Another weekend of ideal dry fly fishing! John Bailie (Ballywalter) did very well using dries to bank at least a dozen trout which he consequently released. David and Noel Barr (Strabane) banked seven between them which took black pennells and dries. Colin Wallace (Ballykelly) and Gordan Wallace (Limavady) used daddies and black spiders to bag five trout averaging 2.5 lb. Danny Walker (Monkstown) released all three of his trout while Maghera’s Pearse Doherty released his six trout which fell to nymphs and dries. Sean Redden released one which he caught on a lure which Dungiven’s John Hasson caught and released five which took assorted emergers.
Sam Andrews, Shanes Castle Demesne, sends us this photo of a specimen 18 lb. Dolloghan Trout from Lough Neagh, he caught on salmon shrimp fly on River Maine at Shanes Castle. Sam tells us that he quickly measured the fish on the handle of his landing net at 33 inches and that the fish was a rare strain of “Bodagh Dollaghan” which run the river from Lough Neagh and he quickly returned this magnificent fish of a lifetime after a very dogged fight to the net. This fish is our Catch of the Week
Well done Sam, a fish of a lifetime! and our Catch of the Week
Friday 13th July: There were 3 fish all between 10 – 11lb. caught for 3 rod days yesterday.
This was 11 years young James Shanahan with his Second Ever Salmon which weighed 11lb. & was taken on spinner at the Junction Pool on Bridgetown Abbey.
James Shanahan with his 11lb salmon
This sea-liced 10.4lb. was taken by Mike Whelan on spinner on the Jole on Lower Kilmurry. His son Christopher also released a 10 pounder caught in the same pool.
Mike Whelan with 10.4lb salmon
Ten fish caught which takes us past the 200 Salmon for the Season mark!!!!
Notable on the day were Conor Arnold who released 5 fish on the top but one beat in just 3 hours fishing in the evening. He landed four fish of 4, 7, 8 & 10lb. on spinner & an 11½lb. on fly.
Father & son Padraig & James O’Keeffe from Glanmire, Co. Cork tried their first fishing ever as a half guided day with Glenda & released fish of 6 & 13lb. respectively on spinner on the lower river.
David Walsh released an 8.5lb. on spinner at Ballyhooly, Kieran Conlon a 7 pounder on Woodstream & Pat O’Donovan killed a sea-liced 5lb. also on Ballyhooly.
Glenda Powell and James O’Keeffe
Saturday 14ht July: Another good day with six fish caught including four sea-liced fish from the upper river. Best were Pat O’Donovan’s 10.6lb. on spinner from Bridgetown, Kieran Conlon’s 10lb. released on fly at Ballincurrig & Christopher Whelan’s sea-liced 8.6lb. from Ballinaroone.
Sunday 15th July: This fish was caught today by Garry O’Shea from Dungarvan. It was caught on spinner at the Wall Pool on Ballinaroone beat on the lower river just a mile above the Lodge. It weighed 14.5lb and was heavily sea-liced.
Garry O’Shea
I also had a report by 11.30am that Fergus Glynn from Co. Clare had already caught three sea-liced fish to 8lb. on fly at the Hut Pool on Upper Kilmurry.
Water levels are dropping nicely and clarity is 3ft+. Perfect for spinning and fit for a fly on certain beats. A few fish having being landed over the weekend with Brian Henessey landing 2 fish off the Bishops on spinner.Both fish were 7lbs each. Tim James from the U.k. landed a nice fish of 10lbs off the Glenmore beat. Fergus Crawford also had a fish of 7lbs off Glenmore. Our Guide Bob had 2 fish one of 6lbs off the Ellis and another of 7lbs off the Bishops all on spinner. Today our Russian guest guided by Bob has already landed a fish of 5lbs off the Glenmore beat. Things are certainly picking up here on the fishery and a nice few fish are showing themselves moving through.
