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.
Last week The Predator decided to fish a shingle bank just south of Larne off the Antrim coast in search for cod as they fished there many many years ago with good results, baits were fresh peeler crab and a total of 26 cod were taken with these 2 the best of the day both double figures. Mackerel are still mid channel and will be heading this way inside the next month.
Patricia Gannon with a near specimen pollack out from Courtmacsherry.
Charter skipper Mark Gannon reports from recent deep sea fishing out from Courtmacsherry.
The weather has been mixed but the fishing especially for cod and Pollack has been constantly good. Several of the Pollack were near Specimen size with the cod up to 14 lb. With the tides slacking off we will concentrate on the wrecks next weekend, hopefully catching Specimen Ling and Pollack.
Patricia Gannon with a near specimen pollack out from Courtmacsherry.
In the estuary good reports of Bass last week with the warm conditions, but with the change in temperature they are being elusive and a group last Saturday with the self drives only managed one take from a Bass but landed a good few Pollack. Plenty of good size mullet shoaling near the pier so maybe worth a go!
Noel Kelly with a fine Easter Cod.
Lady Patricia and Lady Louise
2 X Aquastar 38′. 370 HP Skipper: Mark Gannon Base: Courtmacsherry Operational Area: 30 miles out from Courtmacsherry Address: Woodpoint Guest House, Courtmacsherry, Co. Cork. Telephone: +353 (0)23 8846427 or +353 (0)86 8250905 Email:[email protected]Web:www.courtmacsherryangling.ie
A group of influential Italian journalists visited Co. Mayo last week as part of a fact-finding trip to Ireland. The journalists flew into Ireland West Airport Knock (IWAK) on the brand new Ryanair flight from Milan (Bergamo), as guests of Tourism Ireland and Fáilte Ireland, in conjunction with Ryanair……..Mayo Today…..10/04/12….Read full article..
ENNISCORTHY salmon anglers are back casting their hooks into the Slaney loaded after reaching an agreement with Inland Fisheries Ireland. And the local angling club has come to an agreement with the IFI not to over-fish the river when the waters in the river are running low.
Enniscorthy Local Anglers Association has been celebrating the lifting of IFI’S threatened ban on the use of shrimp as bait to catch the prized salmon……………..
The Enniscorthy Guardian…..10/04/12……Read full article………
Well, my fishing yak season is oficially opened.
Last Sunday I was ready to go to do some perch fishing, then I got a phone call from Alex. Quick change of gear, and an hour later, we were on the road heading down the South East.
Grey Gurnard from yak
After we passed the well known Waterford bridge, we decided to hit few spots on the Copper Coast. It was dull and overcast afternoon with no wind and temp about 12 deg C. Sea was flat calm, with light swell about 1 ft. We found a nice small fishing harbour, with easy place to park the car and handy slip for land ours boats. There was few others yakers on the water, but they were without rods.
The plan was simply. One small lure box per yak. We hoped for an early lure bass. For the first two hours we searched shallows, throwed plugs into nice channels between the rocks. Water was gin clear, with average deep about 10 ft. We fish on the ebbing tide. No sign of fish at all.
Because shallows appeared unproductive, we moved a bit into the deeper waters. Depth reached about 20 ft, but the bottom was flat and sandy without snags. Surprisingly we founded fish over there. But it wasn’t silvers bars 😉
There was a shoal of Grey Gurnards underneath and they played the ball. Alex and I counted a couple of them, before yak’s were drifted over the area. Nothing special, but I added another species to my lure caught fish list, and oficially opened my yak season. When the contact with gurnards was lost , we moved back to the shore. In the one of deep holes close the rocks, Alex hit good size pollock, and the fishing frenzy started 😉 We call the day about 8, with couple nice pollacks up to 7lb. Not a bad start of season.
