Inland Fisheries Ireland have launched their first #SpotlightSeries of 2023, sharing a little more about the work we do.
“Conservation is not only about enhancing fish populations and improving water quality, it’s about increasing biodiversity,” says Declan Cooke, Habitats Manager at Inland Fisheries Ireland.
“It’s true that we have anglers in mind, and we want to ensure that there are enough fish for them, but we are also absolutely focused on the bigger picture. With climate change and the global biodiversity crisis upon us, we are in the privileged position of being able to use our expertise to actively increase biodiversity and build climate resilience in river catchments.”
Sheelin Angling Report March 6th – March 12th 2023
“Perseverance is not a long race: it is many short races one after the other”
Walter Elliott
Battling the elements – Des McCullough with his piscatorial gold
March came in like the proverbial lamb but metamorphosed into a lion as Met Eireann’s arctic predictions gradually wrapped themselves around this lake as the week progressed. Battleship grey skies coupled with North easterly winds ripping across the water, effectively brought fishing in the later part of the week to a frustrating halt.
Sheelin was showing a consistent representation from the angling fraternity up until Thursday but then the elements took over – snow, sleet and hail along with nightly sub zero drops in temperature effectively put paid to any long angling stays on the lake for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. In typical Irish fashion, temperatures took a hike to a positively tropical 13 degrees on Sunday, but heavy rain had stained the waters, making visibility poor and fishing conditions challenging for the fly anglers.
Water temperatures have dropped a full 1.5 degrees from the previous week and remain hovering at just over 5 degrees, from surface to bed.
Water temperature is probably the biggest factor that affects fly fishing in early season and unfortunately sometimes March in Ireland feels more like winter than it does spring.
The lower the water temperature, the less active trout will be. The less active trout are, the less they need to feed and consequently less likely to take that proffered fly. When trout are not feeding they are normally flush with the bed of the lake and are highly unlikely to sprint after a swinging team of those traditional wet flies. 7 degrees is reputed to be that magical figure that anglers hang on to, below this trout are supposed to be slower, holed up near the bottom and feeding less. As the temperature gets past the magic 7, trout become more active and if we can get to 12 degrees then things should kick off properly.
Early season is a frustrating time for the fly angler, all winter they have been hankering to get out on this lake and then all the enthusiasm, excitement and preparation can often result in disappointment when the early season trout refuse to cooperate.
Despite the inclement weather this week, trout catches were recorded, admittedly only on the days when the weather was sort of behaving itself. Days with biting cold winds, drew blanks but the early part of the week and Sunday produced some nice trout of respectable sizes.
Best fishing areas for this week was from Kilnahard down to Merry Point, Walkers Bay, Goreport, Bog Bay, at the back of Church Island and Sailors Garden.
Snowy line up
Gina Tanczos with her early season catchFreezing entrance – visiting Sheelin anglers entering Dublin Port last fridayFlat to the mat
Lithuanian Fishing Club ‘GoandCatch’ from their recently held trout fishing competition on Lough SheelinHands on the gold
Please remember All anglers are required to have a Fishery Permit to fish Lough Sheelin which must be purchased BEFORE going out on the lake.
Braving the weather
The lures are taking centre stage – Humungous, Minkies, Zonkers and Wooly Buggers along with a selection of the ever-popular Dabblers – Green, Claret, Peter Ross and Pearly.
The Humungous is a great fly pattern at the moment, when trout are looking for a big meal without much effort. A chain bead head gives a dipping motion, a brightly coloured body with a palmered hackle gives extra movement and a marabou tail with some tinsel in it, provide an excellent trout searching combination. The Silver Humungous is particularly good on this lake for the fry hitting trout.
Attracted to myself, only by the name, the Wooly Bugger, has recorded a number of successes this week on Lough Sheelin. Believed to have been created by the Pennsylvania angler, Russell Blessing as early as 1967 to resemble a nymph, its precise origin is unknown. Tied in different sizes and colours, this fly can be effective in virtually any fly fishing situation and the trout respond well to it when feeding on either large insects or fry.
It would be lovely to talk about the traditional early season wet flies of Black Pennell, Connemara Black, Sooty Olive, Bumbles and Bibios but it is just too early and we need a rise in temperature. There was a small dusting of buzzer hatches in the sheltered areas of the lake and buzzer fishing with dry and epoxy patterns will feature soon.
