This French angler safely erleased the bass after a quick photo
Daniel Brosnan reports that a 15lb bass was caught on Kilcummin Strand, 24th April. The angler, a French tourist, safely released the fish, described as a huge female heavy with spawn, after a quick photo.
This French angler safely released the bass after a quick photo
Daniel tells us the lucky angler was fishing fresh lugworm. Bass of this size are not common anywhere and Kilcummin is not generally regarded as a big fish venue with the average size of fish caught less than half that of this lump, but a 13lb fish was taken there in the last couple of years.
The Rathmullan Charters are now taking bookings for the new season starting in mid-April. Wreck and reef fishing should produce early season Pollock, Mackeral, Ling and Coalfish with the enigmatic Tope beginning to show from mid May onwards. As the water temperature improves more species will arrive including Red Gurnard, cod, Ray and the mighty Porbeagle shark.
For more details and some great early season deals, please Contact Angela on 087 2480132 or Niall on 087 0507464
The Lough Swilly Sea Angling Club have arranged the following league dates with Rathmullan Charters for 2015
24th May, 21st June, 11th July, 16th and 23rd August, 20th September and 11th October. There will be places available on all these trips for non members who would like a day out fishing.
The Milford & District Fly Angling Club will hold the very popular Lough Fern Classic Open Trout Angling competition on the 23rd & 24th of May.
The competition will be fished on a catch and release basis with the deadline for entries to be received by Wednesday , May 20th.
A draw for partners will be made on Friday, May 22nd.
Over €2000 worth of prizes are up for grabs again with entry forms available from me here at the Lough Swilly Angling Centre.
The competition brochure and entry form can also be downloaded from the club website @ www.milfordflyanglingclub.com
******************************************************************************** John Mc Laughlin
Lough Swilly Angling Centre/ Donegal Angling Phone : 087 292988 or Email:[email protected] Web: www.donegalangling.com and Facebook/Lough Swilly
Milford & Disrtict Fly Angling Club President, Hugo Duggan and the prizewinners at last Sundays' Presidents' Cup
The Milford Fly Angling Club is now accepting applications for new membership for the 2015 season on Lough Fern.
Membership application forms are available from the Enterprise House in Milford or here at the Lough Swilly Angling Centre.
The form can also be downloaded from the Club website @ www.milfordflyangling.com Milford & Disrtict Fly Angling Club President, Hugo Duggan and the prizewinners at last Sundays’ Presidents’ Cup
The first Open Trout Angling Competition of the season was held on Lough Fern, last Sunday,the 26th of April.
The Milford Club would sincerely like to thank the great turnout of 39 anglers who took part.
Angling conditions on the day were far from ideal with a very cold north wind along with driving rain and hail at times.
This didn’t stop well known fly tyer, Maurice Brolly from Strabane taking first place with a nice brown Trout of 520 grms. The top 5 prizewinners were;
1st Maurice Brolly-Strabane,
2nd Eugene Boyle-Dungloe,
3rd Damien Doherty-Belfast,
4th Doalty O’ Donnell-Dungloe,
5th Harry Whoriskey-Strabane.
******************************************************************************** John Mc Laughlin
Lough Swilly Angling Centre/ Donegal Angling Phone : 087 292988 or Email:[email protected] Web: www.donegalangling.com and Facebook/Lough Swilly
John Mc Laughlin reports with the Letterkenny & District Angling Club news:
The Letterkenny & District Anglers Association would like to let all club members and visiting anglers know that Boat hire is now available again on Lough Fern,Lough Keel and Glen Lake.
Glen Lake/Owencarrow river are open for Catch&Release salmon(any size) and sea-trout(over 40cm)). Memberships, Boat hire and Day permits for lough fern and lough keel can be got from Spar shop Kilmacrennan on 074 9139322 and for Glen lake contact The Log Cabin Bar,Cresslough on 074 9138188. Permits for Lough Columbkille(milford)can be got from Applegreen Service station, Milford on 07491 63378. Club memberships can also be purchased at the Lough Swilly Angling Centre,L/Kenny and Amazonas Outdoor store,L/Kenny.
The L/Kenny Anglers would like to ask their members when fishing Lough Fern,Lough Keel and Lough Columbkille(Milford),to only retain a maximum of two brown trout over 11″ per day for the interest of conservation and wish all their members and visiting anglers a successful season ahead. The club would also like to remind members and visiting anglers of the IFI’s regulations when fishing the Lennon and Lackagh systems, For further information please contact club secretary Gavin on 086 3899810. John Mc Laughlin
Lough Swilly Angling Centre/ Donegal Angling Phone : 087 292988 or Email:[email protected] Web: www.donegalangling.com and Facebook/Lough Swilly
John Mc Laughlin reports with the Loughanure Angling Club news:
The Loughanure Angling Club will hold their first Open Trout Angling Competition of the year, this coming Sunday, May 3rd.
Fishing time is from 12 noon until 6pm with the usual fantastic selection of prizes up for grabs.
