The River Bandon saw a few salmon caught last week. There wwas good water on the river which suited anglers and 3 salmon were reported caught. The best of these was a 10lb fish caught on spinner by a club angler.
Anglers on Cork’s own lovely Lee reported good conditions on the river last week. There was just one fish reported but it was a good springer which weighed 14.5lb and was caught on a spinner.
Paul Waghorne reports once more from Lanesborough…
The annual Roach run at Lanesborough came to an abrupt end last week with catches dwindling to only a few stray cock fish inhabiting the former hot water stretch. Unlike years long gone, there are no Hybrids, Tench or Rudd of any serious numbers to replace the thousands of Roach that were enjoyed by those ‘in the know’
In 2025 the conditions were simply not right, but this year, the water was at a perfect height to create sufficient flow through the Longford side of the river enabling Roach migration for spawning. The year group that produced several pound plus fish two years ago, have matured to near specimen proportions and evidence suggests that these fish were born after the power station closure, so perhaps next year these will be truly magnificent?
The best roach I saw was caught by accident. A local lad spinning for pike, foul hooked a fish considered to be well over 2lbs.
In the seven days since the main shoals came into the stretch, I fished 12 sessions (42.5 hours) and caught 766 fish with 44 over a pound including,-
That works out at around 1 fish every 3 mins 20 sec and an estimated total weight of 325lbs which equates to an average of over 6oz per fish, I think is quite impressive?
So after spawning was complete, it was time to venture onto a different species. Tench are always high on my target list and whilst I’d already had great success on my first session at a small Longford lough, the Strokestown lakes were the main priority. Lough Duff, O’Donragh and Lough Lea all produced several Tench and a solitary Bream of 5lb 10oz.
A weekend trip to the River Robe was not quite as expected. Steven Keogh and myself baited an area noted for Bream but just as we started, a group of ‘non anglers’ proceeded to fish almost over my shoulder without the etiquette normally associated with angling. We didn’t take long to move on… so it was back to Strokestown where Steven had 8 Tench leaving me blanking.
Thankfully, one of my other lakes produced on Monday resulting in 12 Tench to 4lb 2oz. I inherited the chosen swim from a young angler who had 11 Tench on a feeder. Currently, I’m now up to 93 Tench for my trip with enough time for more?
On Tuesday 5th May 2026 a draw took place to allocate 50 Brown Tags for the taking of salmon on the Roughty River catchment.
A total of 99 valid entries were received from salmon rod licence holders. Each was assigned a number in advance of the draw.
Fifty five (55) numbers were randomly generated.
The first 50 successful entrants will be issued a brown tag by Post over the coming days. The final 5 numbers are reserved in case an angler declines or returns the tag allocated to them.
The random draw was conducted by Sean Long (RBD Director).
The selected numbers are:
1 . |
2026195 |
2 . |
2026114 |
3 . |
2026129 |
4 . |
2026139 |
5 . |
2026197 |
6 . |
2026145 |
7 . |
2026194 |
8 . |
2026153 |
9 . |
2026181 |
10 . |
2026162 |
11 . |
2026131 |
12 . |
2026113 |
13 . |
2026182 |
14 . |
2026161 |
15 . |
2026169 |
16 . |
2026168 |
17 . |
2026134 |
18 . |
2026180 |
19 . |
2026160 |
20 . |
2026176 |
21 . |
2026199 |
22 . |
2026149 |
23 . |
2026159 |
24 . |
2026115 |
25 . |
2026120 |
26 . |
2026155 |
27 . |
2026124 |
28 . |
2026121 |
29 . |
2026178 |
30 . |
2026193 |
31 . |
2026126 |
32 . |
2026174 |
33 . |
2026148 |
34 . |
2026128 |
35 . |
2026163 |
36 . |
2026185 |
37 . |
2026110 |
38 . |
2026138 |
39 . |
2026157 |
40 . |
2026137 |
41 . |
2026107 |
42 . |
2026111 |
43 . |
2026167 |
44 . |
2026189 |
45 . |
2026118 |
46 . |
2026164 |
47 . |
2026154 |
48 . |
2026140 |
49 . |
2026122 |
50 . |
2026102 |
The 5 reserve numbers are:
1 . |
2026136 |
2 . |
2026106 |
3 . |
2026150 |
4 . |
2026175 |
5 . |
2026198 |
The Brown Tags will be issued by post.
The second and final Roughty Brown Tag Lottery for 2026 will open for entries at the fisheriesireland.ie website from Monday June 8th..
