And that’s a wrap…our 12th and final league outing of the season was held on the stunning West Donegal venue of Narin which always gives amazing sunsets facing west into the open Atlantic Ocean which made for a very enjoyable four hours fishing.
Flounder and turbot double for Stefan
First casts on the coming tide for the 13 anglers produced a few double hauls of turbot for Cormac, Stefan and Darren before things settled down and fish were hard to get over the minimum 20cm mark with lots of small turbot under the size. A nice turbot of 26cm for Darren was longest flattie with a further 3 flounders for Stefan to 25cm.
Counting turbot
Scores were tight at the end and on the last cast before lines up a welcome seatrout hit Gavin’s baits which took the win on the night along with a few flounders and turbot.
Results were as follows:
Longest flattie was won by Darren Rawdon
2nd on the night Stefan Martin
1st place on the night Gavin Dorrian
Lucky peg winner Darren Rawdon
And when the scores are counted up for the overall league John Cunningham is this year’s winner with final results to be tallied with a great consistent fishing over the winter. Well done to all!
During the week, the Mariners crew had a great array of species on the shore with fine conger for Gavin along with tompots, dabs, dogs, ballan and pollack and a few fine trout for Dessie and Ryan.
Nice conger for Gavin during the week
Last weekend, junior member, Cormac Duddy, got a new club record ballan wrasse which was also an Irish specimen fish length at 49cm whilst out with Killybegs Fishing Trips.
Anglers fishing for the Ottewill Trophy on Inniscarra Lake during the week had to concentrate on skimmers, hybrids and bream as the roach were in spawning mode. Long pole, feeder and whips were all employed and average catches of 10kg a day meant that moist anglers were kept busy. Joint competition organiser Dave Carter was top bag on the final day of the competition (29.66kg of hybrids on the pole) and this was enough to see him top the rankings.
The West Cork & District SAC headed to Ballybrannigan Beach in East Cork for their second competition of the year. The beach can provide good daytime fishing if conditions are right (i.e. a good surf), but anglers arrived to find calm seas and knew this meant they were in for a tricky day’s fishing…
Blue Skies & Calm Seas at Ballybrannigan
Those anglers who chose to start by fishing close in found that fish were scarce. Those that ventured out further had more success, with a few doggies on the move. But a plethora of spider crabs caused havoc for all anglers, messing with baits and causing a general nuisance.
A decent flounderA small turbot
At lines in, scores were as follows:
Seniors:
Troy Francis, 10 fish 395 pts
Jason Convery, 8 Fish 306pts
Mark O’Sullivan, 5 fish 230pts
Great fishing by Troy, well done fella!
Liam Davis won the Junior section with 2 fish.
Longest flatfish went to Mark O’Sullivan with a fine 39cm Flounder, as there were no roundfish caught on the night (Dogfish and Weevers aren’t included) the pool for longest round went to 2nd biggest flatfish, Colin Kilbride with a 37cm flounder.
Species caught were Dogfish, Flounder, Weever fish and Turbot. 48 fish were shared by 15 anglers overall.
Bodo Funke of Angling Services Ireland reports of a super nice week with his guests Michael and Martin from Germany.
Michael and Martin who were already visiting the Boyle area and staying with Angling Services Ireland last year, had a total of 55 pike for their week’s fishing. The two lure anglers caught some really nice fish and there was lots of action at times, including some meter pike.
Go Fishing
Bodo Funke, Angling Services, Ireland
Pike, Game and Coarse fishing Guide
Notes: Angling Services Ireland provides the very best in angling and angling tourism. We are based in Boyle, Co. Roscommon, in the North-West of Ireland, an area with many superb angling opportunities.
The Proprietor Bodo Funke holds the Marine and Countryside Guiding Certificate (achieved with distinction) and his expertise and local knowledge will be to your avail when you go on a guided angling trip or angling holiday with Angling Services Ireland. Pike fishing, Fly-fishing for Pike, Game fishing for wild Brown Trout, Float- tubing, Coarse fishing. Salmon fishing and Sea-angling can be organised.
Scanning for rising trout on Corrib as the sun rises too.
The mayfly is pretty much over on Corrib, with the hot, sunny weather bringing hatches to an end, and making daytime fishing more difficult. Early morning Caenis hatches, which can provide fishing up to 11am on some days, are just getting into full swing now, with early risers being rewarded with some of the best hatches, and fishing, of the season. Guide Padraig Fahy, from Birchall Lodge & Angling posted a couple of beautiful early morning photos from Caenis fishing this week, which has whetted our appetite!
Scanning for rising trout as the sun rises too.
Angling guide Larry MNcCarthy of Corrib View Lodge & Angling Services has a report of the last few week’s fishing on Corrib, a period that saw some tough conditions but some great fishing at times:
“I last posted news in April and since then lots of trout have been caught , missed and some have grown larger for the individuals involved. Buzzer fishing was busy on Corrib and honestly I haven’t seen as many boats on the Lough during late April and early May for quite a few years.
Reports were mixed with some anglers enjoying great success and other boats struggling.
Most days guests staying with us had success boating 4 to 5 fish, some of which were big trout but the general consensus of opinion at the lodge was that the actual buzzer hatches were quite sparse. A few areas around the lake like Lackafinna, the Cut and Clydagh Bay had big hatches but most of the reliable areas didn’t produce much fly. The Ballindiff/Annaghdown areas were packed most days and boat numbers were uncomfortable. Many of the trout we landed on buzzer nymphs regurgitated more olive nymphs than buzzer when we returned them to the water.