Paul Whelan Fort William Fishery
Fort William Estate, Glencairn, Lismore, Co. Waterford. Tel: +353 (0)87 8292077 Web:www.fortwilliamfishing.ie
Emy and District Anglers Ltd held their annual Eugene Mulligan Memorial Fly-fishing competition, on Emy Lake, Emyvale, Co. Monaghan on Sunday July 15th 2012. Twenty anglers took part. The day was ideal for fishing. A total of 9 fish were caught. Dick Kiernan took first place with the heaviest brown trout weighing in at 2lb 13oz. Enda Fields came second with three fish for 5lb and Brian Bedford came 3rd with two fish weighing 3lb. Top flies on the day were the Green Peter and Silver Sedge. The presentations took place in the High House, Emyvale and the club and committee would like to extend their thanks to the staff in the High House. Also many thanks to all anglers and families who prepared refreshments and helped out on the day.
Noel Bulger of Fishing for Kids sent us this lovely photo of a beautiful Brown Trout, 13 lb 12 oz in weight caught on Lough Derg near Killaloe on Sunday 8th of July. The fish was caught by Dominic Kelly who was home on holidays for a week from England and needless to say had a bit to say regarding our fishing results seeing that we are on the lake every week. The fish is being held by Noel himself who also runs Shannon Boat Hire based in Killaloe. Unfortunately he has no photo of Dominic and his fish which was caught on a blue and bronze lane minnow.
I am delighted to report that the Sea Trout fishing is still very good, and actually getting better as the days go on. In total there were 98 Sea Trout landed for the week. Most of the fish are being caught on the lake, as there is very little water in the river beats at present. Most of the fish are of equal size (roughly 1lb 2oz), and in very good condition. If we keep going as we are, it will be the best year since the collapse in 1988. John Casey (Galway) had the best fish of the week, a fresh 2.5lbs fish from Pine Island Beat. Billy Grange and George Murray (N.Ireland) fished Lough Inagh for Friday and Saturday and landed a total of 20 Sea Trout and a small fresh Grilse of 3lbs on a Silver Daddy and a Clan Chief. Sean McCloskey and Mervyn Bell (N.Ireland) had a great day with 10 to 1.5lbs on a Jungle Bunny.
The Salmon fishing remains slow due to the lack of water, however 6 were landed in total for the week. Dara Noone(Galway) had the best fish, weighing 6.5lbs, caught on a Red Daddy on Lough Inagh.
Prospects for water look good in the coming days, and angling pressure is light next week, so by Thursday it should fish well.
Matt Nolan, IFI Limerick reports from Lough Owel that the trout have all gone onto perch fry and trout anglers were taking a break last weekend after the frenzied fishing of May and June.
Matt sends us this phots of Boats tied up at Lough Owel over the week-end. .
3/7/12 All quiet on the SW front and for good reason in the last 48 hours we have had two floods, and take the Mouth of the Commeragh it has bean dirty for last two days, so as you can imagine my Noble fly anglers are waiting for the water to clean up and for the lake to settle down, as all anglers are in all departments be it fly or troll. Wind SW light.
4/7/12 Straight to the fly department, Mr. Bill Rushby Fishing with his ghillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy and of www.fishingwithdom.com caught 3 Salmon on the early shift, weighing in at 7 lbs., 6 lbs., 4 lbs., and finished his morning off with a fine Sea Trout in the 3 lbs class, then it was the turn of the Prince of the UK, fishing with his Gillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy and of www.fishingwithdom.com and I can tell you it was wasn’t long before he caught a 8 lbs Salmon and not satisfied with that The Prince cast his flies out again and caught another Salmon in the 6 lbs class and finished his day off with 3 Sea Trout up to 3 lbs.now to the hired out boat department of www.lakelandshouse.com Mr. Michael Rieger caught a fine 2.5 lbs Sea Trout. Wind SW light and overcast with heavy showers.
