Seb Morel and Anthony Guimpier were back on the water in the Strokestown area of Co. Roscommon this week. Their French clients were visiting from the Normandy area of France. According to Seb, things started slow with thirteen pike earlier this week. None of these pike passed the metre mark.
Seb Morel with a nice pike
However, things improved yesterday when some better fish were boated including fish of 85, 88 and 91. The best fish of the day however was a cracking fish measuring 106 cm. The fishing continues and we hope to hear more from Seb and Anthony over the coming days.
Congratulations to 11 year old Cameron Dowd from Dublin who landed four different predator species last Saturday.
He was fishing a midlands lake with his dad Damian and Chris Barry of Go Fishing Ireland.
Cameron targeted a “Triple Crown” catch of Rainbow Trout, Perch and Pike. However, he also managed to add the elusive fourth species, a Brown trout, to claim the “Grand Slam”. There aren’t many places in Ireland where you can do this, and it was great achievement for this talented young angler.
A pike for CameronA big ‘Bow’
“The fishing was quite tough in calm, often bright conditions, but Cameron fished patiently and accurately throughout the day”, said Chris. His Dad, Damian, had some nice fish as well.
Targeting multiple predator species in a single day is becoming more popular. It’s a real test of the angler’s skill and ability to work lures and flies at different depths in the water column to target the different predator species.
And a brownieAnd finally a perch
Next up, Cameron has set his sights on landing a 100cm pike this autumn. Judging by his performance so far, we think he’s going to do it. Well done.
Brendan Sharkey just posted some of his latest pike fishing news. According to Brendan “it was great to be back guiding again this week.
I had Eric from France out with me for a few days. We didn’t get off to a great start with only 1 small pike on the first day.
Another Irish pike over the magic 1 m
Luckily it changed for us during the following days with some great fish landed on each of the lakes we fished. We saved the best for last with Eric landing 9 fish of which the 4 best were 90cm, 98cm and 2 fish for 112cm each. In all there were 5 over the meter for the few days 101cm, 105cm, 108cm, 112cm and 112cm.
Following this, Brendan was on Lough Derg last week with some clients. According to Brendan there was “great fishing this week on lough Derg Helping out my mate Paul Bourke of #irishfishingtours.
Lots of quality pike and a lot of meter + fish between the two boats, best going to 107cm.”
Go fishing
If you want an exceptional fishing experience with the opportunity to hook into some really big pike and trout why not contact Brendan. Contact details below.
Des O’Connell of Kerry Sea Angling Charters was in touch to let us know of a superb record-sized pouting he caught on a recent trip. Weighed on board, the fish came in at 5lb 8oz, which would smash the current record of 4lb 13.5oz. However, fish need to be weighed on land to put in a record claim to the ISFC, and as he was offshore, this would have meant killing the fish. So, rather than do that, Des very sportingly opted to return the fish to the water and forgo the chance of being a record holder. He held the fish in the landing net until it was fully revived and then let it loose back to the depths.
Des also reported some great pollack from deepwater marks, but they were being intercepted on the way up by a large predator, possibly a porbeagle or blue shark.
Go Fishing
Fuego
Ocean Tramp 37′. 370HP Cummins Skipper: Des O’Connell Licence: 562 Base: Caherciveen Operational Area: Up to 30 miles from Caherciveen, Knightstown and Portmagee.
Notes: Deep sea fishing around Dingle Bay, the Skelligs and Blasket Islands. All types of fishing catered for – conger, ling, pollack, garfish and many more species. Can take 10 anglers comfortably. Half day fishing trips and mackerel trips also available.
My neighbour went off to sunny Spain last week and tasked me with watering the plants in her front garden. She needn’t have bothered… as the rainfall was 2 to 3 times the average across much of the country, and the watering can stayed put in my shed. There was a markedly autumnal feel in the air last week as temperatures cooled, bringing a nip to the air in the mornings and evenings. In other years, many of us might have fired up the central heating for the first time to take the chill out of the air, but being the year that it is, most of us probably opted to grit our teeth and put on a jumper or two…
Autumn normally sees a tapering off for our charter boat fishing as a combination of unsettled weather and species moving offshore limits the fishing opportunities. Luckily, that decline has not happened just yet, as reports of good fishing came thick and fast over the past week. Blue shark seemed particularly active, and we have reports of top-quality shark fishing from a couple of our charter boats. We’ll start in Courtmacsherry, where anglers fishing with both charter operators had their hands full with quality blues during the week. A group of Belgian anglers fishing with Courtmacsherry Angling hit the jackpot with 10 blues boated, including three over the 100lb mark. Also in Courtmacsherry, anglers fishing with West Cork Charters had a similar bonanza, with one group recording 16 blues and another group recording 10 blues, a couple of those also being specimen sized. Anglers fishing on the Clare Dragoon also had the blues, and enjoyed some decent fishing for spurs pollack and tope as well.
