Kieran Collins of Baltimore Angling reports on a great start to his bluefin tuna season…
On Friday evening I put the tuna gear back onboard Radiance to prepare for the beginning of our 2022 Bluefin Tuna season. Derek, Dave, Dessie, Sean and Colm were booked in for 2 days and we were all looking forward to it. Ben came onboard as crewman . Saturday morning we went through the setups checking and double checking everything, then picked up the lads.
Day one saw us get 3 hook ups, with the first one getting off after 10 minutes. The second one also got off the hook after 13 minutes, but third time lucky and we tagged a 97” 589lb beauty.
Day two, Sunday, the lads had to be in early so pressure was on to find fish fast, which we did. We were seeing lots of tuna but they weren’t interested in taking the hook. We did see a few check out the lures and take a swipe but no hook up. Just when we were taking the final run around a bait ball with thoughts of heading home we hooked up and 27 mins later we had a 98” 604lb alongside, which we quickly tagged and after reviving released and headed back to Baltimore with a happy crew. Thanks lads for putting your trust in Baltimore Angling to get you on the fish.
It was still early and as the weather was changing for the worse we headed back out to get a fish for Ben. Not long after getting back trolling we had an explosive hook up but unfortunately after 9 mins he got off. Time passed and as the light started to fade we were on. This time a nice 78” 300lb.
Job done! Baltimore Angling’s 2022 Bluefin Season is up and running.
Skipper: Kieran Collins Base: Baltimore Operational area: 30 miles
out from Baltimore.
Authorised blue fin tuna boat 2025
Notes: Wreck fishing, shark fishing and common skate fishing are three kinds of sea angling that Baltimore is famous for, but most of the popular sea angling species of Britain and Ireland are found in these waters. And off Baltimore they are joined by a number of more exotic species, courtesy of the Gulf Stream. Fishing like this is no more than a distant memory in so many other places once famed for their sea angling.
We are involved in tagging programmes with Inland Fisheries Ireland – in which we are tagging shark and common skate.
Trigger fish - species number 59 for John Cunningham for the year
Well, after the recent wet weather, this week has been fairly dry with rain in places but overall much less that what’s considered normal for the time of year. “What’s new?” says you… The shift to autumn continues though and it’s getting a little cooler all the time especially in the evenings. The days have been mostly bright and sunny and not too windy, so we’ve a decent mix of fishing to report on this week, particularly from the sea angling scene…
Keith enjoyed his time on Blackwater Valley Fishery
The river Moy was very low again last week and only 15 salmon were reported. We have reports in from Kerry, Cork and Connemara but salmon catches were not great anywhere. Visiting anglers on Lough Currane bucked the trend there as they have met a few salmon and sea trout on their holiday. Anglers on the Laune and Lough Leane reported no salmon in the same period. West Cork anglers did better particularly on the Ilen and Coomhola rivers. There are a few salmon coming from the Munster Blackwater but no sign there of the much hoped for Autumn Run. Lastly a competition fished on Fermoyle and Costello saw only a couple of salmon caught but the anglers were entertained well enough by their smaller cousins and 34 sea trout and 55 brown trout were caught and released.
Brendan Murphy playing his fish on Conn
Trout anglers seem to have been quiet this week. Reports in from the Laune system are that there are a few fish being caught on the river and lakes. Meanwhile one fish of 1.7lb was enough to win Brendan Murphy the Chris Downey Cup on Lough Conn.
Dave Finnegan
On the coarse angling front Dave McManus won the Arvagh International Festival with 101.800kg caught over 5 days. In festival news from Lough Muckno, Craig Ellis and Dave Finnegan won the Co. Monaghan Pairs and Robertas Zilatis took top spot in the IADA Feeder Championships.
Alessio with a cracking Boyle pike
The cooler conditions have seen pike fishing pick up and good catches were reported from Lough Derg and waters in Co. Rosommon. Italian anglers fishing with Bodo Funke caught a number of 100cm plus pike. Brendan Sharkey had anglers out in the Boyle area too. They also had a number of 100cm plus pike with the biggest making 112cm. Brendan’s run of luck continued later in the week on Lough Derg where pike to 107cm were landed. Co. Roscommon was where it was happening last week and French anglers in the area had good fishing last week and again earlier this week.
John Cunningham with his 60th different species for the year – a saury. Fantastic angling
The Killybegs Mariners having been keeping track of the species caught by their members this year and their total currently stands at 70. Club member John Cunningham caught his 60th species for the year last week – a saury. The Sauries are an important bait fish for the bluefin tuna and they are about in good numbers. So it’s no wonder that the bluefin boats along the northwest coast reported excellent tuna fishing over the past two weeks with many fish in the 250 to 450 lbs. range being caught, tagged and released.
