Erne Anglers ACangling coaches had a busy but enjoyable week with a great bunch of youngsters participating in the annual Angling Summer Scheme. 26 youths travelled daily from Enniskillen to Tooman’s Fishery in County Leitrim where they could fish in a safe environment with assistance from coaches and others. It was a mixed group with many returning from last year and lots of new faces, some who had never been fishing before.
The weather was relativity kind and the first two days were spent understanding the environment, setting up equipment, an introduction to bait and then onto some relaxed fishing. Everyone enjoyed a good number of fish leading up to some competition angling on the final day.
For the competition the juniors were split into three groups depending on experience. Those who had some experience in fishing were on the top lake and had a good number of fish with some decent weights. 1st place in this group was Roisin Finchett with 26lb 04oz and a few big carp from peg 66. In 2nd place was Shay Baxter with a nice weight of 17lb 2oz on peg 72.
Those who had not fished before competed on the bottom lake and did very well enjoying the day and catching some fish. Jerome McCarney had an excellent weight on 12lb 8oz just ahead of Peter Scott with 11lbs 4oz. First and second places on the matches were rewarded with £20 and £10 tackle vouchers. The experienced juniors fished away at the back of the top lake and Stefan Patterson came first with a great weight of 32lb, in second place was Harry Whitehead with 25lb 8oz and in third Kyle Fisher with 21lb 8oz.
Gavin Brown, Erne Anglers comments:- It was a pleasure to have such a good group of children that were well behaved during the 3 days and showed a good interest in the fishing. It is nice to get the young people out on the bank for their first catch.
The Erne Anglers Summer Scheme was made possible with the support of Tooman’s Fishery, Fermanagh District Council and the Erne Anglers Angling Club.
Jason Nash of www.savagefishingblogspot.ie captures the essence of the Irish Bass Festival in his report:
Another year, another hugely successful bass festival. This is the third successive year that the event has been held and 125 anglers turned out to pin their wits against the mighty bass. The sun was splitting the stones as per usual… for anyone planning a sun holiday to Ireland plan it around the bass festival as you will be guaranteed a scorcher!! Due to these conditions, most of our efforts were put into fishing from dusk till dawn. Fishing unfamiliar ground at night time isn’t the easiest but it sure is some buzz when you get the hit. On our first evening out, just as darkness was setting in I had my first fish of the festival off the surface on an IMA Salt Skimmer. Keeping an eye on the lure proved futile so I tried the “walking the dog” technique as best I could and it worked in seducing this fish. Catch, photo, release and back she went into the waters of the Copper Coast. That’s one of the greatest things about this competition, in that it encourages conservation at all times. A member of IFI was present over the weekend in the shop to discuss the National Bass Programme. All anglers on receipt of their ID card and ruler on registration morning were handed a scale sampling package also. This was to help collect data to provide scientific advice on how best to manage our precious stocks of bass.
As the weekend progressed we all managed to land some beautiful fish. Besides a couple of follows and a lost fish, I landed one more small, but plump, bass which took a liking for a Daiwa Shoreline Shiner R50. Interestingly enough, even though we all spent a lot of time fishing soft plastics, all our fish came to hard lures. Just one fish was hooked and lost on a soft plastic. Below are the 3 lures which worked for me over the weekend. The top lure is the IMA Sasuke 120 and it was the first time I had fished with one. First cast with it I had a fish follow it right in to my feet and bump it which gave me confidence right away. Its got a great action and even when you slow the retrieve right down over shallow ground it keeps slaloming from side to side. A nice little addition to the lure box! Once again, hats off to Cian and James of Absolute Fishing for organising this event. Between swimming in after lures stuck on rocks in the darkness, rudely waking up a buddy trying to get some shut eye at dawn, dancing in McDonalds with chest waders after midnight, making some new friends and a few savage Waterford bass on the line, it really was another festival to remember. Compliments of:
Jason Nash
Web:www.savagefishingblogspot.ie DISCLAIMER NOTE: Inland Fisheries Ireland do not support any brand over another.