It takes two to tango with a big blue.
Staying in Clare, the Lady Gwen hosted some anglers from Mississippi last week, and they brought some US-style lures and rigs to try out on Irish fish. It seems the fish were quite taken by the new-fangled rigs, as codling, pollock, ling, haddock and gurnards all fell for some US Steel. Next up, anglers fishing with Blue Shark Angling in Galway had some nice tope alongside a decent mix of other species and the odd squid thrown in for good measure. And to wrap up our charter report, Wicklow Boat Charters have been experimenting with some new tactics of late, namely targeting bass off the Wicklow coast. And with three out of four trips proving successful so far, it looks like they have added another species to their repertoire.
Some US Steel worked wonders for Irish fish!
On the shore scene, the Killybegs Mariners kicked off their winter league with a trip to Rossnowlagh, where 20 anglers turned out and had some good fishing in terms of size, if not numbers. Meanwhile, South Shore SAC had to change the venue for their match last week, switching to Wicklow North Beach, as their preferred venue of Kilgorman looked too blustery. 31 anglers fished in day-long torrential rain, and as if that wasn’t enough, the fishing was a bit on the dour side too. Over in the west, Brian Reidy won the final leg of the Galway Bay SAC Master Angler, making him the champ for the second year running. Brian will also captain the Connaught team in next year’s inter-pro, so he’s on a bit of a roll…
Damp day on Wicklow North Beach
Moving to small boat fishing now, over 90 anglers from Ireland and the UK competed in this year’s Rosslare Small Boats festival last week. The competition had to be cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid restrictions, but anglers flooded back to the event after a couple of years of absence, and it was Liverpool-based boat Nirvana that came out on top with a total of 26 species.
And for any small boat anglers that fancy a bit of competition this weekend, Greystones Ridge SAC has asked us to remind you that they still have some places in their Monster Tope Angling Festival this Saturday & Sunday.
A well-coloured September salmon being carefully released on the Bandon
We also have monthly reports for August from both the Erriff and the Galway Weir fisheries. As one might expect, the very low water levels combined with high water temperatures made it a month to forget for most anglers that wet a line.
And in a reminder to all salmon and sea trout anglers, the season will end in the next couple of weeks, so your logbooks and unused tags will be due for return. Please remember to get the logbook and any unused tags back to IFI by October 19th.
September normally sees a return to action for many of our pike anglers and pike angling clubs, and true to form, we have seen an increase in piking activity over the past week. Newbridge & District Pike Anglers kicked off their winter season with a double competition held last Saturday and Sunday. With many opting to bivvy up on the bank overnight, it was a good opportunity for catching up with old fishing pals as much as it was to do a bit of fishing. Limerick County Pike Anglers also resumed their competition schedule last week, but the heavy rain forecast meant a low turnout as only 7 anglers were brave enough to face the dirty conditions.
On the coarse angling scene, festivals are still taking place around the country, and at the Belturbet festival, anglers found that a long-forgotten venue was, in fact, a hidden gem, with some quality catches for anglers that got to fish it. On Lough Muckno, 19 of Ireland’s finest feeder anglers endured torrential rain as they competed in the final of the Irish Feedermasters. In the end, only grammes separated the top spots, with Robertas winning out with a bag of 11+kg.
If you have an angling story to share with the Irish Angling Update please send it to [email protected].
And now the weather…
Friday will be fresh and mostly dry with a sprinkling of autumn sunshine. It should remain dry overnight and Saturday will start crisp and cool, leading to some dry, sunny weather across most of the country. The dry, settled weather will continue into early next week, with a slight change coming on Tuesday as showers will spread eastwards from the Atlantic coast.
4.8 lbs. "trout of the year" caught by Brendan Murphy on Lough Conn
Kevin O’Boyle reports from Loughs Conn & Cullin…
Not many anglers ventured out on the lakes, due to warm, calm conditions and bright sunshine. However, two “End of Season” Angling Competitions tempted a few anglers out on the lake.
Murphy’s Bar & Kieran Lynn Memorial Cup recorded 9 trout. Billy Murphy won the Competition with 2 trout including the heaviest fish for 1.82 lbs.
