A dozen salmon were reported on the Suir yesterday with some bigger fish to 18lb landed. One angler had three fish all on fly as the river was settling down from recent floods.
The river is a bit higher today following more rain last night but as soon as it fines down and visibility improves it should fish well again. Philip Maher Fishhunt
Touraneena, Ballinamult, Clonmel, Co.Tipperary, Ireland Tel: + 353 (0)58 47524 Mob: + 353 (0)87 8399345 Web:Fishhunt.ieEmail:[email protected]
April 23rd to 29th: Conditions on Lough Melvin were not very favourable this week with cold air temperatures, bright sunlight and variable winds. The lough did not fish well and the trout fishing was poor despite some good hatches of fly. Trout fishing was hard work and I have heard of little being caught.
Jim Hendrick brings your attention to to Wexford Co Councils biodiversity plan from January of last year
When all submissions to the Wexford Biodiversity Plan have been received and reviewed, a draft plan will be compiled. Following on from this a public meeting will be held to discuss the Draft Biodiversity Plan and to seek further comments.
Wexford Co.Council has now published its draft biodiversity plan – from a bass conservation perspective you may be interested in page 96 and indeed throughout the document there are references to bass and their continued protection. The full document is available to download below and from Wexford Co.Council website.
There were 58 submissions from a bass angling perspective of a total submission number of 99. This is significant.
From Page 96 of the document
Submissions Numbers 22-78
individual submissions various Re: Conservation of Sea Bass stocks
• Maintain Legislation to Protect the SEA Bass from Commercial fishing.
• Importance of Recreational Angling to the Local Economy/Tourism
• Illegal Fishing/Netting
Its important to remember at this stage that this is a draft document and taken from page 49 we have another opportunity to
Review Data and Identify Gaps
Objective 1 – To identify Biodiversity information and fill data gaps for the County, to prioritise habitats and species for protection and to inform conservation action and decision making Actions Partners/Funding
Mon 23rd to Sun 29th April: Tough weather conditions made the salmon fishing very slow and I have only heard of one salmon being caught this week. This was Sean Maguire’s 8lb fish which he caught on Monday trolling in garrison Bay. The forecast for the coming week is for air temperatures to rise somewhat towards the end of the week and hopefully this will improve the fishing somewhat.
Monday 23rd: The river ran at very low levels once again this week. The rainfall continues to miss the northwest of the country with other areas complaining of big floods! There were a number of rods fishing over the week though the fishery was not particularly busy. The river continues to produce salmon however, despite the very low water and fairly low attendance. On Monday, Paul Molloy recorded a 6lb salmon caught on a tube fly from Briney’s and Paddy Doherty logged a 7½lb salmon caught on a Yellow Belly Devon Minnow from The Blackwater. On Tuesday, Emile Oliver registered an 8lb salmon caught on a fly from the Mill Pool and Colin Gardiner accounted for a 7lb salmon caught on a Flying ‘C’ lure from the Sand Hole. On Wednesday, Stan Kingham recorded an 8lb salmon caught on prawn from the Sea Pools. Pierre Hersante logged a 7lb salmon caught on a Rapala from the Island Pool and Jean Jacques Vandis registered an 8lb salmon caught on a spinner from the Washstones. On Friday, Jim Bowman recorded an 8lb salmon caught from the Washstones. On Saturday, Michael McEvoy accounted for an 8lb salmon caught on prawn from the Eel Weir.
Emile Oliver at Drowes with 8lb fish
The forecast for the coming week is for little rainfall which is a pity since we really need a drop of rain to raise water levels.
Mark Knowles and Dominic McGillicuddy with a salmon of 7.5lbs and seatrout of 3.5lbs
Wed 25th April: A day of high cold winds from the East making fishing conditions difficult. Nevertheless Michael Schulz out with ghillie Neil O’Shea had a salmon of 8lbs this morning.
Michael Schulz with yet another fine salmon!
Fri 27th April: A few more salmon have been caught in the last couple of days. Michael Schulz is having a good week out trolling with Neil O’Shea with a 7.5 salmon yesterday and a lovely fresh fish of 6lbs today. Dominic McGillicuddy reports that his regular guest, Mark Knowles,
Had a nice salmon of about 7.5lbs and a beautiful very fresh seatrout of 3.5 lbs, both caught on the fly. Mark followed that last evening with a seatrout of over 5lbs.
