Silver Dawn skipper Dave Edwards reports on the recent fishing down in West Cork:
Inshore fishing has been consistent with decent Pollack and Cod being the main target. Very few mackerel showing again which seems to be the new norm on the south coast.
Silver Dawn was able to take advantage of a small tide and settled sea on Saturday and with a 60-mile license was able to target distant wrecks.
The lads were kept busy with Ling and a few Coalie and it was good to see two specimens within the day’s tally. Brian O’Neill and Pat Keating caught their first specimens but every angler ended the trip with several good fish.
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.
Congratulations to this years winner – Andrew Lightbown who receives a lovely crystal fruit bowl from Steve & Sonia Clinch of Abbey Lodge. Andrew won the match of 72 anglers with 8.100kg from Kiltybardan. In second place was Darius Karalaunis with 7.200kg from Haughton’s Shore.
Well done to the top 6!
1. Andrew Lightbown 8.100kg
2. Darius Karalaunis 7.200kg
3. Kevin Dyer 6.750kg
4. Ross White 6.300kg
5. Tomas Lisauskas 6.000kg
6. John Tocknell 5.850kg
Ballinamore Angling Club would like to thank everyone for taking part as we remember the contribution of Ivan Price to angling tourism in this area.
Thanks to Steve and Sonia Clinch of Abbey Lodge Fenagh sponsors of the crystal trophy, and Terry Shortt and staff at the Heritage Bar.
Ballinamore Angling Festival
The Ballinamore Angling Festival is fished over 5 days. The festival Prize Fund is €7050, with a Winners payout of €1000. The featured match fishing venues are just a selection from a number of good fishing locations in the area;
A Church Shore ‘Grassy Bank’
B Church Shore ‘Deeps’ & Cully’s Shore
C Connolly’s Shore, Lough Garadice
F ‘Pumphouse’ Lough Scur
G Kiltybardan
Day 1
It was great to see so many new faces as the 47 anglers checked into the festival this morning. Met with a warm breezy day the anglers picked up their supplies from the bait van from Irish Bait and Tackle Limited before making their rotation draw.
There was a good start with reasonable catches all round. Penkridge’s Paul Boothby had a good day on Church Shore #Grassy Bank winning the day with 108 roach on the pole at 11m for 11.800kg. Second was club member Mick Mahoney with 9.700kg at Kiltybarden with Ivan Price Cup winner Andrew Lightbown just behind him with 9.450kg.
Day 2
Another warm day made for tough fishing on Garadice, but there were some lovely specimen roach caught.
Kiltybardan continued to perform well with local angler and current Youth U20 World Champion, Charlie Richards winning the day from peg 3 with 14.950kg. Second on the day was Wayne Fuller on the next peg with 13.300kg, both fished the pole. Third today was Dave Stewart with 10.250kg at Lough Scur, Pumphouse.
Day 3
An unexpected tench show at Garadice, Grassy Bank today delights Paul Smith and Bruce Zhou with the 1st 17.450kg and 3rd 10.900kg best weights of the day.
The eight fine specimens for Paul catapults him to the top of the leader board with 30.550kg at the half way stage. The third best weight of the day goes to Kevin Dyer with 13.050kg and moves him to second place for a total of 27.370kg, followed by Paul Boothby 25,650kg in third, Charlie Richards 25.250kg in fourth and Bruce Zhou 24.300kg in fifth place.
We’ll continue to post results as we get them.
Go fishing…
Join the Club
Coarse angling in the Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim area. Club membership €15 Adults and €5 Juniors. Annual Festival held in May. for more information see their facebook page Ballinamore Angling Club
Lough Sheelin angling report May 20th – May 28th 2023
“Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are.”
Marianne Williamson
Paul McMenamin with his 8lb lump of Sheelin gold
It was all swings and roundabouts on Lough Sheelin over the past week – peaks and troughs with a large dollop of unpredictability thrown in. A Northwest wind dominated on most days bring with it an unwelcome cold which kept jumpers on, the trout down and sometimes stunted the spent going out on the water. Water temperatures hung around the 16-degree mark with daytime heat soaring to a Mediterranean plus 20 on Saturday. So far, there has been a piece missing out of our fishing season here. We have gone from excellent buzzer fishing, brilliant nymphing and straight into ‘ hit and miss’ spent angling. There has been a very noticeable absence of fishing the wet and dry mayfly patterns with only a few takes on the dry Mayfly.
