John Browne reports on the 2 day Silver Fish Match fished at Oaklands over the weekend…
We had beautiful weather for Day of our annual Silver fish Match. Unfortunately the big silver fish bags didn’t happen. The Carp had their way and gobbled up everything we threw at them.
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Anyway winner of Day 1, bagging 7.680 kg was Kieran Reeves from peg 20.
Close second John Browne with 6.150kg from peg 16. Also a tight match in the Junior section with Jack Norris leading and Finn Mccarthy close behind. All to play for on Sunday.
Day 2 of the Silver fish 2 day went the same as Saturday, a carp-fest all round. Big congratulations to Kieran Reeves with a clean sweep winning both days and the overall event, he was even sneaking out the big skimmers in between the Carp. Well done Kieran.
The winning junior was Finn Mccarthy. Big congrats to him and big thank you to everyone who fished.
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Results
1st Kieran Reeves 6.560 kg
2nd Adrian Browne 2.560 kg
3rd Mike Carney 2.200 kg
Overall
1st Kieran Reeves 13.930 kg
2nd Adrian Browne 7.448 kg
3rd John Browne 7.080 kg
Junior’s
1st Finn Mccarthy
2nd Jack Norris
3rd Conor Fitzharris
4th Charlie Upton
5th Calvin Kelly
A very popular carp fishery. Popular with competition anglers and novices alike. Alway a great chance of a bumper bag here. Friendly staff more than happy to advise beginner anglers. Caters to all sorts of clubs and groups.
Reminder to Please get your claims in now to avoid the rush at end October closing date.
The deadline for submitting specimen claims is approaching fast. If you were lucky enough to catch a specimen fish this year and want to claim it, get your paperwork into the ISFC as soon as possible so that the ISFC can assess it. All specimen claims to be submitted by 31st Oct.
The deadline for coarse species needing genetic testing of scale samples is 15 October.
To speed up the process this year you can email a copy of your completed claim form to
It was another cold and mostly wet October week, but the sun was often eough, giving a bit of respite. While it was windy, it wasn’t so bad that it kept everyone off the water and we have river, lake, shore, small boat, charterboat and even kayak angling reports for you this week…
It’s the off season for trout fishing too, and while we don’t have angling updates, we do have some excellent angling advice for beginner fly anglers from Dan O’Neill in his River Whispers series. We also have a round up of the river season from Ireland on the Fly who are talking to the very same Dan O’Neill this week.
With such great reports this week we have a junior and senior Catch of the Week. Riain and Gearoid win the junior one with their perch to over 40cm
The deadline for submitting specimen claims is approaching fast. If you were lucky enough to catch a specimen fish this year and want to claim it, get your paperwork into the ISFC as soon as possible so that the ISFC can assess it. All specimen claims to be submitted by 31 October. Further information is available here.
Irish Fly Fair
The 12th annual Irish Fly Fair and International Angling Show is back in Fermanagh next month. This prestigious event will be held at the fabulous four-star Killyhevlin Hotel and grounds overlooking majestic Lough Erne. Dates are set for 16th and the 17th of November and doors open at 10am both days.
Agus anois an aimsir…
As we go to press it is already windy in places with Storm Ashley set to arrive over the weekend. There are small craft and gale warnings in operation for all coasts of Ireland until Saturday night with exceptionally high supermoon spring tides with coastal flooding possible in coastal areas over the weekend. There are also Yellow and Orange wind warnings across the country for Sunday. Winds will ease on Monday to leave a predominantly dry day with sunny spells and just a few showers in Atlantic coastal counties. Maximum temperatures of 12 to 15°C in moderate to fresh southwest winds. Much the same on Tuesday with a few brighter spells thrown in.
Keep an eye on the weather and check the forecast for your area before making any plans.
It was another busy couple of days at Portumna last weekend with three separate events taking place. Starting with Portumna Coarse Angling Club, they held a competition on the Salmon run. there were some great catches with the top three spots looking like this:
1st Richard 35lb 8oz
2nd Bruce 25lb 3oz
3rd Bill 22lb 6oz
The man to beat – Richard
The Lucky Anglers Fishing Club also had a successful outing. This was a feeder competition but it was made a bit trickier as the fish were definitely higher in the water column. There were still some good nets weighed in and delicious catering from Katarzyna Mazurek.