5/7/12 Straight to the hired out boat department of Waterville Boats and @ watervilleboats@gmail.com Mr. Andrew Wishart of Co Down, caught a fine Grilse on the troll. In the Salmon and Sea Trout Fly department, my Noble Anglers had a good excuse there was little to no wind, in the opinion of the Fly Master Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy and of www.fishingwithdom.com Now to the evening shift, Mr. Hughie Reid fishing out of tomfishing@eircom.net caught a 5 lbs Grilse and finished his evening off with a Sea Trout of 1.5lbs.
6/7/12 Lough Currane was flat calm for most of the morning, but once the wind did get up some boats did see a bit of action but not a lot, Mr. Malcolm Sergeant of the UK caught 1 Sea Trout on the troll with his ghillie Mr. Vincent Appleby and of www.salmonadseatrout.com and staying with the Sea Trout I saw one Angler catch a fine Sea trout on the drift and he sportingly put back My Noble Sea Trout, now to the lost department, Mr. Neil O’Shea of www.oshealoughcurrane.com was telling that he and client lost a cracker of a Salmon 1n the 12 too 14 lbs class and lightning fresh. Wind N then veered SW this evening with light rain this evening.
7/7/12 Mr. James Bomford of the UK fishing with his Gillie Mr. Neil O’Shea and of www.oshealoughcurrane.com caught a fine 5 lbs Grilse on the troll and the finished their day off with a Sea Trout which they sportingly put back.
A nice grilse for James Bomford and his ghillie Neil O'Shea
Now we go upstream to the upper Lakes, On Lough Derriana, Mr. Andrew Wishart of Co Down, fishing with his ghillie Mr. Bob Priestley caught a few nice Brown Trout and a few Juniors. Wind NE light. And overcast.
8/7/12 Mr. James Bomford of the UK caught a fine Grilse, fishing with his ghillie Mr. Neil O’Shea and of www.oshealoughcurrane.com now to the Sea Trout fly department, Mr. Liam Ellis of Waterville caught 2 Juniors, Mr. Quilligan of Cork caught a fine Sea Trout of 4 lbs on the drift and a guest fishing with his ghillie Mr. Frank Donnelly and of www.lakelandshouse.com caught 1 Sea Trout on the troll, now we go up stream to the upper Lakes and Lough Namona, Mr. Martin Sutton fishing with his ghillie Mr. Tom O’Shea and @ tomfishing@eircom.net caught one junior and just for the record yesterday Mr. Kevin O’Sullivan of Waterville, also fishing on Lough Namona caught one or two Juniors and thy were lightning fresh. Wind N light and overcast with the odd light shower.
9/7/12 straight to the Sea Trout department, Mr. James Bomford of the UK fishing with his ghillie Mr. Neil O’Shea and of www.oshealoughcurrane.com caught 2 juniors, there were a few boats out there manipulating their flies but failed miserably in their duties, wind N light too fresh and overcast, now in the past week there has bean some action on the Commeragh River, it was reported to me that Mike the Matador of the Bull Ring Tralee and Waterville, caught two find Grilse ranging from 4.5 lbs up to 6 lbs all caught on the Garden fly.
That is your ration for this week, from your Ghillie/Guide and the Waterville fishery. No Spin No Fly’s just facts.
The wet broken weather looks set to continue for another while yet and salmon anglers around the country are enjoying the spoils in particular. The high water levels have affected fishing on some of the midland areas of the Rivers Shannon and Suck in particular but generally anglers are fishing away at other venues. The unseasonal weather has not deterred anglers one bit and there is plenty of angling stories reported here in this week’s Irish Angling Update Ezine.
There is a fair bit of coarse angling around the country down on Lough Derg at two mile gate, some good catches of hybrids and bream were reported. There was some super catches of bream taken by English Visitors on loughs in the East Clare area. Good catches of bream and tench were taken on the Grand Canal at Ferbane. Up in a very flooded Longford area, two Ipswich anglers braved the elements and were rewarded with a fishing bonanza including a fine specimen tench of 6 lb. 3 oz. for Ipswich angler Graeme Sargeant. This fine tench is our Catch of the Week.
