With a total of 396 fish caught (110 released) the past two weeks were exceptionally productive at the Ballisodare Fishery.
On the river section, both fly and worm proved effective, while at the Falls all methods (worm, fly and prawn) caught fish. The Average size of fish was around the 5 pound mark, with quite a few bigger salmon on the scene.
Some good reports came in from Paul Hamilton who had two salmon on fly at the Falls, one of which was 8 lbs. Donagh McDonnell had two fish weighing 8 lbs. and 5 lbs. respectively, both on the worm. Kevin Flynn had two on the fly, biggest at 8 lbs., while Dermot Glennon enjoyed a good day on the prawn catching two nice fish weighing 8.5 lbs. and 7 lbs. releasing one. There were many more reports from anglers catching two or more fish a day.
A group of four French anglers enjoyed four exceptional days of salmon fishing with approx. 30 fish landed and many more lost. Most of their fish were in the 4 to 6 lbs. range with a few 7 pounders also.
World-class golfer, Mark O'Meara & Sean McManmon with 4 of their 7 fly caught Ridge Pool salmon
The Moy system saw its best week of the season so far with over 650 salmon reported. The best of the fishing was again in the tidal section of the river and around and above Foxford town. However, the fisheries along the middle section also reported a slight increase in catch numbers. World-class golfer, Mark O’Meara & Sean McManmon with 4 of their 7 fly caught Ridge Pool salmon
On the Ridge Pool , world-class golfer Mark O’Meara fishing together with Sean McManmon enjoyed a great day’s fly fishing with a total of 7 grilse landed, four of which were safely released.
On Wednesday 8th July, John Ryan from Tipperary won the Ballina Salmon Festival Heritage Day Prize for heaviest fish (national angler), while Scottish angler, James Campbell, scooped the trophy for heaviest fish caught by a visiting angler. Both trophies were kindly sponsored by Mayo Shore Angling Club. James caught his five pounder on the Cathedral Beat, while John was successful on the Ridge Pool. John Ryan, Tipperary, receiving his Ballina Salmon Festival Heritage Day Prize
First time salmon angler, Terry Marsh, from the UK will definitely remember his visit to Mount Falcon where he managed to land three fish (all on worm), best at 10 lbs. William McAleese, Scotland, also had three salmon (best at 7 lbs.) but from the Cloongee Fishery and on spinner. Also on Cloongee, Brendan Doyle, Monaghan, caught a 5.5 lbs. fish while spinning. illy Thornton (IFI), winner (visiting angler section) James Campbell, Scotland, & Val McLoughlin (Mayo Shore Angling Club)
Further upriver on East Mayo, flyfishing proved to be quite effective. Successful flyanlgers included Gary Clayton, UK, with three fish up to 6 lbs., Alan Micklethwaite with a six pounder and local angler, Billy McGhee, who had a fine 9.5 lbs. salmon. However, other methods such as the worm also produced the goods! Italian visitor, Marco Zago caught 5 fish between 3 and 8 lbs. over two days.
Billy Downes of the Laune Salmon and Trout Anglers’ Associationreports that as of Thursday 14th July the water levels on the Laune are very favourable, and have been for the last number of days. Unfortunately anglers are not meeting fish in the Laune waters. Despite talking 20 anglers on the river over the last four days there is not even a report of fish seen, yet the Flesk has had 44 fish in recent days, according to Billy. There are further reports that anglers on the Killarney Lakes also enjoyed good catches last week.
Permits for Laune Anglers waters from now to the end of July only €25 per day.
Skipper John Fleming of the Blue Shark Angling Galway was in touch to say that following boat repairs, the Brazen Hussy is back at full throttle and taking bookings for charter trips.
Cuckoo Wrasse
Over the last week they have enjoyed good mixed species fishing, including cod, pollack, ling, launce, grey gurnard, octopus cuckoo wrasse and mackerel finally showing in abundance.
John is planning a few shark trips over the next couple of weeks given suitable weather conditions, and can be contacted at 087 7571320.
