Menapia Sea Angling Club headed to Coombs for the latest round of their club competition. The venue is well known for producing wrasse, and anglers had to hone in on the rock and kelp beds to effectively target these colourful species.
An olive green coloured Ballan Wrasse
Fishing was tough for the first hour, but as the tide started to slow, the wrasse started to appear and anglers started to see bends in their rods. Brian Cantwell made the most of his opportunities to land 12 fish, including four wrasse over 42cm and that was enough to get him top spot on the day. Conor Byrne finished second, also with 12 fish and Brendan Wall in 3rd hit the 12 fish mark too.
The Irish Kayak Angling Club recently held the second leg of their All-Ireland Kayak Angling Championships in Cahore, Co. Wexford. Despite uncertain forecasts, the meet saw a great turnout and in the end conditions were excellent.
The field
Fishing was generally good with several anglers managing to complete the meet challenge consisting of a Smooth Hound, any Flatfish, any Wrasse and a Dogfish. However, as the only angler to complete the challenge with a joker species, in this case a Tope, Janic Schulte took first place on the day.
Janic with his winning tope
Well done also to Maciej Rzeznik who won the Navionics subscription that was up for grabs.
The countdown is now on to Round 3 in Culdaff, Co. Donegal on the 1st of July.
Janic receiving his first prize
For information on the Irish Kayak Angling Club, check them out here.
Skipper Luke Aston nd his guests are enjoying the good weather we’ve all been blessed with the last few weeks. After last week’s big game shark hunt, it was back to more prolific, if slightly smaller fish this week. After a couple of weeks when mackerel were scarce – on some days just not there at all – they were back in numbers once the wind swung around to the south.
Back on the mackerel!
Luke says the general fishing has been great with plenty of mixed fish about. Spurdogs were in such numbers that they could be a plague at times, but still provide great sport. Codling were also about too.
Pollack
Fishing close in to the cliffs also produced some nice wrasse, as well as plenty of pollack and coalfish on the drift.
Spurog and codBallan wrasse
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
Skipper John Brittain had a familiar crew last week – Jelle and Willem Zikkenheiner, and Dominic Lautier, who have been visiting Clifden and fishing with John since the earlt 1990s. They enjoyed beautiful weather on their trip, which made for a fantastic few days fishing.
Fishing the deeper reefs offshore, Johns says there was loads of feed around, with whales, dolphins and birds all feasting. Pollack were found well up off the bottom, with full stomachs, and provided plenty of sport. Some nice cod and ling were also landed.
Even the skipper got into the fish – in his fashionable headgear!CodCodLing
Well after that crazy April weather, it has been a mad few weeks since on the water and I am only getting around to doing the May blog now.
The fishing on Lough Arrow and Lough Melvin has just been outstanding most days for the month of May, with an overall average of 5 fish per day, there certainly have been some happy anglers in the boat. Both the green Mayfly and Spent has produced some lively sport at times and some great lumps in the mix as well.
On the downside I witnessed myself some of the bad manners that has arrived to the shores of Lough Arrow, with boats cutting you off on drifts that you were on and pushing in on top of you when you are at a corner of a island waiting for the spent to fall. On one occasion there was a boat so close to me I thought they wanted to have tea with me in the boat, but that is enough giving out. It is in the best interests of everyone that we maintain some sort of good manners while on the lake, slow down while navigating between drifts, and give plenty of space between boats. Trout are easily spooked and once they are “off” that’s it for the day for everyone.
Let’s get back to talking about the fishing. The Mayfly came early this year and the fishing was brilliant, two over seas anglers from the UK had 17 fish in 3 days fishing with us on both dries and wet fly, a few days later I had my great friend over from Scotland Ewan MacGregor and his son Alan and over the 4 days we landed over 20 fish from 1.5 up to 5lbs. The weather again this year caused some problems with winds again turning around to the north and east which affected the greens and the Spent fishing but we still managed to catch some fish. When the weather eventually came right, the Spent came and boy was it good. There were fish moving and feeding hard on the Spent. One of my clients lost the fish of a lifetime, well over the 10lb mark.
1 of 10
The following day I was guiding Ewan and Chris in the same area when Ewan hooked a Lough Arrow large brown on one of my Fulling Mill signature Spent. After a long hard fight we landed him and we weighed him in at 7lb 10, he was safely returned and swam away hopefully to give another angler the enjoyment of catching him again.
