Despite high winds and rain the Shannon has been fishing well. Bream, hybrids and roach are all feeding readily; taking corn and maggot.
Regular visitors to Portumna Dave Halliwell from Bradford and Mike Waterworth from Leeds had several days fantastic fishing with their best bag nearly making 100lbs.
Dave Halliwell with some of his catch
Hybrids made up the bulk of the catches, but there were also some great bream to 6lb and quality roach to 2 lbs 8oz.
Renvyle House Hotel, Connemara hold a Hardy and Greys Fishing Academy weekend on Friday 20th, Saturday 21st April & Sunday 22nd April , 2012.
We will provide professional angling instruction from Hardy & Greys Tom ‘Doc’ Sullivan, Stevie Munn, Jackie Coyne and 2010 World Cup winner Mike Keady. They will show you how to tie knots and fly tying, explain the different flies and instruct you on the fine art of casting.They will also divulge when and where are the best times and places to fish.
Steve Munn fly casting
The Weekend includes the following:
See the latest Hardy-Greys Equipment
Spate River Salmon Fishing
Trout River Fishing
Lough Style Fishing
Single Handed Casting
One on One Tuition
Salmon Flydressing
Trout Flydressing
Free Fishing throughout the weekend on the Hotels’ well stocked Private lake – Brown Trout up to 7 lbs. weight
Winner Alan Delaney TAFI Leinster Lake Championship
The T.A.F.I. Leinster Lake Championship was held on Lough Owel on Sunday 15th April 2012. The competition was fished to a 3 bag limit with a minimum size limit of 13 inches to the fork of the tail and the fishing took place from 11am to 6pm.
In the morning competitors were faced with a bitter north-easterly wind, although this eased during the latter hours of the competition. Intermediate and floating lines were the tactics used on the day.
The weigh-in was eagerly anticipated, as a number of anglers had completed their three bag limit. Results were very close among the top three anglers. Congratulations to Alan Delaney (Co Wicklow Anglers) on winning the overall competition.
The top 20 qualify to represent Leinster in the Inter-Provincial Lake Championship on Lough Owel, Mullingar, Co Westmeath in September 2012. The full results can be seen on the Competitions Results page.
Winner Alan Delaney TAFI Leinster Lake Championship
The Top 3
Alan Delaney (Co Wicklow Anglers) 3 trout for 2.250 Kg’s
Matt Campbell (Dundalk) 3 trout for 2.190 Kg’s
Mick McShane (Dundalk) 3 trout for 2.025 Kg’s
Heaviest fish - Julie Gerry
In total 71 trout caught were caught on the day.
Congratulations to everyone who made the Leinster Team for the Inter-Provincial Lake Championship to be held on Lough Owel, Mulligar, Co Westmeath in September.
Team Event – Monasterevin ( Pat Noonan, Sean Kirwan, Stephen Connolly, John Coughlan)
If anyone cannot make it, please contact Brian Lynch (Leinster Secretary) so that he can then contact the subs for replacements to ensure that there is a full complement of 20 Anglers from Leinster to fish in the Inter-Pro’s.
Pike have been plentiful in recent weeks some anglers reporting 15 to 20 fish per outing.
Pike anglers also catching trout to 6lbs which have been falling to both lures and deadbait in Portumna Bay area of Lough Derg and Portland area of The Shannon.
The high winds of late have however have prevented boats going out.
On Monday I had an English client out who amazingly opted to tackle the challenge of the Cusher on its bones as opposed to the parent River Bann. While both of us spent most of the day on our knees and crawling it was both rewarding and educational with Martin returning near on forty fish for his day to a variety of methods.
While it couldn’t be described as a flood it certainly put a smile on my face as the river went up over a foot on Tuesday . It was fishable by Wednesday 19th but still carrying a little too much colour. Yesterday evening the water was holding a good height and clear while the trout fed on smuts in the flat water. The black fly are just around the corner hopefully and with the water in fine fettle the fishing should be excellent over the next few weeks.
Dromore Angling Club member Thomas Russell managed to winkle out over 20 fish to 33cms
This week saw the river get a much needed injection of water. The river was just starting to come into good ply above Dromore on Thursday 20th. Although still carrying a slight tinge twelve year old Dromore Angling Club member Thomas Russell managed to winkle out over 20 fish to 33cms. The fish fell mainly to flashback nymph patterns although a few fish where starting to rise as we where leaving the river.
Dromore Angling Club member Thomas Russell managed to winkle out over 20 fish to 33cms
Prior to this the river was fishing reasonably well. We spotted the first Hawthorne flies yesterday and if the heat keeps up their smaller brethren shouldn’t be far away and the bigger trout will come out to play.
Paddy Dunworth got a call at lunchtime yesterday from his brother Peter who was fishing the River Feale yesterday with sidekick Denny Barry. They both had very fresh salmon in the 10lb range.
Paddy takes up the story “Both got their fish on the fly and will be chuffed to open their seasonal account. The broken weather of the past week was bound to move fish, the Maigue was high and coloured yesterday when I passed and further showers can only augur well for water levels for a week or so anyway. The boys got their fish in the same run, below the ‘Rock’ which is in turn below the ‘Yanks’, Abbeyfeale club members will be familiar with these pools which are 3-400yards above Kilmorna Bridge.
Patsy Willis and Mike Sheahan were fishing the next pool down from the boys and had no luck, salmon fishing has a lot to do with being in the right place at the right time, particularly on a spate system such as the Feale. The boys are thrilled to bits and so they should be having braved the April wind and showers. Happy retirement guys!” Paddy Dunworth Angling Guide www.celticangling.com
A much better week on the River Moy, with twenty-five salmon reported, the majority of which were taken in the mid Moy fisheries. Downstream at Ballina, the Ballina Salmon Anglers’ water produced two salmon, while the Foxford Fishery yielded one of 8lbs to Dessie George, N.Ireland, taken on a prawn. The Foxford Salmon Anglers’ water yielded five salmon, with two taken at Rinanney. However, it was the East Mayo Anglers Association water which produced the best sport of the week, with 16 salmon landed, five of which were released. Wednesday the 11th was the best day of the week at East Mayo, with nine salmon caught. Among those to have success at East Mayo were John O’Connor, Foxford who caught two fish of 10lbs (Friday 13th) and 7.5lbs, Enda Conboy, Knock, had one of 12lbs and Matt Murphy, Wexford, had one of 11lbs. Salmon were caught using the worm, spinner and fly.
Once again the Ballisodare Fishery enjoyed a good week, with over twenty-five salmon caught, ten of which were released. Early in the week Trevor Goulding had a nice fish of 9lbs taken on an Ally’s Shrimp while Sean Maye had one of 8lbs to the worm. Jim and John Doherty, visiting anglers from Co. Limerick, both enjoyed success with Jim landing an 11lbs salmon to the worm and John landing one of 9lbs on the fly. The fly also proved successful for local anglers James Maguire, who had one of 9lbs, and Tommy O’Donovan Jr. who caught one of 6lbs while David Crawley had one of 8lbs to the worm. Visiting angler David Watson released two small salmon taken on the fly with Gerry McHugh releasing one of 6lbs.
Despite the unsettled conditions of late, Carrowmore Lake continued to produce sport throughout the week. Declan Dooley once again enjoyed success with a salmon of 8lbs, with John McBride boating one of 9lbs. David Kidd and Steven McDonnell, N.Ireland, had one each of 6lbs and 8lbs while John O’Connor, Navan, and boat partner landed one each. U.K angler Dave Maplas boated a fine fish of 13lbs. For further information on angling on Carrowmore Lake, or the Owenmore River, please see www.bangorerrisangling.com.