1. Piotr Poprawski 15.091 kg
2. Tomasz Brus 8.110 kg
3. Damian Zrałek 6.820 kg
Finally, Tulla District Angling Club fished the Sheebeen stretch with the top 2 bags breaking the 20lb mark.
Go Fishing…
Portumna Coarse Angling Club
For information about the Portumna Festival and other matches in the area check in with the club on their Facebook page.
Contact: Bruce Pennell Email: brucepennell1966@gmail.com Website: Portumna Coarse Angling Facebook
A member of the NCFFI the Lucky Anglers Club welcome like-minded individuals who would like to join them in their fishing pursuits.
Delighted to finally get afloat to fish after the longest high season break due to unsuitable conditions I can remember for a long time…
I was really interested to test the new Orange coloured CBF I requested from Pirate Lures (Seen here with a Chartreuse Cheb weight) for exactly these type of bright conditions and I wasn’t disappointed by the instant reaction from the hard fighting West Cork Pollock & Wrasse
It was a pity that no one from my standby list was available to join me on such a perfect day but there will be more chances to go afloat for guided kayak fishing with lure & fly before the year is out, so if you’d like to discuss being added to my list just drop me an email – david.aawc@gmail.com
David has been lure then fly fishing since the mid noughties with some of the best guides and anglers in Ireland and abroad.
Kayak fishing by lure & fly now takes him and his guiding guests beyond the shore to target Pollock, Bass or Wrasse with the chance of other species such as Codling, Coalfish, Mackerel or Garfish.
Shore fishing at night is also a very special experience.
Sunday the 12th started off wet and sometimes wintry but at 2pm rays of rare October sun shone on the crowd assembled on the Shore of Lough Conn for the unveiling of the Jimmy and Bridget Murphy Memorial table. The picnic table has been placed on the Massbrook Shore where both Jimmy and Bridget shared many happy years together. The Murphy family have a long association with Lough Conn where Jimmy ran a very busy and successful boat hire business catering for the many anglers who came from all over the world to fish for wild brown trout and salmon.
Jimmy’s son Gerry continues the tradition of the family Boat Hire business today. The picnic table, made from recycled plastic is one of a number of picnic tables and huts placed around the lough by the local angling clubs in recent years. Chairman of the Foxford Angling Club Michael Tiernan said that it was only fitting that a table placed on the Masbrook Shore would serve as a memorial to Jimmy and Bridget Murphy who were a huge part of the angling scene on Loughs Conn and Cullin.
Members of the Murphy family and Foxford Angling Club
Members of the Foxford Angling Club are delighted to have a resource like Lough Conn on their doorsteps and are committed to protecting and enhancing it for future generations of anglers and nature lovers. “Over the last number of years we have joined forces with other local angling clubs to work together to put in place facilities which enhance the angling and outdoor experience. We have done this through fundraising, voluntary work and some gifted and willing members who have the foresight to work towards a better tomorrow for our local loughs.”
On behalf of the Murphy family Gerry Murphy thanked Foxford Angling Club and said he was delighted to see Jimmy and Bridget remembered by the anglers. He said the family would visit the table for picnics in the coming years. The huts and tables can be accessed by boat with boats available for hire from Gerry Murphy, Massbrook. Anglers and nature lovers visiting and using the facilities are asked to follow the countryside code and leave no trace.
David McEvoy reports on a decent season for fishing at Delphi.
Well, we’ve reached that time of year again, when all is quiet on the Fishery front, for a while anyway! I normally go around for the first week or two not knowing what to do with myself and actually arrive home at 5.30pm., which takes a bit of getting used to. The down time is indeed nice for a while and thank God for the seasons.
Obviously, we finished up the season, since my last update. September ended up being relatively quiet from a salmon perspective, with another 11 landed which brought the total to 17 for the month. Rainfall only amounted to 105.6mms(4.15”), so water levels throughout were relatively low. There were 6 more fish landed before the last day. Paddy Breheny from Dublin, who actually coxed me when I rowed for Neptune many years ago had a nice fish off the Turn Pool of 5lbs on a Francis on the 21st. Brian Collington had one of approx. 8lbs off Finlough on the 24th. David Flynn had a fish of approx. 3lbs from the Grilse Pool on the 26th. On the 27th Liam Dunne and Charlie MacLennan had a grilse each off Finlough and finally Karsten Kronburg had one from the Stream on Finlough on the 29th.
