Lough Rowan continues to fish very well, with most angling taking place at the weekend. The catch return forms are being well maintained by club anglers and visitors alike. Sean Murtagh of Frenchpark recorded 12 fish over 4 hours on Tuesday 9th, all of which were caught and (returned) on “Mini Muddler” type patterns, largest fish approximately 2.5lbs. Other notable catches were from junior member duo Daniel (12) and Clement Reynolds(16) who managed to land 4 fish between them under the expert tuition of Anthony Egan. Most successful fly’s on the lough this week include, Black Pennell, Mini muddler, Pheasant Tail Nymph, Octopus, Bibio and Green Humungous lure. Membership is €50, day tickets €15.
By chance I met a group of visiting French anglers in the local supermarket and struck up a conversation about the float tubes strapped on top of their cars. It led to the revelation that they had been fishing the Mohill area for the last week and joyously boasted that they had landed and returned 800 pike between them! They are a group of anglers who exclusively use float tubes and love the challenge of some of our more inaccessible loughs. It is nice to see that these visitors went back to France with a very good story to tell their friends of the amazing pike fly fishing opportunities to be availed of in Co. Leitrim.
Jim Shanahan from Castletownroche was fishing an upper beat & phoned me to ask if he could switch to another upstream beat. I suggested that he came down to a lower beat as I had heard that it was quiet above.
He arrived on Ballinaroone with his 11 yr old son James & within 15 minutes James had hooked & lost a fish on a Toby.
Jim caught the Biggest Fish of the Season a few moments later – 12.4lb on Flying C at the Road Pool.
Jim shanahan with 12.4lb
April 15: A 7.4lb. sea-liced fish for Terry O’Keeffe from Miltown, Co. Cork caught on spinner from the lower river (his first of season). One fish also lost on Upper Kilmurry.
Terry O'Keeffe - 7.3lb.
The second fish to be caught on the Lodge’s upper beats (8lb. on spinner) was taken on the 16th. at Castletownroche.
On Wednesday 18th., there was a good flood on the Blackwater which brought the level up 1.5 meters at Ballyduff. It peaked in the afternoon at 1.75m on the gauge at Ballyduff, but was starting to drop by evening. This is the highest level of the river so far this season. The previous highest was on the Opening Day on February 1st., when it was only 1.10 metres. This flood should encourage plenty of fresh fish to run.
Methods: Back to fly order & clarity. Prospects: Prayers have been answered. Should be brilliant once flood clears off.
There is no problem for availability of fishing & accommodation in the coming weeks
Andrew Browne with his 3lbs wild trout caught at Plunketts Pt.
April 6th to April 16th 2012
‘The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope’.
Last week saw day time temperatures drop dramatically and nights hitting the minus 3 degree mark and this had a hugely negative effect on the fishing on Lough Sheelin. The low temperatures coupled with a biting east wind which swept across the lake particularly on Saturday April 14th influenced the catches of fish which were poor regardless of the steady number of anglers who ventured out during the week.
Saturday which is normally a popular fishing day on the lake along with the unfavourable weather conditions also had to compete with The Grand National so Sheelin in general struggled to maintain her previously good record for angler numbers and catches of trout.
There were good hatches of olives on the lake and the trout are beginning to feed on them particularly from early April onwards.
The resurfacing on the roadway into Kilnahard harbour is now completed.
There was an incident at Finea on Wednesday April 11th where a swan was discovered with a triple hook stuck in her head with the spoon bait hanging down like an earring between her eyes.
We would plead with anglers and all members of the public not to discard fishing tackle and rubbish behind them as there are always consequences to these actions. Fortunately the hook was successfully removed from the swan and she appeared none the worse for human carelessness.
Andrew Browne with his 3lbs wild trout caught at Plunketts Pt.
A catch and release policy is actively encouraged on this lake.
Catches for the week: 14 Northern Ireland anglers fished the lake for the weekend, hosting their own small ‘in house’ competition. These anglers all haled from Co.Antrim and have a traditional of visiting the lake a number of times during the fishing season. 4 trout were caught on Friday April 13th averaging between 1 to 1½ lbs, caught on mixed flies but predominantly silver dabblers. The competition was won on Saturday with a 4½ lb wild trout caught by a new member to the club – Jim.
Gary McKiernan, Ballinagh – 1 trout at 3½ lb on Friday April 6th using a big ollie. On Saturday April 7th Gary caught 2 trout at 3 and 1½ lbs using a golden olive hopper.
Patrick Kelly, Mayo – 2 trout at 3 and 2½ lbs caught in the bog bay area of the lake.
Our spring fishing season has well and truly started with the arrival of the first few groups, and over the past two weeks there were some fine pike caught by our guests. The best fish of last week and indeed of the season so far, caught by Dublin angler George on Saturday, was a fine pike of 105cm, weighing 25lbs.
A fine Pike
Earlier in the week German anglers Uwe Pinnau and his friends from the German Pike Angling Club were out with me and they had pike up to low double figures. The week previously to that saw a father and son from Luxemburg catch a few nice pike while on a guided angling trip with us, again low double figure fish were the biggest on the day and provided good sport.
During the annual Easter Pike Angling Festival held by Boyle & District Angling Club on Lough Key, we sadly didn’t rank in the prizes but nevertheless had a few nice fish in the boat, biggest 15lbs. 4oz and my son Danny managed a nice wild brown trout as a by-catch, which of course was released again.
