Good sport was had by many on Lough Beltra on Thursday past (2nd May), with six salmon reported for the day from the Glenisland Co-op side of the Lake. Here, both Ben Baynes and Jackie Deffley boated fish of 8lbs, Pat Burns had one of 9lbs, Danny McAllister recorded one of 11lbs while Rocky Moran landed one of 12lbs.
Three competitions were fished on the Lakes over the weekend, with Dabblers and Green Peters proving the most productive fly choice at present. Saturday the 4th saw the Annual Competition take place between Dublin Anglers and Lough Conn and Cullen Anglers. This was a catch and release competition, with fish over 11 inches being counted. In total 38 anglers fished, with 53 trout above the limit measured. In first place was Joe Quinn, Cloghans, who had seven trout in total. Second place went to Karl Murrin, Sligo, (also with seven trout) and in third was Joe Ferguson, Knockmore, with four trout.
Conn and Cullen Anglers also hosted the Annual Pratt Cup Competition on Sunday. The competition was fished by 42 anglers, who boated 27 trout over the 13 inch size limit. Once again Joe Quinn, Cloghans took top honors, with four trout totaling 2.49kg. Michael Rutledge, Lahardaun took second with three for 2.419kg and in third was Sean Goulding, Dublin, with three for 2.019kg.
Lough Cullen was the venue for the Annual Albert Berry Cup Competition which was hosted over the weekend. There was a 12 inch limit in this event, and the 46 anglers who participated presented 46 trout for the weigh in. In first place were Stan McArt and Jack Spratt, Coleraine, with six trout for 9.68lbs. Second place went to Gerry McCarthy and Paul McArdle, Castleblaney, with five trout for 6.2lbs and in third was Susan and Walter Byrne, Co. Offaly, with four trout for 5.25lbs.
Elsewhere on the lakes, anglers have been experiencing varied degrees of success, with duckfly and olives surfacing intermittently. Fishing out of Gerry Murphy’s, Massbrooke, Barry Grehan, Edenderry and Liam McHugh and Mick Sweeney, Loughrea, averaged four trout per angler per day while fishing over the weekend, these fish averaged 1.25lbs and were all released.
In the Cloghans area, Peter Roche had five trout, his best weighed 2lbs and were all taken on wet flies. Out of Pontoon Bridge Hotel, Nicholas O’Kelly, Dallas, U.S.A. reported one trout of 1.5lbs, taken on a Silver Dabbler. James Man, London, also had one of 1.5lbs taken on a Green Peter while Pierre Bernard, Switzerland and one of 1.25lbs. Finally, Dublin duo Robert Scott and Donal Hurley recorded six trout for 7lbs all taken on wets.
Many anglers are enjoying very good sport on Lough Arrow, yet as of our latest report no Mayfly have appeared. Notable catches in recent weeks included a trout of 4lbs for Ciaran Cullen and four over two days for David Nelson, his best weighed 3lbs.
In the past week Colin Dodd boated three, with the best weighing 3.25lbs and 5lbs. Daryl Haslan had one of 1.25lbs as did Sammy Burnett. Pat Eyres reported four ranging from 1.5lbs to 2.5lbs while Martin McDaid had two of 1.75lbs and 1.5lbs. Finally Peter Dunne caught four good trout, ranging from 1.75lbs to 4.25lbs.
The Gormanston & District Anglers club are open for new members as they start their new season – senior, juniors and OAPs – whoever wants to join! It is a fabulous way to spend a day out fishing on Balbriggan’s best kept secret – the Wavin Lake, the largest all year trout fishery in Dublin.
The Gormanston Anglers club is on a 26 acre site that is stocked with rainbow trout only, which is why they are open all year round for members. The club has all the facilities that a modern club should have including six boats for members use. They are a very family orientated club with picnic areas and wild life observation areas too. Members can look forward to a competition every month. For further details visit www.gormanstonanglers.com. All welcome….
North County Leader 07/05/2013. Read the article ‘Join Gormanston and District Angler’s Club’
FORMER US president, Jimmy Carter has been staying at Mount Juliet, Thomastown over the last few days. The 88-year-old spent some time fishing on the River Nore yesterday with a detail of secret service men in close attendance. As he fished downstream of the bridge that takes you to Mount Juliet house, armed officers stood 10 yards either side of him. While security was tight at the luxurious country club and golf course, there was a relaxed atmosphere….