Mick ‘the Fish’ Flanagan has been fishing Lene this week, with good hatches of fly and plenty of fish moving to them:
Saturday: It was great to see huge hatches of Buzzers & Olives on Lene; also, quite a few fish were surface feeding as I trolled Lene with pals Frank McKeon & Seamus Hennessey, who joined us in the morning session.
Sunday: Lovely few hours on Lene and some hatch of buzzers & olives, nice to have tight lines on a new floating line for this season!
Monday: Well, that day turned out ok, and I was not sure of the venue this morning after the late cancellation for guiding, so I headed for Lene. Trolled up through some nice slicks with odd fish showing, but not a pull on the Salmo or Rapala; the trout are locked on buzzers & olives. They were bit picky today but I had 4 solid takes on Dry Fly!
Wednesday: I find it hard to stick it out on the buzzer fishing! The same as I can’t watch a pike deadbait rod bank fishing for long stints. Thanks to Jimmy Cahill & pal Dave Waters for the buzzers they gave me today – and the buzzer fishing tips! I’m buzzing with excitement to try these buzzers! The lads had a super day’s fishing on Lene and now i’m hoping to do the same with their flies!
A handful of the Lurgan CAC took to Yellow Island on Lough Muckno for a knock-up on Sunday. As with many coarse fisheries at the moment, fishing was patchy as the fish are on the way to spawn, but there were still some numbers of fish to be caught with the odd bonus skimmer showing as well.
The top weight on the day was Scooby with 6.550 kg, followed by Phil Walton in 2nd with 5.550 kg and Adam Bailie in 3rd place with 4.150 kg.
Twenty-one anglers turned up for the CM Lakelands two-day match over the weekend, where Adrian Van Der Heever caught just under 8 kg on Drumkeery, including three nice tench, to finish on top. Fishing was tough, it being the time of year that cyprinids focus on spawning.
Alan Larkin won Skeagh with just over 5 kg and has finished second overall. Alan caught a mix of skimmers and roach. Mick Smith finished 3rd. Mick had just over 4 kg of skimmers on Skeagh. Brenton Sweeney finished 4th overall and had over 5 kg of mostly hybrids on Drumkeery. Rimantas Kondrackas and Val Brady finished 5th and 6th, respectively.
SECTIONS DAY 2
Skeagh
Drumkeery
TOP 6 OVERALL
Bodo Funke from Angling Services Ireland reports on another successful pike angling trip in the Boyle region a few weeks ago, when regular visitors Michael and Rupert returned from Germany for a week of fishing.
The anglers enjoyed excellent sport throughout their stay, with a number of quality pike brought to the boat over the course of the trip. The highlight of the week was a superb Esox measuring 113cm, while seven pike over the magical one metre mark were landed in total.
Michael and Rupert are well-known regular visitors to the area and once again experienced some fantastic pike fishing during their latest visit to the Boyle region.
Pike, Game and Coarse fishing Guide
Notes: Angling Services Ireland are based in Boyle, Co. Roscommon, in the North-West of Ireland, an area with many superb angling opportunities.
The Proprietor Bodo Funke holds the Marine and Countryside Guiding Certificate (achieved with distinction) and his expertise and local knowledge will be to your avail when you go on a guided angling trip or angling holiday with Angling Services Ireland. Pike fishing, Fly-fishing for Pike, Game fishing for wild Brown Trout, Float- tubing, Coarse fishing. Salmon fishing and Sea-angling can be organised.
Address: Angling Services Ireland, 3 Canal View, Deerpark, Boyle, Co. Roscommon
Telephone/Fax::+353 71 9663580 or +353 86 6011878
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.anglingservicesireland.com
After a busy weekend at the Irish Spring Angling Fair, Cormac Walsh of the Lure Fishing Podcast has been back on the water seeking bass in the south-east. The fish are back inshore, and Cormac has had some good success, especially once the sun has set. Cormac’s secret to success after dark is to use a shallow diver with a dead slow retrieve in the first hour after high tide.
Jason regularly gives talks on fishing techniques at the leading angling shows in Ireland and is an IFFF-qualified fly-casting instructor, in addition to being a member of the Mackenzie Pro Team for Ireland and an authorised Fulling Mill Guide.
Jason is also just back from a saltwater sea trout fishing trip in Denmark and gives some wonderful insights into the fishing over there.
Dates have been announced for a series of Munster Team Qualifiers for both Under 16 and Under 23 age groups. Full details in the graphic below:
