Brian Curran, fishery manager at Costello & Fermoyle, reviews the 2023 season:
The angling year at Costello & Fermoyle opened on 1st February with high water levels which pertained for several months. Little angling effort took place and as the season moved on, a small number of springers were seen buy not caught.
May saw warm weather, low water levels and little rain. The result was the closing of the system from June 7th to July 8th under advice from IFI as water temperatures had gone above 20°C.
Finally rain started to fall about the 6th July and good numbers of salmon and sea trout were seen running that evening as water levels rose and temperatures dropped.
The fishery reopened and local angler Geoffrey Fitzjohn had the first salmon of the year, a fine 5lb from beat 1 at 1.30p.m. while Brian Kerr had a 3½lb salmon shortly afterwards. Up at the Butt of Fermoyle, Seamus Lowry opened the sea trout catches with 3 fish. The next day Rory Campbell had a 4lb grilse and 9 sea trout on Beat 1.
Catches continued with 11 salmon for July, 6 in August and 1 in September with most of the 18 returned.
Sea trout remained good for the season and fresh sea trout were running in from the sea while the angling season was open to the end of September.
Best sea trout caught and released by a male angler was 4 lbs by local angler Michael Dillon from Inverin on August 10th on Lough Carrick while the best sea trout caught and released by a female angler was taken on Glenicmurrin on 29th August by Michala Walsh and weighted about 3½lbs. This was one of 21 seatrout caught with her partner on that day.
Overall the season was poor for salmon due to poor weather conditions in May / June but sea trout showed a big increase with a catch figure of 842 for 2023 as opposed to 304 for 2022.
Notes PAGI: For the beginner Brian can provide instruction in basic fly-casting techniques. During the season, professional guidance can be given to ensure a successful day’s angling whether it is fishing Lough Corrib, one of the numerous small lakes of the neighbouring Connemara area for sea trout, small wild brown trout or the chance of a salmon. Accommodation is arranged and boats and engines provided.
After a pretty wet weekend, the past five days have seen a return to normality, a welcome break from some of the more severe stuff we’ve endured in recent weeks. According to Met Éireann, rainfall was about average, temperatures were a bit above average and sunshine a bit below average. It looks like being much the same for the coming week, so it might give us all an opportunity to get out on the water without getting soaked or blown into next year…
In looking through this week’s angling reports, it strikes me how important a role angling clubs and competitions play in encouraging many of us to get out and fish. No fewer than ten out of the eighteen reports posted this week come from angling clubs and/or competitions. I think that during the winter months, in particular, angling clubs become an important focal point to encourage us to go fishing. Left to our own devices, it’s too easy to look at a bad weather forecast and make excuses not to venture out, but when you are engaged in, e.g. a club winter league, you have that extra incentive to get out there, knowing you’ll meet like-minded folk to share the fun or the failures. So, if you are wishing you could do a bit more fishing but can’t find the motivation to do it, maybe it’s time you checked out your local angling club; most are more than happy to welcome new members.
Speaking of angling clubs motivated to go fishing, none are more active than the Killybegs Mariners, who seem to have boundless energy when it comes to getting out on the water. Last weekend saw their final league outing of 2023, and they had to cope with strong winds and heavy rain, but it takes a lot more than that to put them off. Tralee Bay SAC also faced some wet and windy weather, which forced them to change venue for their club competition. But Liz McMahon made light of the situation, beating off 11 international anglers with a run of 10 fish in 90 minutes to storm the field and win comfortably. Liz’s catch included a fine 39cm flounder, and her stellar performance wins this week’s Catch of the Week.
Liz McMahon (pictured with her 39cm flounder) beat off competition from 11 international anglers out of a field of 15 fishing to win comfortably and take the pools to boot.
Friday afternoon will be cool with a mix of cloud and sunny spells. It will remain cool overnight with temperatures as low as -2 °C in places, and Saturday morning will see some frost followed by a cloudy, cool day with some patchy drizzle. Sunday will be much the same, with some rain in western areas spreading to the east in the afternoon before breaking up. Monday will be wetter, with rain spreading from the south in the morning, before clearing to cooler and brighter conditions as the day progresses.
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.
The first outing of the Irish Light Line series was held last weekend in Cork Harbour where thirty two battle hardened anglers hammered it out for the early bragging rights. This highly anticipated event attracts anglers from all over the country and beyond, and with over 10 countries being represented it makes for a really competitive series.
The anglers are greeted in the morning with free tea and coffee from Leonardo’s Bistro, the bistro opens up early just to accommodate the anglers and this always goes down well. The boats leave at 9am, with a half-hour’s steam out to the selected fishing grounds. The competition is fished over two sessions with each session lasting 2 hours 45 minutes, there is generally a 15 minute break in between where angling positions on the boat are changed.
The beauty with fishing Cork Harbour is that anglers are spoiled for choice with both the types of fish they can catch and with being able to head out and fish in all weather conditions.
Light Lines Series
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This competition is used as a training ground for the international boat angling team, so it can be taken very seriously t times – but don’t be fooled! This competition is run by anglers for anglers, so first and foremost it’s about the craic, it’s about getting out amongst friends and getting bragging rights, which are not easily won. The main species of fish are dogfish, ray, whiting, dab, gurnard, poor cod, plaice and flounder, with the occasional bass thrown into the mix.
