doc are talking about the Munster Blackwater which has not seen many fish caught this year…
Conor Arnold on the Blackwater’s May run and where have all the springers gone?
With the salmon run beginning in earnest this month, the Blackwater’s Conor Arnold joins Daire & Tom on this week’s Ireland on the Fly to tell them about the unique May salmon that arrives in the river, and whether the spring run’s decline could actually herald an increase in the back-end?
Plus, Tom has a mayfly update from Corrib, and the lads will be bringing you more mayfly updates from across the country over the next few weeks so stay tuned for those.
Listen and follow on Apple or Spotify, keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly on https://www.IrelandontheFly.com and get regular updates on https://Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly.
Evan McGovern was in touch with a report from a small boat trip he took on Friday out of Cork Harbour…
We headed out for a few hours afloat today and with the light winds forecast we decided to head for deep water. From the first drop we were into good spurdogs and plenty of them.
We also had a nice mix of species on the scratching rods. We were kept very busy all day with blue whiting, spurs, a couple of megrim and a few decent whiting too in among the usual pollack, pouting, poor cod etc
South West Sea Angling – Cork Harbour (Ram Point to Ballycotton)
Skipper David Edwards was in touch to to report the first blue shark we have heard about this year. Dave was making the most of the glorious conditions on Friday and the fish was hooked shortly before 5 o’clock in the evening. After a couple of photos it was safely released.
It’s been a very special week on Silver Dawn, with valuable research carried out and dreams made a reality for some wonderful people.
Yesterday was a day off and with the superb weather set to continue, I thought a very early attempt to catch and tag a Blue Shark was on the cards.A whole two weeks earlier than any Blue, previously recorded in Irish waters.
Chances were slim to zero but the weather and fabulous offshore wildlife, would make the attempt worthwhile.
A Super Pod of ocean going Dolphins, estimated at 200+ were visible for long spells, not great for shark fishing but good to see.
A Minke Whale came alongside as well as a large Bull Seal and as the day passed by, the fairly slim hope of encountering a Blue Shark, passed with it.
At 5pm, the silence was broken, line tore off and a decent size female Blue was heading for the horizon.
After a surprisingly good fight in only a 13c sea, she was brought onboard for measuring and tagging.
195cm length overall and quickly released.
She was the perfect end to a perfect week.
It’s very early to be getting blue shark in Irish waters and this unusual report wins our Catch of the Week.
David is no stranger to catching sharks early in the season. Last year he caught and released the first porbeagle of the 2024 on January 10th and the first blue shark of 2024 on May 24th.
Lough Sheelin angling report May 5th – May 11th 2025
“If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water”
Loren Eiseley
Now, settling into the month of May, there is a kind of invisible pressure resting over Lough Sheelin. We are entering into a phase of the fishing season here that is fraught with expectations often intertwined with disappointment and frustration – the mayfly season. “Mayfly madness” a fitting term to describe the excitement and frenzy of fishing during a mayfly hatch, when trout are actively feeding and the opportunity for anglers to capitalize on this and catch the trout of a lifetime is, allegedly a done deal.
The good weather, I think, has maybe made anglers think that the Mayfly is going to be earlier than in previous years here but that simply has not happened. There have been some good hatches but the trout with a few exceptions are not surfacing except for the odd one here and there, early morning or late evening. Daytime temperatures peaked at 21 degrees, water levels have dropped, and the water column stratified with a surface of 16 degrees and 12 degrees in the deep. The winds throughout the week favoured East which added another hurdle to good fishing. These past seven days with searing heat, bright sunshine and winds that simply would not behave made for pretty brutal fishing conditions here.
