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Irish Angling Update – 21 July 2023 🎣

By
IFI Staff
-

Following on from our hottest June on record, we are three weeks into what may well be the wettest July on record. Rainfall amounts have once again been well above normal over the past week, with prolonged spells of rain and frequent heavy showers pushing rainfall accumulations to between two to four times the norm for July nationwide. If you believe in folklore, St. Swithin’s day was last Saturday, July 15th, and yes, it rained.

Going hand in hand with high rainfall are low sunshine amounts and low air temperatures, and both have also been below normal over the past seven days. Thankfully, there are Irish fish species that like high rainfall combined with cool air temperatures and absent sunshine, and the Atlantic salmon is chief amongst them…

A summer flood at Aasleagh Falls, River Erriff, Co.Mayo

In the south west, the salmon have been featuring fairly well in our reports, with enough rainfall to keep rivers topped up or to keep the spates coming to get the fish moving through the systems. In Waterville, when conditions came good, both salmon and sea trout came to fly and lure, with sea trout ranging from juniors to fish up to 4lbs or so. The Laune and Killarney lakes fished well for a period, as did the Owenmore River on the Dingle peninsula, where heavy showers should keep the river in good order for sea trout and grilse. In Cork, the Bandon, the Ilen and the Lee all fished consistently, but the Munster Blackwater was more or less unfishable due to very high water levels – which appear to be dropping, so fingers crossed for the coming week. In Mayo, the Moy produced fish throughout the system, with some of the better fishing upstream; the estuary also fished well early in the week for the sea trout.

Well done to Ballina Salmon Anglers who organised a children’s fishing competition that twenty-one children attended; IFI proudly supported the C&R competition through the IFI Sponsorship Programme. 

Kelsey and Hunter Cawley with their father Darren getting their licences before entering the children’s fishing competition

Still in Mayo, the Foxford Angling Club held their ‘Devaney Cup’ trout competition on Lough Conn on Sunday 16th July. Fishing was tough for the 18 competitors, with only nine fish above the minimum size recorded. In Leinster, the ITFFA Leinster Rivers Competition was hosted by the North Kildare club – Donal Monahan finished top of the pile of sixteen expert anglers competing there. Many rivers are in a difficult or unfishable condition for trout fishing at the moment, but if you want some tips on dry/dropper leader set-up while you are off the water, Peter Driver of Piscari Fly has some for you; if you’d prefer to dream of trout fishing a bucket list destination instead, the guys at the Ireland On The Fly podcast have one good suggestion for you…

If you would like to fish for a good cause, the Cast a Line for Autism wetfly/dapping competition will be fished on July 29th on Lough Mask or Lough Corrib – you can choose!

Coarse anglers have done well this week, with festival weights exceeding 100kgs at two different Irish venues. In Longford, Dutch guests at Melview Fishing Lodge had some super hauls of bream, while in the south east twenty six competitors turned out for the All Ireland Method Feeder Championships qualifier at Oaklands. In Offaly, the Tullamore and District Angling Club held their 1st Junior Canal Coarse Fishing Competition for 2023 and three young ladies from the Carroll family finished in the podium positions there. Congratulations to Muireann, Caoimhe and Aoibhinn Carroll – they win our Catch of the Week for this week.

A very happy Muireann Carroll and one of her winning fish

On other coarse fishing news, the Lough Muckno July Festival kicks off on Monday, July 24th, and the Athy Anglers will be running a charity match in aid of Willow Community Counselling Services on Saturday 29th July. All proceeds from the entry fee to the match will be donated to Willow to support their vitally important community work.

We don’t have many reports from pike anglers this week, but one great story came in from Midlands Angling and Hunting, where Mick Flanagan reeled back the years to catch countless canal pike and perch in Mullingar.