Luring the trout
1 of 15
Lures, Mick McShane
Lures
A Buzzer pattern from Darren Duffy
Ken Kennedy's Shrimp Muddlers
Zonkers
Noel Waddell's Woolly Bugger
A Joe Butler creation
Mick McShane
The Duckfly
The Duckfly
Tempting the trout, Mick McShane
Andy Hutson's Buzzer pattern
Dave Oates Comet Buzzer
Early season selection Mich McShane
Dave Oates fisherman's Blue
Zonker lures
Competitions
The Kilroy Cup will be fished on Friday, March 17th from Kilnahard pier from 11am to 5.00pm. Prizes will be for the heaviest fish and entry is €30. This competition has been set at a 16 inch size limit with a 2 fish bag limit. There will be no permits available for sale on the pier on the morning so please buy your permit online beforehand or from the IFI office at Kilnahard on the morning. Contact Thomas Lynch @ 087 9132033
Andrius Bikelis with his competition troutChambers Bay
Heaviest trout was 6lb caught by Dublin angler, Kryzysztof Wojak using a Silver Humungous at Merry Pt.
Recorded catches : 15
Selection of catches
Aivaras Andzelis, Dublin – 2 trout heaviest at 3lbs on lures.
Mindaugas Naujokas, Dublin – 1 trout at 3lbs.
Danius Vainauskas, Dublin – 1 trout at 3.5lbs using lures.
Aleksandr Kowalska, Kildare – 1 trout at 3lbs on a Zonker lure.
Anthony Weir from Tulla and District Angling Club reports that the club had a hardy day on Clonlea at the weekend when they competed for the Kelly cup.
Overall it was tough fishing all-round, with the only consolation for some that the rain stayed away until about 3pm. There were a few pike caught though with fish to 90cm recoded and anything that was hooked was met in the the bottom 10 foot of the lake.
Results
Aidan came in 3rd with 140cm. Damien Shanahan came in second with 210cm and won the pools with a good 90cm pike. First place went to new member Greg Balicki with 340cm. A great result for Greg – his second competition and second time on the podium.
The club thanked Fishing Tackle Ireland for sponsoring prizes.
Go fishing…
The next match will be fishing on 23rd April from Ducies, Scariff (Lough Derg).
Join the Club
Tulla District Angling Club is a Pike and Coarse fishing club founded over 50 years ago. They are based in East Clare, Munster, Ireland.
Munster Coarse Anglers fished the 9th match of their winter series in O’Briensbridge at the weekend…
“Return of the Magnificent Seven”
The penultimate match in this year’s league saw Munster Coarse Angling Club meet at the bridge on Sunday morning to see whether to go downstream to the rowing course or up to the Dam. After a quick look at the river and the toss of a coin off towards the Dam it was.
No one was holding much hope with river at summer levels but having a dirty colour from the snow and rain earlier in the week. They took their pegs, set up and settled in for what has become their fortnightly penance…
There was false hope at the start as a few early bites were had but they soon disappeared and long waits between fish became the norm. In the end Steve and Richard renewed their tussle for top spot with Steve taking the honours this week.
Steve 2lb 6oz
Richard 2lb
Clive 1lb 15oz
Kevin 1lb 12oz
Ian 12oz
Morgan 10oz
Ray 5oz
Next Match in two weeks time
(Hopefully on a venue where the fish have a bit of an appetite)
Munster Coarse Angling Club 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
Mr. Frank Sheenan, of Dursey Sound, Co. Cork, and Mr. Denis Healy, of Cahergarriff, Castletownbere, Co. Cork were both convicted of illegal fishing at Bantry District Court on Thursday, 23rd February 2023.
Judge James McNulty heard evidence at an earlier sitting of an extensive operation by Inland Fisheries Ireland at Garnish Bay on June 28, 2022, which resulted in the seizure of an illegal 523 metre long net, 8 eight salmon and a van. Hearing that both men had previously been convicted of illegal fishing and had benefited from a Hardship Scheme introduced to compensate fishers who ceased salmon fishing, Judge McNulty ordered both to come to court with banker’s drafts to the value of €2,000 each.
The court also heard evidence that illegal salmon netting has far reaching consequences for vulnerable salmonid populations migrating along the coast to their spawning grounds.
On finalising the case at the February 23 sitting, Judge McNulty imposed fines of €2,000 each for breaches of Section 285(a) of the Fisheries Act 1959 (as amended) and ordered each to pay €250 by way of contribution to IFI’s expenses. Orders of Forfeiture were made in relation to the salmon and net. Each defendant was also found guilty of a breach of Article 3 of Bye-Law no. 857 of 2009 and Section 182(2) of the 1959 Act, which were taken into consideration.
