Some fantastic fish lately for club members out and about including a few more Irish specimen length fish got.
Proinnsias Doherty had a specimen length small eyed (painted) ray at 84cm which is the 4th specimen painted ray for club members in the last few weeks after John Cunningham, Ryan McGinley and Shane Cunningham also had specimen length fish of over 80cm. Proinnsias also had fun with large conger eels at the pier testing the gear to the limit.
Specimen painted ray for Proinnsias and joint club recordProinnsias feels the power of the conger
Ryan McGinley had a fine flounder of 41cm…always nice to break the 40cm mark with a flounder.
41cm flounder for Ryan
John Higgins had a specimen length cuckoo wrasse on the boat and joint club record with Daragh McGuinness who also had his specimen cuckoo of 36cm recently.
Specimen cuckoo for John Higgins
Yet more specimen fish landed during the week with another club record equalling 83cm small eyed ray for John Cunningham which is his 2nd specimen small eyed this year along with specimens for Shane Cunningham, Ryan McGinley and Proinnsias Doherty.
Joint club record specimen small eyed ray 83cm for John Cunningham
Also flounders to 39cm for John, bass, small eyed ray and trout doubles for Proinnsias along with a day at the wrasse for Cormac.
Last Friday our third league outing took place on the stunning Mullaghderg Beach…West Donegal fishing under a starry Rosses sky!
Stunning night in the Rosses
Proper Autumn surf conditions with a pull to one side but luckily little to no weed making for an enjoyable night’s fishing for the 21 anglers with fish straight away all along the beach feeding before the ebb tide when it died off.
A great start for Daragh McGuinness with 7 counting flounder and a turbot of 30cm shooting 274pts winning well for €122.
2nd place with 4 flounder and a turbot with 157pts was Cara Boyle winning €61
Longest flattie outside of the top 2 places was a shared 33cm each flounder for Ryan McGinley and Bren Green splitting €61.
Lucky peg drawn from the hat at the round up was won by Sean Harte €42.
Some great fishing over our Indian summer well done all!
What a tough day at the office today, the weather was a little worse than forecast was given, but fair play to the lads that put in a tough few hours. However, we got rewarded with a beauty, a nice 530lbs tuna to the boat. This fish stripped a lot of line on the first run, so we knew we had a battle on our hands, but the man in the chair fought him brilliantly in the big swell to get the fish to the boat in good time and condition. Well done lads!
500lbs plus bluefin
A couple days later we went after tuna again. But what started off as a very promising day, did not end up that way. However, we did have success in getting one small fish of 180lbs at the start of the day. We had no luck then until the tide turned. Soon after we hooked up into a good fish this time, and after a 20 minute fight with about 5mt to go, the fish got a little bit of slack and managed to throw the hook, which is heart breaking…didn’t see much after that. Still an enjoyable day out on the water.
Playing a Donegal Bay bluefin tuna aboard Fiona Tee
The second match of the IASCaire 2024 Autumn League took anglers to the one and only Lough Brackley in Cavan. The competitors gathered their trolleys, shock leaders and few boxes of hook lengths in preparation of the mighty Brackley ledge and its appetite for terminal tackle.
Fishing was tough, as expected the bigger fish just didn’t want to play ball. However, a some of the club members still managed to creep in a few bonuses to build up some decent average weights across the bank.
Roman Kwasniewski took First Place on his home turf with 47 fish, including a few nice bonuses, to make 7.940kg. Dykun Pavlo took Second place with a decent bag of 33 small hybrids and roach to weigh in 6.390kg. Sarunas Zenkovas Took Third Place with a bag of 51 small roach and a little bonus to weigh in 5.160kg.
Ireland’s Masters and Under 25 Feeder Fishing teams are in Szeged in Hungary this week where they are competing at the World Championships in those categories.
These are exciting times for the Under 25’s, as they attend the very first world championship for young feeder anglers on the renowned rowing course. Team Ireland members are; John Browne, Brian Clark, Charlie Richards and Dominykas Kuklys.
Its the 3rd edition for the Masters (over 55’s) and representing Team Ireland are; Vincent Walsh, Karl Woodhouse, Jack Tisdall, Sean Murray and Colin Martin.
Irish teams warming up in Hungary
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Today the teams are completing the fourth of the four days of training ahead of the competition which takes place on Friday 4th and Saturday 5th October. Good luck to both teams.
Last week water levels remain low on the Laune. There were just 2 fish reported. One was caught on Beat 3 by an angler who was spinning. the fish weighed 7lbs. Another fish was also caught spinning on Johnson’s Fishery, weighing 8lbs.
