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Irish Angling Update 14 July 2023

By
IFI Staff
-
After the rain. Fishing on Streedagh Beach, Co. Siigo

St. Swithin’s day if thou dost rain , For forty days it will remain

St. Swithin’s day if thou be fair , For forty days ’twill rain nae mair.

Looking out the window this morning, the rain is falling in sheets, with over an inch falling here in the west so far. The forecast for tomorrow, St. Swithin’s Day, is unfortunately only slightly better, with the rain coming in showers rather than the deluges of today. The last week has seen plenty of showers too, with windy conditions at times. We have plenty of reports from our salmon rivers to bring you, and salmon anglers will be anticipating big floods and fish running many of our rivers over the coming week.

Salmon

A small flood on the Moy last week, the first significant bit of water for almost two months, saw a big increase in catches, with 369 fish reported. In Kerry, fresh grilse provided sport on the Caragh, Roughty and Maine rivers after a rise in water levels. Beat 1 on the Laune also saw plenty of grilse caught, with big salmon to over 20lbs taken off Beat 2.

Adam Connolly releasing a 6.5lbs salmon on the Ridge Pool caught skating microtubes

Lough Currane also saw good water but sport was slow, with local anglers preferring to fish the flood on the nearby Inny River. The Bandon River provided plenty of action, with 40 salmon reported, whiel 30 fish to 12lbs were reported on the Lee. The Blackwater has been quiet lately, but a rise in water levels and fresh grilse provided a big improvement in sport this week. Coomhola also saw 8 salmon reported caught.

salmon
A good salmon released on the Blackwater Valley fishery yesterday

With all the rain falling today, we are sure to see apates and floods all over the country. Salmon and sea trout hanging out in estuaries will be running upstream hard, and we anticipate a big improvement in sport in many rivers over the next couple of weeks.

Trout

Just the one brown trout report this week, from Lough Conn, where e small hatch of mayfly has seen an improvement in fishing. Very few anglers were out to enjoy it, however, and more rods would surely see some good sport.

Great sea trout fishing was reported from the Moy Estuary, with some anglers reporting up to 30 fish for a day’s fishing, and fish to 5lbs recorded.

Ray Andrews with a nice seatrout caught on Pegasus

Sea

The windy conditions mean charter boat fishing has been restricted to just a few days this week. In Mayo, boats managed to get out to sheltered parts of Cew Bay for the National Junior competition held by Newport SAC, and local angler Patrick Sammon took the top prize. Charter boats also got out in Donegal for the Killybegs SAC two-day competition, which was won by local angler Gavin Dorrian with an impressive 12 species and two boat wins. Charter boats in Killybegs also reported very good pollack fishing during the week. Good pollack fishing was also reported from west Clare.

Shark season is underway, and anglers on the Brazen Hussy out of Rossaveal had a bumper day, bringing 6 porbeagle shark to the boat. A lucky porbeagle was caught aboard Silver Dawn – read the story to find out why!

Mind those fingers!

Finally, skipper Luke Aston was stuck in the Shannon Estuary for a prolonged period due to high winds, but on the plus side, Markus Muller who was fishing with a German angling journalist landed the first stingray to Luke’s boat, the Clare Dragoon.

Stingray!

Pike

Lough Derg is known for big pike, and young angler Nathan Austin certainly found that out on a recent trip. Despite high winds spoiling a few days, he stuck it out and was rewarded with some nice pike, including this fine 20bs+ hen fish, which makes our Catch of the Week.

Coarse

Coarse angling reports are few this week, but we have a couple. Some canal competitions were held recently, but it was Dean Murray taking the honours in both the Edenderry club competition on the Grand Canal, and the second leg of the Leinster open qualifier at Daingean.

Dean with his winning bag at Edenderry

The two-day Dunbrody Festival held at Oaklands Fishery proved a great success, with Leo Lynch with his winning catch of 163.57kg just pipping Kieran Reeves over the two days by 2kg.

Other News

An outbreak of crayfish plague has been detected in the River Blackwater catchment, and anglers and other water users are asked to take action to prevent further spread of this disease. Our native crayfish are very susceptible to this disease, with entire populations in infected rivers wiped out, so please read this advice and take the necessary precautions.

Inland Fisheries Ireland is investigating a fish kill of at least 2,000 fish on the Brownsmills stream near Kinsale, Co. Cork. Samples have been taken and staff are working to identify the source of the pollution. Once again, all land users are asked to be careful when working near water and ensure nothing enters our waters that shouldn’t.

