Octogenarian angler Jean Feinte from France has returned to his beloved Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan again this year, for another few days fishing with top angling guide Peadar O’Brien. Jean has been coming to Ireland for years and is already planning his trip for 2015. During his stay Jean usually enjoys a spot of coarse angling and some pike fishing.
We look forward to seeing Jean again in 2015
Shane Gallagher reports on how things are on the River Drowes:
The water level has risen at last following some good spells of rain over the weekend. The gauge is now at just over 0.5 metres. Fishing on Sunday and yesterday remained quiet and was made difficult by a lot of weed being washed through the system by the fresh water. Today the water was a little clearer and despite bright conditions 7 fish had been reported by this evening. Four from the Lareen stretch on spinner and fly, 2 from below the Four Master’s on worm and fly and one fish estimated at 20lbs was released on prawn from the Sea Pool.
A video of the playing of this fish can be found on Purple Whisker’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=568214106626746&set=vb.443945802386911&type=2&theater The moon is full tomorrow and the tides are large. There are few fish being seen but there are definitely some fish beginning to move in the fresh water. No further significant rain is forecast until Sunday at the earliest.
The gauge at the Four Master’s Bridge is back online following repair work last week and can be viewed here http://waterlevel.ie/0000035029/
Shane Gallagher
Drowes Salmon Fishery
T: +353 (0) 71 98 41055
M: +353 (0) 87 8050806
http://www.drowessalmonfishery.ie/reports/
For info/bookings etc on the Drowes Fishery & Lough Melvin see http://www.drowessalmonfishery.com/ or Tel: 071 9841055 (8am to 12 noon).
THE Mayfly is up. Reports from around the country confirm the season has started in earnest with hatching of this magical winged insect progressively increasing as each day passes. My advice? Drop everything and get out on the lakes to enjoy what is surely the highlight of the trout angler’s season.
On Sheelin last week anglers were treated to large hatches particularly in Orangefield and along the western shoreline. By the weekend over 100 boats took to the waters and landed double figure numbers with a substantial amount of fish over 5lb (2.5kg). Total for week: 575 (most of which were returned.)…
Irish Times 19/05/2014 Read the article ‘It’s showtime for trout anglers as Mayfly takes the limelight on Lough Sheelin‘
Lough Sheelin Angling Report By Brenda Montgomery, IFI May 12th to May 18th, 2014
‘You dream about it, you think about the next time, the way you’ll fish for it. The flies you’ll use. If I only had one fish to fish for it would be the wild brown trout’ …
Ted Williams
The May Fly is up and Sheelin swings into action
This week Lough Sheelin stamped its mark on Ireland’s angling scene by once again reminding us that what we have here is one of the best brown trout fishing lakes in Ireland, if not the world. The bar is set high for this beautiful limestone lake, these waters have a lot to live up to as they carry with them huge angling expectations because unlike other trout fisheries this lake has an impressive stock of ‘the heavy weights’ – prime wild brown trout, weighing over the 3lb mark right up to last September’s record18 pounder. Anglers fishing this lake in general dismiss a 2 – 3 lb trout as a ‘small’ fish, nearly not worth mentioning, they really only get that adrenaline kick when a 4 -5 lb plus is landed which they consider as a ‘warm up’ for what’s down beneath Sheelin’s surface.
Surprise & joy – Ciaran Fitzgerald, Ratoath with his trout caught May 17th
From Sunday to Thursday of this week, the lake fished superbly giving first timers and old hands a heart stopping taste of what this lake is capable of producing. Most anglers were landing three to four trout predominantly in the 2lb plus range but there was also an impressive scattering of 4,5 and 6 pounders there as well with two trout tipping the scales at 9lbs. Larry McAlinden from Down however topped the league with his beautiful fish of over 9lbs caught using an International Dabbler last Monday May 12th.
The pressure was on this week as word got out that the Mayfly was ‘up’ on Sheelin and that the lake was fishing well and the access points and slip ways soon metamorphosed into a blur of boats, engines and anglers, with 60 – 150 boats on the lake every day.
