Party of anglers with a fine catch aboard the "Leah" in Killala Bay.
Party of anglers with a fine catch aboard the "Leah" in Killala Bay.
Donal Kennedy, skipper of the Leah, reported some good angling in Killala Bay on Friday 16th, following the rough weather of last week. A party of anglers from Longford and Athlone departed from Killala Harbour, with fresh winds from the south south east, which freshened and moved to blow from the west south west. The weather did not stop the party having a good day, with plenty of fine big mackerel caught.
Early in the day a drift over sand produced 14 fine thornback ray, the best 3 were up to 10 lb. Dabs and whiting were also boated, as well as lesser spotted dogfish (20 in total) up to 2 lb. A move to rougher ground yielded pouting, pollack and coalfish, with the best pollack of the day taken by Damien Neary, Athlone, weighing approximately 8 lb. Leah
36′ Ocean Tramp. 180 HP Turbo FordSkipper: Donal Kennedy Base: Enniscrone Operational area: P5. From Enniscrone and Killala within a 30 mile radius. Notes: Reef, shark wreck and general deep sea fishing. Address: ‘Atlantic Mist’, Enniscrone, Co. Sligo. Telephone: +353 96 36644 or +353 86 8174509 Fax: +353 96 37731 Email:[email protected]Web:www.dkennedyangling.ie
David Anchell, Co Tipperary with a fine 22 lb. pike on fly from the Foxford area
David Anchell, Co Tipperary with a fine 22 lb. pike on fly from the Foxford area
Angling guide Kenny Sloan reported good action on the fly recently for pike in the Foxford area with visiting anglers David Anchell, Co. Tipperary, and Everett Sharp, Alabama (U.S.A). They enjoyed boating a magnificent catch of 14 pike on the fly during one session. The biggest weighed in at an excellent 22 lb. Only four of the pike weighed less than 10 lb. Conditions were just right with a good westerly wind and pike were taking the fly just sub-surface. Good pike fishing can be expected from now on as the weather changes.
For guided pike angling in the Foxford area, contact Kenny Sloan on +353 (0)949256501 or +353 (0)879670310.
Everett Sharp, USA with a fine fly caught pike in the Foxford area.
The Paddy McDonald Memorial Cup competition was hosted recently by the Conn and Cullin Anglers Association. Twenty-one anglers participated, with seven trout weighed in at the evening function at Hineys of Crossmolina. In first place was Stephen Browne, Cloghans who had two trout for 1.465 kgs. Joe Quinn, Ballina took second place with Danny McGovern taking third.
Elsewhere on the lakes, angling effort was low due to blustery conditions. Fishing out of Pontoon Bridge Hotel, Tony Rushton, London, had three trout to a Silver Invicta, his best 1.5lbs. William Phelan, Co. Dublin, had one of just under 2lbs, while Liz Burke, Co. Kerry & Dublin, had one, as did ghillie Jack Mellet, with both fish weighing just over 1lbs and both taken on a Claret and Mallard.
Fishing out of Cloghans Bay, Co. Donegal pair Enda Hoey and Peter O’Sullivan had five trout between them for two days, all taken on sedges, their best weighing 1.5 lbs. Angling in the Crossmolina area, Jim Rooney, Co. Cork, had two trout to black flies, while Dublin pair Stuart Cleary and Michael McMahon had three to their boat, their best 2 lbs.
The Ballisodare River had been in severe flood for most of the week, as a result few anglers fished. Despite this, few anglers did have success, with several salmon caught and most fish released.
The windy weather experienced of late discouraged angling at Burrishoole but despite the poor conditions seven salmon were caught for the week. Those to have success on the fishery were Bernard Wojner, Co. Dublin who had two salmon, Dermott Seymore, Partry, who had one wild salmon (returned) and Joe Donnellan, Srahmore, who had 4 salmon (all wild and returned). There was also 8 sea trout caught, all of which were returned.
