Dan O’Neill reports from the River Nore at Mouth Juliet…
During the week I met a man originally from Newcastle but living in New York for most of his life. A very competent angler taught by no other than Lefty Kreh. We had some great takes swinging wet flies.
Michael had a unique accent, it was a mix of Geordie and New York. Super fun with some of the words he used, no bad language of course!! Michael was a very competent caster which made me wonder where he learned or how he learned. When Michael looked at me and asked did I know the late Lefty Kreh I immediately said “Yes, I studied his casting for my APGAI exams”. Lefty had a very no nonsense way of teaching and simplified everything. He knew the level at which his students were very accurately which is a very important to maximise what your client gets from each lesson.
We began at the head of Georges Wall. Michael was on New Zealand style while I began with wet fly. On my 2nd or 3rd cast I had a nice take and landed a lovely little brown about 28-30cm. Michael was getting some takes but mostly small trout, so we swapped over. Funnily enough and it’s nothing to do with my skill level, I hit a brown about 30cm on the New Zealand style first cast. Michael looked and smiled and said “Don’t worry, it will happen for me at some point”. I am a little superstitious and believe good luck happens in threes, what would my three be.
Moving down the run Michael did indeed hit some nice trout of about 30cm so he was happy and enjoyed seeing some Irish brown trout. The pattern I was using was by Ciaran Reilly who gave me some patterns to try at the spring angling fair. They worked exceptionally well so thanks very much Ciaran. As we headed back up to the Manor House, we spoke of Michael’s angling journeys and some of mine. Wonderful day and wonderful company. Always wonderful to hear stories and in this case some of Lefty Kreh’s anecdotes.
Mount Juliet House is set on a large estate, which offers private fishing on 2.5 miles of the middle to lower reaches of the River Nore. Mount Juliet Estate offers fishing of the highest quality, just a short stroll away from the Manor House. There is a fishing room on site in the Manor House for your convenience i.e. for storage and drying of fishing equipment. Mount Juliet Estate can also provide the necessary equipment on site if needed.
Dan O’Neill is the Fishery Manager and is an avid fly angler with great enthusiasm and passion for his sport. He has a wealth of experience of fishing on the fabulous River Nore. Dan can arrange salmon and trout fishing trips and can offer great advice and local knowledge to anglers wishing to visit the Nore and other rivers in the south east.
Fly Casting Instruction
Dan is an AGPAI Ireland qualified single handed casting instructor. He will be happy to arrange casting lessons on the fishery.
Tackle Hire
Fishing equipment and flies/bait can all be supplied.
Dan is also an accomplished fly tyer and has a number of patterns of his own which regularly bring him success which he would be happy to share with you.
M McDermott,Mark Malone, Ronan Baggott, Jake Malone, Bridie Malone presenting, winner Connie Finnerty, Dan McDermott.
Joe Fitzharris reports that Lough O’Flynn was the venue for the Michael Malone perpetual Cups on Sunday May 12th.
The event is hosted by Lake O’Flynn & District Angling Association and is generously sponsored by the Malone family Castlerea. The event was reasonably well supported on a day when angling conditions were just about OK.
The winner on the day was the ever popular Connie Finnerty who returned the Heaviest fish of 2-lb 14.2 oz. Winning the Michael Malone Cup.
Heaviest boat catch winners were local men Ryan Commins & Connie Finnerty with total bag of 6 fish for 12lb 03.6 oz
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Mark Malone, Ronan Baggott, Bridie Malone, Jake Malone presenting winners Ryan Commins & Connie Finnerty heaviest boat catch winners.
M McDermott,Mark Malone, Ronan Baggott, Jake Malone, Bridie Malone presenting, winner Connie Finnerty, Dan McDermott.
Results as follows
Heaviest fish category
1st Connie Finnerty, Fish for 2lb 14.2 oz.
2nd Adrian Murphy , Fish for 2lb 09.8 oz.
3rd Michael McDermott, Fish for 2lb 08.2 oz.
Heaviest boat catch
1st place Ryan Commins & Connie Finnerty, 6- Fish for 12-Lb – 03.6 oz.
2nd place, Adrian Murphy & John Burke 6- Fish for 12-Lb – 01.3 oz.
John Browne reports on the third match of Oakland’s summer league which was fished on Sunday…
We had the 3rd round of the Dennett/Sensas Summer league on Sunday. What was a lovely day produced the first 100 kg bag of the year falling the Ivaylo Benov from end peg 47. He caught steady all day netting 102 kg big congrats to him.
There were good weights for most of the match.
Today’s Results
1st Ivaylo Benov 102.060 kg
2nd Ronan Minogue 86.180 kg
3rd Sion Pritchard 76.040 kg
Section A
Kirean Reeves 52.900 kg
Section B
Velimer Mozart 45.060 kg
Big thanks to all the lads who turned up we’ll see ye all next week for the pairs.
