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Summer action onboard the Wreckhunter

megrim
A megrim caught just outside the entrance to Cork Harbour

Joe Lynch, skipper of the Wreckhunter, is reporting on a great season so far. The Wreckhunter is the biggest boat in the Harbour Charter fleet. Its a fine catamaran with ample deck space. The wheelhouse boasts state of the art electronics with pride of place going to the 3D depth sounder which gives a graphic illustration of the ocean floor.

Joe gives us this report ‘…Wreckhunter’s season so far has been dominated by the very uncertain supply of mackeral all season, as has been the case for all other skippers as well. Cod have figured highly, on occasions catching them like mackeral; sometimes not much bigger. On one memorable evening we had 150 cod in 45 minutes, right at the end of the session. Best cod so far was a lovely 17lber  caught by James O’ Callaghan on the Ling Rocks. Pollack have been relatively scarce and noticeably smaller than usual; are cod out-competing them for the food supply?

Cod
Best cod so far was a lovely 17lber caught by James O' Callaghan on the Ling Rocks.

In the Cobh International we had the biggest conger on 3 of the 4 days; 15kg, 13kg, and Danny Kane’s 19kg specimen on the last day. Conditions were tough this year and there were very few fresh mackerel. We are looking forward to catching some fine cod this Autumn in the predicted first cold snaps of the winter. The boat will be staying in the water this year, where hopefully it will be safe from the fingers of Jack Frost and ready for some BIG cod action!!!’

If you’d fancy a day’s fishing out on the Wreckhunter contact Joe directly. Contact details can be found on the Wreckhunter website here.

Courtesy of the Cork Harbour Angling Hub

Recent weather no help to Clare coast charters, but prime time coming

Tope
One of the lads had a Tope on a spinning rod which was good fun
Thornback ray
In the estuary we had some fair sessions with the majority of the catch made up of thornback ray in the 5 to10lb bracket

I have been driven demented by the weather over the last week!! Not able to get out on the days we are booked and am only getting very short weather windows. It is as bad a spell as I can remember for the time of year and I am still hoping that we might get another spell of fine weather before the winter closes in.

Before the weather really broke I had a group in from Holland. Although the weather was not perfect we did get fishing. In the estuary we had some fair sessions with the majority of the catch made up of thornback ray in the 5 to10lb bracket. One of the lads had a Tope on a spinning rod which was good fun. The fishing would come on in spurts depending on the stage of the tide.

Tope
One of the lads had a Tope on a spinning rod which was good fun

Out to sea we had some very good shad fishing for Pollack with fish on every cast. We did try a shark drift but with the sea in a mixed up state due to the changing wind it was hard to get a steady drift and the boat was turning and making it very difficult.

I still have quite a few trips booked over the next 10 days so I will be hoping for a change for the better in the conditions and hopefully can get out to what should be prime time fishing!
Luke Aston
Clare Dragoon, LOCHIN 366, 650HP.
Carrigaholt Co. Clare

Make a booking

To experience some of the best deep sea fishing available in Ireland contact Luke. Telephone: +353 65 9058209 or +353 87 6367544
Email: [email protected] Web: www.fishandstay.com

 

Double Dutch result for bass anglers in Cobh

Harry Sliep with his first bass
Harry Sliep with his first bass
Harry Sliep with his first bass
Harry Sliep with his first bass

Father and son Pete and Harry Sliep have been to Ireland many times fishing but neither had ever caught a bass. They tasked Richie Ryan of Eire Bass to break that duck. Not one to shy from a challenge, Richie left the quayside in Cobh and within minutes both father and son had their first bass on board. In 30 years coming to Ireland fishing father Pete could not believe his luck.