Templehouse Lake, Co. Sligo, - a great venue for this year’s IFI Open
The last few days have felt strongly of Autumn as temperatures dropped a little. The cooler weather improved fishing in many places but for river and many lake anglers the low water continues to impact on angling success despite the bit of rain here and there. Sea anglers are rarely affected by rain or lack of it and there were some great reports from all around our coastline in the last 7 days.
Nigel Richie with his 16lb 3oz specimen turbot which wins him Catch of the Week
The Munster Blackwater saw a few more salmon caught over the weekend but rain is needed to bring up the fish below Cappoquin. Salmon anglers on the River Lee have had little to entertain them as the water levels are so low, but as dusk turned to night last Saturday Kevin Collins’ long day and perseverance paid off when he caught a fine salmon of 17.5lbs. Some fine sea trout were reported on Lough Currane last week where an 8.1lb fish was landed while this week there were some big bags of juniors reported. Low water too at the Laune and though salmon are scare there are a few to be caught, with one anlger landing 3 in 4 outings. A few grilse and some good days at sea trout were reported recently at Costello and Fermoyle where the forecast rain should really liven things up. Last week’s rain saw Lough Inagh rise by over 2 feet and 45 sea trout to 4.5lb, a few grilse and even a couple of char were recorded. Kylemore Fishery reported its best week of the season with 21 salmon for just 17 rod days. The much talked of rain is expected to improve the fishing on the Erriff though Andrew Kyd’s party from the UK finished their week with 20 grilse and 9 sea trout for the week, and 17 sea trout were landed in one day on Tawnyard. Despite difficult fishing conditions with northerly winds prevailing for most of the week, the Burrishoole Fishery produced a few salmon during the week. One of the few fisheries not worried about water levels was the Owenmore and fishing on the Bangor Angling Club stretch of the Owenmore was good with quite a number of salmon caught and released. Water levels on the River Moy dropped again to summer level and, as a consequence, angling effort was very low this past week. However, the Moy system yielded a reported catch of 164 salmon. The Ballisodare Fishery saw a relatively slow week with just 27 fish caught. The water on the Drowes was very low and few fished the river but 15 grilse were still reported. The Owenea had a number of small freshes and there were a few grilse landed.
The Irish Ladies Fly Fishing Association held a qualifier on Lough Lene last weekend. The trout were lying doggo a just 2 fish was enough to win the day. Some great rainbow trout were reported from the Lough Bane Cup, an evening competition, fished last Friday. Angling on Mask proved challenging last week, yet Carra produced the goods over the weekend. The Mask fish are particularly quiet and have not yet started to hit the Daphnia patterns. Lough Conn also reported slow fishing though the Daddy did well for some anglers. It was a very similar tale on Lough Sheelin with the addition of streamers for fry feeding fish.
East coast beaches are still fishing well and some anglers are getting a good mix of species from the shore, including smooth-hounds, ray, dabs, plaice, flounder, dogfish, bass, whiting, codling and tope. A pair of shore anglers fishing in who Wexford spent a long night catching dogs in pursuit of bass were rewarded by a good gilthead bream on rag which was released. Staying in Wexford some enjoyable bass fishing was had from the kayak in tidal creeks where fish fell to a variety of bucktails and soft plastics. One angler reports 30 bass over sessions in the south east which is very encouraging news. Charter fishing from Dungarvan is currently producing a good mix of species including ling to 15lb. The charter fishing in Cork Harbour is also going well and some great days were had over the weekend with big congers and loads of whiting at 2lbs about. Bass fishing is also going well in the Harbour at the moment. There was also some great charter fishing reported from West Cork where good cod, pollack, ling and sharks have kept anglers busy. Galway Bay is also fishing well while anglers in Donegal are reporting good rock fishing. At Red Bay in Co. Antrim there were reports of porbeagle sharks and of course our Catch of the Week – a lovely 16lb 3oz turbot.
