No more fish have been reported since opening day on Sunday. There were some rods out on Monday but very few ventured out yesterday and today, which is not surprising given the stormy weather conditions. There has been heavy and persistent rain almost all day today and water levels have continued to rise and were at over 0.95 metres at 3pm this afternoon.
The Corner of the Blackwater Today.
Tonight remains stormy but winds are set to ease and drier conditions are forecast for the weekend. Shane Gallagher Drowes Salmon Fishery Web:www.drowessalmonfishery.com Tel: 071 9841055.
Ian Martin with Donegal's first salmon of 2012, caught on the Drowes
The first Donegal Salmon of the new season was caught on the Drowes today at 12.15pm. The captor was Ian Martin once again who caught the first salmon of the season last year. He caught the fish from the Middle Blackwater on a green & black cone head fly.
Ian Martin with Donegal's first salmon of 2012, caught on the Drowes
John O’Donnell kindly sent me a UTube clip which he filmed of the first salmon from the River Drowes at :q3AWeln4JmM
Make a booking
For info/bookings etc on the Drowes Fishery & Lough Melvin see the website: http://www.drowessalmonfishery.com/ or Tel: +353 (0)71 9841055 (8 am to 12 noon).
Dublin’s River Liffey has produced the capture of Ireland’s first salmon of 2012. Declan Briggs landed the 8.5 lbs bar of silver at 9.50am on 1st January 2012 at Islandbridge on the River Liffey. The salmon was taken on a yellow Devon Minnow with a single barbless hook. The capture was witnessed by Inland Fisheries Ireland’s fishery officer Joe Delaney. Declan is a member of the Dublin Salmon Anglers, a club that has existed on the Liffey since the mid 1950’s. Declan played his part in research being carried out by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) on the River Liffey by taking scales from this multi sea wintered salmon before releasing the fish to continue its journey upriver.
Declan Briggs with the first salmon of 2012
The River Liffey is closed for salmon fishing as it is not reaching its conservation limit. However, for one day only, January 1st, the Dublin Salmon Anglers are permitted to fish for salmon under a Section 59 Authorisation from IFI . This authorisation was granted to the club in an effort to gather research for the scientists in IFI.
“It was another remarkable day for the three salmon rivers of Dublin” commented Dr Ciaran Byrne, CEO of IFI,” along with the discovery of salmon in the River Tolka in 2011, now the River Liffey has produced the first salmon of 2011”. He urged the anglers to continue to support the conservation measures on the river and thanked the club for all their efforts to date.
Since the lifting of the Drift nets in 2006 and the various conservation measures in place there has been an improvement in the numbers of salmon returning to Ireland’s 168 indexed salmon rivers. The 2012 Salmon Regulations can be found here along the current status of Ireland’s salmon rivers and further links to advice on how to practice catch and release.
Home » The Irish Tackle Shop Directory Tackle Shops in Co. Dublin A B C Fishing Tackle Specialists 15 Mary's Abbey, Dublin 7. Tel: (01) 8731525 Angling & Shooting Centre Ballydowd, Lucan, Co. Dublin. Tel: (01) 6281112 Email: [email protected] Main Irish Angling Unit 23, Orion business campus, Ballycoolin, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15 Tel: (01) 8991186 Email: [...]
Daire Coyle, Treasurer of the Lough Gara & District Angling Club sent in this report and photo:
Aaron Murray with his 21lb 6oz pike and club chairman David Shannon
We had our second leg of our winter league which took place on Lough Gara on Tuesday the 27th of December.
Aaron Murray 12 years old, one of our junior members, caught his biggest pike to date. It weighed in at 21lb 6oz. The fish was caught on a ledgered dead bait. Daire Coyle Lough Gara & District Angling Club
A State Licence is required to fish for salmon and sea trout, but does not entitle you to fish. Permits or permission from fisheries owners must be obtained.
General salmon angling regulations
A State Licence is required to fish for salmon and sea trout
All salmon (and sea trout over 40cm) kept must be tagged, and the logbook filled out accordingly.
