Conditions were very variable this week on Melvin. The first four days of the week brought bright sunlight, very mild conditions (up to 22°C!) with varying winds. From Friday on however, the colder conditions returned again and sitting out in a boat was a cold affair once more. There were no salmon recorded over the week but there seemed to be a run of salmon into the lough at the weekend. On Sunday, Noel Johnston landed a 9½lb salmon, John Fox accounted for an 11¾lb salmon and Rodney Benson caught an 8½lb salmon. These were all caught trolling along the Garrison Shore.
The trout fishing remained fairly good when winds were suitable with a few rods reporting fair catches of trout, mainly from the shallows. There were a couple of reports of some of the Sonaghan being caught out in the deeps. One would presume given the early warm & sunny weather that there must be some plankton blooming to attract some of the Sonaghan from the shallows.
The excellent weather has certainly encouraged the trout to come to the surface a lot more hence making catches that little bit easier. Dungiven’s Andrew Logan released an amazing twenty-one trout which took wee olives and buzzers. John Hasson and Martin Bradley also from Dungiven released twenty-six and six trout respectively using f-flies and damsels. Gregory Scullion used the black gnat to catch his three trout while Shane Irwin (Dungiven) also banked three which fell to the green Montana.
Angling on the Drowes was variable this week. A number of rods fished over the week with most of these concentrating on the weekend. There was a least a few salmon recorded which gave an improvement over last week. On Monday, Alfred Vanderwalle recorded an 8lb salmon caught on a fly from The Blackwater. On Wednesday, Thomas Kirwin logged a 7lb salmon caught on a Cascade fly from the Mill Pool. Sunday was a better day with 3 salmon recorded. Jim Adamson logged an 8lb salmon caught on a prawn. Gary Morrow registered a 7lb salmon caught on prawn from the Washstones and James Morrin accounted for a 10lb salmon caught on a Cascade fly from The Catwalk.
The river is a little on the low side at present reading around 5. Light rains are forecast for the coming days and hopefully these will be heavy enough to lift the river a little.
All smile as this young chap displays his impressive catch
Anglers turned out in large numbers to wet a line on Lough Rowan on April fool’s day this year. The joke, however, was entirely on the trout as club members experienced some exceptional fishing in the warm conditions. This was clearly the best attendance at the fishery for a number of years with some rods catching over 40 trout on various methods. Large chironomid hatches saw spectacular surface activity throughout the day with the catch of the day going to one young angler from Longford who caught an overwintered rainbow trout of 5.5lb. This fish was sportingly returned to grow even larger!
This trout put up a struggle for Tommy Murphy as our picture shows
Anglers are asked to fill in catch return forms at the fishery sign located on the main slipway. This will enable accurate catch reports to be published to include succesful tactics for fellow members.
All smile as this young chap displays his impressive catch
Club membership is still only €50 per year with Junior membership and day-tickets €15 per day. Strict bag-limits apply. Call 087-6254740 for details
A near specimen ling for Christy Lane deep sea fishing out from Courtmacsherry.
Charter skipper Mark Gannon reports on good deep sea fishing from Courtmacsherry.
The beautiful weather we have been experiencing of late has been great for fishing both offshore and in the Estuary. In the bay we have had good catches of Pollack, medium cod , coalfish, Ling, Bull huss, Ray, conger and the mackerel making a show but scattered. The inshore wrecks have produced some good fish lately with a near Specimen Ling for Christy Lane last Saturday and several fish in the 12 to 16 lb. range, Pollack to Specimen size with a few decent whiting and Haddock. In the Estuary ,anglers have reported good Flounder and an angler fishing on the Lady Patricia last Sunday showed me a picture of a beautiful 11 lb Bass caught in Courtmacsherry Estuary a few weeks ago. The fish was caught at Low tide with lugworm in no more than 3 feet of water from the wall above Flaxfort strand. Plenty of feed marking in the Bay so prospects looking good for over the Easter.
A near specimen ling for Christy Lane deep sea fishing out from Courtmacsherry.
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
Monday April 2nd
The very brave souls who spent the night on the stretch were rewarded with some good fish. Chris Ganley amassed around 50lbs with many nice sized Roach and a Bream of about 5lbs. Damien Allchorn didn’t do too well but had two Tench of 3lb 8oz and 4lb 10oz Killian McCormack had a good mixed bag of 22lbs but was beaten by his twin brother Glenn who weighed in 25lbs 4oz. Most of Glenns weight was taken between noon and 2pm. His best Bream went 5lb 8oz.