A very popular carp fishery. Popular with competition anglers and novices alike. Alway a great chance of a bumper bag here. Friendly staff more than happy to advise beginner anglers. Caters to all sorts of clubs and groups.
The Bailie Hotel were in touch with us and they have a great offer available to tempt anglers to visit them and fish the waters in the Bailieborough area this summer! Details as follows:
Embark on a serene getaway to Bailieborough with our exclusive overnight package designed especially for angler groups and fishing enthusiasts. Located in the heart of this charming town, The Bailie Hotels offers a unique community hotel experience. Our unbeatable package features a cozy overnight stay, a hearty breakfast to kickstart your day, and a delectable dinner from our set evening menu. But here’s the real catch – we’re surrounded by six breathtaking lakes, ensuring an angler’s paradise just moments away. And as if that’s not enough, we’ll even provide a complimentary packed lunch, ensuring you’re fueled up for your fishing adventures. Say goodbye to stress and hello to an angler’s dream – book your fishing getaway with us now and experience the ultimate value rates!
The packages include an overnight stay, Dinner, Breakfast & a Free Packed Lunch to take with you on your fishing trip, starting at €90 inclusive for a single room, there are also a Double or Twin Option which are €160 inclusive, so €80 per person.
There are 6 different lakes around Bailieborough, all within a 5km radius of the hotel.
The Castle Lake is located 1km from Bailieborough. Has a 50 acre radius, covering an area of 20 hectares and in parts is over 6 metres in dept. The lake is a very popular fishing destination, containing Perch, Pike, Bream, Roach and Eel. There are numerous fishing stands around the lake.
Galloncurra Lake is located 5km southwest of Bailieborough and covers an area of 7 hectares with a maximum depth of 3.5m. This is a superb fishing venue and holds an excellent stock of roach-bream hybrids to specimen weight (1.361 kilos).
Bailieborough Lough, also known as Town Lake, is located on the western side of the town of Bailieborough and covers an area of 9 hectares. Due to its location this lake is a popular fishery and it can provide good sport. There are a number of fishing stands in place to accommodate anglers. This lake is relatively shallow and holds stocks of pike, perch, roach, bream and some tench.
Galbolie Lough is located 3km north west of Bailieborough and covers an area of 4 hectares with a maximum depth of 6m. This lake holds stocks of bream, rudd, hybrids and pike.
Parkers Lake is located 4km north west of Bailieborough and covers an area of 6 hectares with a maximum depth of 6m. This lake holds a good stock of bream, as well as roach, perch and pike. It also holds roach-bream hybrids to specimen size. Access is restricted to this lake and permission of the landower is required.
Skeagh Lake is situated 7km north west of the town of Bailieborough and it covers an area of approximately 50 hectares. Fishing is from a number of swims on the eastern shoreline. This fishery holds good stocks of bream, roach, pike and perch and access is from the road on the eastern side of the lake.
The CM Lakelands Feeder Club held a match last Sunday on the middle section of Concra Wood, Lough Muckno, where sixteen anglers took to the lakeshore. Most of the weights on the day were made up of small hybrids, odd small skimmers and some roach.
Darren Fairhurst made good use of the end peg to win the match with a weight of just under 7kg. Piotr Horbiński wasn’t to far behind with a 5kg mixed bag weight and Lough Muckno regular, Graham Worley, made up the top 3 with a 4kg plus weight.
Norbert Renaud of L’ile Verte Pike fishing lodge has added another informative video to his YouTube channel – this time the topic is lure colour, or more specifically, what colour to use when the weather is bright and sunny, as it has been recently, or the water is super clear.
If you spend as much time on the water as Norbert does, you can find out the answers to thee important questions through trial and error – experimenting with different colours and fishing at different depths to find out what works and what doesn’t!
Cormac Walsh of the Lure Fishing Podcast has been hitting the Wexford shores for bass lately and doing quite well fishing the ebbing tides into darkness.
The hard lures have been doing the business for Cormac, mainly the IMA Lures UK & Ireland Sasuke 120 on a straight steady retrieve. There have been big flocks of birds working offshore – so there must be a lot of bait in the water or them to focus on.
Cormac thinks that the bass are still scarce enough close in, but maybe the stronger winds recently will stir things up a bit for them…
The second edition of this event took place on Sunday 12th of May on beautiful Lough Ree and for this year six Nations were competing for the gold medal: Ireland – Poland – Latvia – Romania – Lithuania – UK. So fifty six anglers in 28 boats enthusiastically came to the venue early in the morning with to do their best to become lure anglers in Ireland!
Before launching all boats were disinfected to combat spreading of invasive species, disinfectant provided by Inland Fisheries Ireland.
