On Wednesday 22nd March 2023, 45 more tags for the 2023 Angling Season will be issued.
To boost conservation efforts, anglers who wish to catch and keep wild salmon from the Lower River Lee in Cork this year, are being reminded by Inland Fisheries Ireland that ‘brown tag’ regulations are in force until the season closes on 30th September 2023.
The measures are included in the Wild Salmon and Sea Trout Tagging Scheme (Amendment) Regulations, signed into law by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan, T.D.
Under brown tag regulations, an angler who wishes to ‘harvest’ a wild salmon i.e., take or keep it, must attach a brown tag as well as a standard blue tag to the fish. To help conserve stocks of wild salmon within the Lower River Lee, No. 5 or Cork District, a total of 180 brown tags will be available for the season and will be distributed to anglers with a valid 2023 rod licence through a series of four online draws.
Up to a quarter of the available number of brown tags can be issued at one time, under the Wild Salmon and Seatrout Tagging Scheme Regulations; accordingly, 45 tags were issued in January. On Wednesday 22nd March 2023, 45 more tags for the 2023 Angling Season will be issued.
How to apply
Any anglers that are interested in entering the draw are being asked to fill out the online from, available from today, 7th March to 5pm Monday, 20th March only.
Anglers who received a tag in the previous draw may only enter this draw if they have used that tag. Anglers must be able to provide evidence of using the tag by supplying a photo of the double tagged salmon and the relevant entry in their angler’s logbook.
Anglers with a 2023 rod licence who are not allocated a brown tag are only permitted to fish for salmon on a ‘catch and release’ basis on the Lower River Lee. Other conditions also apply, please see https://fishinginireland.info/salmon/southwest/lee/ for further information.
Further details are available from the Inland Fisheries Ireland’s website at www.fisheriesireland.ie.
Inland Fisheries Ireland wishes to remind anglers that the Conservation of Sea Trout (No.7 or Kerry District) Waterville Area Bye-Law No. 971 of 2019 remains in effect. This Bye-law prohibits the retention and possession of any sea trout (Salmo trutta L.) taken by any fishing engine or by rod and line in the Waterville area i.e. that part of the sea eastward of a line drawn from the most westerly point of Bolus Head to the most westerly point of Lamb’s Head and to all the waters discharging in to it.
The Bye-Law mainly affects seatrout fishing on :-
the river Inny (Knockmoyle) and its tributaries
the waters of the Waterville system, including the Waterville River, Lough Currane, the Cummeragh River and all their tributary rivers and lakes
There were no lions to speak of this week as March came in like a lamb. This followed a February where high pressure dominated, bringing yet another month of higher than average temperatures everywhere and lower than average rainfall. As experienced anglers will know, most of our fishing depends on the weather, and mild weather early in the season can mean better fishing for many species. We still have some chilly March weather ahead of us though, with temperatures expected to drop below zero some nights next week, taking the spring back out of our steps for a little while at least.
The trout fishing season opened on many rivers and lakes on Wednesday, March 1st, and the low water conditions meant that river fly anglers had a good chance of a trout if they got out on the water. There were even afternoon hatches of large dark olives to bring the trout to the surface on some rivers. On the loughs, the early season is the time for the spinning rod and some great trout fell to lure anglers in the midlands as well as out west, where the big trout get very big and the odd big pike makes an appearance to keep things interesting.
On the coarse fishing front there was little activity this week, the only report worth a mention was that of the Munster Coarse Anglers who fished the 8th leg of their winter league at Portumna.
Faring better than the seniors were the participants in the IFSA CAST coaching programme, where 35 young anglers took to the shore at Roney Point for the first leg of their coaching pathway, with trained IFSA coaches and International anglers going to each angler and coaching them on tips, techniques and all aspects of sea angling from the shore.
Happy anglers with their Cast certificates
For those of us not planning to hit the water this weekend, there are other forms of angling entertainment available, and you can choose whether to read, watch or listen. First off, the 2022 Irish Specimen Fish Committee Annual Report is now available online and you can read up on the 420+ specimen fish recorded in Ireland during the year. When you’re done with that, you can sit back and listen to the latest episodes from Ireland on the Fly and the Lure Fishing Podcast. Finally, if you’re fed up waiting for the rain to bring in some spring salmon, you can look back on the early fishing from 2022 with Andrew McGall, as he has goes rock hopping in search of a springer.
There is also the small matter of the Ireland On the Water Expo taking place in Lisburn, Northern Ireland. The event will celebrate everything that is great about the marine leisure industry, from angling to sailing, kayaking and diving, the Ireland on the Water Expo promises to be an event for the entire family to enjoy.
And now the weather…
Dry, calm and cloudy tonight with frost setting in where any longer clearer breaks develop. Lowest temperatures of – 1°C to + 3 °C. Some local mist too. Saturday and Sunday will be mostly dry but dull days with just light stray showers. Highs of 5°C to 7°C, in light breezes. Lowest overnight temperatures of – 1°C to + 3 °C. Monday will bring rain southwards over the country in northerly breezes. Day time temperatures of 5°C or 6°C in the north, 7°C or 8°C further to the south.
Regular contributor Andrew McGall has uploaded another fine salmon fishing video to his YouTube channel. This time Andrew looks back at the early fishing from 2022.
Andrew says, ‘For many spring salmon fishing and springers themselves are the highlight of the angling calendar. Spring fishing often provides some of the most challenging and extreme conditions of the year, faced with everything the weather can throw at you and searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack. However, the rewards can be unmatched, with a stamp of fish that is unrivalled and arguably the best of year – if ever the phrase ‘quality versus quantity’ holds true it is with spring fishing. As many of us are embarking on a new 2023 spring season, I hope this provides some encouragement to keep going on those cold seemingly blank days’.