The mayfly is always a special and magical time in the fishing calendar but especially on Sheelin. There is something inexplicably exciting and mystical about the freshly hatched dun that has an almost fairy like quality, flitting and dancing on the waves, looking for all the world like a scene from Tchaikovsky’s Sugar Plum Fairy. Watching the spinners perform their mating dance above and around Church island, when there are sometimes that many that it’s like smoke rising from the trees is just amazing, can there be anything better and beautiful in this world?
Fishing was excellent throughout the week and into the weekend but as always if the weather conditions are not right, the fly will not be up and there were unfavourable weather patches from Thursday through to Sunday that didn’t suit the mayfly – bright sunshine, evening time drop in temperatures and squally winds. But that’s all part of the Irish weather, it’s unpredictable and at times reminds me of the rock band, Crowded House’s 1992 release ‘four seasons in one day’.
It was easy to recommend the lake this week and most if not all visiting and local anglers caught good numbers of sizable fish and fortunately that very annoying saying which most anglers have heard ‘you should of been there last week’ didn’t feature over the past number of days.
A delighted first timer – nurse Bernie McManus, Cavan with her 2 3/4 lb trout
This can be a time of great comradeship among the angling fraternity here but it is also a time where in general anglers are ‘tight lipped’ about what are the catching flies and the expression ‘blood from a stone’ springs to mind as you try to squeeze out information.
So what is working? throughout the week wet flies worked well because there was a lot of nymph activity sub surface but as the weekend hit in particularly on Sunday dry fly fishing was the order of the day. It always takes the trout a few days to switch on to the dry fly as they begin feeding on the mayfly in all its life-cycles so it’s firstly the nymphs, later the emerging fly, the hatched dun or ‘green drakes’ as they are called at Sheelin and then the spinner or spent (gnat) which is normally the evening. Sheelin still isn’t at the peak of the mayfly and the first real fall of spent only happened on Thursday night around the western shoreline and in sheltered bays and then on Sunday the spent went out early around 3pm and was finished by 5pm due to a drop in temperature.
‘Anything with green in it’ worked for this week but the flies that featured well were the different variants of wet and dry Mayfly, the dry green Wulff, dry Melvin Green, Corrib Green, Denis Moss’s Ginger Mayfly, the Mosley Mayfly, Royal Wulff, Grey Wulff, Green Drake, the Dabblers – International, Claret, Red Tailed, Silver, Peter Ross and Green (with a red tail), the Claret Bumble, the Golden Olive Bumble, Gorgeous George, Sooty Olive Hopper, Cock Robin Hopper, Fiery George, Pheasant Tailed Nymph and Spent Gnat.
Ryan Houston with his beautiful Sheelin trout
Finney’s Pseudo red tailed dabbler
‘Bring it in’
Oliver McCormack with his 3 ½ lb trout, May 13th
The Mosley Mayfly
Sheelin in top form – a 4 pounder, one of 17 caught by Barry Fox, Rathoath on May 13th
Dr Feargal Quinn, Ratoath – a first timer for Sheelin with his
5lb 12oz trout caught in bright sunshine, May 13th
Finney’s catching crew – The Corrib Green and the Corrib Yellow E-mail – [email protected]
Barry Hickey with his 6lb Sheelin prize (ghillied by Lough Sheelin Guiding)
Shane McNamee’s Sheelin catch
Jim Crawford, Scotland – Happy Out!
Jonathan Kerr, Lisburn ghillied by Lough Sheelin Guiding
The Lough Sheelin Trout Protection Association will be hosting a Youth angling day in July. This popular event will include fly tying, fly casting and trout fishing followed by a Bar B Q. For further details contact Thomas Lynch @ 087 9132033
Please remember anglers to abide by BYE-LAW 790 which strictly prohibits
• All trolling on the lake from March 1st to April 30th (inclusive).