Stunning perch from the Royal Canal

To the tides, where tope have featured well in our reports from the east of the country, with Wicklow Boat Charters catching them offshore and Menapia SAC catching them from the shore in Wicklow. In the west, the Clare Dragoon has also had tope, but the main focus for the Dragoon and the Lady Gwen has been other, bigger sharks  – as was the case for both the Brazen Hussy II in Galway Bay, where their first blue of the season was landed. From the Clare coast, Lisdoonvarna Fanore SAC held their Jim Blackwell Memorial Cup on Sunday 16th August. The event was well attended and it was a great day out in very good fishing conditions.

Fishing out of Killybegs, anglers aboard the Fiona Tee had to endure a good soaking for some great fishing for mixed species while the Killybegs Mariners reported some super pollock fishing from rock marks locally. In the south, Eire Bass was confined to Cork Harbour thanks to some rough conditions offshore – as the foreboding sky in their photo indicates. They still managed some good pollack in the safety of the harbour.

Eire Bass head into the harbour

In other news

The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications along with the Ministers for both Housing, Local Government and Heritage and Rural and Community Development are inviting applications from suitably qualified applicants to fill five vacancies on the Board of Inland Fisheries Ireland.

Fisheries owners and other angling businesses will be interested to see that amongst the various essential criteria is the following:

E. Angling Development and Tourism
Demonstrable Knowledge of the tourism product in peripheral areas and rural and coastal economies (in particular, an awareness of angling tourism, angling development, rural development, and employment and marketing potential in these areas where alternative opportunities may be limited based on development of angling tourism and community-based infrastructure.)

The closing date for applications is 15:00 on Wednesday 2nd August 2023

Cork salmon anglers should note that the draw numbers for the 4th and Final 2023 River Lee Brown Tag Draw have been issued.  Please check your inbox / spam / junk folders.  If you have entered and not received any email please email @Cork Lee Brown Tag Lottery before the draw takes place on Monday morning , 25th July.

And now the weather….

Wet on Friday night with outbreaks of rain. Mild with lows of 12°C to 15°C in light to moderate SW winds.

A wet and cloudy day on Saturday with outbreaks of heavy rain. Humid, with highs of 15°C to 18°C. Strong SW winds along southern coasts, light to moderate elsewhere. More rain overnight, lows of 12°C to 15°C with light to moderate west to NW winds, fresh along coasts.

Wet and cloudy on Sunday, clearing from northern and western counties during the morning, but lingering in the east. Highs of 17°C to 20°C with a moderate to fresh northerly breeze developing.

A mostly dry Monday with sunny spells and just light scattered showers. Highs of 15°C to 18°C with mostly light breezes. Unsettled from Tuesday onwards.

Safe fishing to all and tight lines, especially here in Ireland. If you’re heading to the coast, don’t forget to check the tides.

IFI Staff
Catch, Photo, Release

If you have an angling story to share with the Irish Angling Update, please send it to [email protected].

 

All the angling news

Salmon Fishing Reports

Trout Fishing Reports

Coarse Angling Reports

Pike Fishing Reports

Sea Angling Reports

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ITFFA River Leinster Competition

By
IFI Staff
-
On Sunday, July 16th, North Kildare TSAA held the ITFFA River Leinster Competition. This report from the club:
16 anglers and their stewards met in Sarsfields GAA Carpark. After a bit of chat about the day ahead, the anglers were allocated their stewards and drew their beats to fish for the day.
The competition is fished over 4 sessions, fish caught by the anglers are presented to their stewards, who then measure and record any fish over 20cm.
The weather on the day was mixed with a good breeze. This added to making the competition all the harder.
Dry fly and Klink and dink seemed to bring the most catches.
After the competition everyone went back to Sarsfield GAA for sandwiches and finger food, whilst the days catches were tallied.
It was sounding like it would be a close call for the top 5, who would proceed to fish the Rivers National next year.
Come the time of reckoning, Seamus O’ Neill read out the results. It then Emerged that Donal Monahan, won the title of Leinster Champion 2023 with a perfect score of 4 first places.
The Anglers going forward from Leinster are as follows
  • 1st) Donal Monahan
  • 2nd) Peter Doherty
  • 3rd) Brian Larkin
  • 4th) Gary Revile
  • 5th) John Maguire
  • 1st reserve Seamus Potts.
Seamus Potts also caught the biggest fish of the day @ 39cm.
Many thanks to the stewards, without whom the competition could not go ahead. Thank you to the anglers who took part.
A huge thank you to Julie Gerry Chairperson of ITFFA, for travelling to help with the scoring and present the prizes.
A special word of thanks to Seamus O’ Neill and Brian Larkin for all the work in preparation of the competition.
Many thanks to Sarsfields GAA, and Bricko catering for their hospitality.

