Another weekend of fresh spring weather brings anglers to Cashel once again to try out their newly tied patterns. Lavey’s Pearse McGill banked an amazing nineteen trout which fell to klinkhammers while his mate Pearse Doherty (Maghera) used dries to bag five trout averaging 2 lb. Paul McGinley (Derry) also managed five while Sean Mc Williams did likewise using black midges. His friend, Greg English (Draperstown) banked four trout which took suspender daddies. Dungiven’s John Hasson and Gavin Moore caught and released at least a dozen trout between them which fell to f-flies and small nymphs.
Well done to all. Remember, fish more than one day on any given weekend and receive discount the following day. Good luck!
Any fishery or bed and breakfast enquiries to 028777 42159 or
Local angling guide Vincent Appleby reports on the latest fishing trends on Lough Currane.
1/5/12 In the words of local ghillie Mr. Neil O’Shea it was black out there on the Lake, with a strong NE wind blowing down the lake with the odd shower, and no reports of any capture of my Noble Salmon.
2/5/12 Straight to my noble salmon department and quote of the day Mr. Dave Ecclestone of the UK caught a 9 lb. salmon on the fly, with his ghillie Mr. Vincent O’Sullivan – www.vincentsfishing.com and Dave would like to inform Mr. Alister Dunbar of Scotland that it Scotland 1 Yorkshire 1 in their battle with my noble Salmon, and Alistair’s quote of the day is the battle Bannockburn 24 June 1314.
Regular visitor Dave Ecclestone from Yorkshire with a fine salmon of 9 lb. on fly.
now to the Sea Trout local Angler Mr. Jim Sayers caught a fine 5
Jim Sayers with a nice 5 lb. sea trout
lb. Sea Trout on the troll off Church Island. Wind East then veered west this afternoon and veered SW this evening light to calm with heavy showers on and off throughout the day.
3/5/12 Breaking News, local ghillie Mr. Bob Priestly reported that he and his client Mr. Steve Cameron caught the first Grilse in 2012 on the troll weighing in at 4 lb. and staying in the salmon department and my catch of the day, goes to local angler Mr. Eric Jouen – [email protected] who caught a fine fresh 7 lb. salmon on the troll, the fly department was at a stand still with no wind to assist my noble Fly Anglers.
Eric Jouen with a nice salmon
4/5/12 All quiet on the SW front, wind ENE light with reasonable cloud cover.
5/5/12 Lough Currane was on the calm side first thing this morning with a light breeze from the east, then the Lough went calm, until there was a reasonable breeze from the S, with all the wind changes, still my noble fly anglers failed miserably in their duties, and in the trolling department my noble anglers didn’t fair much better but one boat did report a bit of action in the lost department, both in toll and fly, Local Gillie Mr. Tom O’Shea – [email protected] and his client lost a fine Sea Trout in the 5 to 6 lb. class on the troll along the North Shore and they also lost a Sea Trout on the fly in Copal in the 2 lbs class. Wind as already stated with reasonable cloud cover this morning and overcast this afternoon with light rain from late afternoon.
6/5/12 Straight to fish of the day and that goes Mr. Alister Dunbar of Scotland fishing with his ghillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy and of www.fishingwithdom.com caught a fine 4 lb. sea trout on the fly and finished his day off with another Sea trout in the 2 lbs class, and staying in the in the Sea Trout department Ger McCarthy fishing with his ghillie Mr. Neil O’Shea and of www.oshealoughcurrane.com caught a fine sea trout in the 2 lb. class on the fly, off the point of Grassy Island. Now we go to the salmon lost department there were reports of one Angler losing two Salmon on the troll and he also caught a Sea Tout. Wind SE light to fresh with good cloud cover.
7/5/12 There was one 4 lb. Grilse caught on the troll by Local Gillie Mr. Vincent Appleby and of www.salmonandseatrout.com and just for the record I also caught a Brown Trout in the 3 lbs class which I put back to fight another day, now to the sea trout department Mr. Gerry O’Sullivan of Cork, caught a fine sea trout on the troll. Wind SW light to fresh. With the odd shower.
That is your ration for this week, from your ghillie/Guide and the Waterville fishery. No Spin No Fly’s just facts.
Water conditions have assisted salmon to run into the river and as the water has receded, fish have been observed moving in the Navan area, though not in great numbers. Luke Walpole tried his luck during the past week and hooked a lovely fish which unfortunately threw the hook before being landed. Other anglers also reported hooking and losing fish.
