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.
Fresh NE wind on Tuesday and very hard to catch Mackerel. After a while we followed the Gannets but they where feeding on sprat. Still we did a couple of drifts through them and gathered some mackerel. However, it was not just Gannets on the sprat as underneath we got hammered by Pollack. Nice to see so many of them about.
Blues and tope from the Clare coast
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Anyway, for the turn of the tide we anchored up and got 4 Tope runs. 2 to the boat. An enjoyable day in the conditions.
There are still a few blue shark around too – not to mention the Spurdogs and Seals that have plagued us some days recently!!
Go fishing…
Clare Dragoon
Clare Dragoon is a LOCHIN 366 powered by 650HP engine, skippered by Luke Aston and operating out of Carrigaholt Co. Clare…
I have some offers up on my web site www.fishandstay.com and if anybody is interested in putting a trip together please do get in touch. Also I Twitter from the boat on @fishandstay and try to update my face book page www.facebook.com/CarrigaholtSeaAngling fairly often!To experience some of the best deep sea fishing available in Ireland contact Luke. Telephone: +353 65 9058209 or +353 87 6367544 Email:[email protected]Web:www.fishandstay.com
Fishing pressure during August was very low due to several factors. Water levels were very low but water temperature peaked at 24 degrees C. at one stage and this caused the fishery to close for a week.
As a consequence, a lot of anglers stopped fishing due to these conditions as fish would not survive too well after being played out. Fortunately, the weir helped to keep the oxygen content on the high side which definitely helped fish survival.
A total of 12 fish (8 on the fly and 2 on shrimp with an average weight of 4.5 lbs.) were caught for the month with only 2 released.
Neil Spellacy landed two for 4.5lbs on the fly at the beginning of the month and sportingly released both.
Michael Barry caught a nice fresh fish of 3.5lbs, while Michael Brown from Clare had a fish on the shrimp of 4.5 lbs.
Niall Lynch fished for 3 days and landed a fish each day with an average weight of 4lbs all on fly.
Robert Bradley had a fish for 3.5lbs on the fly and last but not least, Paddy Gargan landed a lovely 9 lbs fish on a switch rod on the fly.
Galway Bay SAC report that Brian Reidy won the final leg and overall master angler prize for the second consecutive year! The club also report a very strong field of young anglers coming through the ranks – good news for them.
Brian collecting his GBSAC prizes
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As well as his club master angler prize, Brian recently also added another feather to his cap on winning the Connaught Closed Gold to captain the team in next year’s interprovincial so he must be doing something right!
Joining Brian on the Connacht interprovincial team are Shane Gilvarry, Sean Ivory, Joe Chambers and Colin Harty – well done to them.
The Killala Boat Club organised a very well run Ray Toner Cup and Connaught Closed Gold medal event and, over the 3 days, the biggest flat was Sean Ivory and biggest round was split between Brian Reidy, Joe Chambers and Peter Coyne.
August was a poor fishing month with very low water and high temperatures.
01 August
Peter Coyne landed a 4lbs salmon in Altomont’s Dam on beat 6 using a Willie Gun. Gerry Merick had a 6lbs fish on beat 9 on a Posh Tosh.
02 August
Jake Delaney caught a 5lbs salmon in the Falls Pool on a Posh Tosh. Billy Moylan had a 5lbs salmon in the Garden Pool using a Cascade pattern, while Patrick Seigne landed a 5lbs salmon on beat 3 and a 4lbs salmon on beat 9 also on a Cascade. Peter Coyne had a fish at 6lbs on beat 8 in the Holly Pool using a Silver Stoat and Seamus O’Neill landed a 6lbs salmon on beat 5. Gerry Merick had a 3lbs and a 4lbs salmon on beat 9 on a Colly Dog.
03 August
Jurgen Mantel caught a 7lbs salmon on beat 9 in the Garden Pool on a Collie Dog.
04 August
Peter Coyne had a 6.5 lbs salmon on beat 9.
05 August
John Ryan landed a 3lbs salmon on beat 9 in the Bridge Pool on a Cascade and a 5lbs salmon in the Garden Pool.