Menapia SAC tackle Arklow South Beach

By
IFI Staff
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This report from Menapia SAC in Wexford:

Big southerly’s ruled out Menapias latest planned club competition venue, Furlongs road Kilmore, and due to this the club used the ever reliable South beach in Arklow. Fishing was slow at the start over low water with distance picking out the odd fish but as the tide started to flow all anglers started to catch.

A beach known for its ability to produce a host of different species it didn’t disappoint with 7 different species taken on the night and unusually no ray made an appearance. Winner on the night was Joe Carley with 17 fish followed in second place by Brendan Wall on 11 fish and Jerry Carbery taking third with 10 fish.

Longest fish Joe Carley 98cm strap Conger.

Please fish in a sustainable manner

Tough week, but the EUROS still topple the tope in Wicklow

By
IFI Staff
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Kit Dunne of Wicklow Boat Charters reports a great week of fishing with great company on board. For their 10th year his EURO crew fished through a tough weather week with wind and rain. Kit had to Cancel 2 days and fish one day under the cliffs but the crew enjoyed it anyway, still managing to catch tope, hounds, huss, pollock, pouting, and mackerel.
Fish of the week was a specimen tope for Anne Hooijenga, a regular in the ISFC specimen book. After a fine meal in the Blu restaurant Kit presented the guys with a gold pin each, as they deserve a medal after 10 years with him!
Earlier in the week the weather was more suited to trekking further afield after tope and Paul Hubbard’s crew made the most of it, with all anglers catching tope in the 20lb to 30lb bracket.

Go fishing…

Angling Charters are offered on a full-day, half-day and evening trip basis and can be tailored to suit your needs.
All levels of anglers are catered for. Anglers will benefit from your skipper’s angling experience and local knowledge with adviceand guidance on-hand at all times.

SPECIALIST ANGLING CHARTERS

Specialist Angling Charters are offered for those who wish to target specific species, specimen fish or try new methods of angling.

ANGLING COACHING

Whether you’re a Club, Individual, School or Junior you can have an angling coaching session or programme tailored to suit your needs.

Kit Dunne
Wicklow Boat Charters,
Telephone: +353 (0)87 6832179 +353 (0)404 67031
Email: [email protected] Website: www.wicklowboatcharters.ie

Please fish in a sustainable manner

Spurs, blues, Porbeagle and tope for the Clare Dragoon

By
IFI staff
-

Skipper Luke Aston of Carrigaholt Sea Angling is back in the game this week and reports some great mixed fishing including whiting from the bottom and a few pollack and codling.

The shark fishing is also going well with blue shark, porbeagle and spurs off Loop Head.

Earlier in the week, the Shannon Estuary also produced and anglers were rewarded with some fine tope and ray.

Go fishing…

Clare Dragoon

Clare Dragoon is a LOCHIN 366 powered by 650HP engine, skippered by Luke Aston and operating out of Carrigaholt Co. Clare…

I have some offers up on my web site www.fishandstay.com and if anybody is interested in putting a trip together please do get in touch. Also I Twitter from the boat on @fishandstay and try to update my face book page www.facebook.com/CarrigaholtSeaAngling fairly often!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

 

Conn & Cullin reward those who venture out

By
IFI staff
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Peter Roche’s winning trout of 2.2lbs

Steve Schreck reports from Loughs Conn & Cullin…

Activity on the lakes is still limited, but those who do venture out catch a decent number of fish.