Pete Sliep with his first bass
Harry's father, Pete, also caught his first bass on the trip

Four bass were caught and three lost in a quick session before their flight back to Holland that afternoon.They have promised to return and  book Richie again next year and to spread the word about Cork Harbour Bass. For those of you worried about a certain closing date looming at the end of September remember October can be an excellent month for bass fishing.
Richie Ryan
Saltwater fly fishing Guide.
“Sea Hawk”

Makle a booking

Why not try fishing from the only licensed saltwater fly-fishing boat in Ireland in the second largest natural harbour in the world?
Web: www.corkbass.com Tel: +353 (0)86 1940744

 

Very consistent salmon and sea trout fishing reported from Lough Currane.

Angling guide Vincent Appleby reports that on Monday the 12th of September, Lough Currane was at a standstill as the back end of Hurricane Katia past the South West, so my Noble Anglers headed for the River Inny and so far no reports of any real rod benders. Amount of rainfall 0.5 mm and max air temperature 16.6°C.

13/9/11 There was some cracking fishing on Lough Currane today, so straight to catch of the day, in the salmon Department, Mr. Dona McCarthy of Waterville and the USA, caught two grilse and finished his day off with a cracker of a Salmon in the 12 lb. class all caught on the fly fishing with his ghillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy and just for the record Dona put the grilse back.  Now to the C&R fly department, Mr, Julian Smith and party, from Scotland fishing out of www.oshealoughcurrane.com caught 8 juniors and finished their day off with a grilse. Now we head up stream to the Commeragh River where renowned angler and a great manipulator with his spinning rod, Mr. Mike Thian, caught a fine grilse on worm. Wind WNW fresh to strong with reasonable cloud cover with heavy showers at times, amount of rainfall 4.1 mm and max air temperature 15.2°C.                                                    

14/9/11 There was some good fishing on Lough Currane today, so straight to the action and the fly department, first in the striking zone was local ghillie Mr. Junior Scully and his client, who caught 8 Juniors and finished their day off with a fine sea trout of 4 ¾ lb. and his ghillie Mr. Junior Scully was telling me that the Juniors were all returned.  Staying with the sea trout, in the C&R department, Mr. Julian Smith and party from Scotland kept their rhythm in their fly rods today, with 10 Juniors. Also in good form in the C&R sea trout department, was Mr. Nick White from Wales, who caught 5 sea trout ranging from Juniors up to 2 lb. fishing with his ghillie Mr. Tom O’Shea – [email protected] and a guest fishing with his ghillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy, caught 2 Juniors. Now to the salmon and sea trout department. Local ghillie Mr. Bob Priestly caught a fine grilse and 1 Junior on the drift. Now to the trolling department Mr. Walter Rushe of Switzerland fishing with his ghillie Mr. Frank Donnelly and of www.lakelandshouse.com caught 2 Salmon ranging from 6 lb. up to 7 lb. Max air temperature 15.4°C.

15/9/11 Straight to the Sea Trout fly department, and first in the striking zone, a guest fishing with his ghillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy caught 7 sea trout, also in good form was Mr. Bob Amhlung from Luxembourg, fishing with his ghillie Mr. Tom O’Shea – [email protected] caught 2 Juniors, which he sportingly put back, and staying with sea trout Local ghillie Mr. Bob Priestly also caught 2 Sea Trout. Now we cut across the Valley to the River Inny and there was a fine 6 lb. Salmon caught on the fly by Mr. Merlin Males from Denver Colorado USA, Merlin was fishing with his ghillie Mr. Sion Brain – www.kbfishingireland.com and just for the record this was Merlin’s first ever Salmon and his first time ever using a double handed fly rod, I can see why he is called Merlin, he is a Magician with the fly rod and the truth of the pudding is in the eating of. Amount of rainfall 10.1 mm and max air temperature 16.0°C.