Melyvn Woods with his nymph fish May 20thMayfly magnets
There has certainly been no shortage of mayfly on this lake as we witnessed what seemed like millions of these elegant little insects performing their magical mating dance high above the bushes of Church Island and other tree lined places along the shoreline. Clouds of males and females performing their courtship dance over the water, rising and falling gracefully through the air, a rare environmental spectacle which we were privileged to witness, something akin to an extract from Tchaikovsky’s ‘Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy’ but of huge significance as these insects provide a very visual declaration that there is a healthy ecosystem going on here for their requirements are non-negotiable – clean, clear water, without which they would not be here.
Hanging around – Lough Sheelin mayfliesHolding piscatorial perfection
Nymph fishing accounted for substantial catches during the day but I find it a little baffling that although the nymphs are working very well here, bring in good heavy trout, most anglers are reluctant to go over to what they perceive as ‘the dark side’ and engage in this type of angling.
Wet and dry flies get the bulk of attention and praise from the fly fishers, but the reality is that the trout spend most of their time eating nymphs under the water. Nymphs are found in the lake at all times of the year and all hours of the day. And trout spend the majority of their time eating them. You do not need to time your approach or wait for the perfect hatch to start, instead tie one or more artificial flies in colour and size to match the real insects present in the water (which, for now, are mayfly nymphs) and start fishing. Regardless of what is actually working well now, many anglers still refuse to be converted to nymphing, citing boredom as being the main reason – ‘I would rather lick the entire N52 from top to bottom or watch a dry fly for ten hours’ than fish with nymphs. It seems as if it is something to be ashamed of, perhaps their reasoning will become clear to me at some stage.
Mayfly nymph patterns that worked well were in brown colours with glittery red twisted through the body.
Flying the flag – Hubert Smith’s Sheelin gold
Daytime fishing was busy but it was the ‘out of office’ hours that attracted the highest numbers to this lake. When the weather behaved itself there were large falls of spent but with such a volume of food on the surface this in itself made things difficult for the angler because it had to be an extra special fly with an extra special presentation to spark a take from our piscatorial friends when the spread of naturals was huge.
Darren Harten with his 6lbs 11oz spent gnat fish
Tuesday was the pick of the days and evenings with good numbers of fish being taken on the spent – predominantly the grey Wulff and CDC spent patterns. The Wulffs have always worked well on Sheelin with Green, Yellow and Grey all bring in good catches.
Sheelin’s goddess – Ephemera dancia
There were a few fish caught late at night on the Murrough at Lynch’s point. Buzzer fishing has declined but nonetheless there were a few fish caught on dry buzzer patterns in Finea, Boy Bay and Goreport.
The Real and the Unreal
Flies that worked best were the Bits-type patterns in claret, fiery brown, black, ginger, orange, hare’s ear, olive and grey, the Klinkhammer, Mick Kelly’s Daoine Dubh , a Griffiths Gnat, Grey Duster, Nymphs – Pheasant Tail, Diawl Bach, Hare’s Ear and Olive in sizes 12 and 14, Mini Muddler as a top dropper, Epoxy Buzzer, Shipmans Buzzer (the scruffier the better), Flashback Buzzers, Black & Peacock Spiders (good snail imitation), CDC Emergers, Greenwell’s Glory, Wickhams Fancy, Bibios and Dabblers (Claret, Olive and Green), French Partridge Mayfly, Golden Olive Bumble, Spent Gnat and Buzzer patterns, sizes 8-12.
The best areas for fishing (wind dependant) were the back of Church Island, Corru, Derrysheridan, Bog Bay, Inchacup, Stoney Island, Chambers, Lynch’s pt and Plunketts point.
This is lake is busy at the moment and every angler is very welcome to fish this incredible stretch of water. We are now three months into the fishing season and at this stage every angler should know the laws on this lake, in particular, no angler can fish this lake without a permit and any angler who does so will be issued with a fine of €150 under Bye-law 178.
On Saturday last, IFI carried out a patrol on Lough Sheelin, checking seventy-eight anglers of which 95% alarmingly were not wearing life jackets.
