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Bright sunshine spoils fishing at Ballybunion Angling Festival

By
myleskelly
-

The Ballybunion Angling Festival provided the perfect venue for our club competition held on Sunday 25 March. Not only did our members swell the massed ranks of anglers taking part the sponsored Festival event the excellent prizes on offer swelled the potential prize pool – a definite win-win situation.

The weather on the day was without doubt the best we have fished in so far this season. A beautiful day with clear blue skies, a light breeze and unbroken sunshine. The sea state reflected the overhead conditions with only a slight ‘lap’ at the water’s edge.

These are of course not the ideal conditions for daylight angling in March and this was reflected in the tally of fish recorded and returned. Of the 53 anglers who took part half unfortunately blanked with the remainder ‘scratching’ for fish on a beach where fish presence was at best patchy.

Nevertheless fish were caught and Tralee Bay anglers were well represented on the podium. The overall response of the anglers was that the event – and the festival as a whole – was a great success and one which will surely be repeated in future years.

Senior

1st Aidan O’Halloran

2nd David O’Sullivan

3rd Eugene Farrelly

Junior

1 Denny Morrity
John Tobin
Tralee Bay Sea Angling Club
Web: www.traleebaysac.org

East Cork bass in the surf on a sunny Sunday afternoon

By
myleskelly
-
Bass No. 4, again lug was the bait
Bass No. 4, again lug was the bait

As Sunday was a lovely sunny day I headed to the coast for some daytime bass fishing. There was a strong southeasterly wind which had blown up a big surf so I was going to have to stick to bait fishing. I got to the shore just as the tide was beginning to push in. There was a lot of kelp at my preferred mark so I moved about 200 m further down the beach until I was clear of the weed, set up two rods with 4/0 pennel pulleys baited with fresh peeler crab on one and lug on the other as usual.

Bass No. 1 was taken on lug
Bass No. 1 was taken on lug

I had a couple of strong tugs but nothing was hooked, then as the tide began to push in more strongly I had another strong tug on the rod baited with lug, This time the fish was well hooked. From the fight it felt to be a small bass and a minute or two later I eased a 36 cm fish on to the sand.

Shortly afterwards I spotted a small knock on the rod with the crab. The line went slack as I lifted the rod, I reeled in the slack and connected with the fish, again it did not feel to be big. It was another small bass, similar in size at 36 cm.

It looked like a shoal of small bass was moving in. Shortly afterwards I had a strong bite. This felt to be a better fish, but then the line went slack – the fish was gone!! A few minutes I spotted a large seal in a breaking wave just at the distance I was casting. It is possible that it had snatched the bass off my hook. The seal worked its way up and down a 250 m section of coastline right in front of me for about two hours. It was probably chasing the bass shoal. During that time I did not have another bite.

Eventually the seal moved on. A little later, just as the sun was sinking below the cliffs behind me, I had another bass, this time on lug. This one was bigger, a 46 cm fish.

Following that I had two small flounder close to high tide, the first was about 34 cm, the second barely 25 cm long. Then over high tide as the light was beginning to fade I had a fourth small bass, again on lug. This gave the rod a mighty whack and I initially though it was going to be a good size fish. It did put up a spirited fight but I could feel that it was not big. It was another 36 cm bass.

Bass No. 4, again lug was the bait
Bass No. 4, again lug was the bait

I fished on for about another hour but there were no more bites, the fish had moved on as the tide began to drop. I was happy enough with the result of 4 bass and 2 flounder for a daytime session with a southeasterly wind but reckon I would have done a lot better if the seal had not been there.
Rockhunter
rockhunter-southcoastbass.blogspot.com

Great fishing for light line anglers in Cork Harbour

By
myleskelly
-
George Stockley with one of the many whiting he caught on the day
George Stockley with one of the many whiting he caught on the day

What a great day Sunday was!  Not only was the weather great but the fishing was great as well and this despite an easterly wind blowing; so much for the old adage ‘…when the winds blow from the east….’

George Stockley with one of the many whiting he caught on the day
George Stockley with one of the many whiting he caught on the day

25 anglers turned out to fish and were whisked off to the fishing grounds in Deep Hole by the Wreck Hunter, Naomh Cartha, & Lagosta II of the Cork Harbour fleet. One of those fishing was Cobh SAC angler George Stockley who at 81 years of age put many younger anglers to shame. As Cobh SAC Treasurer, Pat O’ Shea, reports ‘…George and I have been fishing together for over 40 years and once again George has put me to the sword, so as to speak. Both of us were fishing together on the Lagosta II and George finished up with 86 fish to my 84. Mind you I wasn’t the only one shown up; the only two on board with more fish than George were Irish Home Nations Team captain, John Dennehy, and local angler Danny Kane, who last year was fishing for a place in the National Boat Team in the Fish-Offs. That’ll show you how skilled George is as an angler. Well done George!’
A total of 1578 countable fish were caught; that’s an average of 63 fish per angler. Wow!