This week was all about nymph fishing. There are some very experienced fly fishers here who refuse to nymph. “Dry or Die” is a term bandied around by a few of the dry fly purists which is fine but those with that unyielding attitude simply did not catch fish on Sheelin this week. There wasn’t much room for the ‘chuck & duck’ teams of wets or spinning lures either, it was all about the nymph with a small amount of buzzer fishing using epoxies thrown into the mix. While many anglers prefer the delicacy, finesse and surface water action of dry fly fishing, using nymphs is almost always more productive. Nymphing on Sheelin works, plain and simple. Trout reputedly spend 90% of their time feeding underwater, whether this number is accurate, the point remains the same: trout do a lot of eating under the surface. A trout will rise to eat a fly on the surface from time to time without a hatch, but normally the dry fly action occurs coincident with some part of an insect hatch. There was very little surface rise, perhaps an odd trout to the spent in the evening but not worth getting excited about. Anglers reported sporadic surface plucks in the very early morning but little interest from the fish in accepting the imitations of feather & fur.
The lake was busy in certain areas throughout the week. Trout catches recorded were sparse compared to angling numbers fishing and there were more blank days and good sun tans reported than actual trout. Regardless of our scorching mid-day heats and contrary wind directions some really good trout were caught albeit all on the nymphs. The heaviest was a slab of a trout at over 8lbs by Sligo angler Paul Colreavy.
Back to the technique of nymphing on Lough Sheelin. For those wanting to catch fish and trying to convert to this fishing technique there is no doubt about it that, nymphing can be a slow, a methodical process requiring patience and attention to detail. Sometimes, the anticipation and waiting for a bite can feel like a test of endurance. For Sheelin, some effective nymphing techniques included indicator nymphing, high-stick nymphing and sight nymphing with other factors like water depth and not having your line too tight (to accommodate a take which reportedly can happen at ten mph…) coming into play. This too will pass so if this type of structured and slow-paced fishing isn’t your cup of tea then wait it out until the mayfly really kicks in and in the meantime just enjoy being out there in the wealth of wildlife – two sea eagles, an osprey, terns, coots, swallows and of course the cuckoos in the bog areas serenading anyone who cares to listen.
Now, past the first week in May the majority of anglers were fishing the nymphs with a few using teams of buzzers, mainly epoxy. The most productive was the nymph fishing which necessitated a very slow retrieve, not popular with many in this ‘frenetic and fast-paced’ world. The most successful patterns used were the Pheasant Tail, Hare’s Ear, Prince Nymph and Copper John. Variations of these were used with reasonable successes.
Dry fly fishing was there in the mix for this week with Bob’s Bits or Shipman’s in a variety of colours proving to be successful. The best colours are claret, fiery brown, black, ginger, orange, hare’s ear, olive and grey. These colours will cover both the early buzzer rises, our scattering of spring olives and for later, the smaller sedges. Grey Dusters are very effective when the trout are rising to buzzer hatches and the scraggier the better. The Spent Gnat is getting a look in with a nice 5 pounder caught by Martin Ryan on a Spent Gnat pattern at Ross.
Black Pennell, Connemara Black, Peter Ross, Black and Blae, Sooty & Sweep and Sooty Olive on a slow retrieve are worth trying.
Best fishing areas, depending on wind direction were the silted areas of Goreport, Corru, Sailors Garden, Gaffneys, Merry Point, Plunketts Point, Bog Bay, Stony Islands, Finea and around Church Island. All locations are wind dependant.
IFI’s tagging project is active on Lough Sheelin so all anglers are reminded to keep an eye out for a blue tag with the requirement to note the number, size of fish and to ensure trout is released.
I was deeply saddened to hear of the death of Derek Evans on May 6th, long time angling correspondent for the Irish Times. Derek had been writing for the paper since his retirement as a printer and was well know for his “Angling Notes” column. I had the privalage of knowing him, our paths crossing on several angling occasions, out on Lough Sheelin and at various competitions. Everyone has their own memories of this “true gentleman” with his wealth of knowledge on angling but mine are of a man, highly proficient in angling reports and yet willing to step aside for someone who wasn’t as experienced, he would always ask me ‘do you want this one or will I’ if we were both covering an event, that courtesy and respect, which are rare commodities was always there and I appreciated him more for that. We had just one slight clash but because of it he will be remembered by me forever, I had submitted an angling report to him where I had talked about the Red Arsed Green Peter fly, the Irish Times published the article but Derek had changed my wording to Red Tailed Green Peter and chasitised me later in jest (I hope) about being uncouth. I confess I have never used his “Red Tailed” wording again retaining the familiar and historical name but every time I write Red Arsed Green Peter I always smile thinking about Derek and his failed attempt to make a lady out of me. I have included Scott Jackson’s Red Arsed Green Peter in this report as a thumbs up to this amazing man and I’m sure wherever he is he’ll forgive me for it.
