The Lough Conn and Cullin Spring competition was held on Sunday 15th, with 19 anglers competing. The day was won by Padraic Traynor with his catch which weighed just over 2lbs, while joint winners of second place, Peter Byrne and Ian Wise, boated trout of just over 1.5lbs. Many other fish were caught and released during the competition as they did not meet the size limit of 12 inches.
Angling in the Pontoon/Glass Island area, Pat Shiels and Joe Halloran, Co. Cork, boated four trout, while Martin Smith, Co. Offaly had two to the Green Peter off Glass Island. Pat Shivers and Pat McCoughlan, Belfast had two of 1.25lbs to a Bibio, with Ionita Homojdian and Victor Courrard releasing six trout taken on Buzzers and Duckfly. Finally, Stephen Brown, fishing the Cloghans Bay area, had three for an evening’s fishing, averaging 1.25lbs.
The past week saw the first emergence of mayfly on Lough Arrow, with very small numbers sighted on the Lough. Finian Dodd had seven trout over three evenings, with Colin Dodd boating two. Angela Mohan enjoyed success, boating her first ever trout of just over 1lbs on the fly, followed by her second of approximately 2lbs. Anglers reported hooking trout on Duckfly patterns and Golden Olives.
Donal Kennedy, skipper of the ‘Leah’, reported another successful outing for a party of anglers who departed from Killala Pier early on Sunday, April 15th. Conditions were good for fishing in the bay, with a slow drift, much better than the force 6 northerly wind that hit the bay on Saturday. Fishing was slow but steady, with some good pollack up to 8lbs caught. Coalfish were also taken
on the first drift, weighing up to 5lbs, with a few fine grey gurnard also caught. Anglers encountered only two cod, weighing up to 5lbs, along with a few ling of up to 6lbs. The party was busy later in the day as a shoal of mackerel appeared around the boat. For further information on angling in Killala Bay on board the “Leah” contact Donal Kennedy on Tel: +353 (0)96 36644, Mobile: +353(0) 868174509 or Email: [email protected].
Mr.Axel Zurbugge is very happy with his 8lb Salmon
Ghillie Vincent Appleby reports on fishing in the Lough Currane area at Waterville
10/4/12 Straight to catch of the day and that goes Mr. John Bojter of the UK fishing with his Gillie Mr. Mike O’Dwyer and fishing out of www.lakelandshouse.com caught two Salmon on the troll ranging from 6 lb. up to 8 lb. In the fly department all quiet on the SW front, but to be fair the wind was NE light to fresh for most of the day with heavy showers, and veered NW this evening for a while, veered back NE.
11/4/12 There was good action on Lough Currane today, I will start in the fly department and catch of the day and that goes to Mr. Bernd Rall of Germany, who caught 2 Salmon ranging from 8 lb. up to 10 lb. Bernd was fishing with his ghillie Mr. Vincent O’Sullivan and of www.vincentsfishing.com Now to the trolling department Mr. John Bojter of the UK and fishing with his ghillie Mr. Mike O’Dwyer, and fishing out of www.lakelandshouse.com caught a fine 8 lb. Salmon on the troll, staying in the trolling department, Mr. Tim Van der Laan of Holland caught a fine salmon on the Troll with his ghillie Mr. Terence Wharton Snr. and last but not least a guest fishing with his ghillie Mr. Brod O’Sullivan caught a fine 10.5 lb. salmon on the troll. Wind N light too fresh with the odd shower.
12/4/12 Lough Currane was on the slack side, but I can tell you one of Lough Currane’s renowned ghillie Mr. Brod O’Sullivan of Stella Maris Guesthouse would disagree and for good reason he caught a fine 8.5 lb. salmon on the troll. Weather the same as yesterday. Now to the poaching department, I was reading on www.loughcurrane.com that, The Upper lakes are fishing well for brown trout at the moment with good bags of fine conditioned trout up to and around the 1 lb. mark. John Curnow of Cork and his nephew Archie from the UK, had an excellent day on Cloonaghlin Lough, with well over twenty fish caught for the day. We tend to forget that these upper lakes provide some of the best quality brown trout fishing in Kerry to say nothing of the peace and quiet and the magnificent scenery. The Upper lakes are fishing well for brown trout at the moment with good bags of fine conditioned trout up to and around the 1 lb. mark.
13/4/12 Lough Currane was on the quiet side today, even though some anglers had a crack from my noble salmon wind NW with reasonable cloud cover plus the odd heavy shower.