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There was a short meeting with nations captains before the start, measuring boards and cards were handed to everyone and all teams went to the starting point.
At 9 am, the starting signal was given and all 28 boats scattered all over the lake!
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Anglers did their best to catch 20 fish (Perch and Pike) despite the weather conditions – which were far from perfect for targeting predators, with a flat calm lake and hot sunshine for most of the day.
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After a hard day of casting in the hot sunshine, boats returned to the slipway at 5pm so that pictures and videos could be checked and rechecked. After all of the results were calculated the winners could be announced – and for 2024 those winners were Poland!
Full nations results were:
First Place – Poland 12 points – Gold Medals
Second Place – Ireland 14 points – Silver Medals
Third Place – Latvia 17 points – Bronze Medals
Fourth Place – Romania 19 points
Fifth Place – Lithuania 20 points
Sixth Place – UK 21 points
As any other competition the organisers decided that the best 3 teams and longest fish would be rewarded for their performance.
Individual results
First Place – Senan Stanley & Paul Bourke 994pts – Trophies + cash
Second Place – Rafał Pelc & Lukasz Znamiec 329pts -Trophies + cash
Third Place – Marek Sekula & Jarek Sekuła 316pts – Trophies + cash
Longest Fish – Devidas Firsovas & Andrius Juranas Pike 103cm – Pike Trophies + cash
The team captains want to say big THANK YOU to all anglers present at this event, a massive Thank You to all the staff from Lough Ree Inn for their hospitality and big hug to Carmel Ahern (Carita) for letting us to use this establishment for the prize giving.
Having gotten back into fly fishing 4 years ago, Peter Kavanagh had enjoyed modest success with catching salmon, sea-trout and rainbow trout on the fly, but a much sought after wild Irish brown trout had eluded him. That was until May 10th, when he landed this nice trout while buzzer fishing with guide, John Somerville, in warm sunny conditions on Lough Mask. Although not a big fish on the scales, this was a significant breakthrough for Peter on his fly fishing journey – and the delight on his face tells its own story of what this lifetime first means to him!
No doubts it will be the first of many fly caught brownies for Peter…
Irish coarse angling has been on an upward curve in recent years. Back in 2014, Ireland won a silver medal at the world championships held on Inniscarra lake in Cork. In 2022, Charlie Richards became the world champion at U20 level, while Michael Buchwalder claimed individual silver medal at the senior world championship later the same year. In April 2023, Ireland hosted the FIPSed World Club Feeder Championships on Lough Muckno, where Lurgan CAC finished with the gold medal and and CM Lakelands took the bronze position.
World Champions NCFFI Team Ireland
And so, there can be only one place to start this week’s angling report, as Team Ireland have gone and won double gold at the world championship in Merida, Spain. Brenton Sweeney’s squad finished top of the podium ahead of some of the world’s best anglers from twenty one competing nations, which included top ranking teams England, Hungary and the Netherlands.
Top 5 Individual World Championship Feeder Fishing for Nations, with world champ Michael Buchwalder in the middle.
Not only that, but Michael Buchwalder has gone one better than his silver in 2022 to become the individual world champion and gold medalist in 2024 ahead of 113 competitors. Well done to all involved, including all of those behind the scenes at the National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland, a tremendous achievement. Team Ireland win our Catch of the Week this week!
Finally, the Ardaire Springs Angling Fair was held over the May bank holiday weekend and, according to reports, the atmosphere, location and people involved gave it a real community feel, the demos and talks were fantastic, the exhibitor’s enthusiasm and passion for the sport really shone through, the fly tiers were superb and the kids’ zone was a great success – well done to the organisers there.
And now the weather…
Friday night will be dry with clear spells. Lows of 7°C to 10°C with light variable breezes.
It will be another warm and dry day on Saturday with good spells of sunshine. Highs of 18°C to 22°C with southerly breezes. Lows of 9°C to 12°C overnight.
Sunday will bring a mix of cloud and sunny spells with showers or longer spells of rain, some heavy with the chance of isolated thunderstorms. Highs of 15°C to 19°C in light breezes. Lows of 8°C to 11°C overnight with light breezes.
Monday will bring further outbreaks of rain or showers, heaviest over the eastern half of the country with a chance of thunderstorms. Highs of 13°C to 17°C. Early on Tuesday morning a band of persistent or heavy rain will move in from the east and will extend westwards. Localised flooding is possible, especially in Leinster.
Make sure to check the forecast before going afloat and if you’re going to sea, don’t forget to check the tides. If you plan to fish in the sunshine, don’t forget the factor 50.
If you have an angling story to share with the Irish Angling Update please send it to [email protected] and don’t forget that all of our fishing reports are available on our dedicated Angling Ireland Facebook page.