A phenomenal 170 lbs. of bream won the IFI Open Competition fished at Temple House for Galway angler, Ronan Ryan at the weekend despite difficult conditions. Bream were the quarry in Longford, but they are not on the feed, though the roach, hybrids and tench made up for their absence. Perch, roach and hybrids provided great sport for anglers waggler fishing on the River Boyle. Coarse anglers around Mullingar are enjoying good results in the early mornings.
Belgian anglers fishing the upper Shannon enjoyed good sport last week with fish to double figures landed. Although the water temperatures are a little cooler, big pike are still difficult to tempt in the Foxford area though entertaining fishing on surface lures is still possible.
Over the weekend the temperatures will continue a little cooler and the winds will be mostly light from the Northwest. Rain should start to fall in earnest on Sunday and flooding is expected locally in the afternoon.
Tight lines especially in Ireland,
Myles Kelly Catch, Photo, Release
If you have an angling story to share with the Irish Angling Update please send it to contact@fisheriesireland.ie.
14/08/14 Here is your meteorological report, there was a light NNW wind blowing across the lake and there was a chill in the air with the odd heavy shower and you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that the manipulating Anglers failed miserably in their duties in all departments. Breaking News just in, Mr. Anthony Church caught a Fine Sea Trout on the Drift and thanks for the photo first class.
Anthony Church with sea trout
15/08/14 Straight to the specimen Sea Trout department and first in the striking zone was renowned Local Gillie Mr. Tom O’Shea of www.flyfishingatloughcurrane.com who caught a cracker of a Sea Trout of 8 lbs.1 ozs on the fly and as all good Gillie’s do when they hook their fish they hand their fly rod to their client, in this case Mr. Jeremy O’Connor, sportingly declined this invitation and the battle commenced and Tom had one hell of a battle with his Noble Sea Trout, it took about 20 minutes to conquer the battling fish and with one swipe of the net Tom had caught his biggest ever Sea Trout on the fly. Staying with Tom in his C&R department his client Mr. Jeremy O’Connor finished their day off with a fine 3 lbs. Sea Trout. Now to hired out boat department of www.flyfishingatloughcurrane.com in the last few days, Kay and Sean Dalton from Tipperary, caught 5 Sea Trout on the fly and all in the Junior class. Wind NW light with bright sunshine.
Tom O’Shea 8lbs.1 ozs Sea Trout and Jeremy
16/08/14 Mr. Jeremy O’Connor, fishing with his Gillie Mr. Tom O’Shea of www.flyfishingatloughcurrane.com was in good form in the C&R department with a fine 2 lbs. Sea Trout caught on the fly. Now for other news in the fly fishing and trolling fraternity, there isn’t any, either they failed to catch or failed to report. Wind NW fresh with reasonable cloud cover.
17/08/14 All quiet on the SW front and very few boats manipulating and as we all know you can’t catch fish if your not out there, Wind N light with bright sunshine.
18/08/14 Straight to the Sea Trout department, Simon and Andrew Furney caught 2 Juniors on the fly early this morning. Now to the backdate department, Mr. Martin Clifford of the UK, fishing from the 13th to the 16th of August, caught 12 Juniors on the drift, also in good form was Mr. Gerry O’Sullivan of Cork and Waterville, who caught 6 Sea trout on the drift, over the weekend and on the 15th Mr. Michael Clifford caught a Grilse on the troll, while fishing with his Gillie M.D. Now back to the present and Catch of the day and that goes to young anglers, Rory Aherne aged 5 & David Aherne aged 3, they caught their first Sea Trout and may it be the first of many and if they grow up to be as good as their Gillie and Great Uncle Liam, they will be some anglers, and as you can see their Dad, Mr. Barry Aherne, gave them a helping hand for the photo. Wind North light with reasonable cloud cover with the odd shower.
Simply the best and catch of the day
19/08/14 Lough Currane was on the quiet side in all departments, or you can say without any fear of contradiction they failed miserably in their duties in all departments. Now to all spiritually minded anglers and none anglers alike, just to let you know there will be Mass said out at Church Island tomorrow wed. Boats will be leaving the Bungalow at 6.30 pm and the service starts at 7 pm and every one is welcome and the more the merrier.