16/9/11 There was some good action on the Waterville Fishery, in the trolling department on Lough Currane, Mr. John Baller of the UK and fishing out of www.butlerarms.com caught a 4.5 lb. grilse, fishing with his ghillie Mr. Neil O’Shea – www.oshealoughcurrane.com and catch of the day on the Lake goes to Mr. Phil Staniforth, and his ghillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy, they caught 2 salmon and finished their day off with a junior, In the sea trout department local ghillie Mr. Bob priestly caught 2 Juniors. Now to the River Inny, Mr. Michael Roden caught two grilse ranging from 4 lb. up to 6 lb. which Michael sportingly returned both salmon, also in good form, was Mr. Bob Amhlung from Luxemburg caught 2 grilse, ranging from 6 lb. up to 6.5 lb., now to the C&R of the day on the Inny, and that goes to Mr. Ivor O’Connor, who caught a fine 8 lb. Salmon. Wind WNW light to fresh with heavy showers throughout the day, amount of rainfall 12.2 mm, max air temperature 15.6°C.                 

17/9/11 Straight to the action and Salmon department on the River Inny and I can tell you there was a fine catch of 6 Salmon caught by Mr. John Curnow of Kinsale Co Cork and party ranging from Grilse up to 12.5 lb., John was telling me that all were put back except the 12.5 lb. and who could blame him, because he caught it on the fly, and on a single handed fly rod, and in my book that’s catch of the year on the Inny so far, staying with the Inny Mr. Michael Roden caught a fine 6 lb. Grilse fishing with his ghillie Mr. Junior Scully. Now we cut across the valley to Lough Currane and staying in the Salmon department Mr. Bill Rushby fishing with his ghillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy, Caught 3 juniors and finished their day off with a 7 lb. salmon all caught on the fly, In the total sea trout department, Mr. Peter Liddle fishing with his ghillie Mr. Neil O’Shea – www.oshealoughcurrane.com caught 4 juniors on the fly. Wind WNW fresh to strong with reasonable cloud cover with the odd shower, amount of rainfall 3.7 mm and max air temperature 14.2°C.

18/9/11 The Inny takes the headlines, first in the C&R striking zone was Mr. Michael Roden with 2 salmon to his rod both Grilse, were in the 6lbs class, as always Michael was fishing with his Gillie Mr. Junior Scully, also in good form on the Inny was Mr. Peter Liddel who caught a grilse, fishing with his ghillie Mr. Neil O’Shea – www.loughcurrane.com Mr. Michael Henry of Paris France caught a fine 7 lb. grilse fishing with his ghillie Mr. Vincent O’Sullivan – www.vinventsfishing.com Now to Lough Currane and C&R of the day goes to Mr. John Twomey fishing with his ghillie Mr. Tom O’Shea – [email protected] They caught 10 Juniors on the drift. Staying in the sea trout department Mr. Bill Rushby caught 4 Juniors on the fly fishing with his ghillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy and last but not least local ghillie Mr. Bob Priestly also caught a couple of Juniors on the drift. Wind NW fresh to strong this morning and light to fresh in the afternoon with the odd shower. Amount of rainfall 1.5 mm and max air temperature 14.1°C.

That is your ration for this week, from your Gillie/Guide and the Waterville fishery. No Spin No Fly’s just Fact.

Vincent Appleby Angling Ghillie and Instructor for salmon and trout fishing

Address: Eureka Lodge, Caherdaniel West, Co. Kerry.

Tel: +353 (0) 87 207 4882

Mobile: +353 (0)87 2074882                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.salmonandseatrout.com

Last Irish Ladies Flyfishing Association Trial for 2011 Season

Last ILFA Trial for 2011 Season to be held on Eskragh Lough Dungannon

ILFA trial
Members of the ILFA at their recent trial on Lough Carragh Co Kerry Women standing Back row - Jenny Casey, Julie Gerry and Mary Murphy Women kneeling – Stephanie Troy, Susan Brown, Madeleine Kelly & Hazel O’Connor and local boatmen

The Irish Ladies Flyfishing Association will be holding their 4th and last trial of their 2011 league season on Eskragh Lough near Dungannon on Saturday 1st October.

This is the last of their 4 trials which will be used to select the women’s team to represent Ireland at the Ladies International Flyfishing Championships in Scotland in 2012.

The event is open to all members.  To become a member please visit www.irishladiesflyfishing.com and in order to take part in this competition it’s essential to become a member before Monday 26th September.