14/4/12 Straight too the action, Tim O’Connor of Cork and Waterville caught a fine 10 lb. salmon on the fly at the Ledge, fishing with his Gillie Mr. Tom O’Shea – [email protected] and staying in the Mouth of the Commeragh, German Angler Bernd Rall fishing with his Gillie Mr. Vincent O’Sullivan and of www.vincentsfishing.com caught a fine 5 lb. salmon on fly. Wind NE then veered SE and veered back NE late this afternoon with very little cloud cover. And for the rest of we Anglers no comment.
15/4/12 All quiet on the SW front on all departments. Wind NE then veered NW light with bright sunshine this morning, then come afternoon there was good cloud cover but alas my Noble Salmon kept his head down, and yes for all you Lady Anglers, Her Ladyship the Salmon was on the same wavelength.
16/4/12 All the Head Lines go to Mr. Patrick Duperat of France fishing with his Gillie Mr. Frank Donnelly of www.lakelandshouse.com they caught a fine 8 lb. salmon and finished their day off with a fine 5 lb. sea trout, all caught on the fly. This superb catch in a day on fly is our Catch of Week. Wind SSE light to fresh and overcast with light misty rain throughout the day and heaver rain coming into night so lets hope it makes a good flood.
Ghillie Frank Donnelly with Mr. Patrick Duperat, France with a sea trout of 5 lb. and a salmon of 8 lb. on fly and is our Catch of the Week
17/4/12
Lough Currane was at standstill this morning with storm force WNW wind blowing down the lake, come afternoon 2 boats did venture out and battled the elements in the Mouth of the Commeragh but alas failed miserably in their duties.
18/4/12
You could call today mainland Europe day on Lough Currane and first in the striking zone was Mr. Axel Zurbugge of Germany fishing out of www.butlerarms.com caught a fine 8 lb. salmon on the troll with his Gillie Mr. Sylvester Donnelly now we cut across into Holland where, Mr. Tim Van der Laan caught a 10 lb. salmon on the Troll with his gillie Mr. Terence Wharton Wind NW fresh to strong with showers.
That is your ration for this week, from your Ghillie/Guide and the Waterville fishery. No Spin No Fly’s just facts.
Mr.Axel Zurbugge is very happy with his 8 lb. salmon
As I opened my eyes at 8am on a Sunday morning I was pleasantly surprised to see the sun gloriously peeping through the window. A sun-filled day inIreland- what are the odds! I cannot let this go to waste. Like they say “the two best times to fish is when it’s raining’ and when it isn’t!” Instantly I was on the blower to a good mate (John O Connor) to find out if he was available, luckily he was. I informed him it was a spot of rock fishing I had in mind, and I did not have to do much convincing! John made another ‘influential’ phone call to James O Shea, and ten minutes later we had our plans finalised – A day of rock fishing it was.
As we took in our surroundings ‘amazing’ was one word that quickly sprung to mind! The waters were crystal clear and a lovely ledge ran across the front of us – yes this was shaping up to be a good day. As we chatted amongst ourselves ‘Wrasse’ and ‘Pollock’ were the hot topics, and so we began the task of setting up. I was using a Berkley Phazer ll rod, an Okuma Tiro 40s spinning reel loaded with braid and a 5” crystal shad on a Texas rig. These were obviously the right choices; we were landing fish from the second cast. John had the first catch; a Pollock, James was next to land a fish, a nicely coloured Ballan Wrasse. At the same time I landed a nice Wrasse very differently coloured, this called for the camera. Wrasse on white plastic
The largest of the Wrasse family the Ballan can show a bewildering range of colouration from lime green, through various shades of brown, to dark purple with white spots.
We were happy to say the least and never looked back from the first cast. We were landing fish after fish, and the great conditions were just adding to the experience. At the end of the day John and James were both using soft plastic lures and the fish were practically jumping at them.
The Wrasse were hitting the soft plastics like a bullet exiting a gun. They were doing so with such force it would send shivers up your back and an instant rush to your head. It was simply un-be-live-able!
Fishing using soft plastics on a Texas rig offers the angler so many more options as to where s/he can fish. On this particular day we were lucky to fish in caves, over rocks, along the sea bed and we even picked up a spider-crab along the way. At one stage we just stood and watched in silence as the Wrasse followed the lures up to the surface and smacked into them right in front of us. Martin and James had 46 wrasse on the day!
It was a perfect fishing trip and this was evident in the whopping 46 fish caught throughout the day. As the old saying goes “There is certainly something in fishing that tends to produce a serenity of the mind.” I couldn’t agree more!