Kilkenny People 08/05/2013. Read the article ‘Jimmy Carter at Mount Juliet, Thomastown, Kilkenny for Elders Summit’
Lough Sheelin Angling Report By Brenda Montgomery, IFI April 29th – May 5th
“I have fished through fishless days that I remember happily without regret.” – Roderick Haig-Brown
Andrew Brown, Dublin practices the catch & release policy on Sheelin as he lets his 5lb trout caught on a dabbler back into the water
The week started off cold with west to north west winds, bright sunshine and frosts of 1 – 2 degrees at night, winds changed to a warmer south west towards the end of the week but created mayhem on Friday afternoon/evening with stretches of ‘white water’ covering large sections of the lake. The absence of fly life on the water is frustrating particularly as over the weekend with the increase in temperature there seemed to be some hatches of buzzer around and on the shoreline but little or nothing carrying out on to the water. It’s not just the fishermen that are searching for fly life, the swallows have returned to the lake and are continually sweeping low to the water in search of the elusive fly.
The bank holiday weekend started off turbulent with most anglers on saturday sticking to sheltered areas although there were a few brave souls out in the open who they were rewarded for their tenacity with some lovely catches of trout touching the 5 lb mark in some cases. Life member Oliver McCormack certainly seemed unperturbed by Saturday’s rough conditions as he coolly landed himself a trout of over 4 ½ lbs using a green stimulator. Sunday was the best fishing day of the week with warmth and a kick to the water.
It is still early days for Sheelin as far as the mayfly is concerned and a lot of anglers are appearing for the first time this season on the lake, John Harrington president of the Dublin anglers was tentatively pushing out his boat ‘The King Fisher’ into Chambers Bay and was more concerned about immersing himself in the peacefulness and tranquility of the lake than with catching a trout. He had recently been on a visit to Kehlsteinhaus in Austria, a retreat designed by a famous German leader and he equated the beauty of that building overlooking the sweeping green landscape of Berchtesgaden to Sheelin, in that this lake had the same peaceful effect on him as the famous ‘Eagle’s Nest’ in Austria.
Anglers are reporting plenty of movement of fish but this week they seemed on some days hard to connect with but one fact that nobody denies is that this lake has a big of stock of lovely trout beneath its surface, it’s just a question of finding the right attraction…and better weather
It’s still all wet fly fishing and lures predominantly the dabblers (peter ross, green and claret), cock robin, johnson’s fancy, sooty olives, claret bumble, sooty olive bumble, gosling, octopus, stimulators (claret and green) and minkies. With the flies it seems to help to have a little bit of sparkle threaded through the fly.
Playing a fish – May 2nd, Lough Sheelin
A goose protectively shields her 5 goslings against the waves crashing against the Crover shoreline, Lough Sheelin May 3rd.
It was good to see some visiting anglers from abroad fishing the lake this week, mainly French, New Zealanders and Australians. Twelve french anglers from Paris made their debut on to the lake last Tuesday and will remain until May 4th and in their own words about Sheelin – ‘c’est le plus beau fleuron de Irelande’.
We are now heading into mid-May and the lack of fly life on the lake is worrying but it is hoped that once the warmer weather settles in that things will become ‘normal’ once more.
Danny Murray, Dublin with his 3 ½ lb trout caught on May 2nd
Bob Priestley with his trout caught on a silver dabbler in Bog Bay
Gary McKiernan of www.loughsheelinguidingservices.com with his 5 lb trout caught May 3rd
Danny Murray, Dublin holding his ‘soon to be’ released fish of 2 ¾ lbs caught May 2nd
Andrew Brown’s 2 ½ lb trout caught on a dabbler
The Gathering is coming to Crover House Hotel, Lough Sheelin on the weekend June 7th, 8th and 9th and as part of this the local angling club – The LSTPA in conjunction with Cavan County Council are hosting an angling day primarily to attract anglers and would be anglers from outside the state. Local ghillies will be giving their day free to bring anglers out fishing on the lake and there will be fly tying, casting, a competition with prizes finishing up with a Bar B Q at Crover House Hotel. This not to be missed event will be free but places are limited and those of you from Northern Ireland or from overseas should contact
Eamon Ross @ 087 9436655 or Thomas Lynch @ 087 9132033
The popular Sheelin Classic trout competition now in its 9th year will be run on Lough Sheelin on Sunday June 9th 2013 – 11am to 6pm. This is a heaviest fish competition with a 15” size limit and only 2 fish per competitor.