Jenny Casey from Co Kildare and Chairman of the ILFA said

This is the first event of 2011 that we’ve organised in Ulster and I’m looking forward to it.  I hope that we will be joined by women from all over Northern Ireland.  I’ve visited Eskragh before and it’s beautiful – the fishing is great.  Women will be travelling from all over Ireland to fish our competition and I know that they will enjoy their day. Our aim is to run events in each of the 4 provinces and my hope is that each event will be supported by women from each of the provinces.

The event is being organised in conjunction with Donnovan Ross owner of the Fishery who said

‘The lake has been fishing superbly and I’m looking forward to welcoming the ladies to Eskragh and to hosting this competition.  There are big fish up to 10lbs in the lake and I’m hoping that some of the women will be able to ‘angle’ them out.’

For women who’d like to learn to fly-fish the ILFA will host several days throughout the coming months to introduce women to angling and social days for members and their friends.

For more information on these events or to join the ILFA please visit www.irishladiesflyfishing.com or ring Jenny Casey on 087 6593 174 (ROI) or Madeleine Kelly 07738 362459 (NI)

You must be over 18 to take part in the events.

Porbeagle becoming scare, but still a few about

porbeagle shark
Jan caught this porbeagle north of Rathlin Island

Thursday saw a weather window for us to hunt the sharks again. Our first port of call was the deep water reef north of Rathlin Island. We fished that for 3 hours and got nothing for our efforts. Bait fish was the problem so we steamed another 18km north. We got our bait and our shark over shallower water. Jan from Holland was one of the lucky anglers, he had his first shark on the trip. All in all I think the porbeagles are starting to head off.
Hamish Currie
Predator II
Red Bay Stormforce 9.1 Rib
Web: www.predatorireland.com Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 028 2177 1828   Boat: 07720440117

Too much water on the Owenea, but good fishing between floods

Once again, the river ran at very high levels for the greater part of the week and the lowest reading we had on the gauge for the week was 0.26 metres on Thursday. Every other day brought good or very big floods and in fact the river was too high to fish on a number of occasions. The gauge average for the week read a huge 0.41 metres once again. The river was reasonably busy with 50 visiting rods fishing over the week.  There were a number of salmon reported over the week but catches were down somewhat due to the water levels being far too high on occasions.

Given here are some of the catches taken from the catch register. On Monday, Maurice Kennedy recorded a 2lb grilse caught and released on a spinner from beat 7. The following day, Tuesday, Maurice accounted for another grilse weighing 3lb caught on a spinner from beat 6. On Wednesday, Vincent Hatton reported a 4lb grilse caught on a fly from beat 5. On Thursday, Otmar Butz logged a 7lb grilse caught on a fly from beat 7 and Maurice Kennedy registered a 6½lb grilse caught on a spinner from beat 6.  On Saturday, Maurice Kennedy accounted for a 3lb grilse caught on a spinner from beat 6 and Mickey McLoughlin registered a 6lb grilse caught on a fly from beat 7. On Sunday, Anton Doherty recorded a 3½lb grilse caught on a fly from beat 4.

The forecast is for wet weather for the coming week. Let’s hope we don’t get as much as the past week! With the continued run of fresh salmon, prospects look good.

Make a booking

For info/bookings etc on the Owenea Fishery –

Tel: +353 (0)74 9551141. (9am to 1pm April to May & 7am to 1pm June to Sept).

Lough Melvin very quiet, Freddie Steel wins Kinlough & District Anglers competition

18/09 Lough Melvin was very quiet this week with little angling effort taking place once again. Most boats over the week just headed out for a couple of hours fishing in the afternoons. Kinlough & District Anglers held their end of season competition on Saturday. This was won by Freddie Steel of Bainbridge with 3 fish. In second place was Seamus Lenihan and placed third was Noel Moran. The usual ‘big barbeque’ was held after at Breffni Pier and despite the horribly wet conditions everyone seemed to enjoy the same. The anglers were certainly already well dressed for such conditions!