06 August
John O’Brian caught a 7lbs salmon in the Falls Pool, while Gerry O’Brian landed a 5lbs and a 6lbs fish also in the Falls Pool. All fish took a Woolly Bugger.
07 August
Eabha Jones landed a 5lbs salmon in the Falls Pool.
09 August
Ken Mills had a 4 lbs salmon from the Sea Pool on beat 9 and John Phelan landed one at 6lbs in the Falls Pool.
21 August
James O’Neill caught a fine a 12lbs salmon in the Coronation Pool on beat 8.
23 August
Bill Kean landed a 5 lbs salmon in the Gauge Pool on beat 9 using a Bann Special. Pat Errity had a 4lbs salmon also from the Gauge Pool, while Shaun McManiman landed a six pounder on beat 9. Both fish took a “Monkey”.
John Fleming of Blue Shark Angling Galway got some nice fishing again throughout last weekend, with some good tope taken on the Brazen Hussy II over the two days, the best of which fell to Maria’s rod – and a fine fish it was too.
There were also some very fine pollock on the move, coalies, loads of pouting, mackerel and lots of sandeels, not to mention the odd squid!
Some of the catches...
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Go Fishing
Brazen Hussy ll
Skipper: John Fleming Licence:1011 (11 passengers and 1 crew) Base: Rosaveal, Spiddal, Galway (Depending on species) Operational area: Rosaveal, Spiddal and Galway up to
20 miles to sea
Notes: A regular day is between 9am- 6pm from either
Rosaveel, Spiddal or Galway depending on species being sought after. Fishing
on the inshore reefs for pollock, cod, ling, wrasse, conger eel and mackerel
can be reached in 10 minutes from departure, while our offshore reef marks
are within 45 minutes of departure. Our ground fishing for tope, spurdog,
ray, bullhuss, turbot, plaice and the giant common skate can all be reached
within the hour which ensures the most amount of time is spent fishing.
The shark season usually starts at the end of June and runs into late
October, this is the ultimate angling addrenaline rush with these hard
fighting blue and porbeagle sharks all being tagged and release safely.
Package deals available
Courtmacsherry was certainly the place to be for some quality blue shark fishing over the past week as the Cork venue threw up plenty of cracking shark alongside a nice range of other species.
First up, a group of Belgian anglers out with Courtmacsherry Angling had a day to remember with 10 blues boated, including three over the 100lb mark.
It takes two to tango with a whopper blue shark
And it wasn’t only blues that were providing the sport, as a group from the UK had some great fishing for skate, managing 9 between them. The shark and skate were all tagged and released as part of the Marine Sportfish Tagging Programme.
Super skate for UK angler fishing with Courtmacsherry Angling
Also fishing out of Courtmacsherry, anglers with West Cork Charters had a similar blues bonanza, as two Dutch anglers landed a whopping 16 blues, including one to specimen size. Earlier in the week, a different group landed 10 blues, including two over the 100lb mark. As per above, all shark were tagged and released.
Two more anglers with a quality blue onboard West Cork Charters
And it wasn’t only blue shark action for those lads either, as they managed a good haul of other species, including some rarer ones such as Stone Bass, Megrim and Blue Whiting.
A nice Stone Basse adds to the species mix
Go Fishing
Courtmacsherry Angling
Aquastar 38′. 370 HP Caterpillar Skipper: Mark Gannon Licence: 818 Base: Courtmacsherry Operational Area: 30 miles out from Courtmacsherry
Authorised blue fin tuna boat
Notes: Mark has two Aquastar 38’s, Lady Patricia and
Lady Louise. Specialising in wreck fishing, Mark’s boats have consistently provided specimen fish over the years. Shark, reef and general inshore angling also on offer.
West Cork Charters operates the Silver Dawn, a 41′ Rodman 1250 with twin 430 HP Engines out of Courtmacsherry. The range of fishing found within close range of Courtmacsherry is superb, with trips producing anything between 6 and 15 different species as a norm and in excess of 20 is possible if anglers are prepared to change methods and use different baits and lures throughout their trip. As a rule mackerel, pollock, cod and ling are usually encountered but several species of wrasse along with whiting, pouting, coalfish, bull huss, conger and many more are often added to the catch.
