The members of South Shore SAC hit Morriscastle Beach last week for the latest round of their master angler competition. They were targeting flounder, and anglers were hopeful their draw would put them on a decent mark as the fishing can be very dependent on your position on the beach.
The weather was nice on the day for a change, with sunshine and light winds making it an easy day on the beach. The flounder proved to be active enough, with many anglers doing well as the tide flooded, but bites began to slow as soon as the tide started to ebb. However, Eamon Bermingham, who had struggled up to this point, suddenly hit a winning streak, landing 23 flounder in the space of half an hour to shoot to the top of the leaderboard.
Luke must have used his 'Spidey Sense' to hone in on the perch
Young angler Luke MacGabhann made light of some tough angling conditions to land his first-ever perch last week. Fishing on Templehouse Lake in Co. Sligo, the weather was pretty horrendous, and a couple of days of torrential rain had caused a lot of floodwater to enter the lake making the fishing conditions very tricky. But 5-year-old Luke wasn’t going to let any of this get in the way of his fishing, and using a soft plastic paddle tail lure, managed to catch, land and release a couple of nice perch all on his own.
Luke is only getting started on his fishing journey, and hopefully we will hear more of his angling exploits in the future as he has plans to target pike over the winter months.
Autumn 2022 officially kicked off last Friday, Sept 23rd, and while the exact dates for the beginning and end of the seasons often spark some debate, it seems that this year the natural world can’t make its mind up either, as much of our flora and fauna have been experiencing a prolonged ‘false autumn’, brought on by the late season warm temperatures. However, sitting here writing this, with wind and rain lashing against my window, I’ve little doubt that autumn has arrived, and the slightly lower than average temperatures we have seen this week have certainly brought the nip to the air we expect from the changing season.
This change of season normally coincides with a tapering off of fishing activity across a range of angling disciplines, but it’s good to see that the quality of the sea angling around our coasts has been very consistent over the past week, with plenty of reports from both boat and shore. Up in Donegal, the tuna season shows no sign of slowing down, and several boats reported catches in the past week, with some of the same boats also experiencing good ground fishing as well. In Baltimore, things are only getting going on the tuna front, but they got going with a bang, with three fish tagged and released during the week. And it seems the tuna have hit the south coast in force, as Dave Edwards of the Silver Dawn also had his first couple of fish for the season last week, and a fine stamp of fish they were too. On the east coast, Greystones Ridge Angling Club held a tope festival recently, and despite some challenging sea conditions, 14 boats landed around 100 tope, proving that the east coast is still the place to be for tope. Staying on the east coast (and challenging sea conditions…), Wicklow Boat Charters had to call off five angling trips last week, but when they did get out, the fishing was top-notch on the wrecks.
Starting the bluefin season with a bang in Baltimore
To wrap up our sea angling reports, we have a bit of armchair fishing for you, as two impressive YouTube videos were posted during the week. First up is prolific angler and YouTuber Marcin Kantor, who gives tips and tricks on targeting large bass; and also shows you how it’s done by landing his first ever double-figure bass. And on a slightly larger scale, Carrigaholt Sea Angling hosted a couple of well-known angling journalists recently in search of monster 6-gill shark. Needless to say, they were successful, and have this super video to prove it.
On the freshwater scene, today is the final day of the season for most of our salmon and trout fisheries and anglers will soon be putting their rods away for a few months. Luckily, on several of our fisheries, the fishing has had a bit of a bounce over the past week, and anglers have enjoyed some decent sport. Waterville often puts on a late-season spurt, as September is usually one of the better months down there. This year is no different, and a number of angling parties reported good catches of both salmon and sea trout over the week.
On the trout front, Brendan Murphy from Cloghans had a double success winning both the Chris Downey cup and Lough Conn & Cullin AA competition by catching a trout in the same place with the same fly…a week apart. September proved a lively month on Lough Arrow, with some good fishing when the weather suited, but the last week has seen the fish become less obliging. In the midlands, Mick Flanagan of Midland Angling made the most of a mild spell to tempt some trout to the dry fly on Lene. Meanwhile, ferox expert Tomi Kurmann finished off his season with a nice ferox of circa 15lb, and had a couple of decent pike as well. And saving the best till last, Edmund Corry ventured out on Lough Mask yesterday, hoping for a bit of late-season action. Little was he expecting what came next, as his size 10 mayfly was engulfed by a humungous trout, which after a 25-minute fight on a 6-weight rod was finally boated, and there were gasps all round at the size of the trout, which was estimated to be between 17 and 19lbs. With a fish of that stamp, Edmund romps away with this week’s Catch of the Week accolade.
To wrap up, we would like to ask all specimen hunters to get their 2022 claims into the Irish Specimen Fish Committee as soon as possible before the end of October close-off.
And now the weather
Today will be wet and windy in most areas with risks of spot flooding and dangerous road conditions. The rain will clear eastwards during the day, providing some sunny spells in places. It will remain breezy overnight, and Saturday will have a mix of sunshine and showers. Sunday will be mainly dry, as will Monday, before the weather turns again on Tuesday, bringing a return of the rain with some heavy downpours expected.
Fishing on Lough Arrow was mixed for the month of September with some lively days when weather conditions suited. These lively days were marked by lots of fish moving to olive, sedge and fry patterns. But as the month moved on Northwest winds took their toll and for the last few days of the season most of the browns were coming short to the fly. As always all fish caught on my boat were safety returned.
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.
In a welcome boost for angling access on the Owenea fishery, the new steel footbridge was commissioned by Inland Fisheries Ireland to replace the former ‘Green Bridge’, which was constructed in the 1970s, but had fallen into disrepair.