Make a booking

For info/bookings etc on Lough Melvin see http://www.drowessalmonfishery.com/ or Tel: 071 9841055.
Lough Melvin, Rossinver Fishery: For info/bookings etc, contact Ruth Mettler. Tel: 071 9841451.

Good water on the Drowes and fishing picks up

18/09 There were good water levels on the Drowes again this week which helped the fishing. The fishery was fairly quiet however with only a limited number rods fishing. Fishing, however, picked up somewhat this week with fair numbers of grilse caught.

A visiting French party started fishing on Saturday and already have caught 4 grilse. Stephen Hopper had a good days fishing on Wednesday recording 3 fish caught on shrimp below Lennox’s Bridge. The fish weighed 4, 5 & 10lb with the larger two being released again.

On Sunday, Colin Gardiner accounted for a 2½lb grilse caught on a spinner from the Washstones.

Make a booking

For info/bookings etc on the Drowes Fishery & Lough Melvin see http://www.drowessalmonfishery.com/

or Tel: 071 9841055 (8am to 12 noon).

Great salmon fishing on River Erriff – 79 fish for the week

Water levels on the Erriff were extremely high at the start of the week, with a spate of 2.5 metres recorded at Aasleagh Gauge on Sunday the 11th.  The river was unfishable and levels had dropped marginally to just 2.2 metres on Monday. After dinner on Monday saw the first anglers throw a line. Levels dropped to perfect conditions for fly fishing and maintained so throughout the week averaging 1.4 to 1.6 metres. In total 79 salmon were caught for the week with 20 of those caught on Saturday the 17th.  There were 19 sea trout also caught for the week.

A number of anglers caught their first salmon ever on the Erriff this week, including Alberto Gavigan who caught a fresh grilse on the Falls Pool, Beat 9 to a shrimp pattern fly.  On 18th September Sean Hayde, England caught his first salmon to an Erriff pattern on Beat 8 which weighed 4 lbs. Mr. Bernard Vedrines caught his first salmon on 15th September at the Black Banks on Beat 6 which weighed just under 4 lbs.  Marc Parinot, France caught his first salmon on the 12th September on Beat 4 which weighed 5 lbs.

The Muckian and Duffy party from Dundalk, Co. Louth had 10 salmon for 3 days angling during the week. The Winthrop party from France caught 7 salmon for 5 days angling while at Erriff Fishery, best fish weighing 12 lbs. The Chambers party had a very successful weeks angling with 22 salmon caught ranging from 4 to 7 lbs.  Most of these salmon were released alive.  The level of catch and release on the Erriff has become more popular of late with anglers more interested in conservation of salmon stocks.

The Lynas party N.Ireland, had 9 salmon for just 1 day angling, the heaviest fish being 11lbs, likewise all fish were released. Enda Kenny and his father Pat from Enfield had 10 salmon between them for 2 days angling, heaviest fish weighing 9 lbs caught at the Quarry Pool on Beat 2. Most of the salmon were released.  Mr. F Hompesch from Germany caught 3 salmon on Munroe Killer and Kylie Shrimp for 6 days angling. Another fine example of catch and release angling was displayed by Galway man Neil Spellacy who caught 4 salmon at the Tawnyard Pots Beat 3 on an Allys Shrimp and released all fish alive. Tom Gillen from Ballymena had four fish for three days over the weekend all released with the best fish 7.5lbs on a shrimp fly in the Coronation pool.

Local Erriff Anglers fished Beats 9 and 2 on Sunday 18th with a water level of 1.7 metres. Michael Coyne, Leenane landed 1 salmon just under 5 lbs to an Ally’s Shrimp on Beat 9.

The river is, to put it mildly, fishing its head off at the moment, and with frequent rainfall water levels are perfect for the fly. Fishing could be really good over the last 10 days of the season, so book a rod now if you can! Call the lodge on 095 42252 to inquire about availability.

See www.aasleaghlodge.ie for more info on the fishery and accommodation.