Photo courtesy of Frazer McKimm
The 30th was a much more relaxed affair this year, with just locals and staff. Some people fly fished and a few others did a bit of spinning and we landed 5. Ray Walsh and Douglas O’Toole, two local teenagers had a fish each and then Tom worked his magic and managed to get fish for Svetlo, Maura and Eve even landed her first ever, a good hen fish of approx. 8.5 that was duly returned. That brought our total for the month to 17 and for the year to 303. There were also a few more escapees, which brings our total landed to 19. Well done to all. BBQ didn’t start till about 5 and after that we had a most enjoyable evening and night!
September proved to be by far and away the best month for sea trout with 218 landed. They proved a little more difficult to catch towards the end of the month but there was some good sport to be had and Dorrie Gibbons from Cong organised a great day out for the Damsel Fly Fishers, who I’m sure we’ll see again. John Somerville had the very unusual experience of hooking a Brownie and it then getting taken by a Sea Trout of 3lbs+. The sea trout held on and John actually landed and returned both. Donal Costello from the Neale had our second best sea trout of approx. 5lbs. Total Sea Trout landed to the end of September was 328.
There will be a much more detailed analysis of all the fact and figures in our annual newsletter in a month or so. Finally, I must thank everyone for all their help and support throughout the year, staff, shareholders, syndicate members and customers most of whom make it a pleasure to do the job that I do. Thanks to all. D.McEvoy
David
Go fishing…
At Delphi Lodge, with many years of experience with the timing of the best runs of fish, we have in place a price system that offers both great value fishing and lets our anglers know when they have the best chance to catch a fresh run spring salmon or a summer grilse or Delphi sea trout.
Mariners league outing number 4 of 12 took place as a daylight competition on Saturday morning in Malin Beg on a fairly fresh day but thankfully the venue is surrounded by sheer cliffs on 3 sides making it comfortable and enjoyable for the fishing.
Lots of flatties on the venue but our minimum size is 20cm to protect the smaller fish from being targeted and it was harder to find the bigger stamp of fish but there were some very big flounder with the winning longest flattie prize being won by John Burke with a 40cm flounder. Always nice to break the 40cm mark.
2nd place overall with flounders, turbot and plaice was John Cunningham.
And 1st place overall also with a good fishing including plaice, flounders, weever and turbot was Gavin Dorrian.
Well done to all out enjoying the fishing!
Meanwhile, Gavin enjoyed a nice session on the shore with some big ballan to 47cm on the lures, specimen length corkwing to 24cm, and seeing garfish jump as lures hit the water. A quick set up of float and mackerel strip produced gar…also a nice evening bass for Ryan on the beach after dark.
Ballan on the luresSpecimen corkwing 24cm
Later in the week, Ryan and John enjoyed the settled weather on the beach with some nice small eyed rays and double shots of flounders.
While the season winds down and the weather windows become less frequent, there are still opportuniites to get out offshore and enjoy some good fishing at this time of year. The Clare Dragoon has had a couple of spectacular days this week, with some enormous fish coming to the boat. Let’s hear from the skipper…
Luke Aston says “The season is coming to an end here as the days get shorter and the weather more wintery. I’m still going out the odd day if I get a weather window and was out last Friday at Tuna. Despite big Bluefin tuna feeding hard and jumping round the boat we could not get a hookup. Very frustrating!
Today with Andrew over from England for a few days on the chance of getting the weather, we took advantage of the fine day to try again for Sixgill. And it did not disappoint. We had 2 solid hookups and 2 fish to the boat, both around 800lbs.”
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800lb sixgill shark
The following day was quite good too…
“If today is the last day…it was a good way to end!
We got back on the Sixgill mark and got set up with lots of activity around us. Birds dolphins and Tuna. So of course we had to try a floated bait as well. That did not work but Andrew did get another fine Sixgill at about 750lbs. And while he was fighting it a couple of Tuna bust just beside our float, that would have been an interesting double hook up!!”
Go fishing…
Clare Dragoon
Clare Dragoon is a LOCHIN 366 powered by 650HP engine, skippered by Luke Aston and operating out of Carrigaholt Co. Clare…
I have some offers up on my web site www.fishandstay.com and if anybody is interested in putting a trip together please do get in touch. Also I Twitter from the boat on @fishandstay and try to update my face book page www.facebook.com/CarrigaholtSeaAngling fairly often!To experience some of the best deep sea fishing available in Ireland contact Luke. Telephone: +353 65 9058209 or +353 87 6367544 Email:lukeaston@eircom.netWeb:www.fishandstay.com