Fishing was very quiet for the last week of the season and water levels remained low. There was a flood following the rain on Sunday but it was too late to make much difference to fishing which has been tough all season.
Best of luck to Team Ireland Predator members Tomek Kurman, Jacek Gorny, Daniel Nesbitt, Aidan O’Connor and Krzysztof Sibiga who will be fishing 15th edition of the FIPS-ed World Championships Predator Boat Angling with Lures. This event is proudly hosted by the National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland (NCFFI) on Upper Lough Erne in County Fermanagh over the next three days.
The Upper Lough Erne was the venue chosen by the NCFFI, who are honoured to be hosting the competition for the World Freshwater Angling body FIPSed Fédération Internationale de la Pêche Sportive en Eau Douce. The destination for the championships is the Share Discovery Village just outside the town of Lisnaskea in County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland and several of the teams arrived a week ahead of the championships for familiarisation with the magnificent angling Lough Erne offers to predator seekers.
The championship programme included two days official training ahead of the three day competition, taking place from today, Thursday 3rd, until Saturday, 5th of October. The cream of the worlds lure anglers will represent 15 nations coming from across the globe:
Teams will consist of 4 anglers from each nation fishing in pairs for pike and perch from boats using only artificial lures.
Some nicer day in the morning. The wind did come up later. You’ll always remember the morning though
Jim Clohessy of TopFisher.eu was making the most of Saturday ahead of the current unsettled conditions…
Saturday’s run was the last run for September. I think at this time of year you must consider any opportunity as being the potentially last run of the year… it’s happened before!
I was flying solo yesterday with all my usual victims unavailable (Or dodging me! ). I had two plans in prep. If the forecasted drop in wind didn’t happen I’d run to plan B. As it happened all worked out OK and plan A was go. A run offshore on wrecks and maybe some scratching around for haddock, whiting etc.
Roches Point outbound. Mackerel were scarce. Just when the harbour was teeming with small mackerel in recent weeks.
It was a cracking morning. I have always heard fishermen say that northerlies push the mackerel off. It seem to be the case as I was working hard for mackerel in the usual harbour spots. I had only a few stragglers. I pushed off a bit and had some mackerel of the smaller variety. They’d do fine.
Steamed offshore in perfect conditions. You could see from the offset that there was a lot of life about. Lots of dolphins and a huge amount of bird life. My first detour off the GOTO was to inspect a huge conglomeration of birds. I was just late to the party. As I arrived a few BFT showed among the dolphins but were there and gone. The water had a slick on top and was full of silvery scales… As I say I missed the party. There was a large show on the sounder toward bottom and a quick drop showed these to be big scad. I kept a couple for bait (I usually wouldn’t).
Some fine ling. All on mackerel bait on single paternoster wrecking rig.
First stop was a wreck that I am beginning to know well. I like to drift the edges here but the combination of wind and tide made that well nigh impossible. I was picking up a few handy ling so I baited up a big-boy trace and sent it down with a big-boy bait. I had a steady stream of good ling topping out at around18lbs. Fine fish.
Great scrap from this one. Thought I’d lost him in the wreck as the first run was very strong. Usual rig and bait.
Eventually I moved off the wreck. There was no point in filling the cooler. I’d have to fillet them on return. As it was I had a fair amount of fish on board. I drifted further afield but the mixed fishing was very slow. On the way back in I passed a seiner, a local 22m boat that you wouldn’t expect to be fishing this close in. Good chance it was after doing “my patch” too.
As the wind built from the SE it was time to head for the slipway. As usual I had a drift too many making my spin home more bouncy than I hoped… typical. Last cast syndrome is strong with this one.
Some nicer day in the morning. The wind did come up later. You’ll always remember the morning though
The worst part of the spin was closer to the harbour, a building wind and an ebb tide.
A handy enough retrieve and sort the boat for road and then I had to fillet the catch. The evenings are really closing in.
My pictures were taken from the phone in a cradle and using the camera remote – you get 3 seconds to compose! I’ll have to work on that.
The evenings are shot really. This was taken at 1900
Vincent Appleby, assisted by the Inny Farmer, reports from Lough Currane and the river Inny…
26/9/2024.What a cracker of a day for the UK umbrella man, Mr. Gary Humphery and for good reason, while fishing with his gillie and renowned C&R Currane angler Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy of www.fishingwithdom.com caught 3 fine Salmon ranging from a Grilse in the 4 to 5 lbs class followed by two springers. The biggest was in the 11 to 12 lbs class, followed by 4 Sea Trout all caught on the troll. All I can say is congratulations to UK Currane angler Mr. Gary Humphery and his Gillie www.fishingwithdom.com.