To make a booking…
John Fleming
Brazen Hussy 2,
Blue Shark Angling Galway, Phone John Fleming : +353 (0)87 7571320 Facebook:
Terry Gallagher reports that the broken weather has lifted water levels significantly, and salmon are moving in on most tides. Peter McDonagh kick started July in style with 3 grilse taken on Beat 1 – best 5lbs. First time visitor to Casla, Frank Steppenbeck, caught his first ever salmon fishing Beat 1 and followed it up with his 2nd later in the day! The fish were 5lbs and 4lbs 8oz, making for a very happy angler! Micheal Dillon was on the beat the next day and landed another fresh grilse of 5lbs. Another newcomer, Brendan Burke was very pleased with the 4lbs 4oz grilse and 6 sea trout he caught on the river. Brendan remarked that if he landed all the sea trout he hooked/rose then the figure would have been closer to 15. Regular visitor, Pat Farrelly, triumphed yet again during his day on the river when he landed 3 grilse, 7lbs, 6lbs and 3lbs 8oz. Geoffrey Fitzjohn also returned to the middle river beats and caught a grilse of 5lbs in the Round Pool. The fish he noted was in excellent condition, a classic stocky Casla grilse.
Neil Spellacy landed 3 grilse on Friday, including a fish of 5lbs 12oz and two fish of 4lbs (2 released). Sean Kelly also had 3 the following day, including fish of 5lbs, 4lbs & 3lbs (all taken on the ubiquitous Black Shrimp!). All were bars of silver fresh in off the tide. Since then water levels have been kept up well with more rain and fishing prospects are very good for the coming week.
Contact Terry Gallagher at [email protected] or on 087 2399988 to book fishing.
Ronan Cusack reports that fishing on Mask has varied over the last week due to the ever-changing weather conditions.
The first good report of daphnia fishing came from Ballinrobe angler Kevin Beattie this week. Kevin had 7 fish over the size limit, plus a few undersize across the middle of the lake on Sunday (best fish 1.5lbs, all returned). Conditions on the day were perfect, with grey skies and a nice breeze. David Connors, also from Ballinrobe has put in a few early mornings on Caenis over the past week or two and enjoyed some great sport (best fish to date 2.5lbs). David reported seeing some unbelievable rises of fish, but typical of trout feeding on Caenis, difficult to sneak up on when you’re on your own. Richie Cameron has been chipping away on the dries and picking up fish most days he’s out. Noel O’Toole from Galway had a cracking fish of 5.5lbs on dries, at the mouth of Caher Bay on Sunday last.
Fly hatches over the past week have been good, with plenty of Caenis on the calm mornings and reasonable hatches of sedge to keep them interested during the day.
The forecast for the coming week is again for broken weather, so if you’re out, bring the dries and the deep is defiantly worth a look.
The huge early morning hatch of Caenis on Corrib has to be seen to be believed!
Declan Gibbons reports that angling on Corrib has still a lot to offer with mixed weather conditions. Hatches of mayfly, sedges and Caenis are happening when conditions are favourable.
Last Sunday saw a fundraising competition out of Greenfields for Oisin Reilly, a member of the Irish Youths fly fishing team who will be representing Ireland in August on the Lake of Menteith in Scotland. The competition was run on a Catch-and-Release basis with Ennis Angler Seamus O’Loughlin landing 5 trout for first place. Seamus caught 4 trout on wet fly and his fifth on a dry fly. In second place was Dublin angler Stuart Marrey who caught 3 trout, all on dry fly. In third place was the young man himself who will be representing Ireland, Oisin Reilly from Glencorrib, with 2 trout both taken on dry fly. Best lady angler on the day went to Cong woman Dorrie Gibbons with 1 trout. The competition saw 15 anglers catch 17 trout. We wish Team Ireland all the best in Scotland in August.
Staying in the area well-known angler Vincent Hughes, uncle of International coarse angler Cathal Hughes had a great day’s fishing on the dap, landing 3 trout in the Inchiquinn area, with the best fish 3.5lbs. Also in the Greenfields area former fisheries staff member Pat Day had 3 trout for 5lbs for two evening’s fishing on wet flies. In the Oughterard area Basil Sheilds of Ardnasillagh Lodge (091-552550) reports Shannon angler Glen O’Connell had 1 fish on wet fly for his day’s fishing and fellow Shannon man John Fitzgerald landed 5 trout for 2 days – worth noting the Shannon boys were operating off a self-imposed 14 inch limit. Also at Ardnasillagh, Maurice Murphy of Strabane caught 2 trout on wet mayflies – best fish 3.5lbs. Staying in the Oughterard area Gerry Molloy of Gerry Molloy’s Fishing Lodge www.loughcorriboughterard.com (087-9190673) reports a group of visiting anglers – 3 Swiss and 1 German – enjoyed excellent fishing on Corrib from June 13th to June 27th. Also in the Oughterard area Kevin Molloy of Baurisheen Boat Hire (087-9604170) reports French father and son – the Deschamps -catching 3 trout trolling Rapalas for a half days fishing
It was a quieter week this week according to Larry McCarthy of Corrib View Lodge (087-9135222, www.corribangling.com) but there was still some good fishing to be had. Thursday was the first light wind morning and still the Caenis poured off, with 9 fish caught between 1.5 and 2.5lbs.
