Two Longford anglers Sean Kenny and Richie McDermott had great May Fly fishing on Drumharlow Lake last week. They fished the lake five times over ten days and had 10 trout, the best of which was 3.75 lbs. The lake is fishing well late into the night.
Fergus Lynch reporting from North Shannon area
Although water levels are very low and salmon aren’t a prospect yet the trout can still provide an excellent days sport. With the high temperatures daytime trout are to be found in the washing machine of the pools busy grubbing and nymphing.
Even in low flows it takes nymphs with quite a bit of ballast to get them into the feeding zone. Brian Russell fished the river with son Thomas on Wednesday 30th and found plenty of trout willing to take nymphs presented both straight through and suspended under a dryfly. Evening fishing in June is a fantastic experience on this system with heavy hatches of Blue wings and sedges.
Brian Russell
www.brflyfishing.co.uk
The warm temperatures have made daytime fishing very frustrating on these rivers over the last week. However anglers prepared to don knee pads and fish fine and far off with a single nymph on a French leader can winkle out a few fish per run.
The Callan in particular is yielding higher quantities of fish albeit in the main they are averaging 20 cm. Chris Mills got some nymphing tuition from local guide Brian Russell and landed plenty of trout to small drab nymphs on the Callan on Thursday 31st. The evening fishing is a different story with the Lagan in particular yielding some fine fish up to the 44cm mark being caught on the edge of dark. Generally there are some blue wings on the go with small dark sedges and midge attracting the trout’s attention. Best chance of success on the Cusher tends to be early morning when the better fish can be found mopping up midge.
Brian Russell
Over the past week Ennell was at its best…..warm weather, great hatches of May fly and some remarkable trout fishing to the Spent in particular. In fact the Ennell anglers are saying that it was the best hatch of may fly in at least 20 years but in true Ennell fashion the tout were scarce and reluctant to get involved in any feeding patterns with the exception of some evenings when there was ferocious activity to the spent like Paul Garvan had one of the evenings with a 3 lb fish while fishing out of Liliput, but generally the lake was slow to sparkle.
Once again there has been a good hatch of mayfly on the lake at the back of Tullaghan and down along the ash ditch. Over the last two weeks 216 fish have been reported caught on Owel. The best results were Greg Long Dublin who had 12 fish best of which was 2lbs, and all were returned to the lake. Michael Tyvoid Dublin had 8 fish to the may fly best 2¾ which he kept and the rest were returned.
Very few Anglers fished Derravaragh last week and it would seem that most had moved to Sheelin or Ennell to be part of the action at those venues but there was a big hatch of May Fly reported from Derravaragh but nobody fishing…….
Dermot Broughan reporting from the Mullingar area
The Mulcair water levels are low at the moment and there were few salmon caught during the past week. However, two salmon anglers from Limerick managed to convince two of the Mulcair fish to take their flies. Michael O’Halloran had a lovely spring fish of 12 lb and his friend Michael Bourke had a nice fish of 8lbs.
There are no angling returns available from The Castleconnell Fishery this week but the word is that beat 6 is producing lots of fish.
The River Maigue System is closed for Salmon fishing and there are no reports of any trout fishing there last week.
Tony Roche reporting from the Limerick area.
Water levels on the Feale in north Kerry were very low during the week and there was little or no Salmon angling.
There was good sea trout angling around Listowel town with lots of fish in the half to 2lbs region being caught, mainly by local club members. The best of the fishing was late at night up to midnight with silvery flies such as the Silver Claret and Peter Ross.
Anglers are reminded that there is a bag limit of 3 trout per angler per day and that similar regulations apply to Sea Trout over 40 cm as applies to salmon.
Paddy Halpin reporting from the River Feale and Kerry area.
John Devaney tell us that there was very little coarse fishing in the Athlone/Lough Ree area during the week and it seems that anglers were either enjoying the sunshine or had turned their attention to trout angling.
Some English anglers had nice catches of Tench and Hybrids at Correen Ford on the Suck and later in the week they had big bags of Tench in Shannon Harbour. They were happy.
Lough Ree is a transformed lake. Gone are the days of algae blooms, turbid water and no fly life. All last week the lake was awash with excitement and talk of fish and may fly and anglers who had been doing well on the lake. There were big hatches of May Fly everywhere on the lake…… ”unbelievable” was how long time Lough Ree angler Sean Kelly described it.