Anglers should also note for their diaries that Navan and District Anglers Association will be hosting a fly fishing information and casting demonstration day at the Ardboyne Hotel in Navan on 20th May 2012. Following an introductory talk by Angling Author, Master Fly Caster and APGAI Instructor Peter O’Reilly a number of demonstrations (double and single handed) will be given on the River Boyne at Kilcarn Bridge by Peter and APGAI Ireland Instructor Eamonn Conway. In addition to all of this the Celtic Sea Trout Project Awards will be taking place and Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Energy and Natual Resources Fergus O’Dowd TD will be attending.
Inland Fisheries Ireland would love to see you there. All are welcome to attend but fly fishers are asked to bring along a non fishing or non flyfishing friend or family member to introduce them to the sport of flyfishing. The event will run from 10.30 till 6pm. Additional details are available at www.faw.ie
Colm Lynch Releases a nice Boyne Brown trout back to the River
The Boyne has been fishing well of late and there have been lots of trout anglers out trying their luck. Water levels are continuing to drop and clear. The mayfly hatch is still anticipated on the Boyne as to date they have been sparse and sporadic. If the weather improves there is sure to be a great hatch and many anglers are getting well prepared to make sure that they can get some great fishing as soon as the hatch comes. despite the sparse mayfly hatches to date (its still early) Colm Lynch has had a few outings recently. Colm has had a number of trout to 1lb and slightly over on the klinkhammer. The very cold evenings have not helped things either but there have been some nice olive hatches in the afternoon that have produced some nice fishing. The hawthorn fly is still around and this special fly can produce great fishing when blown over the water.
Anglers should also note for their diaries that Navan and District Anglers Association will be hosting a fly fishing information and casting demonstration day at the Ardboyne Hotel in Navan on 20th May 2012. Following an introductory talk by Angling Author, Master Fly Caster and APGAI Instructor Peter O’Reilly a number of demonstrations will be given on the River Boyne at Kilcarn Bridge by Peter and APGAI Ireland Instructor Eamonn Conway. In addition to all of this the Celtic Sea Trout Project Awards will be taking place and Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Energy and Natual Resources Fergus O’Dowd TD will be attending.
Inland Fisheries Ireland would love to see you there. All are welcome to attend but fly fishers are asked to bring along a non fishing or non flyfishing friend or family member to introduce them to the sport of flyfishing. The event will run from 10.30 till 6pm. Additional details are available at www.faw.ie
Colm Lynch Releases a nice Boyne Brown trout back to the River
The may fly season is in full swing on Arrow with large numbers of anglers out of late. Simon Steel had 3 trout on Saturday morning weighing 3lbs and 3.5lbs (both returned) and one of 3lbs 6ozs. They were all taken on the Grey Wulff. Brian Kelly, Boyle, had 5 trout up to 2.75lbs on dry fly. Lough Arrow Fish Preservation Association & District Anglers are holding their annual may fly competition on Sunday 13th May 2012. Enquiries to Alison Frazer on +353 (0) 87 9541835 or to any club member.
Seven rods fished Ballina Lough for the week, boating a total of nine trout (eight released). Pat Moran, Newport, who was fishing with his son boated a rainbow of 2lbs. John Freestone had two rainbows and one brown while Anthony Cafferty and two boat partners also had two rainbows and one brown trout. Successful fly patterns this week included dry Mayflies and Buzzers.
Angling Guide Kenny Sloan reported on an excursion of late with Scottish pike anglers Simon Lawson along with his father. They had 4 days fishing in the Foxford area, although conditions were not good with North East winds and bright sunshine. However, they managed to catch a few good pike, trolling and jerk bait fishing were the best methods. To book a day’s guided fishing or boat rental contact Kenny on Tel: +353(0)949256501 Mob: +353 (0)879670310.
Donal Kennedy, skipper of the Leah reported that on the 22nd July, a fishing party of family and friends from Foxford set out from Killala Harbour for a days fishing in the bay. The weather was fine, a little over cast with sun shining through at times and the winds were light. The day started with fishing fresh mackerel for bait and they were in plentiful supply.
As we drifted out the bay each drift produced a wide variety of fish including tub gurnard, red gurnard, pouting, scad, L.S.D.’s. A move out to a little deeper produced some fine pollock, the best weighing about 6lbs. Among the other species that were caught were ling, poor cod, grey gurnard and cod. The best fish of the day was caught by Fiona who caught a fine John Dory weighing in at 3.5lbs.
The careful release of a 2lbs trout caught on May 6th by Thomas Lynch
Temperatures swung from highs of 18 degrees last Thursday May 3rd to lows of 2-3 degrees leaving angling on Lough Sheelin erratic and sporadic but still exciting, challenging and worthwhile.