20/08/14 Straight to the action Local Gillie Mr. Michael O’Sullivan of Waterville Boats and at watervilleboats@gmail.com reported that he saw some nice action in the Sea Trout department, plus he has some back dates, will give you all the facts as soon as I get them, sorry for this discrepancy, reason being we were ferrying the good people of all the surrounding Parishes and as far as the USA to celebrate Mass out at Church Island and by the time everyone got home I forgot to ask Michael for all the facts. Staying in the Sea Trout department, Mr. Michael Clifford of the UK and Waterville caught 3 Sea trout on the troll while fishing with his Gillie M.D. On the upper lakes there was one boat manipulating and they were very successful in the Brown Trout department. Now back to the Mass on Church Island, today were celebrating St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and here is a bit of history of this saint,
In the year 1111, at the age of 20, Bernard left his home to join the monastic community of Citeaux. His five brothers, two uncles and some 30 young friends followed him into the monastery. Within four years a dying community had recovered enough vitality to establish a new house in the nearby valley of Wormwoods, with Bernard as abbot. The zealous young man was quite demanding, though more on himself than others. A slight breakdown of health taught him to be more patient and understanding. The valley was soon renamed Clairvaux, the valley of light.
His ability as arbitrator and counsellor became widely known. More and more he was lured away from the monastery to settle long-standing disputes. On several of these occasions he apparently stepped on some sensitive toes in Rome. Bernard was completely dedicated to the primacy of the Roman See. But to a letter of warning from Rome, he replied that the good fathers in Rome had enough to do to keep the Church in one piece. If any matters arose that warranted their interest, he would be the first to let them know.
Shortly thereafter it was Bernard who intervened in a full-blown schism and settled it in favor of the Roman pontiff against the antipope.
The Holy See prevailed on Bernard to preach the Second Crusade throughout Europe. His eloquence was so overwhelming that a great army was assembled and the success of the crusade seemed assured. The ideals of the men and their leaders, however, were not those of Abbot Bernard, and the project ended as a complete military and moral disaster.
Bernard felt responsible in some way for the degenerative effects of the crusade. This heavy burden possibly hastened his death, which came August 20, 1153.
That is your ration for the week on Lough Currane, from your Gillie and the Waterville Fishery, no spin no fly’s just facts.
The only fish caught during the last three weeks was by Kevin Collins, Cork, who caught a salmon of 17.5lbs on Saturday but otherwise not a lot of fishing effort taking place as water levels are very low.
Kevin sent on this report if his great catch…
We spent hours fishing in low water and bright sunshine and it was hard work to get a fish to turn due to temperature of the water. Dusk had fallen and as nearly all day light was gone fishing became almost invisible. I decided to do a slow retrieve for my last few casts as my fishing companion Graham Coleman was calling me leave when suddenly my line stripped from the reel. The fish went rocketing straight down stream and then back up. 45 hectic minutes later I managed to beach the fish. At first sight I couldn’t believe my eyes. I knew the fish was 12 pound plus but I had no idea he was as big as he was…
After weighing the fish we tried to return him as he had been in the river over two weeks. But the 45 minute fight had taken to much out of him and after 20 minutes of trying to revive him I gave up hope and decided to kill and tag the giant male fish. There was two other anglers on the same beat that evening . The fly he took was one I tied myself which is shrimp fly; sunburst orange partridge shrimp tied with bucktail.
Recently Mullingar Coarse Anglers had an early morning competition on a local fishery. It proved a very successful move heading out before dawn, and some nice fish were caught. Top anglers were Martin Quinn, Deckie Byrne, Steve Cotter and John Keegan. Mullingar Coarse Anglers are open for membership, and if interested give me a bell, or drop into David O’Malley and he will give you contact details. David also has a huge range of coarse angling gear and bait, and will be more than happy to kit you out.
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.
