Lough Corrib continued in fine form up to the weekend just gone, with mayfly hatching in great numbers, especially further south on the lake. This is the usual pattern, with the mayfly hatch starting in the Cornamona area and moving down the lake as the month goes on. Humid and thundery weather since then has made fishing difficult, and anglers are strongly advised to seek shelter when thunderstorms approach, and especially not to continue fishing with rods made of graphite/carbon etc.

Craig McKirdy reports on some excellent fishing in the Greenfields area, particularly for tourist anglers. Visiting anglers – father and son Theodor and Otto Ingstrup from Denmark had 13 fish over 3 days, taking home a nice one of 3.4lbs, with the rest released. Mark & Steve Turner , visiting from Leeds, UK, and fishing with Louis Brennan had 5 lovely fish on Tuesday. Lithuanian angler Marius Mazrimas along with Richard and Stuart Howard and Sean Donavan had 10 fish between them – Marius having the best fish at 2.9lbs.

Belgian visitor Michael Aerts along with his father were out with Don Stiffe of Greenfield House Hotel and had a lovely fish of 4.6lbs on Buzzers. Dutch angler John Skines, fishing with PJ Sullivan had 4 fish, all returned. French visitors Vincent Piriou and Henry Raffard along with Graham Stephens from the UK had 5 nice fish between them. Ennis angler Sean Dixon had 2 fish for 4.5lbs on Tuesday.

Brendan Mullins had 3 fish to the dap for 7.4lbs on his first day out. Christy and Brian O’Connell from Cork had 8 fish all to the dap. Local angler Eugene Kenny, along with another 2 anglers had 10 fish, all taken while dapping. Richard Lewis and Sean O’Donovan from Tipperary had 5 fish, all returned. Ennis angler Dan Mullins had 2 trout for 4.9lbs. A further 31 anglers had a great week, finishing with 110 fish, with a large amount being returned.

Phil Hall and Martin Conroy from London had a total of 9 trout, returning 7.

In the Oughterard area Stan Cosgraveand Mervyn Woods from Scotland had 10 fish over 2 days for 16lbs. UK angler Steve Watson landed 9 fish for one day’s fishing, all returned. Paddy Dawson from Northern Ireland fished for a week and landed 41 fish over the 7days, including 30 returned.

Cork angler Billy Kelleher had 12 fish over 2 days all to dry fly.

Ian Scott from Leeds was in touch with a nice report on his holiday, fishing in the Cornamona area with son Daniel and brother-in-law Stuart Irvine from Newcastle. They enjoyed excellent weather for most of the week, with mayfly quite sparse at times apart from 2 occasions when there were dozens available at a time. Dapping proved the most successful method, taking 53 fish in the week, with their best fish approx. 3lbs, although all 3 either rose or lost fish much bigger. The highlight of the week was a drift where all three rods (dapping) had fish on at the same time, all successfully landed, and all around 1. The lads sportingly returned all of their fish, and reported that it was their best holiday on the dap so far.

Gary Costelloe from Lakelands Angling Centre in Oughterard reported that the broken weather and good hatches kept their guests very satisfied with their fishing. The Clemont party from France had their best fishing in years, with 44 trout in 5 days – the best was 5lbs 6oz taken on the dap. Ian Garrett and Pat Molloy had 22 fish in 3 days, best 3lbs and all sportingly returned. John McGrath from Clare had 5 fish – best 3.3lbs, while his partner had a fine 5lbs 2oz trout on the dap, all in Portacarron Bay. Paddy Curran and friend John had a good day’s fishing, landing 5 trout – best fish 3lbs. Reggie Jackson and Neil O’Brien from Dublin had 5 trout, including a lovely fish of 4lbs. To book fishing or accommodation at Lakelands, contact Gary at [email protected] , call 091 552121, or check www.lakelandanglingcentre.com

Inland Fisheries Ireland officers are out on a daily basis at the moment carrying out routine checks on both size and bag limits. Anglers are asked to please respect the minimum statutory size (13 inches) and bag limits (4 trout per day) and return any undersize fish to the water as quickly and carefully as possible.