This competition will involve an open draw for partners and entries must be in by May 31st. Entry fee is €70 for a boating angler and €90 a non-boating angler. Entry fee includes a meal in Crover House after the competition
There will be numerous prizes (up to 10) which include:
1st 19ft Sheelin boat & trailer & crystal & the coveted Davey O’Connor perpetual cup
2nd 5 hp 4 stroke outboard engine & crystal
This is a competition well worth marking in your diary and because of the popularity of the Sheelin Classic and to avoid disappointment, it is advisable to secure your entry sooner rather than later by contacting Noel McLoughlin at 087 2179460 for further information
A catch & release policy is actively encouraged on the lake at all times
Please remember anglers to abide by BYE-LAW 790 – we need to keep our small fish alive……………
Heaviest catch for the week was a 7 ½ lb trout caught by Thomas Harton on Sunday May 5th using a golden olive stimulator.
Total number of trout recorded: 53
(in most cases anglers are releasing their catches)
Selection of Catches
Pa Tormey, Kells – 2 trout at 2 2 ½ lbs
Thomas Harton, Cavan – on Sunday May 5th 6 trout heaviest was 7 ½ lbs using a golden olive stimulator and a pearly dabbler.
Ivan Bolton, New Zealand fishing with Ned Clinton – April 30th 2 trout at 2 ½ and 2 lbs.
Gary McKiernan (www.loughsheelinguidingservices.com) – May 3rd 3 trout heaviest 5 lbs. all released.
Danny Murray, Terenure, Dublin – on May 2nd availing of loughsheelinguidingservies landed himself 4 trout heaviest was 3 ½ lbs, the rest weighed in at 2, 2 ½ and 2 ¾ lbs, all trout were released
Pat Sweeney, Cavan – 1 trout at 3 ½ lbs
Oliver McCormack, Cavan – using a green stimulator 1 trout at 4 ½ lbs on Saturday May 4th around Lynch’s pt. later on that afternoon Oliver landed himself 2 other fish at 2 and 2 ½ lbs again using the green stimulator.
Patsy Smith, Cavan – 2 trout at 3 and 2 ½ lbs
Aidan Heffernan, Dublin – 2 trout at 1 ½ – 2lbs wet fly fishing.
Eamon Ross, Cavan – on May 6th 3 trout heaviest was 2 ½ lbs using a peter ross dabbler.
Thomas Lynch, Cavan – 1 trout on Saturday May 4th at 3 ¾ lbs and 2 trout on Sunday May 5th at 2 and 2 ½ lbs, all landed using a claret dabbler.
Gary McKiernan (www.loughsheelinguidingservices.com) – local ghillie Gary took out on his own on Sunday and landed himself two lovely trout at 1 ¾ and 2 lbs on a claret dabbler.
Noel McLoughlin, Kells – May 5th 3 trout heaviest was 5 ¼ lbs using a claret dabbler around Goreport. May 6th 2 trout at 2 and 2 ½ lbs using a dabbler.
Gary Connor, Armagh – on Saturday 3 fish heaviest weighed in at 5 ½ lbs, all caught using a dabbler.
Peter McArdle, Dundalk – on Saturday May 4th 1 trout at 2 lbs on a claret dabbler.
Ken Kearns, Dundalk – on May 4th using a bibio 1 trout at 2 ½ lbs.
Brenda Montgomery IFI
John Quinlan from the Thatch Cottage in Cahersiveen tells us of fishing in his area:
May 1st: After some of the coldest weather for decades things have finally started to warm up. The last couple of weeks have seen a big improvement in bass catches. Nick Gough joined us for a weeks fishing which coincided with the first rise in temperatures this spring. He had some excellent sport with mullet, the best one weighed in at 4lb 6oz. He also enjoyed good sport with bass, taking fish up to 66cm (see photo below). He even manged to get our first fly caught bass of the season. We had several enjoyable days on the lakes where the brown trout were very obliging.
Matteo and Riccardo from Italy were both successful in catching their first ever Irish bass. (see photo below)
Michel and Baptiste Scola Grimaldi from France got off to a great start with their Irish bass fishing experience catching 20 bass on lure in their first two outings. Most were on caught on soft plastic lures but they had our first bass of the year on surface lure.
May 8th: Bass fishing in the Waterville area has finally taken off with good numbers of fish turning up on the beaches and on the reefs. Many bass seem to have just spawned so it is important to handle these fish carefully. While most of the bass are in the 2 to 4 lb range several better quality fish have been caught. Lugworm still seems to be the most effective bait from the beaches but peeler crab has been deadly fished over the reefs and rough ground. Just in the last few days bass are coming to the lure much more aggressively than before with some even taking on surface lures. The bay seems to be packed with sand eels at the moment and gannets and terns are getting in on the act as well as the bass.