It is an offence to kill any sea trout in the Galway, Connemara or Ballinakill Fisheries Districts including at sea from Hags Head in County Clare to Clew Bay (and in any waters flowing into Clew Bay) in the Bangor Fishery District south of a line drawn due east and west through Achill Head.
It is prohibited sell rod caught salmon or sea trout over 40cm between January 1st and October 31st
Bag Limits
There is an angling bag limit of 10 salmon (any size) or sea trout (over 40 cm) on rivers where you may catch and retain salmon (Table 1). The bag limits are subject to any quota allocated to a river and its tributaries.
Subject to the maximum annual bag limit of ten fish an angler may take:
A total of one salmon (any size) or sea trout (over 40cm) per day for the period beginning January 1st to May 11th(three fish in total may be retained for this period),
Daily Bag Limit: Three salmon (any size) or sea trout (over 40cm) per day from May 12th to August 31st (except where a salmon rod (one-day) ordinary licence is held, 1 fish),
Daily Bag Limit: One salmon (any size) or sea trout (over 40cm) per day from 1st September to the close of the season,
There is an angling bag limit of three sea trout (under 40cm) per angler per day (bye-law no. 887, 2011).
After the daily bag limit has been taken, anglers are permitted to fish catch and release, using single, barbless hooks and anglers may not use worms. The killing and possession of foul hooked fish is prohibited.
Open Rivers, Closed Rivers, Catch and Release Rivers, Tagging Scheme, more information
Salmon fishing opens on January 1 on a handful of rivers and after that the remainder of rivers open on various dates in February, March, April and May. The majority of rivers close on September 30th but some rivers remain open for sea trout fishing to October 12.
A huge thin-lipped mullet caught in Cork is the centrepiece of the ISFC report issued today. This giant was over double the size of the largest thin-lipped mullet ever taken in Ireland. Coming in at 6lbs 4ozs for Corkman Noel Lane it is a fish of a lifetime.
Despite the economic downturn anglers had a great year in 2011 catching large numbers of big specimen fish and setting four New Irish Records, according to the Irish Specimen Fish Committee report released today.
NEW RECORDs
ROACH/RUDD HYBRID
2.1 kg, River Lagan, Co. Antrim, 5th May 2009 – Terry Jackson
BLACKMOUTHED DOGFISH
1.33 kg, Red Bay, Co. Antrim, 10th August 2011 – Jan Vrieswijk (NL)
SPUR DOGFISH
10.6 kg, Red Bay, Co. Antrim, 25th July 2011 – Albert Koawenhourn (NL)
THIN-LIPPED MULLET
2.83 kg, Cork Harbour, Co. Cork, 14th September 2011 – Noel Lane
A total of 587 specimens were ratified in 2011. The Lee Reservoirs in Cork feature heavily in the freshwater fish listings with bream, rudd and various hybrids taken there over the year. Species such as Thick-Lipped Mullet and Cuckoo Wrasse, from many different parts of the country, dominated catches of sea fish. Anglers both at home and abroad will be reading the report carefully to plan their angling trips to catch the big fish in Ireland in 2012.
Other important developments on the specimen fish front:
The specimen weight for twaite shad has been increased.
New arrangements to have anglers weighing scales certified are being put in place. Further details on the ISFC website.
Record fish must be photographed on a length measurement board from 2012 onwards.
Hard copies will be available free of charge from Inland Fisheries Ireland offices in Swords, Dublin in early 2012. For further information contact Dr. William Roche, ISFC Sec 01-8842617.
Weighing scale certification 2012
Anglers will be advised of new arrangements for having personal weighing scales certified in 2012. After 15 years of providing a high quality service the Legal Metrology Service (LMS) of NSAI has advised that it will not be able to support this certification process in the future. On behalf of anglers Trevor Champ, ISFC Chairman thanked the management and staff of LMS for their efficiency and interest in this work. He added “having such a reputable state body supporting the certification was central to the continuation of the quality of the ISFC work”.
