It has been a wet week for much of the country, with most areas experiencing between 100% and 245% of average rainfall, but those on the eastern side of the country seem to have escaped the worst of it. Temperatures have remained around normal for the time of year, but it has been quite overcast, with the sun only fleetingly peeping through the cloudline. So, a bit of rain, warmth and a lack of bright sun… sounds like good weather for fishing!

Salmon anglers in particular like a bit of rain to freshen things up in our rivers, and we have some surprisingly positive reports in this week, where the glooom of a difficult early season seems to have been lifted by a good run of grilse (and bigger fish too) on many of our fisheries. In the west of the country, the grilse have arrived in good numbers at Delphi Lodge, and anglers have been enjoying some fine fishing with some notable catches including one angler landing his 500th Delphi salmon! Urs Leibundgut caught his first Delphi salmon in 1993 and has been returning year after year. On the 18th of July this year he notched up his 500th Delphi fish, an impressive feat which wins him this week’s Catch of the Week.

The Galway Fishery has also seen a good influx of grilse over the month of July, and water levels have been conducive to good angling, with 180 fish landed so far this month, mostly on the fly. And it’s also good news down on the River Suir, where after a poor 2023, there has been a marked improvement in the fishing this year, including quite a few 20lb+ fish. Unfortunately, there was little good news to report from Waterville this week as all rods drew a blank in what was an unproductive week for the fishery. The Moy saw a bounce in catches last week as the rain spurred on some activity, leading to over 600 fish being recorded throughout the system. In this week’s podcast, the Ireland on the Fly team focuses on the River Moy and speaks to Garrett Ruigrok about the fishing and how the grilse run on the Moy is shaping up. Anglers who applied for brown tags to fish the Lower Lee can check here to see if they were successful following the fourth draw for tags, which was held on Wednesday. A similar draw for brown tags for the River Roughty in Kerry will be held on August 7th, and interested anglers can apply to enter the draw via the link on this webpage.

To sea angling now, and as usual, the Killybegs Mariners were out and about on Donegal’s beaches last week, claiming some quality flounder and a few plump bass amongst their catches. Staying in Donegal, the Saoire Marie fishing out of Kincasslagh saw the mackerel make a welcome return, and this helped anglers aboard to enjoy an impressive 18 different species over the weekend. On the south coast, another nighttime session for West Cork Charters failed to produce the stupendous catches of a few of weeks ago but still threw up a couple of fine specimen-sized skate. It was a similar story on the east coast, where the fishing didn’t hit the highs of the previous week for anglers fishing with Wicklow Boat Charters, but they still managed to tag a few tope for a joint IFI/UCC programme to monitor the movement of tope off Ireland’s east coast. In the Waterford area, Rinnashark SAC held a juvenile competition to help the next cohort of sea anglers brush up their skills, and it was a well-attended event with plenty of fish caught.

To the west coast now, where charter skipper Luke Aston reports that blue shark have turned up in good numbers off the Clare coast, and he’s seeing a bit of action with porbeagle as well. A little further north along the Clare coast, interested anglers should note that the Lidsoonvarna Fanore Sea Angling Club will be hosting their annual International Angling Week from August 4th-10th this year. To wrap up the sea angling news for the week, in the 31st episode of the Lure Fishing Podcast, Cormac Walsh speaks with Keith Barker about the tactics he uses to target bass on the south coast.

In coarse angling news, a bunch of dedicated young anglers were on the water in Enniskillen last week, upping their coarse angling skills with the NCFFI, aiming towards securing a place on the Team Ireland Youth team sometime in the future. And for all aspiring young coarse anglers, Anthony O’Neill, an accomplished young angler himself, has provided a few tips on how he sets up to target roach. Back to NCFFI news now, as they have announced a new club competition to be held on L. Muckno on Sat 27th August, with a seniors & women’s competition to be held the following day.

It’s tight at the top in the ongoing Lough Muckno July Festival, where 22 anglers are competing for the trophy. The final day of fishing is today, so good luck to all the anglers and we’ll be bringing you the results next week. Wrapping up the coarse angling news,  last Sunday saw 16 anglers take part in the 5th leg of the Perch Master Ireland 2024 league. There were plenty of perch feeding on the day, and catches were plentiful, but failed to yield any specimen sized fish.

There’s not a whole lot of trout fishing news this week, but Dan O’Neil’s latest River Whispers blog covers a lot of different topics and helps to make up for the lack of other news.

Dan will be running an introduction to fishing and social day on Laois Angling Centre on the 28th of July for anyone looking for some first-hand guidance on how to get into the sport.

And now the weather

For once, the outlook for the coming days is not too bad…, with a reasonable amount of dry, warm, sunny weather promised. There will be some showers today, which will die out as the day progresses, but a fresh band of showers will cross the country from west to east later in the evening. Saturday should be largely dry albeit with a few heavy showers lurking, with temperatures between 17 and 21°C. It will remain clear on Saturday night, and Sunday will be mostly dry and bright, if a bit hazy, with similar temperatures to Saturday. The start of next week should see warm, humid weather with temperatures in the low to mid 20s with a lot of dry weather. Summer might be here at last…

Safe fishing to all and tight lines, especially here in Ireland.

IFI Staff
Catch, Photo, Release

If you have an angling story to share with the Irish Angling Update please send it to [email protected].

All the angling news

Salmon Fishing Reports

• Moy Catchment Angling Report – W/E 21st July 2024
  
• Ireland on the Fly Podcast – Grilse Update from the Moy
• Good salmon fishing continues in Galway
• River Suir salmon angling update – the season so far…
• Grilse arrive at Delphi in numbers with a special surprise
• No rod benders reported from Currane
• Did you apply for a River Lee brown tag? Round 4 Draw results here
• Fourth draw for Roughty brown tags open today

Sea Angling Reports

• Blue shark turn up in west Clare
• Young anglers do well in Waterford
• Great mix of species for shore anglers on Donegal Bay
• Good range of species for anglers on Kincasslagh’s Saoire Marie
• Come rain or moon shine there’s specimen skate to be had at Courtmacsherry
• Lisdoonvarna Fanore International Angling Week 2024
• The Lure Fishing Podcast – Episode 31 – Keith Barker
• Tough tope weather but specimens caught and a recapture too

Coarse Angling Reports

• Tight at the top of Lough Muckno July Festival
• Anthony’s tips for young coarse anglers – Roach
• NCFFI All Ireland Championships & *NEW* Teams of Four Event – Lough Muckno
• Young anglers back out on the water with NCFFI
• Perch Master League 2024 – 5th round results

Trout Fishing Reports

• Introduction to fishing and social day at Laois Angling Centre
• The River Whispers from the Nore, approaching the water, guide life, top tips and handy hints