• From May 1st to June 15th – no trolling between 7pm –6am and no trolling under engine between 6am – 7pm and
• June 16th – October 12th – no trolling under engine between 7pm – 6am.
• No trout less than 14 inches should be taken from the lake
A small friendly fly fishing competition was held between on Fermanagh and Cavan on Sunday last. There were two teams of ten anglers with over forty fish landed. Cavan came out tops to win the trophy.
The Dance at Church Island, May 18th
A catch & release policy is actively encouraged on the lake at all times
Most of the fish featured in these angling reports are returned carefully and safely to the lake
A gift for another day for another angler
It won’t work if you are not wearing it
Water rarely gives second chances and a life jacket is just that – it saves your life, so we would implore anglers and all other users for their own safety as well as it being the law under
SI No 921 of 2005 – Pleasure Craft (Personal Flotation Devices and Operation) (Safety) Regulations 2005
To please put on and keep on that life jacket until you are back on dry land.
‘Getting it right’ – Caoimhe Sheridan, Cavan
Finney’s black tailed Mays
There are a good selection of Sheelin ghillies/guides available and they are well worth investing in if angling visitors are unfamiliar with the lake, or perhaps haven’t that much fly fishing experience or maybe are a little ‘cut for time’ due to work or other commitments. If one guide is unavailable it’s an absolute certainty that there will always another capable one to step into the breach.
Lough Sheelin Guiding Services (www.loughsheelinguidingservices.com) 087 1245927
Michael Farrell @ 087 4194156Telephone: +353 43 6681298 Email: [email protected]
Rising Trout Photography by Oystein Rossebo
Please remember All anglers are required to have a Fishery Permit to fish Lough Sheelin which must be purchased before going out on the lake.
The heaviest fish for the week was caught by County Down man Larry McAlinden weighing in at over 9lb beauty caught on May 18th using an International Dabbler
Total number of trout recorded for the week: 1152
Selection of Catches
Cian Murtagh, Cavan – Monday May 12th 6 trout ranging in weight from 2 to 4lbs, all caught on the wet mayfly. May 15th 2 trout around 2 ½ lb each, caught as the sunset on dry Mays.
Billy Devitt, Ardee, Co.Louth – 18 trout best 3 four weighed in at 3lbs, rest around 2 – 2 ½ lbs. Apologies to Billy for getting it wrong in a previous report, Billy is from Ardee not Donegal.
Barry Fox and Feargal Quinn, Ratoath – May 13th 17 trout in total, heaviest trout weighed in at 4lbs and 5 lbs 12ozs.
Glen Rooney, Warrenpoint – May 14th 4 trout at 9lbs, best 4lbs caught on a dry wulff (released).
Seamus Kelly, Mayo and Jim Crawford, Scotland – fishing around Arley and Merry pt. 21 trout averaging 2 ½ lbs, heaviest was 4 ½ lbs.
Joe Casey, Athlone – 8 fish for the week, averaged 2 ½ to the heaviest at 4lbs, 6 caught on dry mays and 2 on a spent gnat.
Peter McArdle and Ken Kearns, Dundalk – 27 trout for the week, averaged 2 ½ lbs, heaviest weighing in at 3 ½ lbs.
Kenneth O’Keefe, Cavan – fishing mays on Wednesday May 14th 13 trout, all over 3lbs in weight.
David from flyandlures fishing with Martin Cooper – 6 trout, heaviest weighed in at 3 and 4lbs.
Terry Walsh and Kevin Dunne, Clane – 12 trout 2 at 4 ½ lbs and 1 at 3 ½ lbs, rest averaged 2 – 2 ½ lbs caught on the wet and dry mayfly.
Frank Kelly & Tony Harton, Cavan – 17 trout in total averaging over 2 ½ lbs.
Dara Murtagh, Cavan – May 18th 3 trouts on wets fishing from Stoney over to Crover, 2 on the Lough Arrow Mayfly and 1 on a Sooty Olive, 4lbs, 2lbs and 1 ½ lbs.