The word life is self explanatory.
On a lighter note, my two favourite boat names this week were ‘I tell lies’ and ‘Happy as Larry’ both needing no explanation about their occupants.
Darren Duffy’s 31″ trout
There is still another week or two left on the mayfly after which the sedge fishing will push in to take top position. There is a lot happening and any fish that have been caught have been magnificent with the top weight of 13lbs released. This is a lake where dreams happen.
Richard Hunter’s 6lb trout
Little green bubble sedge by Evo SmythDamhnaic Mac CiaragainSheelin’s Click Beetle
The catches
1 of 26
Melvyn Wood
Paul McMenamin's trout
Gary Houston May 21st
Melyvn Wood
One in the net for Damien Willis
Fergal Scullier
Denis Gouldings over 9lbs of Sheelin glory
John Byrne
Measuring up
Length of the net
Dominic Murray
Dominic with his Mayfly trout
Release
Kevin Sheridan with his nymph trout
Warren Hogan
Paul with his first catch of the season
A Sheelin heavy weight
Richard Hunter
Kevin Sheirdan
Brian Jameson
David McAlinden
Gary Houston
Mark Mayers
Thomas Harten May 22nd on the spent
Alan Mccartney, May 24th on a Spent pattern
John Byrne
Mercurial magicHolding goldDancing at Derry PointKenneth Rawley’s WulffNew beginnings – Mallard ducklingsBalancing act – Jimmy Brogan with his 6lb troutHomeward bound
Luring the trout
1 of 27
David Oates Kapok Buzzer
Grizzly and white Wulff Kenneth Rawley
Crippled Midge in Claret & Olive, Sam McGowan
Kenneth Rawley Brown Wulff size 12
Lindsay Simpson mayfly tying
Sam McGowan flies
Lindsay Simpson's detached Mayfly
Lindsay Simpson's Mayfly pattern
Adams Klinkhammer by David Baird
Buzzer inspiration Chuck N Duck Fly Tying materials
Chocolate Orange Hopper Garry Reid
Claret Leggy Octopus 12 Kenneth Rawley
Kieran Sherlock's Spent Gnat
Michael Mcguigan caddis emerger pattern
Paul Caslin's Peter variant's, super for mayfly, sedge and daphnia feeders
The Bibio Snatcher
Claret Leggy Octopus Kenneth Rawley
Sam McGowan parachute Olives
Spents Sean O Neachtain
Alder, Kenneth Rawley
Claret & Gold Octopus (variation) Scott Patterson
Claret leggy Octopus, size 12, Kenneth Rawley
Golden Olive Mayfly, Paul Black
Paul Caslin
Abit of everything from Billy Boland
Kieran Sherlock's detached Mayfly
Nondescript Muddler, Scott Patterson
In pensive moodDebbie Meadows, Mayo with her canine fish watcher
It’s been another dry and bright week and northerly winds have kept temperatures more like early spring mainly affecting mayfly fishing at times.
So it is no big surprise that we received mixed reports from the various mayfly venues around the country. While there were days with very little action and almost no spent on the water, some anglers reported great mayfly fishing on dries as well as on wets. This was the case on Lough Arrow where both methods produced some cracking fish to local and visiting anglers alike, while on Loughs Conn & Cullin fishing was rather difficult.
Beautiful Arrow trout for Ewan MacGregor from Scotland
Low water levels didn’t just impact on river trout fishing, they didn’t help salmon anglers either. Some spate rivers, mainly in the west of the country, have reached critical late summer levels already. The River Moy, however, saw an increase in catch numbers with the Moy Fishery starting to come into swing. Anglers who are interested in the Moy shouldn’t miss this week’s Ireland on the Fly podcast. Daire and Tom talk to Garret Ruigrok to find out how the Moy has fished this year and what’s in store for the rest of the season.
Rob Malcolm about to release a salmon on the Ridge Pool in Ballina
Tulla and District Angling Club had good fishing on Cullaun in Co. Clare with over 30 pike up to 119cm. The same club fished the Ryan Wright Memorial coarse competition at Ballinakill over the weekend which was won by Ian Kelsey. Staying with coarse angling, Saturday 20th May saw the start of the May ‘any method’ festivals on Inniscarra. It kicked off with the one-day Hogan’s Open, followed by two three day festivals, O’Callaghan’s Cup 21st-23rd May and Ottewill Trophy, 24th-26th May.