The details for calibration and certification of scales in 2012 are being finalised by ISFC and anglers will be advised of the new arrangements via the ISFC website.
A 20lb 14oz pike caught on a Stuart Wylie hot orange, barbless pike fly wins Catch of the Week for Damien Willis
It has been a strange mixture of weather conditions for anglers fishing in the week coming up to Christmas with temperatures on some days up 12°C and on other days below freezing. Heavy rain and strong winds have also been a feature for anglers trying to catch a fish or two in the last weeks of the year.
Coarse anglers are still catching plenty of mainly small roach at venues nationwide and last week’s float only league match on the Roslea Lakes in east Co. Fermanagh produced plenty of small fish for the competitors. Elsewhere, an angling group called GoFishAnglingServices.com are running a coarse match on the 21st of January in Tarmonbarry in aid of St. Vincent DePaul.
In this very changeable weather, the pike fishing has been very good with some lovely shots of nice pike sent in by Michael Flanagan from Lough Ennell where he tested out some new lures with great success. The Catch of the Week however goes to Damien Willis who caught a lovely 20 lb. 14 oz fish on fly on Lough Ramor. Up in Monaghan, a group of ESB anglers fished with angling guide Peadar O’Brien and enjoyed very good pike fishing on a number of loughs.
There has been a fair bit of sea angling activity both for shore and boat anglers. The newly formed fishing society in Trinity College visited Wicklow on Tuesday 20th December 2011. The newly formed society/club had 38 anglers, some of who had never fished before, off Wicklow with skippers Joe Byrne on the Brazen Hussy and Kitt Dunne and Lisin. Catches consisted of dogfish, codling and whiting. On the north beach at Courtown in Co. Wexford, there was a shore competition and 22 anglers took part and great catches of flounders, dabs and whiting making up the bulk of the catch. The winner of the senior competition was David McNeill from Courtown, Second place went to David Livingston from Gorey and third place went to Karen Warren from Dublin. In the junior event first place went to Gary Breen with 34 fish, Second place went to Kevin Kinsella with 32 fish. Third place went to Ray Daniels with 26 fish and Fourth place went to Nathaniel Hull from Northern Ireland with 24 fish.
Professor Ken Whelan, fisheries scientist is running a two day Water Craft Course in February at the South County Fishery in Myshall in Co. Carlow.
It won’t be long before we are reporting the first salmon of the New Year as many anglers will be out trying to catch the first fish of the new season on New Year’s Day on the River Drowes in Co. Donegal.
Today, the Irish Specimen Fish Committe publishes it’ s annual report and the full report will be going up the website at www.irish-trophy-fish.com and hard copies of the report will available in the new year.
Tight lines especially in Ireland in 2012,
Paul Bourke
Angling Information Officer Catch, Photo, Release
The newly formed fishing society in Trinity College visited Wicklow on Tuesday 20th December 2011. The newly formed society/club had 38 anglers, some of who had never fished before, off Wicklow with skippers Joe Byrne on the Brazen Hussy and Kitt Dunne and Lisin. Catches consisted of dogfish, codling and whiting and fishing was over two sessions one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
If you fancy a great day out with Joe in the Brazen Hussey he can be contacted at 087 6613145.If you fancy a day out with Kitt in the Lisin 1 he can be contacted at Tel: 087 6832179 or by email at [email protected]
In sea angling this week, there was a shore competition on Sunday last 18th December. 22 anglers turned out for what was to be another fantastic event on the North beach at Courtown. The sea was calm with a slight colour and it was a cold but sunny day. As on the previous week the fish came thick and fast with flounder, dabs and whiting making up the bulk of the catch. The winner of the Senior competition was David McNeill from Courtown, Second place went to David Livingston from Gorey and third place went to Karen Warren from Dublin.
In the Junior even first place went to Gary Breen with 34 fish, Second place went to Kevin Kinsella with 32 fish. Third place went to Ray Daniels with 26 fish and Fourth place went to Nathaniel Hull from Northern Ireland with 24 fish.