Later in May I had the pleasure of guiding Giorgio from H2O magazine who was doing an article on fishing on Lough Arrow. Thankfully we managed to get him a few Trout. I was honoured to be asked to write an article on the Lough Arrow and also a piece on Irish style Lough flies. It will be coming out later on in the year so keep an eye out for that. I also had the opportunity to do a Mayfly update for the Ireland on the Fly podcast with Tom and Daire.
My guiding turned to Lough Melvin for the last week of May and again the Mayfly was up and going well, some days landing over 10 fish which were mostly caught on my range of Stimulators and Mayfly. At the very end of May we had early starts and the beginnings of the Caenis fishing… but Caenis fishing is another story.
On a sad note before I finish my blog, we lost a dear friend in May Ruth Mettler. I had the pleasure of fishing with Ruth on many occasions and we became great friends. She will be sadly missed amongst the fishing community of Kinlough anglers.
Tight lines.
Go fishing…
You can purchase some of my patterns in the new Fulling Mills brochure for 2023 which will be out soon.
Notes: Provides guiding on Lough Arrow, Melvin, Glencar Lake & Lough Gill .
Clients from all over the world from England, Scotland, Wales, Germany, Usa and South Africa. Total C&R on Jackie’s boat while guiding.
Flies for sale
2023 started off for me with an email from Fulling Mill to say that my fly patterns have just arrived in the UK and are up on the Fulling Mill website. The range consists of wet Mayfly, Spent, Stimulators and Daddies. The patterns have been working the last number of seasons throughout Ireland, the United States and the UK with great success. I will also be working closely with Fulling Mill on some new products which will be launched soon, so keep an eye on my page for updates.
David Norman of Angling Adventures West Cork tells us that this hot spelll has heated things up nicely…
After a cold start to the year, the recent warm weather seems to have kicked things off.
Lure fishing for Bass from the Kayaks has been good in the calmer spells along with fine Pollack on Fly & Lure from the kayaks also .
Overall, conditions are looking good for the busy summer holiday season here in beautiful West Cork.
Contact me now to book your guided trip.
Go fishing…
2023 Bookings are steadily building in my calendar but I still have prime tides available for lure & fly fishing so drop me an email if you’re interested in doing some 1-2-1 guided fishing with me – [email protected]
David has been lure then fly fishing since the mid noughties with some of the best guides and anglers in Ireland and abroad.
Kayak fishing by lure & fly now takes him and his guiding guests beyond the shore to target Pollock, Bass or Wrasse with the chance of other species such as Codling, Coalfish, Mackerel or Garfish.
Shore fishing at night is also a very special experience.
A low pressure system located in the Atlantic has steered warm and humid air over the country this week leading to warmer than average temperatures countrywide with below average rainfall for most of the country. While heavy localised showers have brought relief to some fisheries this past week, more widespread showers are forecast for the coming week, some of which will be heavy with thunderstorms. Salmon anglers in particular will be glad to have the rivers flushed through, while lough anglers will be glad to see those loughs topped up and the temperatures brought down for a while at least…
If you can’t be bothered getting sunburnt or soaked on an Irish lough this weekend, maybe listen to the latest Ireland on the Fly Pod with Lough Arrow guide Jackie Mahon, who has seen the good, the bad and the ugly on Arrow so far this year.
We received many more reports from pike anglers and other anglers fishing from boats this week. It seems many anglers believe they float so much better when the sun is shining or maybe sunstroke is the reason they mistakenly choose not to wear a lifejacket. All passengers on board a boat or watercraft of less than 23 feet (7 metres) in length must wear a lifejacket or personal flotation device. Angling safety is paramount, we will only publish pictures of anglers who wear a personal flotation device as required.
Sticking with the subject of young Irish anglers catching great fish, we mentioned the O’Neill boys already – young Anthony O’Neill and brother Daniel landed a whopper at Mount Juliet last week. Fishing with pellets in the estate ponds, Anthony hooked a super carp and had kid brother Daniel on hand with the net – they also net our joint Catch of the Week prize for this week.
Tonight will bring scattered thundery showers with spot flooding and isolated thunderstorms. Mild with temps of 12°C to 16°C. Saturday will bring a mix of sunny spells and heavy showers, hail or thunderstorms, with localised flooding. Highs of 18°C to 23°C. Showers will ease during Saturday night. Showery rain will intensify again from the south towards morning. Lows of 11°C to 14°C.
Showers will be heavy once again on Sunday, with the chance of thunderstorms and surface water flooding. Highs of 18°C to 22°C in light southeasterly winds. Showers will become isolated early on Sunday night, leaving mostly dry conditions with long clear spells. Lowest temperatures of 11°C to 15°C in light and variable winds. Showery weather is expected into early next week.