Just for the record there were a few Trout caught on the drift. Wind North light followed by good cloud cover, followed by showers. Yesterday’s weather, amount of rainfall12.1mm, amount of sunshine 0hrs.1mins, maximum air temperature 13.0°c. Just for the record all the fish were put back.
27/9/2024. We start with the UK umbrella man, Mr. Gary Humphery, while fly fishing with his Gillie www.fishingwithdom.com and fishing out of https://thecrescentwaterville.ie/, caught and released 5 Sea Trout. He had 3 on the Fly and two on the troll. Staying on the Lake the Currane angler also reports that there was a good few trout caught on the lake mostly on the fly, biggest was in the 2 ½ lbs class. Now we head up stream to the Commeragh where the Black Birds fancy was in action and as of yet no reports but watch this space. Now we head across the Valley to the Inny farmer, “Hi Vince, just to let you know that there were 2 C&R Salmon caught”. Wind moderate to fresh NNE, followed by reasonable cloud cover, Yesterday’s weather, amount of rainfall 6.2mm, amount of sunshine 0hrs.0mins, maximum air temperature 12.5°c.
28/9/2024. UK umbrella man, Mr. Gary Humphery, while fishing with his Gillie www.fishingwithdom.com and fishing out of https://thecrescentwaterville.ie/ caught and released 4 Sea Trout while trolling. Wind gentle to moderate SE veered SSE, SSW, SW, SSW, S, followed by reasonable cloud cover. Now we head for the complaining department and for good reason. The stage is yours Gerard. Hi Vince, I thought there was a ban on worming on the Commeragh river and on the Inny river, I thought we were supposed to be protecting our seatrout. Yesterday’s weather, amount of rainfall 4.2mm, amount of sunshine 6hrs.1mins, maximum air temperature 12.7°c.
29/9/2024. My apologies for the lack of information on this day but as luck would have it, thanks to the amount of rainfall, plus it was wild out there by all accounts it was a day for the high stool or put your C&R Inny hat on and all I can say is the Inny farmer was all quiet so I will leave that to your imagination, did they or didn’t they precure my Noble gentleman the Salmon. Wind SE fresh to strong followed by strong gusts.
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30/9/2024. Well as we all know today was the last day of the 2024 Salmon season and I can report that it was a cracker of a day on the Waterville fishery, so straight to the Lough Currane action, the Currane angler reports the facts of the day. There were 5 Salmon caught on the troll followed by a good few Sea Trout and Brown Trout caught on the fly and troll, the best C&R basket of Sea Trout goes to Currane angler Phil Staniforth, who caught 5 Sea trout on the fly, while fishing with www.fishingwithdom.com Now we head for the Inny Farmer who reports on the C&R Inny anglers, Hi, Vince, there were a few nice Salmon caught and released on this last day of the Salmon season. Now for the Currane angler of the 2024 Salmon season and that goes to Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy, and he nailed it while fishing with his client the UK Currane Umbrella man Mr. Gary Humphery and his video confirms the Currane Gillie of the year. Salmon of the year I will give that at the end of the Season on the 12th of October. Wind NNW fresh to moderate veered NW, NNW. Yesterday’s weather, amount of rainfall 28.0mm, amount of sunshine 2hrs.9mins, maximum air temperature 16.4°c.
1/10/2024. The Currane anglers were all quiet going by my WhatsApple. Wind gentle NE followed by reasonable cloud cover at times. Yesterday’s weather, amount of rainfall 1.4mm, amount of sunshine 6hrs.0mins, maximum air temperature 14.9°c.Now back to Last night, now we head to the Lobster Bar, and I can tell you there was a cracker of an evening with the traditional Bacon and Cabbage. Now to the presentations for the cups to the wooden spoon and ended with a good sing song contest. So here are the facts of the 2024 Season.
Tom Duggan got the Vincent O’Sullivan memorial cup for the first salmon caught on the fly as well as the Paddy Carey cup for first salmon of the season.
Dominic McGillicuddy got the priest and a voucher for being the gillie for Tom Duggan,
Chef Tam got the wooden spoon.
The Priest and Wooden Spoon
Now the singer of the night goes to Eileen Murphy, who got singer of the year with her performance of her song the bike, Mrs. Nuala O’Sullivan came a close second. I will finish off by saying a big thank you to the Lobster Bar, Management and all their staff for a great evening had by all.
2/10/2024. The Currane C&R Sea Trout anglers were all quiet this day going by my WhatsApple and to be fair there was a gentle East wind and veered ESE, SE, ESE, E, followed by reasonable cloud cover at times. Now the quote of the day comes from a Currane angler, enjoying his Waterville turf fire back home in the UK and his Mug of tea tells you what he’s thinking, as his neighbours were wondering what the hell is that nice smell.