14th April 2012
Here at Owenmore, we had two seatrout landed and one salmon lost during the flood. The water levels have now dropped but there is rain forecast for next week. The temperature hopefully will rise and we should have better fishing. We had snow on the mountains here yesterday.
Contact Name: Frank Maunsell Address: Brandon Bay, Dingle, County Kerry.
09/04/12: There is a general buzz of optimism within the small band of anglers that regularly haunt the coast line that encompasses the Burren. The seas and skies are coming to life and fish are starting to show on many of the well-known marks on the rocks and beaches in North Clare. Terns are feeding heavily and the odd gannet can be seen patrolling the margins between the reefs and open water. Dolphins are once again hunting the gullies and even the occasional otter can be seen in some of the most surprising places.
Good sized plaice were caught in a recent club competition along with nice huss, dogfish and some pollack.
School Bass have been taken on crab and lugworm in various locations and many lure anglers are starting to wake from their winter hibernation. Mackerel are not yet showing even though they are being caught in the surrounding counties.
I have been taking advantage of the run of big tides to scout out marks that I think will hold fish and although I have been carrying a rod most of the time very little fishing has taken place which has not been my intention but conditions have dictated it.
There is a mark in plain view where I have never seen an angler so I took the time to park and walk to it. It takes about twenty minutes to get down to it and involves going through a few fields and gateways. It would not be ideal to go there heavily armed with two fourteen foot beachcasters and a seatbox. Although the walk is not that far the way is arduous and requires some holding on to rocks.
Burren, Co. Clare
A lonely dolphin was hunting the gully and hunting hard, spending very little time on the surface and moving at speed following the same pattern of a figure of eight along the gully and then round a kelp strewn rock at the far end. I though it would move off but after about an hourIdecided that it would be me that moved along as the dolphin showed no signs of wanting to share either the mark or a decent photo of itself.It is amazing how different a mark can look at low water when you are picking your way along the rocks. I will be back to fish this area but it looks as if it will hold more pollack and wrasse than bass and the gully that I wanted to see turned out to be much deeper than I had hoped for even though it was surrounded by many shallow sandy bottom patches. If you recognise the area from the photographs I think it would be well worth spending some time getting to know the area.
Sea around Co Clare
As I picked my way along the rocks coming to the more frequently inhabited parts I found a nice flat platform for a rest. On that platform there was a very nice set of braid blades, not the kind of thing a tinsel tosser would have left behind but an item that some thought went in to buying. If they are yours you are welcome to them back, but only on the condition that you bring a carrier bag with you as I picked up your empty bottles and food wrappers as well!!
Back to deep water and I was surprised to see an otter which I presumed was a sea otter due to the lack of rivers or lakes in the area. I was gutted that my camera ran out of batteries before I could get a decent shot at it.
My new rod and reel arrived during the week. I have not given either of them a good testing yet but all I can say at this stage is I cannot believe that vast chasm in performance an action between a modern purpose-built lure rod and my old pike spinning rod. Sometimes you just cannot see how bad things are until you step away from them. Even on a budget it is possible to get a serviceable rod and reel and a box of lures to get you going.
I have asked around on a few forums for a bit of advice on the lures that I wanted to start with for fishing shallow reefy ground and I am pleased to say that most of the replies I got pointed me in the direction of lures that I had already considered.
Just as a note to myself, it may be better to buy lures in the winter rather than at this time of year as I could not find anywhere with a tackle house feed 128 shallow mullet in stock on any of the websites I tried.
Since Danny Meagher’s last post he has been hitting the water at every opportunity with some fantastic results so early in the season.
He had his first few Bass on a Hard Plastic over a week ago and they have been hitting them hard since, for now the Soft Plastics have taken back seat as we push on through April.
Feed Shallow ready for action.
The weather conditions have varied from bright sunshine without any wind, to heavy rain driven by a bitter Northerly wind. Fish have been caught through these varying conditions
We experienced some of the better fishing over the weaker tides at various tide states, High Water being the least productive. One of the weaker tides produced Barry’s first Lure caught Bass of the year:
Barry with his first lure caught Bass of 2012.
Water clarity has varied from brown & murky to gin clear, we experienced good fishing when we found a happy medium between the two. Mullet turning, Sea Trout jumping and Sand Eels swimming were some of the sights we encountered. The Bass we caught were in great condition and ranged from 2lb – 7lb, all were put back to fight another day. Here is a sample of some of the fish:
Great condition for AprilHead into the tide before the release
THE dry weather continues and we have Ireland to ourselves. The roads are free of tour buses and tourist traffic. We can drive around the Ring of Kerry clockwise or anticlockwise, as we please.
The two last weeks in March delivered warm sunlight all day long. Now, in April, this sometimes turns to cold sunlight and sharp, clear weather, great for walking once one warms up…….The Irish Examiner…16/04/12…..read full article..
A recent column on alternative means of treating waste has attracted a deal of reaction, which is not surprising given the ongoing outcry about charges for septic tanks.
In that column, the focus was on integrated constructed wetland systems (ICW) which are working successfully in different parts of country and are dealing with waste from private houses, farms, and commercial enterprises. The systems involve the free flow of water through a number of ponds, with plants aiding the treatment process….The Irish Examiner….16/04/12…..read full article..
