A very pleased Valentine Cagnac, France and his fine catch, pictured with angling guide Kenny Sloan.
A very pleased Valentine Cagnac, France and his fine catch, pictured with angling guide Kenny Sloan.
Angling guide Kenny Sloan, who operates in the Foxford region, reported a very good day pike fishing in the area with two visiting anglers from France. Conditions were not favorable with a cold and blustery north-west wind. Despite this, it was 12 year old Valentine Cagnac who boated the best fish of the day, a fine 1m long pike which was taken on a trolled Salmo Fatso lure. For information on guided pike fishing in the Foxford area, or boat hire, contact Kenny Sloan on 00353 (0)94 9256501 or 00353 (0)87 9670310.
The much needed rain finally arrived on Easter Sunday. We also had a good number of heavy showers yesterday. Total for the two days was 48 mms or almost 2 inches.
We did have a fish just as the rain arrived on Sunday. Arnold Crook had a fine fish off Finlough of 11 lb. 3 ozs on a Sunrae Shadow. It was indeed well earned as Arnold had fished hard in very difficult conditions.
I have often noticed in the past that when rain finally comes it takes a day or two for the fishing to pick up. However this was not the case as we had two yesterday even with the river a little coloured.
A lucky guest was the first to strike having spent over a week trying hard he finally got his reward yesterday after lunch in the stream on Finlough when he landed a sea liced fish of 7 lb. 4 ozs on a Black and Yellow tube.
Martin Cellier had a sea liced fish of 9 lb. 6 ozs off the Turn Pool later on. This was taken on a Willie Gunn and netted beautifully by his wife Barbara.
This morning Jonathan Murray from Antrim had a sea liced fish off the Rock Pool of approx. 8 lb. This was taken on a Willie Gunn.
The river is now running at 35 and even though it is cold we should get enough showers to keep it at a good level.
Hopefully we will see a few more silver bars in the next few days.
The Lagan despite the low flows fished well for the Easter Saturday competition at Dromore where Warren Campbell made it two competitions wins in a row, while Nigel Russell was second and Mathew Russell third. Each day is different on the river as the the weather has gone up and down. However it is still possible by employing stealth, varying ones tactics and picking the right stretch of water for the prevailing conditions to have a great days sport with countless fish in the 20 cm to 25 cm and perhaps an odd better specimen. Without doubt some precipitation would certainly make for fabulous fishing and keep the rivers at the right height for the much anticipated black fly.
April 1st Well this is no April fools day prank the river is full of Fish. Chris was down at Mallady’s early with little success until midday where it went mad with Roach running up the river in good numbers. All the Roach were females with the larger ones coming in at over a pound and loaded with Roe.
The Trout were also present in large numbers and the biggest caught was a good 3lb thanks to a hatch of Mayfly. Female Roach Full bellied Roach loaded with roe
Peter was fishing on the Canal catching a few Roach but got the Call from me and left for the River Inny at once. He joined Chris late on with a keep net and had a couple of hours of good sport catching Roach, Hybrids and Perch. Amazing that only a few days ago Frank was down there and couldn’t buy a bite. April 2nd to 5th Day two, of the start of the fish run in the Inny. With the weather turning Colder by the day and Northerly Winds, and a threat of Rain and Wintry Showers forecast for next week. With the sudden cold snap the fishing has temporarily stopped dead.
Peter was off for a days fishing down at Mallady’s today (2nd April) with a start around lunchtime up until 8 o’clock this evening. His returns were very good with Roach around the 1lb + mark with Hybrids and plenty of Trout.
Over the last couple of days Peter has been fishing the Canal trying for more Tench on the upper stretch, only to find Roach taking his bait. A trip to Lough Lee due to the low water level allowed him to make a heading for the usual swims but the fish were non-existent. Peter with bag of Roach One of the trout John Coles http://www.innyangling.net/April12.htm
In a cool North Easterly and bright conditions Jerome and I spent a pleasant afternoon getting a sense of the requirements. There are times when I’m reminded that its the most difficult and challenging way to catch fish, the casting the waves, the water, the basket, the line, the leader, the retrieve, the wind, the fly, the environment, the you…
Mullet are back to all their usual haunts now and in Cork Harbour they are feeding well at a number of marks. Myles Kelly had a specimen thick lipped grey mullet yesterday. Bread flake was the bait and the mullet fought hard in a shallow weedy lagoon before being netted. The fish was 59.5 cm long and weighed 2.58 kg. After weighing the fish was carefully returned alive. For the first time, Myles wins the Catch of the Week for this truly beautiful fish.
The Upper Bann, although on its bones continues to provide plenty of trout to a variety of methods. Easter Monday’s competition showed that all the new fangled methods can still play second fiddle to the traditional dryfly when Trevor Jones weighed in a fabulous 1 lb 13 oz trout. There were quite a few good sized fish weighed in that fell to streamer and deep nymph tactics as anglers adapted to try and find the better sized fish in the low water. All competitors reported substantial numbers of fish in the 20 cm to 30 cm range and while all commented the river was a bit slower than it has been the fishing this year has been consistently brilliant. All are eagerly awaiting May and good falls of black fly.