The mayfly hatches are still sparse but it is early days for this lake and the weather particularly at the weekend with the biting cold and heavy showers of rain was not conducive to this delicate winged ‘magical’ insect – Derry pt., Crover and outside Plunkett’s pt. were the main areas were mayfly were visible during the week and particularly at the weekend.
The careful release of a 2lbs trout caught on May 6th by Thomas Lynch
There were big hatches of olives and buzzer, with a good rise of fish feeding on olives predominantly around the Bog Bay/Goreport areas of the lake. Anglers are reporting that trout seem to be ‘coming up once’ to the olives, possibly twice and then disappearing.
A small number of trout were caught on the green mayfly.
There were some beautiful catches recorded for the week, with the trout of the week being a magnificent 7lb wild fish landed by Peter Boyle from Monaghan on Wednesday May 2nd using a buzzer.
The popular Sheelin Classic trout competition now in its 8th year will be run on Lough Sheelin on Sunday June 10th 2012 – 11am to 6pm. There will be a 15” size limit and only 2 fish per competitor. This competition will involve an open draw for partners and entries must be in by June 1st. Entry fee is €65 for a boating angler and €85 for non boating, the number of boating anglers will determine the number of non boating anglers
There will be numerous prizes which include:
1st 19ft Sheelin boat & trailer & crystal
2nd 5 hp 4 stroke outboard engine & crystal
3rd €54 & electric engine & crystal
A catch and release policy is actively encouraged on this lake.
Anglers are reminded that they must have an IFI permit to fish this lake.
69 fish were recorded for the week
Peter Boyle, Monaghan with his 7lbs wild Sheelin Trout caught last Wednesday May 2nd
Best catches were:
Peter Boyle, Monaghan – 1 at 7 lbs on May 2nd using a buzzer.
Patrick Kelly, Mayo – on Monday May 7th using a dabbler, one trout at over 6lbs.
Joseph Turnbull, Omagh – on Saturday May 5th, 1 trout at 5lbs using a sooty olive.
Gary McKiernan, Cavan – 2 trout at 3½ lbs and 2lbs using a buzzer around Corru and Goreport.
Thomas Lynch, Kilnaleck, Cavan – 2 trout at 1½ and 2lbs using a buzzer and olive nymph, fishing on May 6th and 7th.
Morris McDevitt, Donegal – on May 2nd and 3rd, 3 trout, heaviest weighing in at 3½ lbs, fishing between the Bog Bay and Corru.
Billy Sweeney, Donegal – using a dry buzzer 3 trout at 1, 1¼ and 1½lbs, all wild fish and all carefully returned.
Peter McArdle, Dundalk – fishing the bog bay section of the lake, four fish, heaviest was 1¾ lbs on the buzzer.
Vinny O’Connell, Dundalk – using a claret bumble 1 trout at 2lbs.
Brendan Corr, Belfast – fishing around Orangefield on May 5th and 6th, 4 trout weighing in at 1½, 2, 2¼ and 2½ lbs, all on the dry green mayfly.
Michael McClusky, Dundalk – 1 trout at 2½ lbs using a green mayfly around Orangefield.
Ned Clinton, Crover – 3 trout fishing a golden Olive around Wilson’s pt. heaviest was 2½ lbs.
Martin Connor, Kells – 3 trout using green and claret dabblers around Orangefield, heaviest was 1½ lbs.
John Mulvanney, Kells – 2 trout, heaviest at 1¾ lbs on May 4th and 5th using an olive bumble.
Niall Carpentar, Balbriggan – using wet flies 3 trout on Saturday May 5th, 1 at 1½lbs and 2 at over 4lbs, all fish were in excellent condition.
Brenda Montgomery
8th May, 2012
Michael Flanagan was on on Lough Sheeling this week too…
“I fished Sheelin for 2 days with Marty Smith from England and we encountered some huge fish on the move, but could not get a grip on this super looking trout. Over the 2-days we only managed to boat one small fish each day. Mind you the biggest rise I captured on camera was the light aircraft landing and taking off from Sheelin.”
It was another busy week here in the Midlands with Derravaragh Anglers hosting the Jimmy Nally Memorial Cup. Quite a few may fly were hatching but it was difficult to entice the Derravaragh trout up on the surface. On the day only one fish was caught by Kells Angler John Mulvaney.The fish weight in at 4lbs and Mary Nally wife of the late Jimmy presented John with his prize.