The huge early morning hatch of Caenis on Corrib has to be seen to be believed!
On Saturday two Northern Ireland anglers – Stephen Lusty and his mate Phillip – landed some cracking trout on crickets while boated by Frank Reilly, one of which weighed 4lb 8oz. On Sunday the two boys fished Caenis with Larry and landed 6 nice fish to 2lbs. On Monday they and Larry went to Carra and had 5 nice trout on dry olives between 1.5lbs and 2lbs.
Sedges are appearing with a second hatch of May fly at the moment so the good fishing should continue along with the broken weather.
IADA officials on Lough Muckno report on the Muckno Mania Angling Festival July being fished from 13th to 17th July…
Weights of 18kgs on White 17 kg on Black and 16kg on Yellow Island on Day 3 puts the cat truly amongst the pigeons, when trying to sort out a likely victor in this exciting see-saw, ebb and flow festival.
Lee Klimczuk continues his relentless pursuit of Festival honours with a convincing zone win of 16kg on peg 216 Yellow Island, in a standout performance that parachutes him into a comfortable lead, albeit facing two less fancied sections on the final two days. Who would however bet against him repeating his recent great form, on this, one of his favourite venues where he is most comfortable?
Few know Lough Muckno better than veteran John Clapham and few can exploit the opportunity to stake a claim to top spot better than him. John started his surge today, from an already strong position, with a great weight of 18kgs on White island that saw him soar up the rankings to 3rd place and he is in striking distance, facing two very fancied sections in the coming days.
Rob Rowe is holding on in there and with a 10kg plus weight today he commands a strong position in second place, even though with lesser fancied sections to come, he will do well to hold on. His lack of venue experience has not daunted him and he sees no reason not to be confident of a top place finish.
Tony Hopkins is another who refuses to quit and in holding on he has afforded himself the opportunity to strike when and if the draw bag allows, on his last two visit to White Island on days 4 and 5.
The question was asked “could he walk the walk” and it was emphatically answered today by local favourite Rory O’ Neill, with his 17kg winning weight, of the full Black island sector, by a margin of some 5kgs from his nearest rival. His meteoric rise from 19th place to 5th sees him now, a real contender also.
Neil Mallinson Willem V.D Helm John Fletcher and Stuart Burdiken are creating some considerable jitters amongst the leaders, since they have positioned themselves in pole positions to strike, moving as they are, to the much fancied big weight sections at Black and Yellow Islands.
With big names and big talents in the form of M. Pollard and K. Johnson stalking the leaders, this Festival is still too early by far to call and with the final two days expected to be blusterier, experience and tenacity could prevail with many more stings in the tail expected.
Meanwhile Charter skipper Mark Gannon is reporting some great blue shark fishing with as many as 19 sharks to the boat last weekend…
08 July: Conger, ling, pollack, mackerel, a few herring and some fine blue sharks were taken by our anglers today.
Ling
09 July: Big change from earlier in the week so we went wrecking offshore today. There were plenty of good ling. In fact we finished the day with 48 ling for the boat. We also had a few cod, pollack and coalfish.
Double trouble!
11 July: We were out yesterday and had some fine congers. Tough conditions today but some good blues to the boat.
Nice pollack
14 July: Nice pollack from the Lady Patricia for our Dutch Clients and Ling,and shark for Keith and Mike.
Lovely specimen length blue shark
15 July: Weather much improved today,nice to have a bit of sunshine,blue shark to 198cm,conger to 12 kg,plenty medium size ling and pollack
Courtmacsherry Sea Angling Centre is one of Irelands Premier Angling Centres based in the picturesque village of Courtmacsherry located only 30miles from Cork International Airport on the West Cork coast between the Old head of Kinsale and the Seven Heads peninsula. Our purpose built Sea angling and selfdrive boats offer the sea angler the ultimate in safety and comfort.Sea Angling in Courtmacsherry produces good results both for the offshore charter angler,the selfdrive angler for inshore fishing or the wreck enthusiast. Web:www.courtmacsherryangling.ie Email:[email protected] Telephone: +353 (0)23 8846427 or +353 (0)86 8250905