The new steel footbridge is now officially open to anglers and the public.
Funded through the National Strategy for Angling Development, the new custom-designed footbridge will provide safe access to both banks of the Owenea fishery between Beats 4 and 5, near Glenties.
The Owenea fishery, which is directly managed by Inland Fisheries Ireland, remains one of the most productive salmon rivers in Co. Donegal. The fishery has a good run of salmon and sea trout as well as a resident stock of small brown trout and is popular with local anglers as well as visiting anglers, travelling from abroad.
Inland Fisheries Ireland has an ongoing programme of maintenance and upgrading of angling access along the Owenea River, including the improvement of angling infrastructure such as stiles, footbridges and walkways.
Constructed in the 1970s, the Green Bridge was used extensively over the years by anglers, recreational walkers and local residents. However, following safety audits conducted by Inland Fisheries Ireland, Consultant Engineers were commissioned in 2021 to conduct a full examination of the structural integrity and suitability of the structure as a pedestrian footbridge. The report confirmed that the steelwork of the existing bridge was severely corroded and that it was no longer fit for purpose.
Although Inland Fisheries Ireland didn’t own or manage the Green Bridge, the state agency undertook responsibility for its removal and installation of a replacement galvanized footbridge to ensure safe access to both banks of the Owenea River for the angling community.
Before the old footbridge could be removed however, Inland Fisheries Ireland had to commission several reports and surveys, including Appropriate Assessment Screening, a Freshwater Pearl Mussel survey and Natura Impact Statement (NIS). Planning Permission was then sought through Donegal County Council for removal and replacement of the old Green Bridge with a new steel footbridge.
Following a public procurement process, Source Civil Ltd. was appointed as the contractor to remove the original Green Bridge and to prefabricate and install a new customed designed (W.D. Buchanan & Co Ltd) footbridge. This necessitated a temporary road closure and traffic diversion whilst the Green Bridge was removed and the new bridge was lifted into place (Quinn Crane Hire).
The Cork CHART bluefin tagging boats had to wait and watch while the Donegal fleet have been amongst the bluefin since July, but now that the fish have reached the south coast, the southerners are catching up.
Skipper Dave Edwards broke his 2022 duck with his crew tagging a cracking fish estimated to be 575lb last weekend – much to their delight!
First of the season
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Delight
First of 2022
It was a crew from the Dublin Fire Brigade who set things alight on Wednesday – they had a thumping 690lb tuna alongside the Silver Dawn.
Bluefin for the firemen
If you’d like to tag a monster, get in touch with Dave while the fish are biting…
Tom Collins of Sea Angling Charters has been busy with some great blue shark fishing lately – but it’s a different coloured fish that caught the eye this week. One of Tom’s crew, Noel, caught a fine sized megrim – which is also known as a Lantern fish.
A grand Lantern for Noel
The megrim was 53cm long and 2.5lbs in weight and, while it may appear to be a drab brown colour in the daylight, these fish glow green in the dark; indeed, it was the fishermen of old who gave them the name, they would dimly light the holds beneath the decks of the fishing boats with their green glimmer.
This brief report from Tomi Kurman of Tomi’s Guided Fishing on his feroxing exploits from the 2022 season!
So that’s it! Today I have officially closed 2022 Trout Season. And what a Season it was!!!
Today we had 3 Ferox hooked, but only one landed. A fine specimen of 82cm and close to 15lb. Also we got few pike including double hookup of two high “nineties”.
82cm of ferocious ferox
Today’s Trout closed this Season “COUNT” at 101 Ferox over 65cm, a bit smaller then last season’s number (122) but I’m still over the moon with this achievement
Thank you to all my GUESTS throughout the Season – YOU MADE IT GUYS!!!
Also big Thanks to my Sponsors and Partners. I couldn’t do it without your support
Now I will be away from the lake for two weeks, but after that we are back in action and pike will be our target!
Get in touch if you want to have a go at them as there is still some fall and winter dates available.
A decent chunk in perfect nick…. Caught on a 30g Crazy Sandeel fished vertically.
Jim Clohessy reports on his seasonal trip with Andrew Davies on the hunt for bass…
Both vertical and casting can yield fish. While it looks dull we had fine sunshine for a lot of the day.
We didn’t launch as early as we wished but we still enjoyed some decent fishing in the morning and though less prolific on the afternoon flood we still had some fine fish. We ranged about and had some variety as well. Andy had a cracking mullet that fought like a demon, on a spindle worm.
With a slight colour in the water pink was doing ok for both of us.
It was great to get into some decent chunky hard fighting bass.
All told it was a very enjoyable session; great craic and some decent fish. I’d say it has rekindled my bass buzz somewhat!
We have a bit of a break in the weather now but surely we’ll get a crack at these again…
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Bass in the shallows. Not big fish more in the 2-3lb mark.
Andy’s mullet fought like stink
Where would you be without the odd ballan!
Andy was somewhat the gurnard magnet! He had a stream of them all day.
The mango juice colour did very well. Not a colour I’ve used for bass but Andy reckoned it would perform. It was that last body I had
Mango Juice body on a blue head nailed this fine bass. It had nailed the Black Minnow so hard it took a lot of messing f to get the hook out and the fish away.
Another on the Crazy Sandeel. This one pulled the body from the head. I’d always have both my BM and CS glued.
Bodo Funke of Angling Services Ireland has been hard at work putting some of his Italian clients on the fish over the past week. Regular guest Mario had a bumper first day out with 4 quality fish of 101, 100, 95 & 94cm all on the fly.
Mario with one of his four super pike on the fly
Earlier in the week, Bodo waved goodbye to another group of Italian clients, all of whom managed 100cm + fish during their trip