Good sport was had on the river once again this week with 8 salmon reported. David Nevin, Newport, caught 2 salmon of 8 lb. and 4 lb., with both fish released. Fergus Rothwell also had one of 8 lb. which was released while Jimmy Lawlor, Westport, caught one of 5 lb. and also lost another. David Mc Clune had one grilse of 4 lb. with E. Kennedy, Newport, also landing a grilse of 5.5 lb. Later in the week, David Mc Clune caught a further two grilse, one 5 lb. and another of 5.5 lb. which was released.
Bryan Ward reports that it was a poor week on the lower Moy fisheries around Ballina town, not surprising with virtually no angling effort combined with high water levels. The most significant catches were recorded in the mid and upper stretches of the Moy, where the weekly combined catch totalled an excellent 376 salmon. However, the upper Ballina Salmon Anglers’ water did produce good catches as did the Mount Falcon fishery, where John Price, U.K., landed a total of 10 salmon, releasing all but one.
The Knockmore, Attymass and Coolcronan water’s all produced relatively good sport. At Coolcronan, Chris Cosgrove and Dickie Harte, N.Ireland, both had success landing a grilse each to the worm. At Byrnes, angler’s enjoyed some success, while good angling was reported from Armstrong’s and Gannon’s. The Foxford Fishery also enjoyed a good week, as did Rinanney and the Foxford town fisheries.
At Cloongee, anglers enjoyed relative success, again despite the low angling effort. Among those catch fish at Cloongee were Christian Moranzoni, France, who had two small grilse and a further 5 lb. grilse while spinning. Marco Kelser, Switzerland, also had one of 5lbs while Beatrice Valaize had a fine fish of 10 lb. also to a spinner.
East Mayo Anglers’ water also enjoyed success, with fish being caught on fly, spinner and worm, the majority of which were sportingly released. Christian Lischke, Germany, had two on spinner at East Mayo, as did fellow German Thomas Weiss, while Matthias Engles (also Germany) had two small grilse on fly.
Larry Durrigan with a salon of 19 lb. from the River Glyde
River Dee
From early Last week both rivers got about 2~3 inches of water and a good steady run of both sea trout and salmon entered the system, The water had a nice bit of colour but there was about 2 foot of clarity so it made the sea tout fishing on the fly during the day more successful. l
We had a sea trout competition on the Dee last Sunday, the results are as follows:
1st Martin Mc Kenny Ardee 3 lb 1 oz
2nd Jim Kerns Stabannan 2 lb
3rd Brain Johnson Ardee 1 lb 3oz.
Lots of fish about 0.5 -1 lb where caught and returned,small sea trout seem to be the bulk of the fresh run at the moment, lots of salmon where observed rolling and pitching on the day.
River Glyde
Salmon fishing on the Glyde has been good, the main run is on with salmon been caught every day despite low angling pressure.
Last Wednesday Larry Durrigan Ardee had 3 salmon including 1 great fish which measured a little over 35” which on the conversion table puts the fish at 19 lbs the other 2 where 5 lb and 9 lb.
On the same day our chairman Gerry Keenan had 2 salmon 7 lb & 6 lb.
Peter Callaghan Ardee 1 x 6 lb,
On Friday Antony Reynolds Castlebellingham had 2 salmon and Ray Thomson also had 2
Sunday morning Peter Callaghan had another fish of 8lb and Gerry Keenan had another 2 fish,
Monday Peter Mc Caughty had1 fish and Antony Reynolds 1 fish. All fish where fresh caught on shrimp and returned
Prospects look good this week with fresh fish coming in on most tides and with the fish pass working again on Lynns weir on the Glyde its driving the fish up the system.
The last two weeks has seen a great improvement in the number of Salmon arriving in the River Fane. Some very big Salmon have been taken including a 16 lb fish caught by Michael McKenny from Ardee which was returned. Patsy Mathews from Dundalk had a 13lb fish from the Mill Pool and David Crawley from Dundalk had a lovely 11 1/2lb Salmon which won him the Annual Salmon Competition for the Irene Quinn Cup. Robert Babington had a fish 14lbs which was returned, Eamon Berrils from Dundalk had a 15 lb fish, Seamus Morgan from Crossmaglen had a 11lb fish.