The competition is run as a catch and release competition where all of the fish are returned alive. There are six matches in total, an angler can drop one of the matches to keep his best 5 scores – so when it comes to the final table the top 8 will battle it out for the title. The results for each boat after round 1 are below – the next light lines match is on December the 10th and we’ll keep you posted on how that goes.
You might remember Ireland on the Fly covered the FIPS-Mouche World Fly Fishing Championships back in September with daily updates from Ireland team captain, Dec Conlon, and one of the star Irish performers from the tournament was a young angler by the name of Sean Dempsey.
Sean joins Tom & Daire on this week’s show and having fished three Worlds already in his 20s, he has some real insights into the elite level of fly fishing, and what he’s learned from the leading countries such as France, Spain and the Czechs.
Listen and follow on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts:
It may still be 2023, but festival organisers are already planning ahead for 2024. With the success of Irish tourism in recent years, booking accommodation well in advance is vital, so planning so far ahead gives people plenty of time to book in before all beds are gone!
The Daiwa Irish Pairs is a fantastyic sea angling festival that has been running for many years. Based in Dingle, it is held in September and attracts anglers from far and wide, including many from the UK.
Next year the festival runs from Saturday 21st to Friday 27th of September. The festival consists of several pegged matches on the beaches of the Dingle peninsula, and a specimen hunt is also held throughout the week, with prizes for the best fish of each eligible species. The main prizes are also worth chasing, with £1,500 in 2023 on offer to the winning pair, and many more prizes down the placings.
Check out the poster below for details and how to enter. Follow the Daiwa Pairs festivel on Facebook here to keep up to date with news, and details of how to enter
Skipper John Fleming bemoaned the recent poor weather, but cheered us up with a look back at some great fishing during the season.
“With this absolutely horrendous weather of late here’s a bit of a throwback to some much nicer weather and much nicer fishing conditions.
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Despite the weather being very unsettled since almost mid June to be honest, we did manage some lovely fish during the season.
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Still some weekend dates available for the rest of this year and plenty of midweeks too”
Go fishing…
Blue Shark Angling Galway
To book fishing with John aboard the Brazen Hussy II, give him a call on 087 7571320
A regular day is between 9am- 6pm from either Rossaveal, Spiddal or Galway depending on species being sought after. Fishing on the inshore reefs for pollock, cod, ling, wrasse, conger eel and mackerel can be reached in 10 minutes from departure, while our offshore reef marks are within 45 minutes of departure. Our ground fishing for tope, spurdog, ray, bullhuss, turbot, plaice and the giant common skate can all be reached within the hour which ensures the most amount of time is spent fishing.
The shark season usually starts at the end of June and runs into late October, this is the ultimate angling adrenaline rush with these hard fighting blue and porbeagle sharks all being tagged and released safely.
Package deals available
Late Autumn now and conditions were in stark contrast to last week’s competition for last nights league outing but with good padded clothing and waterproof gear the wind and rain was at our backs making it comfortable as could be for the 18 anglers.
Fishing a new venue is always exciting to see what different species would be going and changing tactics when it would become obvious as to the target species. Early doors and rods were hopping with good size coleys mostly over 35cm all along the beach and a new club shore record of 41cm coley for Cormac Duddy.
Flounders were scarce but a few were got along with some turbot, whiting to 24cm with the dogs making an appearance late on as the tide ebbed.
Dogs and flounders
Longest flattie prize was a whopping 41cm flounder for Paul Duddy winning €52.
2nd overall winning €52 with a great fishing of coleys, flounder, whiting and dog was won by Cormac Duddy with 199pts
And in 1st place on the night winning €104 with turbot, whiting, pollack and dog was won by Brian Smith with 221 pts.
And lucky peg draw of €36 at the van was won by Pat Byrne
That’s 7 outings now and we have had 6 different winners.
Episode 21 of The Lure Fishing Podcast is out now. In this episode, host Cormac Walsh chats with well known Irish mentalist, hypnotist, magician and, of course, angler, Keith Barry, about all things angling, but especially the mental health benefits of it.
Many people, especially those who spend so much time in the outdoors in the brighter months, can struggle at this time of the year with the cold, wet, windy weather and the ever darker evenings. The pressures and stresses of life in general can become overwhelming and it can be very frustrating not being able to get out, especially when a lot of us very much rely on angling as a pressure release valve to keep the head right!
Keith Barry
The links to the latest episode are below for the various podcast platforms.
South Shore SAC headed to the North Beach in Wicklow for the latest round of their club league, and the 31 anglers who attended were faced with a long walk from the car park to their pegs, but at the end of that walk they were greeted by a nice coloured sea that looked perfect for a bit of winter fishing.
Whiting are the go-to competition species on east coast beaches at this time of year, and it was obvious from the start that they were there in good numbers. When faced with shoals of whiting close in, anglers need to be quick on the draw, hooking and landing fish quickly and getting the baits straight back out there.
It was frantic from the off, with the beach a blur of anglers reeling in fish, getting their cards signed, and releasing them back in quick succession. Paul Doyle, who drew the end peg, found whiting coming in with every cast. But league leader Alby Allan was hot on his heels, matching him fish for fish. At the end of the day, they were both neck and neck with 32 fish each, but Paul’s 7 LSD gave him the edge in the points and he topped the table for the day. Eamon Bermingham’s 25 fish saw him win his zone while Aaron Willet won the junior section with a fine tally of 16 fish.