Tomi Kurman of Tomi Guidedfishing has done well on the ferox trail this week, with fish up to 80cm for his clients. Tomi has already gotten into double figures of ferox caught in 2023 and has also nailed some great pike.
It’s not only big trout and pike that Tomi targets – every now and then he likes to stretch his arms with the light spinning gear and he reckons that fifty small trout must have attacked the lures on Thursday, with only twelve of those coming to the net!
Anglers who target specimen-sized fish eagerly await the publication of the Irish Specimen Fish Committee’s Annual Report, which catalogues the number of trophy fish recorded during a year. The Specimen Report for 2022 has just been published online, with the print version due out next week. The report contains over 420 fish of specimen size and also lists two new records that were set during the year: a Gudgeon of 51.02g for Terry Jackson and a Gilthead Bream of 3.768kg for Robert Quin. The report can be downloaded from the ISFC website at this link.
Mick ‘the Fish’ Flanagan from Midlands Angling & Shooting and his pal Marty Smith have kicked off their 2023 trout fishing in the midlands with some fine lough trout this week. The pair were out on Lough Lene for opening day and then again on cool, misty Thursday and they took their chances well on both days, with both browns and rainbows to 4lbs on the spinning rods.
Midland fish for Mick and Marty
1 of 3
Make a booking
Midlands Angling provide a top class Guiding service covering many of the top coarse and game waters across the Midlands. Visiting fly anglers have landed some fine trout while out with Midland Angling Guides, pike anglers also recorded some net bursting catches including many pike over 20lbs. Top waters include Lough Ree, Ennell, Owel, Lene, Mount Dalton, and Glore Lake just to mention a few. Michael Flanagan Midland Angling
Pike and Trout angling guide.
Cormac Walsh from BassfishingIreland and the Lure Fishing Podcast talks to Cal Gleeson
This week on Cormac Walsh’s Lure Fishing Podcast his guest is Cal Gleeson. Cal is well known for his Youtube channel Fishing with Cal.
Cal is an excellent angler full of knowledge which he is always very willing to share and in the podcast they chat all things bass fishing from rods to lures to ideal conditions.
Cal is a big fan of the Samson Lures and has had some great success on them last year, have a listen to what he has to say about them and much more.
I got some exciting news during the week, I will now be offering a guiding service on the beautiful Glencar Lough, with Salmon, Sea Trout and Brown Trout as the targets. I am very excited to be laying down roots here as this was one of my grandfathers favourite lakes for Salmon and Sea Trout fishing. Yellow can be a fantastic colour for Glencar, and Teal and Yellow was my grandfathers favourite fly for Glencar and it was never off his cast, that with a size 8 Green Peter and a Daddy Long Legs. Back in those days there was no such thing as a Dabbler, so these days we have a few more options.
Glencar Lough, Irish Loch Ghleann an Chairthe, meaning Lake of the Glen of the Pillar Stone, is locally known as Glencar lake. It is a short 15 minute drive from Sligo on the borders of Sligo and Leitrim, and you will enter W.B. Yeats country where Glencar Lake is situated with it’s wonderful waterfall which inspired Yeat’s “The Stolen Child”:
Where the wandering water gushes
From the hills above Glen-Car,
In pools among the rushes
That scarce could bathe a star,
We seek for slumbering trout
And whispering in their ears
Give them unquiet dreams;
Leaning softly out
From ferns that drop their tears
Over the young streams.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.
Excerpt from The Stolen Child
The lake gets a really good run of Salmon, Spring fish and Grilse. The average size of the Salmon is 4 to 5 lb and spring Salmon is 8 to 10 lb. For Salmon, June, July, Auguest and September on Glencar can be good. When you have the first good run of Grilse on it in the middle of June, or when you get a flood of water, you can get a good run and it can be superb. You need a breeze on it though, as it’s down in a valley.
Some of my grandfather’s own flies
Green Peter
Teal and Yellow
Daddy long legs
Green Peter
The lake also gets a good run of Sea Trout with average sizes around 1 & 1/2 lb. Sea Trout fishing can be superb some days, especially after a good flood of water. If you get a lot of rain it can be brilliant 2 days later when the water starts to clear.
Glencar also has a resident stock of small Brown Trout, and it can get a good hatch of Olives, Mayfly and Sedges. Sea Trout are also taken regularly on these patterns. The best Sea Trout in recent years caught on the fly weighed 6 & 1/2 lb and the best Salmon was 22 lb. The fish can be very free rising especially when freshly run.
Glencar is also unique in that if there is a turn in the weather and you can’t get out on to lakes such as Melvin or Erne, you can go to Arrow as it’s inland, or Glencar as it’s sheltered and it’s down in a valley.
A licence is required to fish Glencar Lake for Salmon and Sea Trout, and a permit is required from Sligo Anglers which I can arrange on the day. You can review the Salmon and Sea Trout licence options on the Inland Fisheries website. The fishing dates:
– For Salmon- 1st February to 30th September
– For Seatrout: 1st February to 12th October
– For Brown Trout: 15th February to 12th October
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.
All the Hughes brothers out again for their monthly outing!
First full days on the lures, no dead bait in sight and I have to say its been the most enjoyable day I have had in ages! Lots of perch to keep up entertained then of course a few nice pike included, even I caught a nice one on the perch gear!
Non stop bites all day, we didn’t see the time pass by, it’s great to see the temperature on the up and the fish becoming more active!
The trout fishing season opened on many rivers and lakes on Wednesday, March 1st, and the low water conditions meant that river fly anglers had a good chance of a trout if they got out on the water. There were even afternoon hatches of large dark olives to bring the trout to the surface on some rivers. On the loughs, the early season is the time for the spinning rod and some 