Foxford Angling Club held their ‘Devaney Cup’ competition on Sunday 16th July.  18 anglers returned to shore with 9 trout over the size limit of 13 inches. Peter Roche won the competition with a lovely trout of 2.2lbs caught at Brackwansha.  In total Peter caught 5 fish, but only the fish that was a keeper  was the trout that won him the competition.  Fishing was lively on the day with trout moving freely to wet flies with competitors returning a large number of fish on the day.

Bryan Kennedy came in second with a combined weight of 1.75lbs.

Third place went to Ben Browne with 1.5lbs and Brendan Murphy finished 4th with 1.25lbs.

Frankie Devaney presenting the Devaney Cup to Peter Roche for first prize
Frankie Devaney presenting second prize to Bryan Kennedy

Peter Roche fished with Michael Pollan around Brackwansha, Victoria Bay, Cloghans Bay and Gallagher’s Bay on Monday. The most productive spot turned out to be Brackwansha and the men caught 3 trout each on dry mayflies and dry olives.

Gerry Murphy Boat Hire reported on angling activity from his base at Brown’s Bay.  Michael Sweeney and John Flanagan from Loughrea had an enjoyable day catching a good number of fish and so did Tom Cooley and Liam McHugh from Edenderry.

River Moy Angling Report week ending 16/07/23

By
IFI staff
-

Steve Schreck reports from the River Moy and the Moy Estuary…

After a small flood last week, the Moy quickly returned to low water levels and therefore catch numbers decreased slightly. In total 232 salmon have been reported caught. Big fish are still running the system. Water levels at Ballylahan Bridge remained on a steady low until heavy rain set in on Friday and Saturday, causing a big flood that saw levels rise to 2.3m on Saturday and rendered the river practically unfishable over the weekend. The coming week should, however, see perfect conditions for all methods as the levels slowly drop.

The Moy Fishery recorded 11 salmon caught last week, of which 3 were released. 8 fish were caught on the Ridge Pool and 3 on the Cathedral Beat. The biggest fish weighed 7.5lbs.

The Moy Fishery is now offering a boat for use on the “Lower Beat”.  The Lower Beat comprises of the former Polnamonagh, Spring Wells and the Ash Tree Pool beats. When purchasing permits for the Lower Beat anglers may now reserve the boat by contacting the Moy Fishery office at +353 (0)96 21332. A ghillie will not be supplied with the boat and permit prices for the Lower Beat are currently priced at €30 per day (sunrise to sunset) until 31st August when they revert to €20 per day.  Angler access to the Lower Beat has been significantly improved over the last few months also.

Ballina Salmon Anglers reported 25 salmon for the week. All of those weighed between 3lbs and 5lbs.  A children’s fishing competition was held in conjunction with Ballina Salmon Anglers & IFI on Saturday July 15th and twenty-one children attended on the day.  IFI supported the competition through the IFI Sponsorship Programme and were onsite on the day to distribute rod licences and give out competition packs to the children.

Kelsey and Hunter Cawley with their father Darren getting their licences before entering the children’s fishing competition

Mount Falcon reported 8 fish, one on the fly and the rest on the spinner.  The best one weighed 5.75lbs.

Attymass Angling Club recorded 11 fish, 7 from Padden’s and 4 from the Wood Pool.

Knockmore Salmon Anglers recorded 11 salmon for the week, caught on prawn and fly.

Coolcronan Fishery reported 4 salmon for the week with the biggest fish weighing 6.5lbs.

Byrne’s Fishery reported 12 salmon.  9 were caught on the prawn and 3 on the worm.

Gannon’s Fishery reported 25 salmon, with the best one being a 10lbs fish caught on a bright yellow Flying C.  The most successful method was the worm.

Foxford Salmon Anglers had 66 salmon for the week.  The worm, the spinner and bubble and fly were the most successful methods.

Local reports from the Foxford Rocks Fishery suggest that 8 salmon were caught, mostly on bubble and fly and the prawn.

The Foxford Fishery recorded 14 salmon caught for the week. The best fish of 12lbs was taken on the worm.

