Moy Estuary
There is a good show of sea trout in the estuary at present and due to improved water clarity the sea trout fishing picked up further during the week, with over 70 trout reported by anglers. Some good sized trout were taken on bait while fly anglers also reported excellent results. Amongst the successful anglers were Judd Ruane and Harry Feeney with 6 fine sea trout in two hours, while Michael Haughton & family had 12 trout on fly and sand eel over two days.
River Moy
Angling catches were down slightly on last week for the River Moy with a reported catch of 158 salmon for the week, bringing the total for the year so far to 738. The settled dry weather of late, and the constant Easterly or South Easterly breeze resulted in less than ideal angling conditions; despite this some good fishing was still to be had.
The Moy Fishery accounted for a total of 13 salmon for the week. Visiting French angler Loyc Barc had the best fish for the week, a fine 7.6 lbs. salmon caught on fly. Other successful anglers included Michael Pfitzing, Germany, Pat Kane, Donegal and Sean Maye, Sligo all whom had fish to the fly averaging 5 lbs.
Further up the river angling conditions were also hampered by low water levels and bright sunshine. However, Armstrong’s Fishery proved productive for Co. Meath Angler Henry Brown with a 7 lbs. salmon while worming. From Gannon’s Fishery, Louis Cadou, France had a 10 lbs. salmon on prawn and on the Foxford Fishery Simon Ferris, Northern Ireland also landed a 10 lbs. fish on prawn.
Cloongee produced over 23 fish for the week including a 7 lbs. salmon for Charles Noblet, France on bubble & fly. Angling was also good on the East Mayo Association Water where Claude Grosjean, Belgium had two salmon of 5 lbs. and 7 lbs. to the worm. Other successful anglers on East Mayo included German fly angler Manfred Kauert, with 2 fish and Marcel Jacquemin, Belgium who had two while worming.
A nice brown trout at the Carton House Fishery near Maynooth
Carton’s stocked lake is fishing well as above photo will testify to. With the recent warm spell surface activity has increased and trout have been fooled on patterns such as Griffiths Gnat and other non descript flies.
The Rye Water is running very low at present and no doubt would benefit from a bit of colour in the water as trout are quite spooky in the current conditions. However a stealthy approach, fishing a little back from the bank and keeping wading to a minimum can result in a successful outing with Pheasant Tail Nymphs being very productive.
Visiting anglers last week included John Buckley of Irish Angler fame and Steve Cullen, editor of Total Fly-fishing who enjoyed great fishing on both the stocked lake and on the Rye Water – The Rye itself fishing its socks off during the last hour of the evening rise with hatches of Iron Blues, Sedges and Black Gnats in abundance.
This Pollock took a Peaboy jig fished sink and draw at distance.
We are currently near the mid point of the Bass Ban and since the 15th of May we have turned our attention to the hard fighting crash diving Pollack. Care must be taken with these fish if you wish to release them. They are quite soft so care is needed when handling and releasing them.
Pollack, the target!
Conditions we favour for these great sport fish are; a medium to strong rising tide into darkness, high pressure and a calm to moderate sea.
Tackle is the same as what we use use for targeting Bass, for me that is a Teklon Concept Spin 702L, Twin Power 3000 SFC loaded with 20lb Power Shot and 20lb Flouro Leader.
Lures are similar too, the same soft plastic’s generally work well in close, with metal jigs up to 35g being favored for distance fishing.
Location will consist of deep water within casting distance, with a good kelp population and some sand patches.
This Pollack took a Peaboy jig fished sink and draw at distance.
Technique will vary from a quick steady retrieve to sink and draw at various depths.
We have been out a few evenings targeting these golden torpedoes with mixed results
The first evening we connected with a few fish up to 3lb in close on the SP’s,with Crevan and Pat getting the spoils as I left early for work. They fished a 30min window before the fish moved on. The conditions were good with a slight Easterly wind, a small amount of weed soon cleared as the tide pushed in.
The following evening we encountered a serious amount of fish a good distance out on the jigs, these were good Pollock up to 5lb hitting and fighting extremely hard. It was great craic trying to keep them from crashing into the kelp on the lure rods.
Pat with a fine Pollack caught on a Peaboy Jig
We made another venture out on Sunday, the tide was nearing the neap and with no wind it made for a pleasant evening. We tried several locations but the Pollack just did not show, Barry hooked a Billy no mates Mackerel on a Chartreuse Jig but that was all the action we seen. The swell and weed was quite heavy, which accounted for a few lost jigs!