On Sunday, only 3 trout were recorded at the Paddy McDonald Cup, hosted by Lough Conn & Cullin Anglers, with the winner Brendan Murphy from Cloghans. Brendan caught a 4.8 lbs. trout outside Cloghans Bay on a Black Dabbler, the biggest trout recorded on Lough Conn for the 2022 season so far!
Elsewhere, Kevin Barrett from Belfast fishing with Gerry Fitzsimons from Enniscrone fishing in North Conn had a trout for just under 3 lbs. at Woodford shallows near Castle Island shore, which he released.
Kevin Barrett, Belfast, released this trout for just under 3lbs near Woodford Shallows
There are also reports of two salmon caught trolling spoons in the Massbrook area.
Low water levels prevail, even after some rain and a small flood which didn’t even reach the lower sections of the Moy, which was a disappointment for anglers.
Water levels recorded at Ballylahan Bridge (waterlevel.ie) on the Monday morning were 0.567m and rose over a few days to 0.569m and dropped back to 0.281m by Sunday night. Still 43 salmon and 4 sea trout were reported, with 15 of these salmon released and the 4 sea trout were also released.
The Moy Fishery recorded 4 sea trout for the week, all released.
Mount Falcon Fishery had 4 salmon for the week and 1 released.
Armstrong Fishery recorded 1 salmon caught on the bubble and fly.
The Foxford Fishery reported 12 grilse, all caught on bubble and fly.
Foxford Salmon Anglers reported 3 salmon from their Rinnaney stretch.
Foxford Rocks Fishery reported 1 salmon for the week.
East Mayo Anglers recorded 20 salmon for the week, 14 released.
Andy and friend Pete from the UK were back again at Melview Fishing Lodge after a couple of years off during the Covid period. The guys arrived and were as keen as ever to get out and do some fishing. Prebaiting the night before and early starts in the mornings they decided to fish just a couple of venues. The first produced plenty of nice hybrids and roach for them. Fishing the second venue they managed some cracking tench, bream, hybrids and roach.
Pete and Andy are all smiles with this catch
They used the same tactics for each venue: feeder fishing at around 35 yards and all fish were of course released unharmed.
Kevin has over 30 years experience of fishing in Ireland and is happy to offer a guided tour on your arrival, and to advise where the on-form waters in the area are. We can arrange your bait order so it’s here when you arrive. Melview offers free use of 17ft lake boats with engines to our guests (pay fuel only) and Kevin is happy to assist with any pre-baiting requests. Maps and other information regarding fishing are also available.
Dutch anglers Ron and Bert who we reported on last week finished their holiday well. The Bream were in and out of the swim but they had plenty of sport to keep them busy. They managed some cracking tench in good numbers along with lots of hybrids and roach. They feeder fished at 40 yards into 4.5m depth using various hook baits which proved to be very successful.
Bert with a couple of Bream from his days catch
Great to have you back guys and thanks for your company and look forward to seeing you again soon!
Kevin has over 30 years experience of fishing in Ireland and is happy to offer a guided tour on your arrival, and to advise where the on-form waters in the area are. We can arrange your bait order so it’s here when you arrive. Melview offers free use of 17ft lake boats with engines to our guests (pay fuel only) and Kevin is happy to assist with any pre-baiting requests. Maps and other information regarding fishing are also available.
A well coloured September salmon being carefully released on the Bandon
Eileen Carroll reports on the fishing in the south western fisheries last week:
RIVER BANDON, CORK
The long awaited rain arrived last week, and the river rose by over a metre. There were over 80 salmon reported, and the vast majority of these were released. Many of these were coloured fish, as expected, but there were a few fish that were only in the river a few weeks. Fly and spinner were the most effective baits. The river is still in very good order at the time of writing.
WEST CORK RIVERS
Ilen River 37 salmon best 9lb syndicate angler on flying c. Comholla 15 salmon best 7lb club angler on worm. Mealagh 8 salmon best 7lb local angler on worm. Ouvane 6 salmon best 7lb on worm local angler. Glengarriff 10 salmon best 6lb on flying c.
KENMARE/WATERVILLE RIVERS/LAKES & RIVER FLESK
Good fishing last week on floods all over. Finally got rain.
RIVER LAUNE/KILLARNEY LAKES
No reports of fish caught on the Laune or Killarney Lakes. There has been a lot of fishing effort for salmon, spinning with worm. Anglers have been seeing plenty of fish, but none being caught. Fly fishing for trout increased on the Lakes and Laune towards the end of the week when water levels dropped.