Oliver McCormack fishing with Pat Sweeney – May 13th, Oliver had 5 trout, heaviest was 3 ½ and Pat had 2 fish weighing in at 5lbs and 2lbs. Both men had a great days fishing and all fish were safely returned.
Andy Young, Dublin – 1 trout at 4 ½ lbs fishing the wet mayfly.
David Reilly, Tullynallen – 4 trout on Wednesday evening May 14th heaviest weighed in at 3 and 4 ½ lbs.
Tom Wilmot, Dublin – 7 trout heaviest at 6lbs, all caught using wet mayflies and all released.
Alex McClenaghan, Enniskellan – using a mosley mayfly 4 trout heaviest weighed in at 5lbs.
Gerard Usher, Ashbourne (ghillied by Lough Sheelin Guiding) – 2 trout averaging 2 ½ – 3 ½ lbs,
John Mulvaney, Kells (ghillied by Lough Sheelin Guiding) – 8 trout averaging 2 ¾ lbs.
Brenda Montgomery IFI
The mackerel have thinned out again this week and will hopefully be back in numbers when the water clarity improves, plenty of Pollack to 8lb being caught along with small Ling and several other species when we can avoid the huge shoals of Coalies that are still inshore. They are great sport on lighter tackle with the better fish going up to 6lb.
A trip with a difference this week saw Paul Connaughton founder of a new Irish wildlife company ‘Shearwater Wildlife Tours’ coming out on Tigger to view the abundant birdlife that can be found of the coastline around Clonakilty. The skies and sea were full of feeding birds and we were lucky to see hundreds of Shearwaters along with diving Gannets, some of the more unusual species included a first summer Iceland Gull, several Puffins and Great Skua’s along with a Arctic Skua to name a few. On the way back we drifted with feathers to make sure Paul had plenty of fish to take home to Rosscarbery.
David Edwards,
Clonakilty Coastal and deep Sea Charters
Another good day out on Wednesday May 14th as four members of the Killybegs Mariners s.a.c Stefan Martin, Darren Rawdon, John Burke and Gavin Dorrian had some serious fishing from a deep water Donegal Bay rock mark. The weather gods threw us some lovely high pressure and rising temperatures so we decided to see had the pollack and wrasse arrived inshore at our deep water mark casting into over 30 metres of water. The fishing was frantic and it was hard to watch the bait rods nodding whilst landing huge shore Pollack that were smashing our lures on the spinning rods . There was 7 different species caught on the day including Ling, sea scorpion, pollack, ballan wrasse, cuckoo wrasse, dogfish and conger. Some of the best shore fishing to be found anywhere in Ireland. Find Killybegs Mariners sac on facebook for details of competitions and events.
Killybegs mariners SAC
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mariner.sac
Roy Craigie reports that the Shean Lodge Fishery has had some good fishing so far this May with 26 salmon to 14lb taken by guests of the Lodge by the middle of the month…
Generally fishing had been quite slow during April with very low water and little sign of fish. However the rains came early in May, and despite some dirty floods after several weeks of low water, fishing began in earnest on 2nd May. There were 16 fish landed for the week with many returned and some lovely springers up to 14lbs netted.
The next week ending 16th May produced 10 springers and a fine specimen sea trout of 6lbs 2ozs, before water levels fell significantly before the week end.
As I write this note the river has risen again to 7 feet following heavy rain last night, so prospects for the coming days look excellent.
Roy Craigie
Shean Lodge Fishery
There are some vacancies on the Lower Stretch of the Shean Fishery after the end of June and details are available on our website www.sheanlodgefishery.com or phone 0866075958 /0872567236.
Shean Lodge Fishery is an exclusive and stunning game fishing holiday destination in County Mayo, Ireland. Shean Lodge Fishery offers one of the most unique, tranquil and remote areas for angling in Western Europe thanks to its setting in the 12,000 hectare Ballycroy National Park. The fishery is fly fishing only and extends for 8 kms of the Owenduff River, famous for its run of spring salmon and then later in the year for salmon, grilse and sea trout.