I was surprised to find no one with the exception of Tim Collier on the river at dawn. It wasn’t too cold and wind was minimal. He had two Tench by the time I set up and by 09.00 he had beaten me 10-5. Mine averaged 3lb 8oz with the best going 4lb 2oz. Tims best went 4lb 9oz. Of the 15, only three were female. Only two others fished the stretch for most of the day, with the overall catch rate down on previous days.
In the evening, Damien arrived with Killian and his twin brother. At 9pm they had limited success but Chris Ganley, also doing a night session was doing better. My evening session was at Maladys where I joined Peter Wood to catch 24 smallish Roach and Hybrids. For more info on the Inny, go to www.innyangling.net. Tuesday April 3rd
I ventured out at 6.30 and couldn’t buy a bit on the hot water stretch. The conditions had deteriorated somewhat with a cold northerly wind coming downstream making the stick float presentation almost impossible. I decided to walk across the bridge to fish near the toilets. Usually I’d expect some action here but it was hard. I caught four male Roach up to 12oz but the bad news was the evidence of a mass spawning that had happened in the last 24 hours. This is much too soon and I can only hope it’s just an early shoal doing their business.
Earlier in the day, Steve Blacklidge was fishing the disabled swims and recorded two very small Tench along with some Rudd.
Due to the expected cold winds, tomorrows weeding session is postponed until Thursday. Please bring any tools or Rakes on a rope.
Wednesday April 4th
The overnight temperature dropped to -2c and I was more than surprised to see 6 anglers on the bank by 8am. Leigh Maitland was doing reasonably well but had vacted his swim by 11.30 along with 3 others. The few that endured the conditions all caught, but had significantly less than they may have expected. Some Hybrids to 2lb 8oz and odd decent Roach were caught mainly on the feeder, as float fishing was all but impossible. So why I tried the method in the evening, god only knows? It was a complete waste of time and I fluked just one solitary male Roach of 12oz on the gusher. I for one will be very glad when the wind changes direction. If anyone cares to help out tomorrow afternoon, at 2pm we are going to attempt to move the weed from the stretch. Thursday April 5th
The wind has dropped and there are some fish visible from the bridge. One Tench was caught early this morning, a male of around 3lbs. Only three fishing at the moment. It is now 11am.Further updates at 9pm tonight.
Jack Tisdall – [email protected] reports on the final of the Float only league held on the Roslea Lakes
The top 18 anglers from the Float Only Winter League fish the final over the weekend in excellent and calm weather conditions.
The match was fished two venues, the Roslea Lakes of Gavin’s, Lyon’s and Inver Lakes on Saturday and the River Erne at Cleenish Island, Cleenish Stands
and Schools on Sunday. The winner of the day one match was Bill Dodd (Lisbellaw) with 8.750 Kgs, fishing on Lyons Lake peg 4, Bill caught 24 Skimmer Bream and some Roach on the
Pole at 13 m. Day one runner Up was David Herron (Co Tyrone) on Gavin’s Peg 3, David also fished the pole for 7.120 Kgs of quality Roach.
Third overall was Tony Kersley (Ballycassidy) who was also at Lyons and caught 4.850 Kgs which included two Tench from peg 9.
The other section winner was Simon Huthwaite (Enniskillen) 2.030 Kgs of small fish on the Slider at Inver Lake.
The winner of the day two match was John Potters (Lisbellaw) with 13.410 Kgs, fishing on Cleenish Stands Peg 9, John caught quality Roach and Hybrids
on 10 m whip to hand and long pole. Runner Up was Paul Eyers (Enniskillen) on Cleenish Island Peg 1, Paul also fished the pole and Slider for 9.000 Kgs.
Third overall was Simon Huthwaite (Enniskillen) who was also on Cleenish Stands 8.580 Kgs from peg 7.
The other section winner was Nick Howell (Kilskeery) 7.120 Kgs at Schools.
The top prize of £300 went to John Potters won scored 11 pts beating Simon Huthwaite (£250) also 11 pts on total weight.
Dave Herron finished third and won £200 with a 10 point score.