John Mulvany johnmulvanyfishing@gmail.com 086 2490076
Please remember anglers to abide by BYE-LAW 949 which strictly prohibits from
June 14th, 2017 onwards:
Heaviest trout: an 8lb plus trout caught by Paul Colreavy using nymphs
Number of trout recorded: 42
Selection of catches:
Martin Ryan – 1 trout at 5lbs on a spent, May 9th at Ross.
James Barry – 1 trout at 6lbs on nymphs, May 9th.
Niall McMenamin- 1 trout at 5.5lbs using nymphs, May 9th
Paul O’Reilly – 1 trout at 2.5lbs on mayfly nymphs.
Richard McPhail – 3 trout heaviest at 3lbs using buzzers and nymphs.
Kevin Curran, Drumshambo – 3 trout at 4, 6 and 7lbs all on mayfly nymphs.
Paul Colreavy, Sligo – 2 trout at 3 and 5.5lbs on nymphs and 1 trout at 6.5lbs using epoxy buzzers.
Paul Owens, Dublin – 3 trout heaviest at 5lbs, all on nymphs.
Sean Dempsey, Athlone – 9 trout for the week, heaviest at 7lbs, all caught on nymphs.
Darren Harten, Cavan – 1 trout at 6.5lbs on nymphs.
Gerry Merrick reports from the Ballisodare Salmon Fishery…
Ballisodare Salmon Fishery Report – 7Th May 2025
Ballisodare Fishery like the rest of the country has been experiencing continuous sunshine since the rains over Easter. The system has been lightly fished in the meantime. However, five nice spring fish have been caught and released. Many others have been lost at the net as the barbless hooks are perhaps doing their job.
We are encouraged by the numbers going through the fish pass and seen in the system generally. Showers forecast for this weekend will be most welcome.
For two seasons now, Ballisodare Fishing Club has implemented a catch and release policy until end of May, to protect stocks of Spring Salmon. Consequently, only fly fishing is allowed during this period.
The Ballisodare River is the name given to the two and a half miles of river formed by the meeting of two fairly large rivers, the Owenmore and Arrow or Unshin River, about half a mile below the town of Collooney. The river empties out into the estuary of Ballisodare Bay at the Falls in Ballisodare.
The river has something for every serious salmon angler, from the quieter upper reaches with wide pools and tree lined banks to the series of ledges and mini falls in Ballisodare Town.
Web: www.ballisodarefishingclub.ie
Mail: info@ballisodarefishingclub.ie
Tel: +353 86 6103423
Sunshine and Vitamin D were in plentiful supply this week, as the good spell of weather continued into the first week of May. It’s been a glorious week here in the West, although easterly winds have kept it cool at times, but there was a lot of calm weather too. The whole country has seen the sun, even if temperatures weren’t as high everywhere.
May sees a lot of angling disciplines explode into life, and the recent good weather has seen sea angling really take off. Starting in west Clare, where Sean Naguire reported great mixed species fishing on the Isle of Aran charter boat. Staying local, skipper Luke Aston of the Clare Dragoon reported the first sixgill shark of 2025, as well as some early tope in the Shannon.
Slightly further north, John Fleming reported superb reef fishing in Galway Bay for his guests on the Brazen Hussy, with pollack and coalies galore. In Cork, Jim Clohessy found the bass a bit tougher to tempt, while in west Cork, David Norman completed a mullet slam of the three species of mullet, on 4 different methods no less!
We have news of a new event to replace the postponed 2025 Daiwa Pairs festival in Dingle, while we have a lovely report from Connemara, where 9 year old Mae Kirby float fished hardback crab to catch her first ballan wrasse – not the biggest fish to feature on these pages, but it makes our Catch of the Week.