Contact Roy 086 6075958 or www.sheanlodgefishery.com
Brendan Peppard reports from Ballyduff Bridge Fishery on the Munster Blackwater:
Garry O’Shea was pleased to catch a fine salmon on one of Ballyduff’s upriver beats. The fish was 13lb and caught at Magner’s beat on a 1 1/2 inch orange Willie Gunn tube fly on a guideline exceed rod.
Contact Len Tomlinson 058 60897 Brendan M Peppard 087 9500554
For all booking enquries and any general information please contact Liz or Len Tomlinson on 00353(0)586 0897 or 079711 628880 or Email: [email protected]
Fishery manager David McEvoy reports from Delphi:
We have ten more fish landed since my last update on Sunday afternoon.
Christopher Jarman has been in fine form this week with four fish landed so far. The first from the Rock pool on Sunday evening with the river at 85 was probably the most impressive. Christopher decided to fish the Rock pool from the far side and duly hooked and landed an 8lbs 12ozs fish on the far side of the island. The fish was taken on a Collie Dog. Shortly afterwards Iwona Grochowska from Poland whilst practising casting managed to land her first ever salmon, a beautiful sea liced fish of 10lbs 8ozs from the Stream on Finlough on a Willie Gunn.
On Monday we had two fish, both off Finlough. Christopher Jarman had the first, a 5lbs 12ozs fish taken DSCN1037on a Delphi Collie from Butler’s Point. Stuart Lyon also had one off Fin, whilst casting off the Pier. The fish weighed in at 10lbs and half an ounce and was taken on a Delphi Collie.
On Tuesday Christopher managed to land his third again on Finlough off the Boat Point. The fish was taken on a Collie Dog and weighed in at 8lbs 7ozs.
Wednesday we had two. Christopher had one from the New Island Pool of 9lbs4ozs on a Red Frances. Robbie Burton also managed to land a fish of approx. 4.5lbs from the Holly Pool on a Flame Thrower.
Thursday, there were two fish landed. Ciaran Boland had one from Morrison’s taken on a Willie Gunn and was approx. 8lbs. In the evening John Tappin had a sea liced fish of approx. 5lbs from the Rock Pool on a stripped Collie Dog.
So far today we have one fish landed. Paul Shalvey had his second of the week, a good fish of 9lbs at Cross Point on Doolough
There have also been a number of fish lost and more seen than the last few weeks. Having said that conditions have been ideal with the water running off gradually all week and it is still holding at 35. The only complaint would be that it’s a bit bright at times but when we don’t see it that often, a bit of sunshine is keeps everyone else happy!!
With more heavy rain due from tomorrow afternoon conditions should be ideal again next week.
David McEvoy
David McEvoy
Delphi Fishery
Delphi Lodge, Leenane, Co. Galway.
Tel: +353 (0)95-42222 Fax +353-95-42296
Web: www.delphi-salmon.com
While some young anglers were getting to grips with the art of fly casting at Kilineer reservoir on Friday evening 16th May, around 40 additional youngsters were busy catching fish at Barnattin reservoir on spinner and bait. As usual the banks were lined with enthusiastic youngsters accompanied by parents, dads and mums, grand dads, grans and uncles and big brothers. They had all given their time to take the youngsters out fishing, to “give angling a go“. Some of the attendees had been at the information days and had never caught a fish before. This is before this evening. By evenings end all of the budding young anglers would have caught some fish and isn’t that what Fisheries Awareness Week is all about. Both the Kilineer event and the Barnattin event were open to all and were hosted Drogheda and District Anglers.
If you would like to join the Drogheda and District Anglers contact John Murphy at 086 3413350 or call into or contact the Drogheda Angling Centre at [email protected] mobile: 0864682516