Graeme Sargeant from Ipswich with his specimen 6 lb 3 oz Tench which wins our Catch of the Week
Down on the River Barrow at Athy there were reports of some nice tench and good pike recorded in the past week. In Co. Clare, pike fishing was tough with the flooded lakes but two Nashville anglers from USA took 19 pike in two days guided fishing on Lough Derg. Barry Darby, Mullingar, won the Weir Cup with a double figure pike on Lough Derravarragh with 40 anglers taking part.
On the River Fane, the weather conditions brought an improvement in the salmon fishing. Down on the River Slaney some nice salmon were reported including a best fish of 16 lb. Good fishing was also reported from the Rivers Suir and Nore. Salmon up to 18 lb. were reported from the Careysville Fishery on the Munster Blackwater River. On the Blackwater Lodge beats the fishing was described as excellent with plenty of fish caught daily. Eight year old Molly Long from Skibbereen caught an 8.5 lb salmon on the River Ilen in West Cork. The good salmon and sea trout fishing continued on Lough Currane. There was some big salmon reported from the River Laune up to 16 lb. Another young angler, Nathan took a lovely 9 lb. salmon on the River Feale. There was some good salmon fishing reported on the River Shannon near Limerick and a French visitor caught a lovely sea trout which is unusual for the river. The Galway fishery is producing better salmon fishing now and there were good reports from the Kylemore and Inagh Fisheries where there were good reports of sea trout also. The fishing has improved on the Rivers Erriff and on the nearby Delphi system. Good sport for salmon and sea trout were reported from Lough Beltra and up in Bangor Erris, anglers fishing Carrowmore Lake are enjoying continued good sport. The Moy is fishing so well that over 800 fish were recorded for the past week and sea trout fishing is reported excellent in the estuary. Over 200 salmon were recorded at Ballisodare and on the Drowes, anglers from Spain and Ireland enjoyed good fishing.
It has been another good week for sea anglers with some fine tope reported off Wicklow. In Wexford, there were reports of good shore and deep sea fishing for anglers all along the coast. In Cork Harbour, angler fishing from small boats from the Bella Vista fleet enjoyed super fishing for cod, pollack and bass. Blue Shark, Ling, Bass and Sunfish were among the species reported from Courtmacsherry this week. Wrasse and Pollack were reported from the shore along the Beara Peninsula despite the weather. There was good deep sea fishing reported from Carrigaholt in the Shannon Estuary and shore fishing all along the Clare coast was very good for a range of species. There was a nice range of species for angler’s deep sea fishing in the Killala Bay area of Co. Mayo.
Anglers’ trout fishing at Carrigavantry Reservoir in Co. Waterford reported super trout fishing and were complimentary on the recent fish stocked by the IFI fish farm in Roscrea. The fishing was tougher this week on Lough Sheelin where weather conditions had an impact but some nice trout were reported. The other midland loughs are quiet and there were no reports of any Green Peter hatching particularly on Loughs Ennell and Owel. High water impacted on anglers but yet some good catches of trout were reported in the Birr area. Fish were visibly feeding on perch fry with sedges now beginning to appear on Lough O’Flynn. There was good trout fishing reported on Lough Mask. Up in Derry, dry flies worked best for rainbow trout at the Cashel Trout Fishery.
Please see our events section of the website for a big list of events occurring including many angling and worthwhile projects.
Tight lines, especially in Ireland, Paul Bourke
Catch, Photo, Release
Kieran Roche with his Specimen Tope Taken off Wicklow
A picture paints a thousand words and so it is following on from Kieran Roches recent report of the ESB sea angling trip off Wicklow on board Lisin1. Kieran has just supplied these photos including one of his cracking speciment Tope. I am sure that you can all judge for yourselves on what a great day the lads had.
Kieran Roche with his Specimen Tope Taken off WicklowKieran being put through his paces during his 2hr Tope workout
