West coast clubs are back in action with club leagues well underway. Corrane SAC held the second leg of their club competition on Whitestrand beach, south of Louisburgh at the weekend. The weather was quite blustery, with a few showers thrown in for good measure.
A grey day looking ourt at Whitestrand
Fishing was slow at times with only the odd fish making an appearance.
Bundles of seaweed were constantly moving up and down the beach which made bait placement difficult, wondering to keep the rods out far and high or in very close.
Shane Gilvarry with a nice flounder
In-between patches, Shane Gilvarry picked out a lovely 34cm flounder at the start and continued steady throughout the session with 5 fish which brought him soaring to first place , even if he was late on the beach!
Fiachra McKenna presents Shane with his first place prize.
Go Fishing
Corrane SAC is a very active club based in south/west Mayo, with competitions and regular outings to many Mayo beaches and rock marks. Like most clubs, they welcome new members and novice anglers. Check them out on their Facebook page here.
Dublin delight, an early season wild brownie form the River Dodder
While much of the country celebrates St. Patrick’s Day in the pub or at one of the various parades, for others, it means the first chance of the year to fish for trout in their local rivers. In Dublin, St Patrick’s Day marks the opening day on two rivers that run right through the city, the Dodder and the Tolka. Growing up in the Churchtown area, I remember getting the rods ready on the 16th for a dawn start on the 17th, as I headed to the Dodder to try and get to the best spots before anyone else. It was always a bit of a ritual, and there was a great sense of camaraderie all along the river on opening morning.
While it’s a few years since I fished on opening day, I took a walk down along the Dodder last weekend and was glad to see plenty of anglers out and about. It was interesting to see that the majority of anglers were fishing with small lures, whereas back in my day, it was worms, or what was often a killer bait for a big fish, a lip-hooked minnow. The lures seemed to be working judging by the Dodder Anglers Facebook Page, and it is great to see some quality wild trout can still be caught in the river.
Super wild trout caught from and returned to the River Dodder
On the other side of the city, the River Tolka provides a similar opening day ritual for ‘northsiders’, and browsing through the Tolka Trout Anglers Facebook page, it seems that small lures are also the preferred bait on that river. Their opening day competition seemed to be very well attended, with plenty of junior anglers taking part, and congrats to Jacob O’Leary who won the junior competition with a trout of 2lb 5oz.
Small lure does the trick on the Tolka
The river most synonymous with Dublin is of course the River Liffey, and there are a number of angling clubs active along the river. One of those is the North Kildare Trout and Salmon Anglers Association, and they had a Catch, Photo, Release competition last weekend. 17 anglers turned out for the fly fishing only event, and there were some localised hatches of Large Dark Olive which brought the fish to the surface, giving some good action on the dry fly.
An early season Liffey trout
It’s great to see so many anglers out on their local rivers, and the fishing will only get better over the next few months, so if you live locally to any of these rivers, why don’t you get your hands on a rod and give it a go?
Senan Stanley is a prolific YouTuber and he has a host of angling videos on his channel, where he tries numerous venues and tests out plenty of tackle, giving plenty of tips and tricks in the process. Hoping for a bit of ‘Luck of the Irish’, he headed out onto Lough Derg on St Patrick’s Day, fishing with some small 5cm lures, in the hope of getting a trout or perch. And, in some ways, luck was with him, as he landed a treble shot of predators, boating a trout, pike and a perch. Not bad for a bit of early season fishing.
But unfortunately, it wasn’t all good luck for Senan as he managed to hook a pretty big pike, and then events took a turn for the worse… But you’ll have to tune in to find out how…
Carrowmore Lake near Bangor Erris in County Mayo is renowned as a great spring salmon venue, and quite often the first salmon of the season is caught around St. Patrick’s Day. This was also the case this year when the stars aligned for Barry Doocey who caught and released the first salmon of the new season on 17th March! The fish took a Noon’s Blue & Yellow which Barry had tied himself. Since then, three more salmon were caught and released on the lake which raises hope for a good spring salmon season.
The successful fly
A few days later Lough Beltra, the other great spring salmon lough fishery in North Mayo, recorded its first salmon of the season. Compliments go to Vincent McHugh who was the lucky angler on the opening day!
Killybegs Fishing Trips report their first specimen pollack of the new season. The fish was over the magic 12lbs. mark and measured 83cm. However, fishing on the day was quite slow for the first couple of hours but picked up later with mostly pollack, a few coalies and a few cod.
Later in the week, more nice pollack together with some coalies were caught.
On Wednesday morning, 22 March 2023, a virtual draw took place to allocate 45River Lee Brown Tags to prequalified salmon licence holders.
A total of 202 valid entries were received by the deadline, 5pm Monday 20 March. Duplicate entries and previous tag winners were removed.