John Dory
Shark anglers on Galway Bay got the better of calm conditions last week. They took what species were on offer before changing ground and tactics and concentrating on tope which gave great sport. Staying on the west coast, anglers fishing on the Clare Dragoon had a good mix of species with with big blues, spurdogs, conger and whiting featuring. Mixed species were also on the menu for Lady Gwen II and her anglers had all the usual suspects and some less usual ones too like john dory, megrim and squid.
Could have been a contender. This record sized pouting was released to fight another day
Charter skipper Des O’Connell was in touch to let us know of a superb record-sized pouting he caught out off Caherciveen. The fish was weighed on board at 5lb 8oz, which would smash the current record of 4lb 13.5oz, but was sportingly released. The humble saury was seen off West Cork too last week. They proved entertaining to catch for shark anglers on Loch an Iasc and are also good bait. Essential when you’re catching up to 15 blues a day. Good numbers of shark were also seen off Courtmacsherry where the Silver Dawn had serious fishing; 40 ling from 5 to 22lb and 43 Blue Sharks including 2 specimens landed. The wreck and bass fishing in Courtmacsherry is also going well at the moment. The Osprey in Cork Harbour reported a good mix of species last week with thornbacks, turbot spurdogs and conger keeping anglers happy there.
You can expect a largely dry day tomorrow, Saturday, with sunny spells and scattered showers in a light to moderate northerly breeze. Sunday will be a cloudier day again with well scattered showers. Rather cool and turning breezy later in the day with moderate to fresh westerly winds developing, accompanied by spells of rain during Sunday evening or early Sunday night. Monday will be windy and cooler still and cool unsettled weather is likely to remain in place for much of next week.
Pro Fisherman 33 Skipper: Pat Condon Licence: 1350 Base: Crosshaven and Cobh Operational area: 30 miles from Crosshaven, Kinsale, Cobh, Monkstown and Ballycotton.
Notes: With more than 30 years Sea angling experience in hand and having won several national & international sea angling competitions, Pat Condon offers his clients the wealth of his angling skills as part of their experience.
Anglers can fish many reefs near the Cork harbour for ling, cod, conger eel, pollack and coalfish. Shark fishing off Cork Harbour is from mid june to september.
Even if the weather is poor you can fish within Cork harbour for species such as bass, blonde ray and thornback ray, plaice and dabs.
Kevin O’Boyle reports that it was a case of 2 in a row on Lough Conn for local Angler Brendan Murphy from Cloghans.
Brendan won the Chris Downey Cup with a trout of 1.7lbs. This is a repeat of the week before in the Lough Conn and Cullin Anglers Association Competition. He caught the trout in the same place with the same fly at the same time!
Billy McGee from Ballyvary came second in the Competition with a trout of 1.4lbs.
1 of 2
Brendan Murphy with his 1.7lbs. trout caught on Lough Conn
Kevin O’Boyle reports that there were 15 Salmon recorded for the week ending 18/09/2022, with 6 of these released. Water levels were extremely low for this time of year. Water levels recorded at Ballylahan Bridge (waterlevel.ie) on the Monday morning were 0.301m and dropped off to 0.192m on Sunday night.
The Moy Fishery recorded 5 sea trout ranging in weight from 1.5lbs.– 3lbs. all released and 1 brown trout for the week also released.
The 2022 Water Blitz will ask citizen scientists countrywide to sample and test the water quality in their local river, lake, pond or stream for nitrates and phosphates using kits supplied to them when they register for the event.
WaterBlitz event are open to organisations around the country like angling groups that have an interest in checking and maintaining the water quality of their local river or stream. The aim is to collect as much data as possible through the FreshWater Watch app to determine the status of water bodies nationwide, celebrating the cleanest water bodies and identifying pollution hotspots.
Many angling groups took part in previous successful Blitzes in 2019 and 2021 which yielded interesting results and FreshWater Watch are hoping to continue this work and monitor many more rivers this year. See details of upcoming WaterBlitzs below…
Deel WaterBlitz
7 October – 10 October 2022
Do you live near the River Deel in Ireland?
The Deel WaterBlitz event will be taking place this autumn across County Cork and County Limerick over a four day period from Friday 7 October to Monday 10 October.
People living locally can sign up to receive a free water quality testing kit and upload their data to a shared online map. The aim of the event is to make the invisible, visible through people powered citizen science and find out what is happening to the water quality of the River Deel.
Registrations are now open below! They will close on 28 September.
Are you part of a river or community group across Ireland and interested in checking the quality of your local waterbody?
The Irish WaterBlitz 2022 event will be taking place across the entire country over a four day period from Friday 7 October to Monday 10 October.