Written by
Martin McGowan http://www.ullcatch.com/wrasse-fishing-at-its-best/
On my recent trip to the Barrow, while wading with the fly rod, I met this little creature. It is the Stone Loach ( Barbatula barbatula)
Stone Loaches live amongst the gravel and stones of fast flowing water where they can search for food. The most distinctive feature of this fish is the presence of barbels around the bottom jaw, which they use to detect their invertebrate prey. The body is a mixture of brown, green and yellow.
A common fish in clear rivers and streams with gravel and sandy bottoms. This is most likely in upland areas but also chalk streams. They live on the bottom, often partly buried, and they are particularly active at night-( Wiki)
I was lucky enough to take a few photos of this small fella.
We actually have 9 fish landed since my last update even though conditions were difficult at times with water running off very quickly. The fish included the following:
On the 10th Michael Wymes had a fish in the Whin Pool of approx. 7lbs on a Willie Gunn.
Maxi Schiedt had one of approx. 7lbs off the shore of Doolough.
In the afternoon Richard McDowell had a sea liced fish from the Whin Pool of 9lbs10ozs on a Yellow Dick. (yes, it’s not a joke)
On the 11th Andrew Lyall had a fish of approx 8lbs from the Rock Pool on a Gary Dog.
Maxi Schiedt had another from the shore of Dooloughof approx. 7lbs.
David Allcutt with 6lb 15oz sea-liced salmon
We drew a blank on the 12th with no fish landed and on the 13th it was David Allcutt who saved the day with a sea liced 6lbs15oz fish off the Meadow Pool on a Delphi Collie.
On the 14th we had 2 double figure fish, one off the Whin taken by Barry Daniel on a Cascade and one of approx.12.5lbs taken by Ronan Walsh on a Silver Shrimp on the Rock Pool.
On the 15th Angus Sutherland managed to take a sea liced fish from the Whin Pool of 8lbs1oz on a Collie Dog.
I will be expecting good fishing for the rest of this week as we had 34mm of rain last night. The river is now up at 48 and we are getting heavy showers also, and there is heavy rain forecast for tonight so conditions should be ideal for the rest of the week. Hopefully I won’t have to eat my words.
B Hadden Fishing the River
I know Michael Wymes was rather pleased to land his fish on the 10th but it was his son Paul and daughter in law Sarah who claimed the limelight that day when they had their second child a baby boy Archie. All I can say is that if Salmo Salar has a blog it will be hot news and they will try and avoid being caught by another Wymes. Although if Archie is half as effective as his father it may be necessary to consider new conservation measures. We wish all of them well in the future.
April 14th to 17th:
Weather has remained cold and showery. The Woodcock boys are staying with Paul and Deirdre at Innyaby B&B and finding things very difficult. They did have one moment of joy when they took a 10lb Trout from Lough Ree and we are awaiting the photographs.
Peter has been very quiet, he is still prebaiting a swim and we will wait and see what takes place. He did inform us that the only place to catch fish is at Lanesborough on the Hot Water Stretch but spaces are limited.
Phil has gone back to England, the fishing was poor overall and the few fish that were caught were probably glad to have escaped Phil’s hands.
Phil juggles a perch !
Chris had one trip down the river today to drown a few maggots. Two casts two bites two Trout and then nothing at all.
Small Trout
Doonis Bog is full of life with the first large hatch of Damselfly, the Orangetips are now numerous in number and solitary bees and hoverflies are covering the Gorse flowers in huge numbers. The Greater Diving Beetle are also enjoying the vigours of Spring and the Willow Warblers are in full voice…
CLARE County Council has revealed details of the first Kilrush Biodiversity Week which will take place from Monday, April 23 to Sunday, April 29. All events will be free and family-orientated.
The programme of events will celebrate many aspects of biodiversity in Kilrush and its environs from family days out to information and discussions about threats to biodiversity.
Clare Biodiversity Officer, Shane Casey said the aim of Kilrush Biodiversity Week is to encourage active learning about biodiversity through a range of events and to increase public understanding that action taken locally has national and global importance……The Clare Champion…..12/04/12…read full article..
The Assembly has agreed to consider whether the vast waterway of Lough Neagh should be brought into public ownership.
A Sinn Fein motion won cross-party support to explore the option of taking responsibility for the lough which is currently owned by the Earl of Shaftesbury. The Ulster Unionist Party objected to the proposal, sparking accusations from the SDLP that it was “stuck in landed gentry mode”………. The Irish Independent….17/04/12…read the full article..