John Potters with his winning catch of 13 kilos of mainly Roach.The winners, David Herron, John Potters and Simon Huthwaite
Back in the 1980’s and 1990’s stingray were a common target for shore anglers, especially from the St Osyth, Essex area, along the Hampshire coast, South Wales, and also from Cardigan Bay in mid Wales, with stingers also showing from numerous marks in between. But with the new millennium, catches seemed to stall and the numbers of stingray reaching UK waters dramatically dropped. So much so that few anglers now target them.
The only consistent catches in the past 10-years, and even here numbers have fallen, have come from marks inside Tralee Bay in Co Kerry, Ireland.
Shore fishing
There are numerous factors that could govern the reason why stingers are not as evident as before, but the erratic weather patterns of the past ten years would shoulder much of the blame. The common factor in the past when stingray were more numerous, were mild winters followed by an early spring.
Stingray are typically found on shallowish beaches and especially so if they are adjacent to, or in close proximity to estuaries. Big stingray can be caught in just two or three feet of water and right in amongst the surf tables!
The weather has to be just right though. The best conditions are a flat calm sea, little or no wind, hot and warm conditions with clear sunshine. Look to fish middle sized tides climbing towards big spring tides. Aim to fish a tide that ideally starts to flood around 1 to 2pm, and fish through the flood tide, though the middle hours are typically the most productive. The time of the tide is actually more important than the size though. There’s a reason for this. The hot sun will heat up the exposed sand. As the new tide floods over this hot sand, in turn the sand heats up the shallow water and the stingray like the warmer water so come in to the shallows. Fish outside this window and your chances drop massively.
Stingray love crab baits
The majority of fish are caught using shorter casts, no more than 40-yards, that puts the bait either in to, or just beyond the light surf tables. A bait at long range can sometimes score, but this is way less successful.
The top baits for stingray are peeler crab or king rag. A few fish are taken on mackerel and squid, but these are third rate for stingers and should only be used as a last resort.
These rays fight hard. They will run parallel through the surf and run off a fair bit of line, especially a big one. Just let it take line if it wants and slowly tire itself. When beaten, use the leader with an incoming wave to slide the fish ashore.
Watch the poisonous tail, which is used just like a scorpion’s arcing over the back! When removing the hook have someone put a gentle foot on the tail to stop it trying to wound you. Experienced anglers hold the tail with a thick cloth just below the sting to handle the fish and slide it back in to the water. Common sense will see both fish and angler come to no harm!
Well after the winter haul out of the boat and some spring maintenance I got the Clare Dragoon back in the water last week. My first trip out was last Monday with a group of Pike fisherman from the Czech Republic.
As it was still early in the season here I was not sure what to expect but at least the weather was lovely. Travelling down the estuary we were met by a lot of very active dolphins and when we got to Loop Head we immediately notice the fins of some Basking Sharks. As we got closer I was amazed to see a pod of at least 50 of these large sea mammals. There were more in this group together than I have ever seen before!
Basking Shark
So after that exciting start we settled down to the fishing. We tried for a while close in among the sharks to see if any Mackerel had turned up there but after 2 short blank drifts I moved about a mile and a half off the land to try a reef there. This immediately produced results and from then on for the rest of the day, as I tried all the “closer marks”, we had a very steady catch of fish.
There were plenty of Mackerel about mid water and plenty of Pollack in the 4 to 5lb range on the bottom. We also had Cod up to almost 10lb, Ling, Haddock, Coalfish and a few other odds and ends. All in all a very good day for so early in the year and I now look forward to lots of fine weather and a long fruitful season!
Another excellent week was had on Carrowmore Lake, with many anglers boating fine catches and returning salmon during excursions. The lakes total catch has more than doubled in the past week, with over 20 salmon caught in the past seven days. Visiting angler Dave Elliot, Enniskillen, enjoyed great sport, retaining one salmon of 12lbs and returning three others. Tony Gibbons had two for his day, including one of 8lbs which was retained, while John Cosgrove had one of 10lbs and returned a second. Mr P. Doherty boated a fine fish of 13.2lbs, Andy Latimer caught one of 12lbs while both Martin McCoy and Vincent Rigney had a salmon of 9lbs. Mr C. Long had one of 8.5lbs, while Ken Henry, Sligo, captured a fish of 8lbs.