Inland Fisheries Ireland has a confidential 24-hour hotline number to enable members of the general public to report incidents of water pollution, fish kills and illegal fishing: 0818 34 74 24.
Section 285(a) of the Fisheries Act 1959 (as amended) prohibits the use of a boat or vehicle as an aid to the commission of a (fisheries) offence;
Article 3 of Bye-Law no. 857 of 2009 prohibits the use of a drift net to take, attempt to take, or to fish for salmon or trout or to assist in such taking, fishing or attempt.
Section 182(2) of the 1959 Act prohibits the purchase, sale or possession of any salmon or trout unlawfully captured.
The Salmon Hardship Scheme was established 1 November 2006 to assist salmon commercial fishermen who previously fished in areas closed for conservation purposes and salmon fishermen who cease to fish for salmon.
Rainfall in the past week was once again below normal nationwide, but the long dry spell is coming to an end and there was heavy rain in parts of the west and south west yesterday. The last week has been cold with temperatures consistently more than 2°C below normal and often feeling colder in northerly winds. Tough to be out in but not the worst conditions for angling…
Nigel Lackey with the first Moy Salmon of 2023 weighing in at 8lbs.
Low water levels continued to dog anglers in the last week, so reports are thin on the ground. The first River Moy salmon was caught last week by Ballina native Nigel Lackey on the Ballina Salmon Anglers waters. The fish was caught on the worm and was landed on “The Flag” just upstream of the Ballina Salmon Weir. Ballina Salmon Anglers also reported two fish lost. Lough Currrane also produced a salmon last week. Angling guide, Dominic McGillicuddy caught a fine 8lb Salmon on the troll on a cold morning but it soon warmed up when the reel sang its merry tune. Anglers on Lough Currane are reminded that the fishery and wider area remains catch and release only for all sea trout in 2023. The second draw of the season for River Lee brown tags will take place on Wednesday 22nd March 2023. For more details on the draw and how to enter see River Lee Brown tag draw – Round 2
Lough Sheelin opened its waters to a brand-new fishing season on Wednesday March 1st. Early season fishing is never for the faint hearted and March 2023 has stayed true to form, testing the metel of its anglers with near Baltic conditions prevailing. In the opening week 78 trout were reported to staff on the lake. Dabblers and traditional wets did well, but the Minky, Humongus and other lures caught the most fish. There were some good days reported on Lough Corrib too where anglers fishing a mix of fly and troll tactics had some lovely trout in bright but cold conditions. With the clock ticking down to the opening of many of our trout rivers, fly guide turned streamer specialist, Keith McDonnell has put together a number of tips that will aid you in the pursuit of early-season trout.
5 20s for Newbridge District Pike Anglers wins the club Catch of the Week
Newbridge District Pike Anglers fished a Limerick venue last week and had one of those days when everything comes together. By the end of the session they had caught and released 23 pike, including five twenties and two doubles, to make it a session they will never forget, and a worthy Catch of the Week if ever there was one. Meanwhile on Lough Allen a group of German students finished a semester of study in Ireland with an angling experience they are unlikely to ever match again. The group of five had some great days over a week of fishing but the highlights were breaking PBs and catching a really impressive pike of 120cm.
James Harty with a 41cm flounder. James and his brother Danny and sister Mila win Junior Catch of the Week
Cork’s Rebel anglers had a good session on Ballycrenan Beach. The fishing wasn’t hectic but there was enough going on to keep them interested with bass, ray, flounder and bullhuss caught on a variety of baits. Bass from the beaches is not something that just happens on southerly beaches at this time of year, as Donegal’s Killybegs Mariners have also been getting bass, and sea trout on their local shore marks. Galway Bay SAC held their second club Master Angler competition on Sunday, fishing Carrowmore beach just outside Louisburgh, Co. Mayo. A nice surf and decent tide looked like perfect conditions, but fishing was frustratingly slow for the senior anglers. The juniors did much better with some 40cm plus flounder really shaking things up. James Harty and his brother Danny had 3 between them and at the end of the competition, the Hartys swept the board in the junior section, with James taking top spot, followed by Danny in second and sister Mila in third. This super achievement wins Junior Catch of the Week.