Finally, bonjour et felicitations to our French readers on Bastille Day. Vive la France!

And now the weather

Looking out the window this morning would just make you want to go back to bed. But how is the rest of the weekend, and next week, going to go?

Met Eireann says that tomorrow will bring showers or longer spells of rain (don’t tell St. Swithin!) spreading from the west. Fresh and gusty W/NW winds will be strong at times, especially near the coast. Highest temperatures of 15 to 19 degrees.

Sunday will see more showers continue to feed in across the country. Some of the showers will be heavy and thundery during the afternoon and evening. Staying windy too with moderate to fresh westerlies and highest temperatures of 15 to 19 degrees.

The outlook is for unsettled weather to continure next week, with showers and some longer spells of rain, although winds do slacken somewhat from Monday.

Safe fishing to all and tight lines, especially here in Ireland.

IFI Staff
Catch, Photo, Release

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

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    Lucky porbeagle gets new lease of life from West cork Charters

    By
    IFI Staff
    -

    Dave Edwards of West Cork Charters was in touch regarding the plight of a porbeagle shark that was caught on his charter boat off the Cork coast yesterday. The unfortunate shark, which weighed approx 140lb, had managed to become entangled in a packing strap that had embedded into the flesh on its body and also impinged on its fins.

    The packing strap that caused the damage

    There’s no doubt the animal would have been in some distress due to the injury, and it may well have led to the death of the shark if it hadn’t been removed by Dave. It should serve as a reminder to us all of the danger posed by waste discarded into the environment and the impact that has on our flora and fauna.

    It’s prime sharking time off the Cork coast right now, and Dave, who tags shark for the Marine Sportfish Tagging Programme had a few blues to go with the lucky porbeagle, all of which were released again.

    Please fish in a sustainable manner

    Go fishing…

    West Cork Charters operates the Silver Dawn, a 41′ Rodman 1250 with twin 430 HP Engines out of Courtmacsherry. The range of fishing found within close range of Courtmacsherry is superb, with trips producing anything between 6 and 15 different species as a norm and in excess of 20 is possible if anglers are prepared to change methods and use different baits and lures throughout their trip. As a rule mackerel, pollock, cod and ling are usually encountered but several species of wrasse along with whiting, pouting, coalfish, bull huss, conger and many more are often added to the catch.
    If you do choose to head offshore to sample the superb shark fishing available within 10 miles of Courtmacsherry, there is a very strong chance of encountering blue sharks and an increasing chance of bringing a porbeagle shark to the boat.

    Address: The Pier, Courtmacsherry, Co. Cork.
    Telephone: +353 (83) 449 1403
    Email: [email protected]

    Web: www.irelandseaangling.com

    Young angler Nathan makes light of heavy weather to land super 20lb pike on Lough Derg

    By
    IFI Staff
    -

    Nathan Austin was on a trip with his family to the Lough Derg area recently. They faced some difficult weather and had to spend two days in the harbour due to storms making the lake too rough to fish. Despite the adverse conditions, they managed some very nice pike on their holiday, including fish of 15.5lb, 17lb and a super fish of 20lb which was taken on the troll, and had another fish halfway down its neck! It’s fish like this that make for lasting memories, and you can see that by the smile on Nathan’s face. Great fishing guys.

    Please fish in a sustainable manner

    Moy Estuary fishing well for sea trout

    By
    IFI staff
    -
    Ray Andrews with a nice seatrout caught on Pegasus

    Steve Schreck reports from the Moy Estuary…

    The Moy Estuary fished well last week and quite a few decent trout were caught on sand eel.

    Skipper Judd Ruane had a productive day fishing the estuary on his boat Pegasus with his 89-year-old client Ray Andrews from the UK.

    Adam Smith from Cong had a fantastic day fishing the estuary on Sunday, catching and releasing about 30 sea trout. The one fish he kept was a magnificent 5lbs sea trout caught on sand eel.

     

     

    Fishing on Conn & Cullin improving slightly

    By
    IFI staff
    -
    Peter’s 1lb Lough Conn trout caught on a Bibio Sedgehog

    Steve Schreck reports from Loughs Conn & Cullin…

    Angling Report week ending 09/07/23   

    Loughs Conn and Cullin saw a bit of an improvement, although not too many boats are going out at the moment. This also means that some localised fly hatches and the opportunity they bring with them might be missed.