For more information, please contact PJ on 0868058941 or John on 0876626237 or visit the club website @ www.loughanureanglers.ie for all the 2015 Junior and Senior Competition dates, information and gallery.
David McEvoy from the Delphi Fisheryhas the latest news from the the river where wintery conditions have taken over from the harsh sunshine and high temperatures of last week…
28/04 What a difference a week makes! To say our weather has changed in the last week is a slight understatement. Last week we had highs of 19C but since Sunday the weather has been turned on its head. Grass min was -7.2C on Sunday morning and since then it has got cold and windy with a covering of snow on the surrounding hills as can be seen in the attached photo. The cuckoo arrived last week and one of my work colleagues commented on seeing the cuckoo yesterday morning; that he must have thought he had woken up in Greenland.
Winter returns to Delphi…
The upside of the snow on the hills is that we have had some precipitation and the river is now running at 35, in contrast to Saturday when it had fallen to 12 which is a bit on the low side.
We did however manage to land two more fish during the fine weather. Heinz has his second fish of the week on Thursday evening from the Whin pool. The fish was approx. 8lbs and was taken on a Collie Dog. Urs then managed to get his week off to a great start when he landed a fine fish of 9lbs9ozs on Saturday evening from the Stream in Finlough. The fish was taken on a Curry’s Gold Shrimp.
So far this week there have been two fish off Finlough, both taken by Reinhard Mittmann. Both fish were taken on Delphi Collies. The first weighed in at 8lbs4ozs and the second at 7lbs3ozs.
There is now renewed hope and enthusiasm among our angling guests with the river up to 35 and more rain (or hail) due this evening and tonight. Just a couple of hours ago I saw eight springers at the pier in Bundorragha, so with the rising tide they should be in the river by this afternoon.
At Delphi Lodge, with many years of experience with the timing of the best runs of fish, we have in place a price system that offers both great value fishing and lets our anglers know when they have the best chance to catch a fresh run spring salmon or a summer grilse or Delphi sea trout.
Tiernan Sludds 17lbs salmon from Enniscorthy, 24th April
The Slaney River Trust reports on April 27 that the sunny south east has lived up to it’s billing over the past few weeks with blue skies and very little rainfall, this is despite most other parts of the country having plenty of rain. Fishing conditions have been far from ideal as a result with very low water for this time of year. Most anglers are waiting for rain and not many fish have been landed.
Tiernan Sludds 17lbs salmon from Enniscorthy, 24th April
On the bright side there have been a number of superb fish caught with at least 4 fish in the high teens to low twenties reported over the past two weeks. Tiernan Sludds caught a fabulous fish on Friday 24th March at Enniscorthy while the day before a fish estimated close to 25lbs was landed. Other fish reported are averaging in the mid teens. These big fish might well be returning for the second or even third time to spawn.
Now that the river is strictly open on a catch and release basis and with no commercial netting it seems that these fish are at last getting a chance to survive, even if they are currently in relatively small numbers. We are all hoping for rain now and this weeks forecast is a little more encouraging, lets just hope the Wicklow mountains don’t miss out yet again!
In the last couple of years, we have received many stories of anglers landing fish with an eel-like fish attached. The stories have come mainly from L. Derg during the mayfly season. Similar ones come from L. Conn, again, during the mayfly.
Land-locked lamprey do not go to sea but will attach themselves to host fish in lakes. These hosts may well be the bigger fish present –adult salmon, large brown trout, adult pike or bream. You may well land one attached to your prized fish. Or you may notice round or disc-like scarring marks on the sides of your fish – where the lamprey had been attached.
We are anxious to collect information on both forms of ‘evidence’ of land-locked sea lamprey and you, the angler, are the best person to help.
To date we have received great support from anglers, with samples and/or photos from Lough Derg on the Shannon, Corrib and Conn in the west, Gill in Sligo and Muckross Co. Kerry.
Lamprey on a brown trout from Lough Derg
What to do…
If you land an angling fish with an eel- like fish attached
enjoy your sport fish, either for eating or for catch-and-release BUT
please retain the lamprey for us to carry out a scientific examination
Put it in a freezer or post it or ring one of our contact numbers to arrange collection
Remember we need a date, location on the lake and type of fish to which the lamprey was attached
If you notice round or disc-like markings on the fish skin with scarring of flesh we would love to hear from you with a location, number of marks, type of fish etc. A photo via digital camera or camera phone would be particularly helpful. Remember to include date and location of capture.
photo of scarring on fish courtesy of Centre for Great Lakes and Aquatic Sciences Archives, University of Michigan
What to do…
If you land an angling fish with round markings on the skin
record of the angling fish size and species
location and number of marks
A photo via digital camera or camera phone to show marks and the size of the host fish
Remember to include date and location of capture.
Your help can make this project a success! If you can help us with evidence of markings and/or landed lamprey please contact IFI staff listed below:
Contacts: [email protected]
Inland Fisheries Ireland, Citywest, Dublin:
Nicola O’Gorman 087 2801423 ; [email protected]