Yesterday’s weather, amount of rainfall trace, amount of sunshine 3hrs.7mins, maximum air temperature 15.6°c.
Inland Fisheries Ireland wishes to remind anglers that the Conservation of Sea Trout (No.7 or Kerry District) Waterville Area Bye-Law No. 971 of 2019 remains in effect. This Bye-law prohibits the retention and possession of any sea trout (Salmo trutta L.) taken by any fishing engine or by rod and line in the Waterville area i.e. that part of the sea eastward of a line drawn from the most westerly point of Bolus Head to the most westerly point of Lamb’s Head and to all the waters discharging in to it.
The Bye-Law mainly affects seatrout fishing on :-
the river Inny (Knockmoyle) and its tributaries
the waters of the Waterville system, including the Waterville River, Lough Currane, the Cummeragh River and all their tributary rivers and lakes
For more information on the daily conditions, all the craic and news be sure to check out Vincent Appleby’s Salmon and Sea Trout blog for regular reports with back dates, petitions, public consultation notices, readers letters and videos and more of what’s happening on Currane.
Notes: Located at Lakelands House Bed and Breakfast and Self Catering Accommodation, on Ireland’s best sea trout lake, Lough Currane. Frank is a professional angling guide and boatman.
Sea angling can be arranged with local operators.
Boat Hire
Boats for hire. All boats and engines are moored on the farm, 300 metres from the house, with easy access from the road with car park and boat shed.
Notes: Having ghillied on Lough Currane for over 30 years Vincent is a great choice for those looking for a guided service or flyfishing instruction on the Lake. All ages are catered for and even experienced anglers will benefit from the watercraft and fly-lore unique to Lough Currane. All tackle is provided and accommodation can be organised if required.
River Moy Angling Report 23rd – 30th September 2024
The season came to a close on Monday 30th September with good sport reported on some fisheries with 341 salmon reported caught for the final week. A lot of fish were reported released in the final week which is encouraging. Water levels remained relatively low for the final week apart from a very small rise seen at Ballylahan which rose marginally midweek to 0.61 m before dropping off again to 0.36 m on Monday evening 30th. Weather wise the past seven days sees rainfall totals in the northwest below average with Claremorris, County Mayo recording just 9.3 mm.
Ballina Salmon Anglers
A total of twenty-six salmon were reported caught this week with spinning working best. The majority of fish weighed between 2 lbs and 5 lbs and the heaviest fish of the week weighed 6 lbs. The Last Cast Competition took place on 28th September and was won by Barry Keenan who had a nice fish weighing 5.5 lbs.
Barry Keenan, the winner of the Last Cast Competition with a 5.5 lbs salmon
Mount Falcon Estate
A total of thirty-three salmon were caught with five taken and twenty-eight released back to the water.
Knockmore Salmon Anglers
Kenneth reported twenty-seven salmon caught spinning and on the worm with nine taken and eighteen released. Best fish of the week weighed 9 lbs.
Attymass Angling Club
Kevin reported thirty-six salmon caught with six taken and thirty released this week using mostly the prawn with the best of the week weighing 8 lbs.
Coolcronan Fishery
Nick reported seventeen salmon caught, mostly on the prawn of which fourteen were released. Best weight of the week was 7.5 lbs.
Byrnes Fishery
Roy reported twenty-six salmon caught this week, all on the prawn with twenty-two were released.
Gannon’s Fishery
Pat reported thirty-four salmon caught for the week using all methods, of which twenty-six were released.
The Foxford Fishery
Granville reported thirty-two salmon caught for the week of which twenty-seven were released. Best weight for the week was 11 lbs and was caught on the prawn.
Ivan Tucker about to release a coloured cock fish from The Poplins Pool on The Foxford Fishery
Foxford Salmon Anglers
Harry Feeney reported eighty salmon caught for the week with an estimated 50 returned. The Waterkeepers Trophy held on Saturday 28th was won by Patrick Morgan.
Mary Moylette and Harry Feeney presenting Patrick Morgan with the Water Keepers Trophy
A report was received of twelve salmon being caught in the Foxford town area this week.
Cloongee Fishery
One salmon was reported caught in Cloongee Fishery which was released.
East Mayo Anglers Association
Kathleen reported seventeen salmon caught for the week of which fourteen were released. Best weight for the week was 12 lbs.
I would like to take this end of season opportunity to thank all contributors to this report for the 2024 season.
Boat Hire
Salmon and Sea-Trout fishing Guide