    Peter Roche fished the top of Brackwansha early on Monday morning around 8.30 am and caught and released 5 fish on wet flies which included the Golden Olive Bumble and Light Olive Dabbler. The biggest trout weighed around 1lb. A localised hatch of mayfly was responsible for bringing on the take, but only lasted for about 2.5 hours.

    On Friday he and Gary Binley fished in a very strong wind around Poteen Island and had 4 fish up to 1lb on Light Olive Dabbler and Bibio Sedgehog, all released.

    Catch numbers on the Moy improve significantly

    By
    IFI staff
    -
    Adam Connolly releasing a 6.5lbs salmon on the Ridge Pool caught skating microtubes

    Steve Schreck reports from the River Moy…

    Angling Report week ending 09/07/23

    The first decent rain in about two months, although only causing a smallish flood, encouraged a good number of fish to run the system late last week and therefore catch numbers improved quite significantly. In total 369 salmon have been reported caught, which is an increase of more than 50% compared to the previous week. A few double figure fish are still being caught, but the majority of fish are grilse and most of them a nice size too. Water levels at Ballylahan bridge rose to 0.8m on Friday and started tapering off Saturday evening, to end the week at 0.3m.

    The Moy Fishery recorded 26 salmon caught for the week, of which 17 were released. 21 fish were caught on the Ridge Pool, 2 on the Weir Pool and 3 on the Cathedral Beat. The biggest salmon weighed 12lbs and being a henfish she was released to continue her journey and produce some more multi sea winter salmon.

    Markus Elsenberger releasing a nice grilse of 4lbs at the Ridge Pool
    Matthew Prendergast with a nice grilse from the Weir Pool

    Ballina Salmon Anglers reported 25 salmon for the week. The biggest fish weighed 7lbs, while the rest was in the 3lbs-5lbs bracket.

    Mount Falcon reported 15 fish, of which 2 were released.  Most successful methods were worm and spinner.

    Attymass Angling Club recorded 11 fish, 6 from Padden’s and 5 from the Wood Pool.

    Knockmore Salmon Anglers recorded 9 salmon for the week.

    Coolcronan Fishery reported 13 salmon for the week.

    Byrne’s Fishery reported 5 salmon caught on the worm.

    Armstrong Fishery recorded 27 fish, of which 11 were caught on the worm and the rest on prawn and spinner. The biggest salmon weighed 12lbs.

    Gannon’s Fishery reported 34 salmon, with the best one being a 7lbs fish.  Most salmon weighed between 4lbs and 5lbs.

    Foxford Salmon Anglers had 64 salmon for the week. The worm and the spinner were the most successful methods.

    Local reports from the Foxford Rocks Fishery suggest that 30 salmon were caught, mostly on bubble and fly and the prawn.

    The Foxford Fishery recorded 42 salmon caught for the week. The best fish of 12lbs was taken on the worm.

    Cloongee Fishery reported 11 salmon for the week, all of them released.

    East Mayo Anglers reported 54 salmon for the week, 10 of which were released. Most fish were in the 2.5lbs to 7lbs range, with the biggest fish weighing 10.5lbs. All methods were successful.

    Three salmon were reported caught upstream of Cloongullaun Bridge weighing 6.5 lbs, 3 lbs and 1.5 lbs. Successful methods were spinner and fly.

    Caragh, Maine and Roughty get water and salmon catches improve

    By
    IFI Staff
    -
    Stretch below Roughty Bridge
    The tide falling back below Roughty Bridge.

    The Caragh going well with plenty of grilse showing up.

    Maine is holding its own with 6 fish verified last week, all approx. 5lbs category.

    Good water on the Roughty but salmon slow to arrive into the rivers, best fish 10lbs , by a club member.

    Go fishing…

    Caragh River and Lake

    River Maine and Brown Flesk

    River Roughty

    Patrick Sammon is the 2023 National Junior Competition / Daniel Peacock Memorial competition winner

    By
    Paul O'Reilly
    -
    A group of Junior Anglers who participated in the recent 2023 National Junior Competition / Daniel Peacock Memorial on Sunday 2nd of July and hosted by Newport SAC.

    This report courtesy of Newport SAC on their National Junior / Daniel Peacock Memorial Competition:

    *Congratulations to Patrick Sammon – the Daniel Peacock Memorial/National Junior Competition champion for 2023*

    This annual Junior competition, now in its 31st year – renamed the Daniel Peacock Memorial as a tribute for the last 18 years – was held over the first weekend in July 2023. The club’s very first competition dedicated to the Junior members began back in 1992 and has been held every year since.