Mark Knowles and Dominic McGillicuddy with a salmon of 7.5lbs and seatrout of 3.5lbs
The Waterville fishery had a visit from delegates from the COLLABOR8 conference which was being held in Killarney. These delegates
included members of the UK West Country Rivers Trust who were primarily interested in the fishing opportunities in South Kerry.Tom O’Shea showed them the work which was being done in the hatchery and they made a vist to Lough Derriana. Ann McCarthy of Currane Lodge gave a brief talk on the history of the fishing on Lough Currane and Damien Duff at the Waterville Inn provided a fine lunch! Everyone agreed it had been a worthwhile and interesting visit.
Ann McCarthy Giving the delegates a brief anecdotal history of the fishing on Lough Currane
23/04/12 Prime conditions for the Black Beetle it wasn’t !
Headed for the sea after work on Friday, Pat and myself scouted a few preferred marks but we were disappointed to see heavy seas creating a lovely brown band reaching from the shore to approx 100 yards out. Varying wind direction made it difficult to assess the evening’s fishing. A call was made to try a mark that we very seldom fish, en-route we were joined by Barry & Crevan.
We made our way down to the water and fired out a few lures for the last of the rise into crystal clear water. We could see Gannets bombarding the water further out but our offerings were not touched for around 30mins or so. We made a move and fished on, this time encountering alot of suspended weed which helped the decision to move again.
The wind had now changed direction to Northerly calming the sea some what, the inshore water in front of us appeared clear as we made our way down, we walked for a bit before splitting up, Barry & Pat taking a deeper vantage point, Crevan attacking a flooded reef while I ventured on to an isolated rock some distance away.
It was cold and wet, and after 60mins I had 2 follows to show for my efforts, I could see see Barry & Pat now back up with Crevan as it was unfishable near the deeper water. I fished on working the lure as close as I possibly to a set of submerged rocks, the lure stops around 10 yards out and I knew it wasn’t stuck. Fierce head shaking followed a strong initial run before I finally landed the Silver. Happy out dot com !!
A Bass in tough conditions
It was a reward catching it, you take for granted fish you catch on marks you are familiar with and it can ’some times’ become a formality on such a mark, not this time. This is a mark I wouldn’t be too familiar with which made it even better when the Silver hit.
We fished on as the tide dropped further out, the black clouds rolled in and dumped its load on us, we continued casting and moving before I hooked into another fish a few turns into the retrieve just over a submerged gulley. It was to be the last fish of the evening even though we fished on for another couple of hours as the rain got heavier…
A view from below water
Both fish were very lean – possibly after spawing already.
Taking under water pictures in April is not good for the hands.
Got out after work on Friday to do a bit of training, and the plan was to paddle around Spike island and on down towards Roche’s Point on the west side of the harbour.
I trolled an eddy stone eel as I went…why not??
Straight away the weed was an issue and to make matters worse when I got around the island a small craft warning came out via the VHF.
It got a bit lumpy and I headed for the west side of the harbour again and paddled along but the weed was a big problem,so I decided to backtrack and head to a well know point in the harbour to troll around for a while, but alas, no hits on the eel.
Its a slow start this season!
That’s fishing, and the summer is coming!
25/04/12 Well after a very dry start to the season and the water on the Bandon River being very low we have finally had some good rain. This has increased water level. The brown trout are feeding well. There was a great hatch of iron blue dun on the river today with trout feeding non stop on the surface. The swallows were joining in on the feeding session, scooping the water surface of fly. Spring is in full bloom and all manner of wild life is alive and kicking on the banks of the river. Tree’s and river side vegetation growing a wealth of green foliage…. Oh how its good to be alive and appreciate the goodness of the natural world and be one with nature on the river journey.
The Iron Blue Dun
27/04/12 I finally watched the long awaited movie Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and wasn’t disappointed. The Shiek who is something of a visionary wants to make his dream a reality by building a river in the desert and stocking it with salmon where everyone can fish together! Its a completely wild and whacky idea. Along the course of the story a series of intriguing twists and turns happen and the idea becomes a 50million pound sterling project! The film draws together an interesting story of romance, dreams coming true, change, desruction and humanity.
One of my favourites lines from the movie: “Faith is the cure that heals all troubles. Without faith there is no hope and no love. Faith comes before hope, and before love.” (Sheikh Muhammad ibn Zaidi bani Tihama).
What are you waiting for, go to the cinema and watch it!
Beautiful spring weather although a bit chilly at times has helped anglers to make their catches. Pat Mc Gettigan (Drumsurn) banked twelve trout in total which fell to assorted spiders. Shaune Duggan (Lavey) hooked and lost two while Belfast’s John Webb and Patrick Jones used brown hoppers to make their catches which they released. Dungiven’s John Hasson hooked a few while Brian Duffy (Ballykelly) got one and lost three which took wee bloodworms.