Coarse angling on Inniscarra
While the current weather conditions may impact on game, pike and coarse angling, they definitely provide great sea angling. This is also reflected in this week’s angling update with many excellent sea angling reports received from around the coast.
Skipper Luke Aston reported good mixed fishing on the west Clare reefs this week with plenty of species showing, while a little further north in Galway Bay John Fleming enjoyed more good fishing, including big pollack, ballan wrasse and a few nice cod smashing soft plastics and slow jigs. Also in Glaway Bay, Angling guide Tomi Kurman who is no stranger to specimen trout, with many trout of specimen size boated by himself and clients on Lough Corrib, proved that he can turn his hand to specimen wrasse fishing too.
Our Catch of the Week, however, goes to 17 year old Jack Jennings who hit the jackpot in West Cork last week. Jack who was fishing with his dad Garry had already a fantastic morning’s fishing including plenty mackerel, over 20 bullhuss up to 15 lbs, large double-figure pollack, ling and conger to mention but a few of the species caught, when he hooked and landed a skate weighing approx. 150 lbs. This surely can be called an outstanding day’s fishing and deserves our Catch of the Week.
IFI secured prosecution and fines of €5,500 against a farmer for riverbed destruction in Co Laois. A Co Laois farmer has been found guilty of two breaches of fisheries legislation for deliberate destruction caused at a local river. IFI encourages members of the public, anglers and farmers to report incidents such as this, and those of water pollution, fish kills, and illegal fishing to its confidential 24/7 phone number, 0818 34 74 24.
And now the weather…
The weekend will stay mainly dry with sunny spells, the best of which will be in the southern half of the country. Highest temperatures will range between 18 to 21 degrees in light northerly or variable breezes. Next week will start with good sunny spells with just a little cloud building during the day. Highs between 17 to 20 or 21 degrees. The further outlook is for little change, mostly dry with an easterly airflow. Coolest in the east with highs in the mid to high teens. Warmest in the west, with temperatures around 20 degrees or higher.
Saltwater flyfishing guide Richie Ryan reports from Cork Harbour…
Barry Boles from Tipperary decided to book another fly fishing trip with Eire Bass guide Richie Ryan and landed and released his first ever bass, a decent size too. His dad Willie had a few bass also, another first for him. “ I had to wait until I was 74 to catch my first Bass “ he chimed !
Some fine big pollack on the fly were also landed during the session. Things are kicking off nicely in Cork Harbour Richie enthused. He reported plenty of small bass about which is a great sign and a prospect of a healthy resource. Nice settled spell if anyone is interested in a booking …
The dry and sunny conditions impacted on the angling on Carrowmore Lake. However, despite the poor angling conditions 7 salmon were reported for the week with 5 released. The lucky anglers were l.Righton, D.Costello, N.Duggan and J. Cosgrove.
John Cosgrove’s 6lbs. fish which took a Malpass Muddler
However, anglers are looking forward to the coming weeks as the sea trout should be arriving any day soon.
Fishing on the lakes was rather difficult last week, with very little fly life being recorded and mainly small trout below the size limit being interested.
Peter Roche wet a line on Tuesday, fishing Castlehill, Gallaghers, Victoria’s and Brackwansha. He fished a dry Barbie mayfly but could only tempt smallish trout.
An Garda Síochána held their yearly “Coiste Siamsa” event on Wednesday and Thursday. Michael Bradley from Galway won the Michael Benson Cup for the heaviest fish with a trout weighing 1lb 12.8 ounces.
Results for the individual sections were as follows:
Andrew Kelly with a combined weight of 3 lbs 7 ounces
Declan Conlon with a combined weight of 2 lbs 14.8 ounces
Mick Bradley with a combined weight of 1lb 12.8 ounces
Thursday saw Foxford Angling Club’s evening Catch & Release competition take place. Martin Kenny won the competition and accepted the Foxford Lodge Cup. Michael Tiernan came in second.