The breakdown of fish were; 1239 whiting, 272 dabs, 7 grey gurnard, 5 tub gurnard, 37 lsd, 2 pouting, 10 poor cod, 3 plaice, 2 flounder, and 1 scorpion fish. As was the case in February, there were mackeral caught on all of the boats. However, they weren’t as prolific as they had been in that competition.
Well done, once again, to John Dennehy of Cork, who for the second month on the trot won the competition. John is currently the captain of the Ireland Home Nation Boat Angling team, and with good reason.
The top 3 are as follows

  • 1. John Dennehy, 112 fish, 1515 pts, 100.0%
  • 2. Slywester Skowronski, 95 fish, 1358 pts, 100.0%
  • 3. Martin Perryman, 71 fish, 980 pts, 100.0%

The next light line competition is on Sunday 22nd April. If you’d fancy fishing this then give Danny Kane a buzz on 086 – 8161946 or Mary Geary on 021 – 4812167 (or on email on [email protected]).
Pat O’Shea
Cork Harbour Angling Hub
www.corkharbouranglinghub.blogspot.com 

Very low water at Lanesborough but a few 'bits' about

By
myleskelly
-

Paul Waghorn is back at Laneborough for his 2012 angling escapades and he will be providing regular daily reports at his website www.lanesboroughangling.ie. Here is an extract from his first 2 days angling this season.
27/03 Arrived earlier today but started fishing at 5pm. Water is very low and weedy. The nice weather had brought a few casual anglers out and some smallish Roach were their reward. I had 20 minutes on the gusher with 4 sprat sized Roach before a move to the bridge as the sun created some shade into the swim. I caught 7 fish with the best about 6oz.
Normally the navigation channel would unfishable in March, but with levels close to what I’d expect in May, float presentation was easy. 1 Perch of 2oz was caught before having the final 20 minutes of daylight above the bridge on the Longford side. It was here that I netted my first bigger fish of my spring campaign with a Roach of around 14oz. Three more 2-3oz fish followed and then it was time to quit. I’ve had far worse first days, but the amount of weed showing is going to make fishing very difficult at Lanesborough this year. Before you go to sleep tonight, please pray for rain, and ask that Brighton and Hove Albion continue their run of form to make the play-offs!
28/03 The temperature dropped close to freezing overnight and the river was steaming when I made my early walk at 8.15. Gerard and his father from Dublin were fishing above the bridge and were very cold. As the sun came up, it was evident a number of larger fish had amassed in the stretch, and although unwilling to feed, were clearly visible from the bridge with my polaroids. The pair continued for the duration of the day to catch probably 10lb of bits with a couple of Rudd of 8-10oz. Tim Collier arrived for an evening session and raked some of the weed from the disabled swims. He had 3 Rudd of similar size to Gerard’s. My session produced just two small Perch on the feeder. There were other anglers present but no fish of note were reported. Tomorrow we are looking for volunteers to help clear the abnormal amount of weed that is making fishing impossible in many areas. If you are able to help, please meet at the river around 2pm. This will benefit all planning to visit Lanesborough in the coming weeks. Bring a rake if possible.
Paul Waghorne
www.lanesboroughangling.ie
 

Plenty of Duckfly on Corrib, Olives hatching, Mayfly too

By
myleskelly
-

Eamon Walsh reports that duckfly hatches continued on Corrib over the last week, with bright sunshine and warm summer temperatures making an appearance for the first time this year. Anglers were out in good numbers, also for the first time this year!

Northern Ireland Angler Colin Wilson fishing out of Molloy’s, Carraig had 2 fish for 3lbs on dry flies, while a Swiss fisherman also fishing from Molloys had a great week’s fishing, keeping 3 fish of an average 1.5lbs and returning many more.

The Cornamona Anglers ran their members competition on Sunday in bright sunshine, not the most suitable of fishing days, a total of 11 anglers caught 7 fish. Peadar Breathnach retained his title with a fine trout of over 3lbs.

Frank Reilly reports that fishing in the Greenfields area has improved with the large hatches of duck fly. 15 Anglers reported 21 fish for 28 rod-days, the pick of them being a 4lbs trout caught by Niall Tonge.  Other notable catches included Sean Dixon and Kevin Oats who had 3 fish for 5lbs, and Paul Dignam and Mick Killeen with 5 fish, the best of which was over 3lbs, all to wetfly.  Aidan Cahill from Galway also landed 5 fish in one day.  Frank Reilly also had good fishing with 4 fish over the weekend.

Good hatches of olives have also begun to appear on the lake in the past few days with some anglers also reporting seeing a few mayfly, which will surely stir some more anglers into life.

The Braithreach na Coiribe club held the annual Greaney Cup Competition on the lower lake, and enjoyed a great day out, as Tommy Kelly IFI reports, with 36 anglers weighing in 26 trout for 69 lbs.