The Cusher although well below summer level is still producing trout, albeit the average size has decreased as the water drops. Twelve year old Thomas Russell and his friend Ryan Blakely returned over 30 trout up to 25 cm for a session using micro nymphs fished below a small klinkhammer.
Two boats almost over the weir at Finea, March 21st, 2012
Lough Sheelin normally is a lake that is slow to ‘take off’ from an angling point of view with anglers usually gradually appearing in dribs and drabs throughout March but this year has been different.
This year most boats were moored at various points around the lake 2 to 3 weeks in advance of the opening season and from the start the lake boasted respectable numbers of anglers fishing its waters and encouraging angling returns.
Two boats almost over the weir at Finea, March 21st, 2012
The first competition of the year was the Kilroy Cup held on Sunday March 18th, this attracted over 15 anglers and a number of fish were caught, the winner being Paul Rush from Armagh with a trout of over 5lbs.
A second competition was also run by a Polish Angling club – Fishmaniaks during early March, a number of 1½ to 2lbs trout were caught.
Although the weather was unseasonably good during the last two weeks of March with temperatures rising above 20 degrees, the nights were cold with frosts and this made it difficult for the buzzer to really take off.
Most anglers were wet fly fishing although a few dry flies were used in the early days of April.
Sheelin and its anglers are gearing themselves up for the International on May 18th and on Sunday last April 8th, the Irish Team of over 20 anglers practised out on the lake and were not disappointed, with most landing fish averaging 2½ lbs with the best weighing in at 4½ lbs and a lot of fish being seen.
The roadway down to Kilnahard harbour is being gravelled and tarred this week – April 10th to April 13th so it is advisable to avoid this entrance onto the lake during these dates.
There were colossal hatches of olives at the weekend particularly around the top end of the lake – Goreport, Bog bay and the Sailor’s Garden. One angler commented that he hadn’t seen such huge hatches on Sheelin for ‘over thirty years’.
The lake fished well both morning and evenings, the fish rises were governed by the weather and wind directions rather than the time of day.
Litter
Unfortunately we are having problems with vandalism and littering predominantly at the Finea side of the lake, particularly worrying is the continual removal of life belts and also the release of boats causing them to crash over the weir at Finea bridge causing considerable damage. It is important for anglers and the public to be vigilant in these matters and report any incidents to IFI, County Council or Gardaí
Dumping along the Bog Road, Finea, March 21st 2012. Please contact your local County Council to report littering.
Total number of catches recorded: 179 Heaviest fish : 6½ lbs trout caught by Michael Kelly, Dublin using a BF fly. A catch and release policy is actively encouraged on this lake.
Some catches were:
Aaron Pollock, Northern Ireland – April 8th, 2 trout at 4 and 4 ½ lbs, both wild fish and in excellent condition. Aaron was wet fly fishing around the Bog Bay area.
Seamus Norris, Dublin – 1 trout at 3lbs.
Gary McKiernan, Ballinagh, Cavan – 2 trout, 1@ 3lbs on April 6th and 1@1½ lbs on April 8th.
Peter Boyle, Monaghan – Peter is fishing Melvin at the moment but on his few visits to Sheelin caught a few nice 1½ – 2½ lb trout which will perhaps lure him back later in the season!
Michael Kelly, Dublin – Michael has caught 55 trout on the lake since the start of the season this year, all of which have been wild fish and most in excellent condition. Michael wet fly fished and as in previous years draws on his continual study of this lake and its fish life to create flies that reward him with good results. Two of his most successful creations this season are the BF fly and the Chernobyl fly. The BF fly is a wet fly version of his now infamous LF fly, the BF is an early season fly and has been responsible for the catching of a beautiful 6½ lb 57cm wild trout in early March. The Chernobyl fly (so named because of its radio active glow) was responsible for great catches of 3 trout (1½- 2lbs) on Friday April 6th, 6 trout (2½-4lbs) on Saturday April 7th and 11 trout (3 – 5lbs) on Sunday April 8th. Michael rarely if ever uses a traditional over the counter fly all his ‘creations’ are down to taking the time to study this lake and his tactics seem to be working..
There were a few reports of good trout fishing for Sonaghan over the deeps. At present there are huge hatches of buzzers (larger than we have seen in many years!) and the trout should respond well to the same in the coming week.
Lough Melvin, Rossinver Fishery: For info/Guides/boat hire/bookings etc, contact Bill McNeary. Tel: 071 9854930
The river ran at very low levels all week especially given the time of year. The dry weather of late meant that the river was only reading just above 4 on the gauge for the week. As such, the river was fairly quiet with few rods fishing this week. There was a couple of salmon caught however and I await details of the same. Wetter (and colder) weather is forecast for the coming week and hopefully this will improve fishing conditions.