    As this was the 31st year anniversary of the competition it is worth expressing our gratitude to the pioneers of the club committee back in 1992 and their foresight in laying the foundations of this hugely successful event. It is also an opportunity to thank the various committee members, anglers, parents and sponsors who over the years have helped to make this event so special for so many young anglers.

    A group of Junior Anglers who participated in the recent 2023 National Junior Competition / Daniel Peacock Memorial on Sunday 2nd of July and hosted by Newport SAC.

    This year’s competition was fished over two days in the beautiful surrounds of Clew Bay. It was an opportunity for the parents, club members and junior anglers to meet up on the quayside on both mornings to find out who they would be fishing alongside for the day and discuss their tactics. Both the parents and young eager anglers were treated to a freshly cooked sausage roll and a hot cup of tea for all. All anglers assembled for a group photo before boarding the boats and heading out to sea.

    The weather conditions on both days were fresh with occasional strong westerly gusts. The poor weather conditions restricted the skippers to the more sheltered fishing grounds and limited the options available to them. All in all, there was very little between the boats on their return to the quay. The Junior anglers were welcomed back onto the pier by their parents and everyone didn’t take long to make their way home for a few hours in order to watch the much anticipated Mayo vs Dublin game.

    The charts were gathered by the committee members as the long and arduous task of working out the various category winners began behind the scenes. A large crowd gathered for the prize presentation which took place in Nevins Bar, Newport. A big thank you to Declan Nevin and family who provided hot food & drinks for all in attendance and also for providing the venue for the presentation. The room was decorated to the usual high standard and a slide show of the days photos were on display in the background for the large crowd that had gathered.

    As always, a fantastic display of prizes were on offer, thanks to a combination of the Peacock & Steer families generosity, the clubs hard working trophy officers and all of our generous sponsors.

    The full list of prize categories included a Novice category (7th place to 1st place), 8yrs to 13yrs category (7th place to 1st place), 14yrs to 18yrs category (7th place to 1st place), teams of 6 winners & runners up, individual boat winners, largest ray, largest huss, boatman’s prize, overall winner, rod and reel winner selected at random from each category as well as participants prizes for every single junior angler.

    Once the various prizes were presented, we edged closer to the main prize of the evening. Local angler Patrick Sammon was announced as the National Junior Champion with a total of 9 fish and 100 points. Patrick was presented with the Daniel Peacock Memorial Trophy in front of the large attendance of anglers, parents and club members to rapturous applause. Patrick was one of 36 junior anglers, all aged between 8 and 18 years of age, who took part in this year’s event. Our congrats to Patrick on his brilliant achievement from all at the club!

    Patrick Sammon, overall winner of the 2023 National Junior Competition / Daniel Peacock Memorial Sea Angling competition seen here being presented with his prize by Sue Steer, Jacob Jones and Helena Fahy. Patrick had 9 fish and 100 points on the day

    Local sponsor Charles Reilly from Chambers Agri Newport sponsored all participants with a plaque and tackle box to honour their participation in the competition. Every one of the juniors started and finished the day with a smile. Every single junior angler caught fish on the day and no one went home empty handed. There was even a large number of raffle prizes for every junior angler followed by a parents raffle.

    The club wishes to thank each and every one of our sponsors, the skippers, stewards, committee, parents and anyone who generally helped to make the day special for the juniors in whatever way they could. Our thanks also to all skippers and their crew, to the parents who helped out on the boats and those who helped on the quayside each day. The prizes were presented by Sean Nevin (representing main sponsor Nevins Bar), Darragh Magee (on behalf of the late Peter Magee RIP), Shane Gilvarry & Jason Moran (committee), David Nevin (from the Westport branch of the Credit Union), Sue Steer & Ann Taylor (representing the Peacock family). Unavailable on the day was Cllr. Brendan Mulroy (who gives great support to the club and is a main club sponsor over the last number of years) & Rory Smyth from Mid West Furniture (Main Sponsor).

    A group of Junior Anglers who participated in the recent Newport SAC 2023 National Junior Competition / Daniel Peacock Memorial on Saturday 1st of July..