Michel and Baptiste Scola-Grimaldi enjoyed some great sport with brown trout on the mountain lakes and Lough NaMona. We had fish up to almost 2lbs. They also tried their hand at pollock fishing for the first time, a fish that they don’t have in Italy. As well as some spectacular scenery they enjoyed good sport with the pollack.
John Quinlan
Thatch Cottage Ireland
Kenneigh West
Cahersiveen
Co. Kerry
Tel: +353 (0)66 9474721
E-mail: thatchcottageireland@eircom.net
Kevin Brain of kbfishing reports from Kerry
6/5/13 A few fish have started to move in, with the water a little colder than last year for this time of year, fish have now started to hit the shore again with some good Pollack and mullet and a few reports coming in with bass to 6lb caught by Pat from Cork, and a good few coming on the fly but all small – 3lb max
Kevin Brain
KB Fishing Ireland
Waterville, Co. Kerry.
Website: www.kbfishingireland.co.uk
Tel: + 353 (0)66 9474942 Mobile: +353 (0)87 67 66986
email: info@kbfishingireland.com
Rockhunter reports from the South Coast:
06/05/2013: After a couple of unsuccessful lure fishing sessions earlier in the week, the forecast for Thursday evening was for strengthening southwesterly winds. I got to the beach about 45 minutes after low tide. Two anglers were already. I set up two rods, one with a three hook flapper with size 1 and 2/0 circle hooks baited with lug and the second with a pennel pulley baited with crab.
Nothing much was happening until close to dusk. Then I felt a series of nibbles, but no bites so it was probably small fish (flounder or coalfish tugging on the bait). Then I had a stronger bite at about 10 pm. This time the fish was hooked and turned out to be a 27 cm flounder, taken on lug.
About 5 minutes later I had a much stronger tug again on the three hook flapper rig. It was a small bass, about 37 cm in length.
At that stage I switched the pennel pulley rig for a two hook flapper (size 1 and 2/0 circle hooks) and baited it with lug and razor. About half an hour later I had another sharp knock on one of the rods. At first I thought it was another bass, but as I hauled it out of the surf I realized it was a dogfish.
It was quite for a while; then about 40 minutes later I had another flounder, of about 25 cm. This was followed shortly afterwards by a small coalfish.
Ten minutes later there was a sharp pull on one of the rods. I grabbed it and lifted into a fish that was putting up a better struggle. A few minutes later I hauled a 46 cm bass out of the surf.
The bite became more frequent over the next half an hour over high tide with a couple more small flounder and another three coalfish. However, once the tide began to drop the bites died off. I stuck it out for about 30 minutes after high tide before packing up.
All fish were taken on lug, but I had no interest in the crab or razorfish. The total catch for the session was 2 bass, 1 dogfish, 4 flounder and 4 coalfish.
Compliments of:
RockHunter
South Coast, Ireland
Web: www.rockhunterblog.ie
Paul Hanley reports of great fishing on Inniscarra Dam:
Having spent the morning fly fishing for salmon at the Dam fishery in really low water I was only too happy to see the water levels rise to full load. The low water was having a negative effect on the salmon due to the lack of movement and the water clarity was very bad and in some places you couldn’t see your feet when wading. I had fished with my switch fly rod using a floating line and a green sinking tip but had change to a tapered leader to get some movement into the fly. The fly was a Park shrimp size 15 double salar and I got four plucks at the fly during the morning session. As soon as the water came on it cleared away the algae colour from the water and also oxygenated it as well. I changed over to my spinning rod and using a size four Flying “C” i quickly caught and released my first salmon, a nine pound fresh fish with red markings on the belly as it had just come up over the weirs.
The second fish was an eight pound bar of silver with sea lice and this fish was also quickly released, actually it released itself just as I was turning on the camera it broke my grip and swam away. The third fish hit fast and strong with three blistering runs and the reel tension could be heard screaming a long distance away. Bringing the fish in close I noticed it had a bad marking on its side and this was very fresh but luckily for the salmon it hadn’t broken skin or drawn blood so I reckon that it will survive to spawn. The fish put up a very spirited fight and this normally happens when a salmon’s mouth is closed shut and that’s what had happened, the fish had rolled and the line had wrapped around its mouth and trapped it shut thus making the salmon go berserk and that is why it took so long to revive, it had burned itself out. There are a good number of big salmon showing up again this year lets hope that anglers will do the right thing and release the bigger multi sea wintered and multi spawing fish.
Compliments of:
Paul Hanley,
Salmon fishing in Ireland
Web: www.salmonfishingireland2012blog.ie