Mackerel caught on a chartreuse Jig at distance
Next on the target list is Wrasse on the lure and Smooth Hound on the bait. Lets hope the weather holds up for the next few months…
The salmon fishing on Lough Melvin seemed quieter and I have only heard of a couple of salmon caught to date. On Saturday, Noel Johnston recorded a 5lb grilse caught and lost two others one of which was much bigger. Raymond Dundas accounted for a 4lb grilse caught in the Rossinver fishery.
Lough Melvin: The weather did a complete turn about this week and we went from decidedly cold conditions to sweltering heat and bright sun! Sunblock was the order of the day and few rods ventured out until the evening time. The trout fishing, for those that ventured out after the same, was fairly good with some nice Sonaghan reported and good fishing for Gillaroo over the weekend with mayfly hatching in certain areas of the lough.
A nice thornback ray for Irish International angler Myles Howell
Ashley Hayden, angling guide and author of the popular blog An Irish Angler’s World reports…
Sea fishing in May can be hit and miss on Ireland’s east coast as fish begin to return after their spawning migrations, the shallow banks off north Co. Wicklow being a classic case in point. Last Sunday Kit Dunne’s charter vessel Lisin 1 had a red letter day catching numerous tope, huss, smooth hound, and ray, seventy two hours later the fish play hard ball, but hey that’s fishing.
A homelyn or spotted ray for Wicklow charterboat skipper Kit Dunne
A warm southerly breeze flattened the sea as we cleared the pier head following coordinates to a mark that would see us drop mackerel and squid baited hooks into a flooding tide with a view to catching a few more early season animals. Very quickly it became apparent that a repeat of last Sunday’s performance was definitely not on the cards. Bites were slow with only a few doggies, small whiting and dabs coming aboard during the first two hours.
Myles Howell raising a thornback ray from the deep
As the flood eased doggies became more frequent and a heavy lean on my rod signaled something more interesting. Lifting into a resistance that certainly wasn’t dog like, shortly afterwards a welcome spotted ray came into view, quickly netted and photographed before being returned whence it came.
A nice thornback ray for Irish International angler Myles Howell
A change of mark over slack water to catch the first of the ebb resulted in a nice thornback ray for Irish International angler Myles Howell. One swallow doesn’t make a summer though and as the ebb increased so the fishing tailed off except for an odd doggie. That’s May fishing for you, in another few weeks all will be different as smoothies, huss, tope, and ray become well established and the mackerel start to appear.
To book a day out on Lisin 1 contact Kit Dunne by ringing +353 (0)87 6832179 or email through the Wicklow Boat Charters website, www.wicklowboatcharters.ie.
Matt Campbell reports that water levels are low in all the rivers in the north east at the moment. Reports have been received that good falls of spent mayfly have produced some good evening fishing on the Rivers Dee and Glyde. Hatches of sedges on the Fane have produced some good late evening fishing. Eamonn Conway also reports that dry fly fishing is good on the Fane using sizes 18 and 20. In a recent outing Eamonn had a nice 17inch wild brown trout with the easterly winds giving a nice upstream breeze.
As the mayfly hatches have started to fall off on the Boyne at Navan the spent gnat is providing some good fishing in the evenings. Daytime fishing has been tough and Nick Onesco and Cornell Sandu have being trying their luck French nymphing on the Boyne at Navan.
Nick Onesco French Nymphing on the Boyne
Their novel set up included a reeless rod with approximately 5.5m of mono/fluorocarbon with a coloured section as a bite indicator to which was attached two very small nymphs, they recommended sizes 16, 18 and 20. The technique is very suited to shallow water from approximately 1m and shallower. Nick had a nice 15inch trout and a number of smaller fish at Kilcarn during one recent outing.
Travelling Light, Nick and the Rod with no Reel
The lads reported that the trout are absolutely bursting with mayfly which account for the lack of activity during the day. The water continues to fall and clear and there are some olive hatches during the day, the remainder of the mayfly hatch is sparse and there can be some good sedge fishing in the evenings. reports have also been received that some nice trout to circa 2lbs have been taken on sedge at Dunmoe.
Selection of Nymphs
On the Kells Blackwater in Navan local angler Like Walpole had some nice fishing on Monday evening. Luke’s best fish was a lovely 2lb brown trout and together with angling buddy Matthew O’Connor whose best fish was a nice 1.5lb wild brow trout, the lads managed 12 trout for their evenings fishing. Most fish were taken either on a spent mayfly or small brown sedge.
Hamish Currie, skipper of the Predator II tells us that after another wee tope session just 9km south of red bay it produced a few more fish than his last trip but still not in the numbers he expect from this piece of ground at this time of year. But when the tope stopped playing ball a wee bonus came onto the ground and this fine common skate was taken with light gear. Next time Hamish says he will target specimen spurs cod and skate.