    The club would like to thank all sponsors for their generosity, as without their support, the competition would not have taken place. In particular we would like to thank our main sponsors as follows:

    Sue Steer & Matthew Peacock (Main Trophy Sponsors), Clr Brendan Mulroy (Main Club Sponsor), Chambers Agri (Main Competition Sponsor), Nevins Bar (Main Competition Sponsor), Inland Fisheries Ireland, Bord Iascaigh Mhara, Midwest Furniture, Westport Credit Union, Westport Hotel Group, Marine Institute, Frank Chambers Auctioneers & Estate Agents, Castlebar Self Storage, Oliver Kelleher Trophies, Keanes Butchers, O’Malley Transport, Ann Taylor, Burrishoole GAA, Eamonn Kennedy, Mayo Movie World, Tracks & Treasures, Padraic McCormack, Personalise it.

    Please contact any member of the club if you wish to get involved in helping out at any of our events throughout the year!

    We plan to carry out a fundraising car wash on Main St Newport on 22/7/23 commencing at 10am. Please contact any member of the committee if you can help out for an hour on the day.

    We are now taking entries for our next competition scheduled for 5th and 6th of August (57th Annual Sea Angling Festival). Contact any member of the committee for more details.

    The full results of the 2023 Daniel Peacock Memorial / National Junior Competition are as follows:

    The overall winner was Patrick Sammon with a total of 9 fish and 100 points. Congrats to Patrick from all at the club!

    8 years to 13 years category:

    • Winner:   Seán Nevin (14 fish – 70 pts)
    • Runner up: Leah Moran (4 fish – 60 pts)
    • 3rd place: Julie O’Grady & Thomas O’Brien (5 fish – 45 pts)
    • 4th place: Muirrin Mulchrone (3 fish – 35 pts)
    • 5th place: Alan Heanue (2 fish – 30 pts)
    • 6th place: Brendan Smyth (5 fish – 25 pts)
    • 7th place: Laoise Fynnes (2 fish – 10 pts)

    14 years to 18 years category:

    • Winner: Holly McGee (12 fish – 80 pts)
    • Runner up: Cian Moran & Daithí Nevin (6 fish – 50 pts)
    • 3rd place: Shauna Moran  (4 fish – 50 pts)
    • 4th place: Dara McDonnell (3 fish – 45 pts)
    • 5th place: Ruby McDonnell (5 fish – 25 pts)
    • 6th place: Felix Zeray (4 fish – 20 pts)
    • 7th place: Shane Durcan (3 fish – 15 pts)

    Novice Category: 

    • 1st place – Jacob Jones (7 fish – 55 pts)
    • 2nd place – James McNulty (9 fish – 45 pts)
    • 3rd place – Paddy Kitterick (4 fish – 40 pts)
    • 4th place– Aodhán Ó Ruain (3 fish – 35 pts)
    • 5th place – John O’Sullivan  (6 fish – 30 pts)
    • 6th place – Marcus Moran (2 fish – 30 pts)
    • 7th place – Ruairí Ginnelly (2 fish – 30 pts)

    Teams Event winners were Holly McGee, Patrick Sammon, Leah Moran, James Heanue, John O’Sullivan & Ruari Ginnelly with a total of 295 points and 34 fish

    Teams Event runners up were Shane Durkan, Dara McDonnell, Sean Nevin, Brendan Smyth, James McNulty & Finn Grealis with a total of 220 points and 38 fish

     

    Individual Boat Winners:

    • The Finnaun (Sat) – Leah Moran (4 fish 60 points)
    • The Finnaun (Sat) – Holly McGee (12 fish 70 points)
    • White Water II (Sun) – Patrick Sammon (9 fish 100 points)
    • Lady Helen – Daithí Nevin (6 fish 50 points)

    Largest Ray: Ruari Ginnelly (19 inches)

    Largest Bulhuss: Leah Moran (42 inches)

    Boatmans Prize: For best angler average score over the two days was Joe Gibbons who skippered the The Finnaun.

    Congrats to all winners and thanks to everyone who took part on the day!

    Please fish in a sustainable manner

    Laune fishing well, salmon to over 20lb reported

    By
    IFI Staff
    -
    One of Tomasz's favourite rivers is the Laune

    The Laune fished well last week with 2 big fish on beat 2 weighing 20.25lbs and 11.5lbs by the same cork angler

    Lots of grilse being caught on Beat 1.

    Go fishing…

    Rivers Laune and Killarney Lakes system

     

    Another 30 salmon for Lee anglers last week

    By
    IFI Staff
    -
    kingsley weir

    There were 30 salmon reported on the River Lee for the week. Best was 12lbs by a club angler on shrimp.

    Go fishing…

    River Lee

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