Interested groups can sign up to receive free water quality testing kits to distribute to members of their group who can test the waterbody or catchment area that they champion. The data collected will be uploaded to a shared online map available to all participants where the power of citizen science will help discover how good our freshwater quality is across the country.
Registrations are now open below! They will close on 2 October.
Purple Mountain over Muckross Lake,Muckross, Killarney Co. Kerry.
Water Levels dropped during the week. Angling efforts increased on the Laune and anglers are mostly spinning for salmon and fly fishing for trout. No reports of salmon catches on the Laune, but plenty of fish have been seen.
The Lakes are quietening down and less anglers are out on the water. all the same, brown trout are still being caught on wet fly.
Keith enjoyed his time on Blackwater Valley Fishery
River levels, which had increased somewhat in previous weeks allowing salmon to migrate upstream to the Mallow/Millstreet area, are now fining out again.
Reports are that Salmon are once again being caught throughout the system. IFI staff have met significant numbers of salmon anglers being met from Millstreet, Co. Cork to Cappoquin, Co. Waterford. Good catches have been reported from around the Lismore area, but no great evidence of fresh run Salmon or the expected Autumn run.
#CPRSavesFish
Go Fishing
This large and broad river has a lot of fine salmon fishing spread among many private and club fisheries. They are all easily accessible and most welcome visiting anglers. Spring run improving in recent years. The best grilse fishing is towards the end of the season. For more information see:
Fortwilliam Fishery offers two miles of double bank salmon and trout fishing over five beats on the river Blackwater.
Our salmon include – Springers, May Salmon, Grilse, Back End Salmon, and in Summer sea trout.
Our beats provide a wide variety of water, suitable for both beginners and the more experienced fishermen.
Fortwilliam Fishery, Glencairn, Lismore, Co. Waterford, Ireland Web: www.fortwilliamfishing.ieEmail: [email protected] Tel: (00353) 87 8292077 or 058 75299
Blackwater Salmon and Trout Fishery
Blackwater Salmon and Trout Fishery control a number of beats of the Munster Blackwater. The Ballyduff Bridge beat is almost a mile long offering a huge variety of water and is particularly suited to fly fishing. Upstream near the village of Ballyhooley (a few miles outside the town of Fermoy, Cork) we have two beats. The Ballincurrig Beat is one of the most beautiful locations along the river and has an excellent piece of fly water flowing into a deep pool. Just downstream on the opposite bank we have a short but productive beat, called Magners. This beat fishes also well in high water.
Careysville Fishery offers some of the best salmon fly fishing in Ireland and includes 26 named pools. It is considered by many to be one of premier beats for salmon fishing in Ireland. Wading is excellent and among the numerous streams, pools and glides there is a great variety of fly fishing to suit both complete novice and challenge the most competent of fly casters.
At Lismore Castle & Golf Course Fishery, we offer nearly two miles of two inter-linked beats, the Castle Beat & the Golf Course Beat.
The legendary Castle Beat consistently ranks as one of the top Salmon beats on the River Blackwater, for the number of Atlantic Salmon caught per rod. The Golf Course Beat offers about 1.5 miles of fishable water through meandering majestic countryside. The Golf Course beat offers a number of bewildering pools suitable for unmatched spinning and bait fishing.
For bookings contact Joe Willoughby on Mobile no. 00353 87 8295449 or Email: [email protected]
Blackwater Salmon Fishery has 3 beats downstream of the weir and 2 upstream of the weir. Blackwater Salmon Fishery offers fishing on approximately 5 miles of the river Blackwater. The fishing is spread throughout the middle section of the river to offer good sport throughout the fishing season. Due to the location of the beats, fishing can still usually be offered in low or high water. Contact Glenda Powell: Lismore, Co Waterford, Email:[email protected] Mobile: +353 (0) 872351260 Telephone: +353 (0) 5853929 Web: www.blackwatersalmonfishery.com
Blackwater Valley Fishery
Salmon, Sea trout and Brown trout fishing on prime fishing beats River Blackwater Co.Cork and Co. Waterford Ireland.
We provide Day Tickets for some prime Salmon fishing in Mallow Co. Cork. We have excellent fly water, shrimping worming and spinning also. We also have very competitive Day rates and we have very recently upgraded our fishing.
Tickets available from “The Bridge House” and “Vincent Downes Menswear” Mallow.
Located on the Munster Blackwater in the south of Ireland. Situated mid river between the towns of Fermoy and Mallow. A productive left bank beat in stunning surroundings.
For bookings contact Conor Arnold: +353 87 755 4682
For details on availability and conditions of fishing for salmon and trout on the Longueville House waters please contact them at Contact : Longueville House Hotel, William O’Callaghan Address : Mallow, Co. Cork. Telephone : 00 353 22 47156 Email:[email protected] Website: www.longuevillehouse.ie
Radiance
Osprey