On Saturday Foxford Angling Club were facing Westport Anglers in another competition. The 20 team challenge anglers returned to shore having boated 5 fish over the 13-inch limit. The best angler was Billy McGhee with 3 fish, one of them weighing 2 lbs. Second place went to Owen McGreal with 2 fish. Foxford captain Dominic Mc Gowan accepted the John Gallagher Cup.
Rob Malcolm about to release a salmon weighing approximately 4 lbs on the Ridge Pool
Steve Schreck reports from the River Moy…
ANGLING REPORTWeek ending 21/05/2023
Despite low water conditions and sunny days for most of last week, catch numbers on the Moy system continue to increase. In total, 77 salmon were reported caught. Again, a good number of double-figure fish were recorded, alongside a few early grilse. Water levels at Ballylahan Bridge were around 0.5m on Monday, dropping quickly to low water levels of about 0.25m during the week.
The Moy Fishery benefited from the conditions and started to come into swing, with 10 salmon caught of which 2 were released. All fish were caught on the Ridge Pool.
Paul Kelly with a very deep fish of 9.25 lbs on the Ridge Pool
Ballina Salmon Anglers reported 2 salmon caught both weighing around 11lbs caught on the worm.
Knockmore Salmon Anglers reported 2 salmon caught, 11lbs on a prawn and 4lbs on a spinner.
Armstrong Fishery recorded 6 salmon for the week, caught on shrimp and worm. (9lbs, 8lbs, 7lbs, 7lbs, 7lbs and 4lbs)
Gannon’s Fishery reported 6 fish, with the best one weighing in at 12 lbs, mostly caught on the shrimp.
The Foxford Fishery recorded 9 fish, one of them being a stunning 14 lbs springer.
Joe Gleeson with a stunning 14 lbs springer from the Foxford Fishery
Foxford Salmon Anglers reported 16 fish caught for the week.
Reports of eight salmon caught were received for the Foxford town area.
CloongeeFishery recorded 4 salmon caught on the fly (11.5lbs, 9.5lbs, 8lbs and 7lbs).
East Mayo Anglers recorded 11 salmon for the week (5 released). Eight fish on the fly, 1 on the spinner and 2 on the worm. The best fish weighed in at 10.5 lbs.
It has been mostly about spent for the past week. The wets seem to be working again, but it was the green dries and spent that caught most of the trout. With ideal spent fishing conditions both during the day and evening, there was an excellent chance of catching a few fish. Saying that, a lot of anglers remarked that they were getting plenty of takes and rises but finding it difficult to hook the trout.
Lovely bronze Lough Arrow trout
Fishing out of Dodd’s Boats, Kildare angler Declan Conlon and his mate Paul Molloy had a number of nice fish. Richard Melrose and Kevin Coyle out for 3 days reported good fishing on wets and caught well into double figures.
Declan Conlon with a nice Arrow brownie
Fishing out of John Hargadon’s Annacloy Boat Hire, James Nolan from Carlow had 6 fish one day, heaviest about 3lb. Northern Ireland anglers Fergus Auld, Norman Nichol, Sam McGowan and Edward Millican had 21 fish over 2 days, with the biggest 6lb caught by Norman Nichol. Most of these were caught on dries and spent. David O’Brien, Cork had 3 fish. Kieran O’Donnell, Derry had 1 fish. David Flynn, Sligo and friend had 7 to the boat on spent, all returned.
Drumshanbo fishing buddies having a rest on Flynn’s pier after a good day out on the lake
Aidan Walsh and Ray Burns, guests of Arrow View Farmhouse had 2 fish on Saturday.
Ken Murray, Drogheda and Philip Brown, Derry, fishing out of Lough Arrow Caravan Park, had a very successful week, releasing most of their catch.
With the lake still fishing well we hope to have good spent fishing up until the weekend at least. This has probably been one of the best mayfly hatches in recent years. As well as that, the favourable weather allowed the spent on to the lake each day, which should promise good hatches for the future.
Elsewhere, regular visitor to Lough Arrow, Ewan MacGregor from Scotland, also enjoyed great fishing while guided by Jackie Mahon. Jackie reports that Lough Arrow has been fishing very well to spent over the last week, with an average rod average of 5 fish per day, including a fantastic trout of 7.10lb for Ewan, which was one of his 4 fish for the day. Ewan’s trout took one of Jackie’s signature spent collection patterns.