Entrants were issued numbers ranging from 301 – 502 inclusive by email.
IFI recorded the draw and used a random generator to draw the numbers. A total of 55numbers were drawn in the first instance. The first 45will be allocated brown tags. The 10 reserve numbers may be allocated a tag in the event one of the first 45is not in apposition to take, or returns their allocation.
The draw was witnessed by Sean Long, RBD Director, John Twomey, Inspector and Chris Scanlan, Myles Kelly.
Numbers selected are laid out below.
422
416
347
360
367
333
302
364
376
463
324
391
502
334
476
412
305
424
349
484
497
341
389
442
402
489
420
462
362
393
361
490
425
413
491
455
374
344
468
404
488
451
380
496
343
These are the 10 reserve numbers:
446
318
325
485
310
487
430
348
403
322
It is envisaged that the Brown Tags will be issued by post tomorrow afternoon.
Anthony Weir from Tulla and District Angling Club reports that the club fished its first match of the year on a wet day where it rained for the full duration. The venue was switched from Clondorney to Scariff Harbour due to rising water levels and the change of venue ran to form with everyone catching, though the fish were very small (read minute).
1 of 7
There was a great turn out of 13 anglers with Kevin Leahy 3rd with 3lb 6oz; Barry Cashburn 2nd with 4lb 4oz; pipped by one ounce by Clive Slater on 4lb 5oz (90 fish, which tells you how small they were).
Inniscarra’s St. Patrick’s Day Open was fished at Garden Centre and Fountains House. The anglers on Fountains House did a lot better with some huge bags weighed in. Even though there were only 15 anglers on both sections there was a total over 280kg caught, averaging at nearly 19kg per man!
Fishing at Fountains House winner Adrain Bus had an incredible 41.290kg. The massive weights on this section denied Trevor Platt a top 3 finish despite a huge catch of 25.770kg.
Results
Adrian Bus 41.290kg
Pavel Swinston 30.910 kg
Pat Barry 26.480 kg
Trevor Platt 25.770kg
Rusalin Micagaudi 19.850kg
Inniscarra 3 Day Festival.
The 3 Day Festival started on Saturday and finishes today. We’ll have a report on how it went tomorrow.
Go Fishing…
Inniscarra Lake TDL
Inniscarra Lake TDL are affiliated to the National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland, NCFFI the National Governing body for coarse and predator fishing and casting. www.ncffi.ie
Inniscarra Festivals 2023
For details of the all the events, venues and more, a downloadable copy of the events calendar, festival results and a directory of angler friendly accommodation in the local area please visit www.ncffi.ie/inniscarra-angling.
Michael O’Shea has some good news from the Upper Caragh Fishery in Co. Kerry. Fishery boss Ralph Doppler had a salmon from Pool 10 yesterday. Mike says the fish maybe a few weeks old but was in great condition, and Ralph was more than happy with the result.
The Upper Caragh Fishery is a very well-developed fishery. It has fantastic access with stiles and footbridges along the full length of the fishery. It has well maintained banks and anglers’ huts are provided on many of the beats. The Upper River Caragh can be fished from both boat and bank. Fishing is also available on Cloon Lough and the fishery provides access for anglers with reduced mobility. Boats for hire and guide services are available at the fishery.
Dan O’Neill, fishery manager at Mount Juliet, reports from the hotel’s coarse lakes…
I had two anglers from Dallas, Texas out for the first day of the season,10-year-old Christopher Flanagan and his dad Chris. With a very wet couple of days the River Nore for the 17th was unfortunately too high for us to fish so the lakes were the only option. As we walked towards the lake young Christopher told me of his fishing trips back home for crappie, bass and bluegill. I was absolutely fascinated to hear of these stories and the different baits they used. As we got to the lake I explained what species we were fishing and I could see the excitement building in Christopher’s face.
Conditions were less than ideal but it didn’t deter either angler. Float fished worm was our chosen method, bite detection was very tough but we persevered , after a little while Christopher reached for the rod seeing something that I didn’t, striking the rod Christopher lifted into his first Irish coarse fish, a beautiful roach. Some roach did follow as Christopher never gave up despite the heavy rain, it certainly must have been the lucky Irish hat of which I forgot today.
10-year-old Christopher Flanagan catches his first Irish fish
It was great to talk to Christopher today and his dad, hearing of the fishing stories from back in Texas and also meeting such an accomplished young angler. I look forward to greeting Christopher and Chris again in the future (bringing my lucky hat this time).
Dan O’Neill Mount Juliet
Go Fishing
Mount Juliet has trout and salmon fishing available on site over 2.5 miles of the river Nore. Classes also available for every skill level – learn or improve on your chosen technique. coarse fish ponds also available on the hotel grounds.
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.