In this episode of the Lure Fishing Podcast, host Cormac Walsh chats to top angler James Barry. James is based in Waterford and has been lure and fly fishing for bass on the copper coast for many years. Starting out of the rivers he has honed his fly fishing skills which lead him to pursuing bass and salmon on the fly.
The Lure Fishing Podcast with Cormac Walsh
James talks about the comparisons between fly fishing and lure fishing for bass and gives some fantastic tips and insights. He also talks about some of his salmon fishing exploits and how he takes what he learns from his salmon fishing and incorporates it in his approach to bass fishing.
James also has a marine science background and gives a great insight into his knowledge on bass behavior and habits. This is a really interesting chat and not to be missed.
Click on the link below for the podcast on Spotify, it’s also available most places you get your podcasts
Dan O’Neill, Fishery Manager at Mount Juliet, reports on the fishing on the Nore….
14 June: Summer is well and truly here and underway at the moment. Fly hatches are good along the Mount Juliet stretch during early morning hours, then later on in the evening. Dry fly was my main discipline of choice this week with a small bit of wet fly and of course my new favourite method of fishing leech patterns.
Starting at 04.30am Saturday and Sunday morning certainly had its advantages. Not only did I get to see the wildlife in abundance but it was refreshing and cool outside, something in recent weeks that I wasn’t used to. The feeling of cold air was refreshing and enjoyable but it was now time to make a game plan for my guest. We started by swinging a good-sized sedge. My set up here was a 4ft Di3 Poly leader with 6/7ft of .10 fluorocarbon. The Poly leader took me down a little in the water and in the deeper runs with wet fly I find this useful. Once you master the swing its also good in shallower areas where you can get the fly right past the noses of the trout and they can’t refuse mostly.
Greg Barbosa with a river Nore brown trout
We did have to fish quite hard this morning for a decent sized trout. Most fish we caught were hugging the banks and took the fly hard. Trout started to rise as the morning went on so I reached for the dry fly box and we changed our leader set up to suit a size 20 dry fly. Passing over trout and watching them come up slowly and sip the fly gives a unique feeling. It never gets old and the feeling is the same be it the first time or 100th time. We did need to be quite stealthy on our approach which made for even more excitement. Watching trout sip from seams and putting our accuracy to the test is very special.
Using leeches in the deeper shaded areas worked quite well, I had some lovely trout and great sport with them. As the fish backed off the rise I switched to wet fly and we both had a couple of trout on a long cast as the sun was at this point quite strong.
A rising roach or rudd is a good test of your strike
Elsewhere on the fishery many guests fished and had some nice trout. I, myself, was testing out the Cadance 10ft 3wt for an evening’s Rudd/Roach fishing. I got plenty of Rudd/Roach on a size 20 olive, great fun on light tackle. I find fishing for these helps me with my striking and also timing of the strike.
Carp will put any gear through its paces
Moving to the 11ft 3 micro Spey I managed a lovely carp on an elk haired caddis, watching the carp come up to the fly in crystal clear water was very special ,the rods well and truly christened over the weekend and looking forward to many more fish on them.
I will be running dry fly masterclasses for the next 4 weeks. Classes can be individual or for groups of up to 6. For a full breakdown of the class email or contact me on the below details.
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.
Waterford & District Coarse Angling Club fished the first leg of their 2023 master angler was fished in Ballyshunnock at the weekend. There was a great turnout and they were greeted with overcast conditions and a southerly breeze blowing in to the northern bank.
The match was fished both on the northern and southern banks. Fishing was brisk from the start with the rudd, skimmers and perch feeding freely.
At the end of the match Mick Browne ended up first with a mainly skimmer bag of 27kg, followed by Mike Norris 2nd with an impressive bag of 22kg. Third was Dave Norbury with a fantastic bag of Rudd which weighed in at 17kg.
1 of 4
Mick Browne 1st Place with a nice net of mainly skimmers
The club’s home water is at Ballyshunnock Reservoir, Co. Waterford. The reservoir is managed as a mixed fishery by Waterford & District Coarse Angling Club. It is regularly stocked with brown and rainbow trout of 1lb plus as well as a healthy native population of browns. It also contains rudd, bream, tench and rudd/bream hybrids. Permits are available from Centra in Kilmeaden, Waterford Angling and Outdoor Centre (John O’Brien), Waterford, Titelines in Cappoquin, The Tourist Offices in Dungarvan and Newtown Stores, Newtown. Membership of Waterford and District Coarse Angling Club also entitles to coarse fish the lake. Details available from 086 163 2462.