Pat Daly with Glore trout, Chairman Eddie O, Donnell and Kevin
Last Sunday August 17th Lough Glore Anglers ran a pike competition, and it turned out to be a great day out for club member Pat Daly. Pat did not feature in the prizes, but rattled the scales with a lovely Glore trout of 5lbs 2oz.The pike competition was won by Paddy O, Brien with a fish of 4lbs 5oz, 2nd Kevin Keogh with 3lbs 11oz, and 3rd Kevin Daly 2lbs 9oz. Lough Glore is a very active club here in Westmeath and membership is open. They hold many competitions, and you certainly wont go home hungry, as some of their members love cooking on the lakeshore.
Pat Daly with Glore trout, Chairman Eddie O Donnell and Kevin
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.
Daragh Gallagher made it look easy when he caught this lovely grilse
Billy Downes reports that as of Monday 18th water level on the Laune was up to 6 inches on the gauge at Johnston’s…
The water came up slightly from Wednesday last onwards which was a slight improvement but most anglers were finding it difficult to meet a fish. Then like all things there are exceptions. One being Stewart Stephens who managed to land three fish during the week on the fly, one a fish of 10 lbs, for four visits to the Laune. All caught on a Red Francis.
Daragh Gallagher made it look easy when he caught this lovely grilse
Then there was Daragh Gallagher a young 11 year old angler from Dublin who fished the Laune on Wednesday accompanied by his grandfather John Barry from Tralee. Daragh caught his first salmon ever a five pounder and added a sea trout of 1.25 lbs both on the worm and had some brown trout on the fly as well.
There was a considerable angling effort over the week and weekend and about 8 fish were reported for the week.
Permits for Laune Anglers waters from the 1st of August will cost €35 still excellent value compared to other fisheries and the chances of a fish.
Beat 3:
There are a few salmon in the deeper pools on Beat 3 and with the nets finished a few fish will be travelling the river even in this low water.
As always there is some good sport to be had with trout with the single handed rod on the Beat and recent work on the Beat has opened up more and better trout fishing.
Prospects
Now that the nets are finished prospects are better but anglers will need some heavy rain in the catchment and a rise of two feet before there will be any good fishing.
Billy Downes Secretary Laune Salmon and Trout Anglers’ Association
On Saturday last in very blustery conditions the Irish Ladies Fly Fishing Association hosted a qualifier. It was tough going with very few fish on the move, but naturally the ladies charmed a few fish into taking the fly. Julie Gerry topped the day with 2 fish, Ruth Arrell who I boated was joint 2nd with Jenny Casey, and 4th was Lisa O, Hagan.Maddy Kelly Chairperson of I.L.F. A. presented prizes, and thanked Lough Lene Chairman Tom Fagan for the use of his facilities, and also the boatmen who took the ladies out on the day. The I.L.F.A. members are regular visitors to Westmeath, and if interested in teaming up with the ladies check www.irishladiesflyfishing.com.
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.
A nice roach, typical of the quality of fish caught in Boyle River
Peter Coogan, his dad and brother were fishing on the Boyle River in Co.Roscommon earlier in the month. The river was fishing very well with good sized perch, hybrids and roach providing great sport on light waggler rods.
A nice roach, typical of the quality of fish caught in Boyle River
The lads forgot their scales but report that a good percentage of the fish were heading for the 1lb mark.
The weather was relativity kind and the first two days were spent understanding the environment, setting up equipment, an introduction to bait and then onto some relaxed fishing. Everyone enjoyed a good number of fish leading up to some competition angling on the final day.
For the competition the juniors were split into three groups depending on experience. Those who had some experience in fishing were on the top lake and had a good number of fish with some decent weights. 1st place in this group was Roisin Finchett with 26lb 04oz and a few big carp from peg 66. In 2nd place was Shay Baxter with a nice weight of 17lb 2oz on peg 72.
The experienced juniors fished away at the back of the top lake and Stefan Patterson came first with a great weight of 32lb, in second place was Harry Whitehead with 25lb 8oz and in third Kyle Fisher with 21lb 8oz.