May is synonymous with trout fishing and the famed mayfly hatch, but it was buzzer fishing that proved most productive on Corrib, with superb fishing reported over the past couple of weeks. Buzzer nymph and trolling has produced some beautiful trout, and mayfly hatches are said to be much better than in recent years, although conditions have been tough for surface fishing.
Good mayfly hatches were also reported from Lough Conn, where local angler Joe Ferguson made hay to take the win over the Dubs in the annual Pratt Cup competition. Over on Sheelin, Brenda Montgomery reports that the east wind and big temperature swings between warm days and cold nights put the brakes on mayfly hatches, with just a few small hatches and the main hatch still to come. Buzzers and mayfly nymphs were working, however.
Piscari-fly reported on good fishing on the River Nore, as well as on a trip to Corrib, where Mark Driver had a cracking 7lbs trout on Campto buzzer.
Damien Culliney also reports some nice trout (as well as pike) from Lough Derg.
Moving on to pike fishing, Kevin Lyons reports on a successful first trip to Ireland for French father and son Christophe and Louis, who had some nice pike over 90cm despite hot and calm conditions.
As well as Damien’s report above rom Derg, Paul Bourke also reports on a great trip for his guests on Monday, with over 20 pike to the boat in a hectic afternoon!
To coarse angling now, and Inniscarra Reservoir produced some cracking fishing over the weekend festival, with Cathal Hughes coming out on top with an incredible catch of 34kgs on Day 2 to win the pairs event with his partner Shane Dunne, who also won his section on Day 2.
The second leg of the VDE Irish Canal Masters was fished at Enfield, where Wesley Slevin had some nice tench and bream in his 14lbs 8oz catch, a great result on a tough day fishing.
We also feature a great video from UK angler and Youtuber Paul Vicary, who found a great tench spot that showcases the potential of Irish coarse angling, and also gives some great tips on tackle and tactics – well worth a watch!
Salmon angling so far this year has been less than spectacular, to put it mildly, but we have reports of the first couple of fish from Galway, where local man Simon Lenihan landed a lovely 12.8lbs fish to open the account for 2025. I have reports of another fish taken this morning, and a couple more lost this week. The unseasonally warm weather resulted in low angling pressure on the Moy, which was reflected in catches, with a dozen or so fish reported. Anglers’ reels remained quiet on Lough Currane, which is very low again due to the dry spell, but there were a few salmon reported from the Laune. We will need the weather to break before we see a big improvement in salmon runs, and we’re not going to wish for that – not publicly anyway! Finally, anglwers wishing to book fishing on the River Erriff can now buy permits through the IFI permit shop.
Finally, we bid a sad farewell to Irish Times angling correspondent Derek Evans, who was laid to rest today. Derek was a gentleman who was known, respected and loved by many anglers in Ireland, and whose weekly column was a great read. More here
The good weatyher will continue through Saturday, with long spells of sunshine, temps of 16-21C and just isolated showers in the west. Sunday will start mostly dry and sunny at first before showers or showery outbreaks of rain develop through the day with some heavy possible later. Highest temperatures of 15 to 20 degrees with a light to moderate northerly wind developing.
Showers or showery outbreaks of rain are likely to continue through much of Monday. Some heavy or thundery falls are possible. Generally driest, sunniest and warmest in the north. Highest temperatures of 16 to 21 degrees in a mostly moderate easterly wind. Warm subshine and showers, some heavy, on Tuesday too. Current indications suggest the rest of the week will be largely dry and settled with just a few showers. Temperatures generally reaching the high teens to low twenties.
Safe fishing to all and tight lines, especially here in Ireland.
IFI Staff
Catch, Photo, Release
If you have an angling story to share with the Irish Angling Update, please send it to reports@fisheriesireland.ie, and don’t forget that all of our fishing reports are available on our dedicated Angling Ireland Facebook page.
Boat Hire
Salmon and Sea-Trout fishing Guide
Silver Dawn