May fly was quite early with fly appearing first few days in May. Wet flies out fished drys on quite a few occasions and the best action our guides encountered was very close to shore lines and around the points of Islands.
88 years young and still fooling trout!
Catches were consistent for the first three weeks of May but big bags of fish were scarce.
Most clients caught and missed fish every day but the guides had to work hard covering lots of different areas to produce fish on a daily basis. The general opinions were that fishing was better than 2022.
A nice trout for Ben
On sunny days fly hatched and was off the water in an instant making things harder but with cloud and a little humidity fly was available and trout were caught.
A plump fish taken on a Ginger Wulff
Visiting anglers came from all over this mayfly season to experience the challenge and beauty Lough Corrib provides. We had anglers from the UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, two parties from the USA and many Irish regulars all of whom enjoyed every minute of their adventures on Lough Corrib.
With the sunshine and heat, trolling during the daytime can be more productive. Ferox trout expert guide Tomi Kurman from Tomi Guided Fishing has been producing the goods for his clients again, with plenty of trout landed, although only a few made the grade as counting ferox in Tomi’s book!
Fantastic markings on this one
Jaspwer Mathews of Wild Atlantic Angling Experiences has also been trolling for ferox, with some success, although the best fish of the day eluded his client Arnulf. Still, a couple of good trout saw the net and a camera before being reeleased again.
Arnulf with a good trout
Go Fishing
Birchall Lodge & Angling
Padraig Fahy is an accomplished angler and guide who knows Corrib intimately, and can give you a day to remember. Accommodation also available in the luxury B&B overlooking Birchall Bay.
Jasper runs Wild Atlantic Angling Experiences, providing bespoke guided fishing for salmon, trout or saltwater species. To book a guiding trip with Jasper you can give him a call on 087 6031975, or check out the new website: wildatlanticangling.com
Tomi Guided Fishing
To book a trip with Tomi Kurman, give him a call on 085 7318541 or check out his Facebook page here: Tomi Guidedfishing
Fly fishing on the River Boyne & the custodians protecting this historic river
This week’s episode sees Tom & Daire go to the eastern part of the country to find out about the ongoing fight to protect and save the historic River Boyne.
Pat O’Toole is from the Trim Athboy & District Angling Association and he joins the lads to highlight how local clubs have been tirelessly working to reverse the damage done by drainage and pollution down through the decades and why the fight still continues to this day.
He also talks about the large numbers of brown trout and the importance of the salmon run on the river, especially for springers, with his own personal best of 23lbs caught in 2015.
Rate, review and follow the show to keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly episodes on Apple Podcasts or Spotify at:
‘WE’LL BE BACK!’ So said a group of visiting anglers after their first Lough Arrow mayfly experience. The lure of the lake!
The mayfly is over for another year. We can say, however, that it was one of the best over the past number of years. The hatch started early in the first days of May, with the main hatch taking place from the 10th to the 15th. The weather conditions were just right for good mayfly fishing, with breezy showery days in the beginning of the greens, and calm overcast days for the spent. There was a lot of fish caught – mainly small, but we had our usual number of good-sized fish with weights of up to 8lb.
Anglers fishing out of John Hargadon’s Boat Hire reported good fishing over the weekend of 26th May. Dublin angler Eddie Rowe had 3, John Kane from Down had 2 and Michael Gibson caught 4. Roy Simpson, UK, had 3, with Andy Birkett & Brent Vinall also from UK catching 12, the best weighing 5lb. All fish were caught on dries, and released.
We have no reports of catches on the Murrough yet, as Lough Arrow tends to be quiet during the month of June. We will still have a small number of spent trundling out, even into July, and you could be lucky and pick up the odd fish. However, to keep the spirits up we still have Caenis, Green Peter and Sedge fishing to look forward to!
In episode 11 of the lure fishing podcast, Cormac Walsh talks to wrasse lure fishing expert Damion Fryer. Damion targets wrasse on the lures and really has fine-tuned his skills over the years fishing the rocky coastline around Cornwall.
In the Podcast he talks about his success using lures like the Pirate Lures Wrasser, Senkos, Creature Baits and gives great information on how best to present them and what rigs he prefers.
The Romanian C&R Angling Association held the 4th edition of their Lough Derg Predator Challange 2023 on Sunday 28th of May on Lough Derg. A total of 70 anglers turned out for the event where anglers aimed to catch a Pike, Perch and Trout, with the longest of each species caught making up the final total.
The anglers caught and released 117 fish on the day, which was good going considering the bright sunny weather we have been having in recent weeks.
Dominic McGowan holding the trout that won him joint 2nd place in the President’s Cup
Steve Schreck reports from Loughs Conn & Cullin…
Angling Report week ending 28/05/2023
Fishing on the lakes didn’t improve compared to the week before last. Very little fly life was being recorded and fishing was a tough nut to crack, to say the least. There were no big hatches of Mayflies and if trout could be tempted they were mostly below the size limit.
Peter Roche ventured out on Monday, fishing Rinmore Point and Brackwansha. He recorded a localised hatch at Rinmore Point in the morning and caught a few small trout on a Cock Robin Dabbler.
On Sunday, Foxford Angling Club competed for the President’s Cup. Billy Murphy won the competition and joint second place went to Dominic McGowan and Bryan Kennedy. Pete Ramsden was third. Thirteen anglers returned 7 trout over 13 inches. Conditions were tough with a north wind and bright sunshine.
Chairman of Foxford Angling Club Michael Tiernan presenting the Presidents Cup to winner Billy Murphy