“The weather was great, almost too good for fishing some of the days but the evening fishing was magic with “spent” everywhere. Michael McKiernan one of Lough Rees loyal anglers through the years had several fish over 5lbs and one over 6 during the week. John Slevin and James Costello both from Cossan Anglers had several fish over 6 lbs during the week and big numbers of smaller fish. All of the fish were returned.
Joe Keena the Secretary of Derravaragh was located fishing on Lough Ree last week and he lost a big fish on out from Muckanagh on Sunday evening which would have been in the 6lb bracket and netted another one 2¼ lbs.
The River Shiven is a gem of a trout water that flows east form near Mountbellew in East Galway and joins the Suck at Lukes Hill between Ballygar and Ballyforan. There is good access in most areas but the sections between Island Case Bridge and Newbridge are the most productive with a great stock of fish in the half to one pound range. It has a great May fly hatch and last week it was awash with fly especially in the Newbridge to Ballinamore Bridge areas and there were fish being caught all over. Anthony Roach from Ballygar had great fishing above Newbridge.
John Devaney reporting from the River Suck and Lough Ree Area
Good perch sizes and numbers caught in Derg yesterday. The East Clare Lakes are also very popular with tourist pike anglers at present.
Fergus River
The Fergus is a mixed stock fishery with good pike angling in areas.
East Clare Rivers and lakes
Pike anglers are generally not that happy at the moment on Lower Derg as it is slow, however, one 33 lb Pike was caught near Mountshannon trolling.
It is worth mentioning that Tourist French anglers at Killaloe have been reported to be very happy with the pike angling on Derg in the past week.
Coarse fishing – there were great catches of Perch observed at Twomilegate, however bream are late moving into the shallows for shore coarse angling. Lough Bridget is not fishing well at present
Rossmore, Coose Bay, Woodford and Cloonmoylan area (North Derg Clare)
Pike angling is slow in the North Derg Clare area at the moment.
Ken O’Neill reporting from the Clare area.
Ken O’Neill reports from the Clare area:
The fine weather is keeping the water level low in Clare Rivers – many anglers turning to the lakes for their fishing. The angling effort on the Fergus is poor enough at present. The lakes are more popular – with many mayfly anglers enjoying the excellent hatch this year on Derg.
West Clare Rivers and Lakes
Low water conditions limited trout angling however there were two trout caught in Kilkee reservoir last week just under 3 lbs. and a 1.25lbs caught on the fly in Knockalough (near Quilty). Knockerra Lake (near Killimer) fish are ordered to restock the lake. Anglers have erected styles on Lake Field boundaries to allow ease of access around the lake. Permits can be ordered in three shops in Kilrush should any anglers wish to fish this lake.
Fergus River
The Fergus is a mixed stock fishery with good pike angling in areas as well as trout. Salmon angling in County Clare is closed at present.
East Clare Rivers and lakes
Lough Derg had an excellent mayfly hatch observed up from Killaloe to Mountshannon Bay. Good trout catches – some around the 2 ½ lbs, however there were large numbers of small trout caught and released. Daytime mayfly angling in lower Lough Derg is finished. The night-time knat fishing and spinner is disappointing in the past week.
West Clare Rivers and Lakes
Low water conditions limited trout angling however there were two trout caught in Kilkee reservoir last week just under 3 lbs. and a 1.25lbs caught on the fly in Knockalough (near Quilty). Knockerra Lake (near Killimer) fish are ordered to restock the lake. Anglers have erected styles on Lake Field boundaries to allow ease of access around the lake. Permits can be ordered in three shops in Kilrush should any anglers wish to fish this lake.
Fergus River
The Fergus is a mixed stock fishery with good pike angling in areas as well as trout. Salmon angling in County Clare is closed at present.
East Clare Rivers and lakes
Lough Derg had an excellent mayfly hatch observed up from Killaloe to Mountshannon Bay. Good trout catches – some around the 2 ½ lbs, however there were large numbers of small trout caught and released. Daytime mayfly angling in lower Lough Derg is finished. The night-time knat fishing and spinner is disappointing in the past week.
North Derg Clare
Rossmore, Coose Bay, Woodford and Cloonmoylan area (North Derg Clare) –
Good fly hatch in the past week at Rossmore bay area. Many trout anglers preferring the Islandmore side of the lake for angling in the past week.