There are plenty of Salmon in the river however more rain is needed to take the fish upriver to the faster water at Stephenstown and Knockbridge. Most of the of the Salmon are being taken in the river from Stephenstown Bridge down to the sea.
John Holmes specimen wrasse 2.36 kilos with Suzanne Campion, head of Business Developement, Inland Fisheries Ireland.
John Holmes specimen wrasse 2.36 kilos with Suzanne Campion, head of Business Developement, Inland Fisheries Ireland.
‘Screaming Reels’ from Rosie’s sea angling club in Cork won the 26TH Rosslare Small Boats competition, which was held from 10-16th September with 26 different species of fish in what was a very tight competition, beating 35 other boats from Ireland and the UK.
Sponsored by Inland Fisheries Ireland, Failte Ireland, Daiwa Sports UK and Sea Angler magazine, the event attracted more than 100 anglers from the Isle of Wight, Southport, Liverpool, Blackpool, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. All anglers stayed locally for up to two weeks. Weather conditions for the competition were extremely challenging with hurricanes blowing early in the week making boat fishing impossible. However as the week wore on, conditions improved and competitors managed to fish the normally four day competition in three days by launching their boats once from Kilrane in Rosslare and twice from Kilmore Quay and fishing restricted areas along the Wexford Coast. The fishing was excellent with a total of 33 different species recorded!
The competition was exciting from start to finish due to the close results each day. The overall results demonstrated this with first place going to ‘Screaming Reels’ (Martyn Rayner, Seirt Shults, Neville Murphy, Rosie’s Sea Angling club in Cork) with 26 species for 31.16 kilos. This is a fantastic achievement for this team of anglers who have won the competition three times in the last four years.
This was followed closely in second place by ‘Nirvana’ (Richie Stead, Keith Pemberton from the Wirral boat angling club) with 26 species for 19.20 kilos. In third place was ‘Rogie’s Girl’ (Mark Rogan, Jake Rogan, Darren Leatherbarrow, Mike Woods from Southport boat angling club) with 24 species for 19.88 kilos. Jake Rogan aged 15 was also the winning junior of the competition and it is the second time he has fished it with his Dad, Mark Rogan.
A great variety of fish were recorded during the week with 33 different types of species including coalfish, dogfish, dab, flounder, pollack, ray, wrasse and many mini species such as corkwing wrasse, dragonet and sea scorpion. There were some fantastic specimen fish caught during the week with two specimen ballan wrasse caught, one weighing 2.36 kilos caught by John Holmes from Blackpool and the other weighing 2.20 kilos caught by Phil Dawson from Lincolnshire. There were two other specimen fish recorded, one a fine specimen bull huss of 7.92 kilos caught by John Williams on board the boat ‘Uptide Girl’ from Wallasey. Stefan Young on board the boat ‘Northern Lights’ from Wigan caught a rockling of 0.82 kilos. (All specimen fish have to be verified by the ISFC).
The heaviest round fish was a conger weighing 8.78 kilos caught by the boat Cod ‘n’ Bass and the heaviest flat fish was a flounder weighing 0.40 kilos caught by the boat ‘Reel Action’. The best female angler was Sue Tait from the boat ‘Predator 2’, from Cork who had 24 species for 16.40 kilos.
‘Redmond’s The Bay’ in Rosslare Strand hosted the prizegiving for the first time in the history of this competition which was a great success, the hospitality of John Redmond and his staff was outstanding. Prizes were awarded in a variety of categories including the best specimen, heaviest flat fish, heaviest round fish, winners from each day as well as the overall winners. The prizes were presented by Josie Mahon, Inspector, Inland Fisheries Ireland, Blackrock.
Screamin Reels 1 team winners with Josie Mahon, Inland Fisheries Ireland
The total prize fund for the competition was €14,000 and consisted of a variety of prizes including fishing equipment products as well as substantial monetary prizes and engraved trophies. Sponsors for the competition in the UK are Daiwa Sports Ltd and Sea Angler magazine and in Ireland, sponsors included Inland Fisheries Ireland, Failte Ireland and the Kilmore Quay Harbour office. Josie Mahon Inspector – Eastern River Basin District
Tel +353 (0)1 278 7022
Email [email protected]