In this episode of the Lure Fishing Podcast, host Cormac Walsh has a really interesting chat with Grant Woodgate, a bass lure specialist based in Portugal. Meanwhile the Ireland on the Flypodcast continues its focus on spring salmon fishing, this week turning its attention to the Upper Caragh Fishery in county Kerry.
Other news
Inland Fisheries Ireland has just published the Winter 2023 issue of its research newsletter. The publication covers a number of topics including barrier assessment, climate mitigation programme, hydromorphology, and more. Check it out at IFI research newsletter looks at barriers, climate, trout and river restoration
And now the Weather
This weekend will be unsettled, with rain, sleet, and snow on Saturday followed by wet and windy conditions on Sunday. Temperatures will be much milder on Sunday, ranging from 7 to 11°C. Sunday night will be windy with showers, and Monday will be cloudy with showers in the south and southwest. Tuesday is uncertain, with potential showers falling as sleet on higher ground. The rest of the week will see continued rain and showers due to low pressure in the Atlantic, with mild conditions expected.
Corrib looked stunning in the sunshine when I was passing on Tuesday, but I’m sure it was cold out there for the hardy anglers seeking sport. Up to the last couple of days, however, it has been fairly nice spring weather recently. Guide Padraig Fahy from Birchall Lodge & Angling took David Mpylan and his son Jonathan for a day out on Saturday, and Jonathan had a great day, landing three trout for approx. 11lbs, best fish just over 6lbs.
Jonathan with one of his fish
Ferox and pike guide Tomi Kurman has also been on the water, with some fine trout to the boat. A break from trolling saw he and a guest break out the small lures, but while they had great sport, the fish were all on the small side on that day! Back to the trolling, though, and the bigger fish keep coming…
Go Fishing
Birchall Lodge & Angling – For bookings or queries contact [email protected]
Or Padraig on 00 353 86 256 5009
To book a trip with Tomi, give him a call on 085 7318541 or check out his Facebook page here: Tomi Guidedfishing
Galway Bay SAC held their second club Master Angler competition on Sunday, fishing Carrowmore beach just outside Louisburgh, Co. Mayo. A beautiful spring day greeted anglers, with the odd passing shower that stayed mostly offshore.
Carrowmore beach, Louisburgh
A nice surf and decent tide looked like perfect conditions, but fishing was frustratingly slow. An early dogfish put Kevin O’Hara into the lead, which would prove insurmountable, with senior anglers only landing the odd single fish throughout the competition. John Cunningham’s 41cm flounder being the pick of these.
A fine 41cm flounder for John Cunningham
The junior anglers, however, stole the show, with the Harty clan all showing dad Gary how to catch fish. Young James Harty took first place on his first ever competitive outing, with two flounder including a cracking 41cm fish.
A happy James Harty with a cracking 41cm flounder
Brother Danny was also on the fish, and he also had a big 41cm flattie.
A fine flounder for Danny Harty
At the end of the competition, the Hartys swept the board in the junior section, with James taking top spot, followed by Danny in second and sister Mila in third.
Colin Harty presents James with his first prize
Danny Harty receiving his prize for 2nd junior
Mila Harty receives her prize for 3rd junior
Ailbhe Hartnett took 4th in the juniors, and was also presented with two bronze medals, one for the recent Maurice Dalton All-Ireland Open Shore, and one for the All-Ireland Inter-Provincial Championships.
Brian Reidy presents Ailbhe with one of her bronze medals
The seniuor competition was won by Kevin O’Hara, followed in second by John Cunningham, and Brian Reidy took third spot. With 3 weeks until the next leg at Lettergesh, there is still all to play for in the master angler table.
Looking across at Clare Island from Carrowmore beach
Go Fishing
Galway Bay Sea Angling Club is a progressive club based in Galway, but fishing competitions along the west coast. New members are always welcome, and every level of experience is catered for, with social outings right up to competitions held throughout the year. If you’re looking to get into sea angling in the west, check them out here
In this episode of the Lure Fishing Podcast, host Cormac Walsh has a really interesting chat with Grant Woodgate. Grant is well known for his big bass fishing in Portugal. He gives some fascinating insights into how he goes about targeting big bass, explaining his techniques and tactics and how they might be applied to targeting big bass in Ireland.
Grant is also the owner and developer of his own lure and rod range ”Samson Lures” and he tell us how he developed his lures and gives some great advice on how to get the very best out of them. Another really informative chat not to be missed.
