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.
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/