Harold O’Toole from Galway won the cup with 4 trout weighing in at over 11lbs, with Ronan Sweeney, also from Galway, coming in with 4 fish for 9lbs, and third was Tony Tighe from Moycullen with 2 trout at over 6.5 lbs.

A Garda Competition was won by Seamus Kelly who had 2 fish for 3.5 lbs, while Mike Bradley came second with a fine fish of 2lbs.

Donal Forrest and Pat Hoare from Blarney, fishing out of Corrib Wave Guesthouse, had a great day on wetfly, with a catch of 5 trout for 11lbs always a good return. Eoin Kelly and Willie Molloy took 5 trout for 7lbs fishing wetfly. Kevin and Mike Molloy, also fishing wets, had 4 fish for 7.5lbs.

While there is plenty of duck fly hatching, good fishing can still be had while trolling. Tom Molloy had 4 fish for 7lbs while Darren Higgins also had 4 trout for over 7lbs.  Patrick Molloy and Padraic Fahy had 6 fish for 11.5 lbs, their best being over 3lbs.  Kenny O’Toole and a friend had 11 fish over 3 days.

The warm spring weather seems to have really brought the western lakes to life, and I expect to have more reports of good fishing over the next couple of weeks.

Lots of fly hatching on Mask and well worth a visit

By
myleskelly
-

Ronan Cusack reports that Mask exploded with fly life over the weekend, and plenty of anglers took full advantage of the bonanza. Duckfly, olives, sedge and even the odd early mayfly were very much on the menu.

Local Ballinrobe anglers Michael Vahey and Kevin Egan had a lively afternoon on Monday last with 7 good trout on a variety of wetfly patterns (best fish 2lbs). Kevin fished again on Sunday and he had a further 5 (best fish 2lbs, all returned). Liam Conroy and his son Ruairi from Tourmakeady fished on Monday and they had 3 trout along with several undersize fish for the day (best fish 1.5lbs, all returned).

Gerry and John O’Brien from Ballinrobe had 8 trout fishing buzzers on Saturday last (best fish 2.75lbs, all returned). Padraig Kerrigan, Clonbur, also fishing buzzer on Sunday had 6 trout for his day (best fish 2lbs, all returned). Ronan Cusack fished with Mark Rogan from Waterford over the weekend and they had 14 fish in total on a combination of nymphs and buzzer (best fish 2lbs, all returned).

Noel Fay from Kildare had 3 fish on wets on Sunday and also reported returning several undersize fish throughout the day (best fish 1.5lbs). Pat Feerick and Alan Dowling, Partry, also fished in calm conditions on Sunday and they had 7 fish for their day (best fish 3lbs).

Overall Mask is fishing extremely well and well worth a visit.

Ronan also guides on Mask and can be contacted at [email protected] or on 087 2869487.

Spring has sprung in Galway and water levels are perfect

By
myleskelly
-

Spring has sprung in Galway, and water levels are now perfect for all methods, with 2 sluice gates open on the weir. More fish are starting to be seen in the river, although there were just 2 reported for the week. Local angler Sean O’Toole landed his second fish of the season, a lovely 13.5lbs springer, taken while spinning, and Salthill angler Dave Lenihan took an 8.5lbs fish on the shrimp.

With water levels continuing at this good level and beautiful settled weather I would hope for more salmon to report in the next few days.

11kg of roach on the Boyle River on a pleasant afternoon

By
myleskelly
-
Congratulations to Leigh who has recently secured a sponsorship deal with tackle manufacturers Browning.
Congratulations to Leigh who has recently secured a sponsorship deal with tackle manufacturers Browning.

Leigh Maitland had a good afternoon on the Boyle River, Co Roscommon, 11kg of mainly Roach with a nice bonus Trout thrown in for good measure.  He mainly fished the pole at 13m and then fished a stick float on the far bank using a combination of maggots and caster over a bed of groundbait.

Congratulations to Leigh who has recently secured a sponsorship deal with tackle manufacturers Browning.
Congratulations to Leigh who has recently secured a sponsorship deal with tackle manufacturers Browning.

Leigh “Browning”  Maitland
Coarseandmatch.com

Low water on the Laune, no salmon caught recently

By
myleskelly
-

As of  Saturday 24th water at just over 1 foot on the gauge at Johnston’s.  The rain last Friday brought the river up slightly.  There was a fish caught at Johnston’s two weeks ago but no details.  The water level looked grand for fish to travel but no sign of Trout or Salmon. One could be expecting Seatrout to be putting in an appearance soon.

Beat 3 would be the best prospect for a fish at this time of year, with the best chance of a pull coming from spinning.

Spent Fish

You still need to watch out for well mended spent fish at this time of year.  It would be a shame to damage a mending hen on her way back to the sea.
Laune Anglers Association
www.launeanglers.com

Salmon running the Lee, average size 10lb

By
myleskelly
-

Reports came to the MAcroom office on Monday of 5 salmon landed on the River Lee averaging 10lbs each over the last week. All methods are working at the moment.

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