Cloongee Fishery reported 4 salmon between 2lbs and 7lbs. for the week. Anglers on the Cloongee Fishery are reminded that they are required to make a catch / no catch return on the form provided with their permit and place in the catch return box after fishing or forward to [email protected]

East Mayo Anglers reported 32 salmon for the week, 12 of which were released. The fish ranged between 2lbs and 8lbs, whereas the biggest fish weighed 10lbs. The most successful methods by far were flyfishing and worming.

One salmon of 2lbs was reported caught upstream of Cloongullaun Bridge on a spinner.

The Moy Estuary

Skipper Judd Ruane reports good fishing for sea trout in the estuary Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday until the change in weather conditions made it impossible to fish.

 

Plenty porbeagle but also good mixed fishing for the Brazen Hussy II in Galway Bay

By
IFI staff
-

John Fleming’s guests have been enjoying good fishing for porbeagle over the past days but also had some great mixed fishing as well. The first blue shark of the season was also landed on the Brazen Hussy II.

Read John’s reports below…

Had the pleasure of having Kurt Zimmert from Austria with us for the last 3 days. His goal was to have a chance at a porbeagle.
Within the first 20 minutes on the first day his wish came through. We ended up with 2 nice beagles on the first day.
Day 2 was blowing from the North West and we decided to stay inshore and try for a tope. So not only did he get his first tope but it was also a real nice fish and an Irish specimen of 158cm.
Day 3 we headed offshore again, and within minutes Kurt was hooked up again. He managed 3 beagles with the last one being the biggest of his trip at about 120/140lb roughly.
Nice tope for Kurt from Austria
A couple days later it was,well interesting, blowing very hard from the north east. With a very fast drift we ended up doing 3 drifts for the day. However, 7 fish to the boat thankfully and plenty more runs. Three or 4 smaller fish with Thomas Markey getting the first of the good fish of about 150lb. Kennedy then hooked and landed a fine beagle of 170cm just shy of the specimen he was chasing. Tom Lynch had another fine fish. It is a great day when everyone on board gets a fish with Eamon McGrattan and Darren getting 2 nice fish a swell.
Porbeagle
Finally, another day at the shark done. The porbeagles were a lot more finicky today with 4 dropped fish. We did, however, get our first blue shark of the season and had a nice porbeagle right at the slender of the session. Plenty of big pollack to keep the lads occupied throughout the day too.
Anglers also enjoyed good mixed fishing

 

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

Address: Baile an tSagairt, Spiddal, Co. Galway.
Telephone: +353 (0)87 7571320
Facebook: www.facebook.com/BlueSharkAngling

Blue Shark Angling Galway,
Phone John Fleming : +353 (0)87 7571320

Shark time on the Lady Gwen II

By
IFI staff
-

Skipper Sean Maguire of Fishing Adventures Ireland reports good shark angling for a group from Dublin fishing off Loop Head. Read his short report below…

The Mighty Dubs were back again for two days fishing. We had three porbeagles to the boat yesterday and lost three. Today we had a porbeagle and a blue and lost one. Lots of good fishing in between and the craic was mighty…as usual.

 

Go Fishing

Lady Gwen II

Fishing Adventures on Séan Maguire’s Lady Gwen II, a Lochin 33  M265Ti Perkins charterboat which operates 15 miles from Kilbaha, Carrigaholt, and Kilrush.

Whether you want to go to the Atlantic Ocean for a large selection of species, including different types of shark, or fish the estuary for ray conger tope etc, Fishing Adventures will cater for whatever fishing you desire.
Telephone: +353 (0) 877508758 or +353 (0) 894431182
Email: [email protected] Web: www.fishingadventures.ie

Successful Jim Blackwell Memorial Cup for Lisdoonvarna Fanore SAC

By
IFI staff
-

Lisdoonvarna Fanore SAC held their Jim Blackwell Memorial Cup on Sunday 16th August. The event was well attended and it was a great day out in very good fishing conditions. A number of different species were caught by the contestants including lesser spotted dogfish, wrasse and some conger eels. Heaviest fish of the day was a conger weighing 7.8kg.

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