If you do choose to head offshore to sample the superb shark fishing available within 10 miles of Courtmacsherry, there is a very strong chance of encountering blue sharks and an increasing chance of bringing a porbeagle shark to the boat.
Liverpool-based anglers scoop top prize with two Irish boats taking second and third spots
The Liverpool-based boat, ‘Nirvana,’ has won the top prize at the 35th Rosslare Small Boats Festival in Wexford, competing head-to-head with 30 other boats to catch the greatest number of fish species last week.
Fishing from Kilmore Quay harbour on September 3rd and 8th, ‘Shamrock’ and ‘Katie B’, both representing Howth Sea Angling Club in Dublin, took second and third places respectively.
Rosslare 35th Small Boats Festival Winners and Organisers group photo
Sponsored by Inland Fisheries Ireland, DAIWA, Navionics and supported by Saltwater Boat magazine, the festival couldn’t go ahead in 2020 or 2021 due to Covid-19 restrictions. This year however, it attracted more than 90 anglers from Wales, Scotland, Isle of Wight, Ireland, Manchester, Liverpool and Portsmouth. This top-class competition combined with a quality angling product, continues to attract the best boat anglers in Great Britain and Ireland in one of the most prestigious small boat fishing competitions in Europe, according to organisers.
– 1st place Nirvana (left to right) – Mark Phillips, Richie Stead and Keith Pemberton
Although weather conditions were very challenging, with strong south easterly winds, the crew on board ‘Nirvana’ still managed to catch 26 different species of fish over two days, with a combined weight of 8.84kgs. Team members, Richie Stead, Keith Pemberton and Mark Phillips, are from the Wirral Boat Club outside Liverpool and 2022 is the fifth year that ‘Nirvana’ has clinched top spot.
In second place was ‘Shamrock’ (Martin Kennedy, Dave Godwin, Arthur Beechey and Dan Lynch) from Howth Sea Angling Club in Dublin with 25 species for a combined weight of 13.17 kilos.
In third place was ‘Katie B’ (Siert Shultz, Thomas Markey and Joe McPeake) from Howth Sea Angling Club with 23 species for a combined weight of 8.20 kilos.
There were four specimen fish caught during the week, including a three-bearded rockling, two cuckoo wrasse and a tope. The largest of these was a Cuckoo Wrasse of 0.60 kilos caught by Sean Óg McShane from Cork, aboard the Irish boat ‘Fin Chaser’. McShane picked up the ‘best specimen of the festival’ award as a result.
The Conningbeg trophy for the longest bass of 59cm was won by Terry Wallworth from the boat ‘Life of Riley’. Meanwhile, the Ken Evason Memorial trophy for the biggest cod caught, which was 3.20 kilos, was won by the boat ‘Shamrock’.
– Juvenile – Scott McShane, Councillor Jim Moore, Josie Mahon, IFI and John Belger (festival organiser UK)
Scott McShane won the best juvenile angler of the competition aboard the boat ‘2JDs’, which had 19 species with a combined weight of 8.82 kilos. Sue Tait on ‘Predator II’ caught 20 species and Joan Bimpson from ‘Silverback’ caught 12 species and both won awards for best female anglers in the competition.
Saury fish- new species for the festival records
Overall, more than 40 different fish species were recorded during the competition, including smoothound, conger, dab, gurnards, mackerel, mullet, pouting, gilthead bream, red mullet and many mini species such as dragonet and gobies. This year a Saury fish was recorded by the Irish boat ‘Shamrock’ which is a species normally found in the Pacific Ocean and was added to the species list for the festival. A butterfly blenny was also identified, these new species, adding to the excitement of the competition.
Red gurnard – Josie Mahon (IFI), Mike Woods, Mark Rogan, Darren Leatherbarrow from the boat ‘Rogie’s Girl’
The awards ceremony took place in the Coast Rosslare Strand Hotel and the €30,000 prize-fund included fishing equipment, cash prizes and engraved trophies.
Staff from Inland Fisheries Ireland assisted organisers with boat launches and fish species identification and the competition also received very welcome support from the Kilmore Quay harbour master and staff from Wexford County Council.
Longest bass (l-r) – John Belger (UK festival organiser), Des Chew (IFI), Terry Wallworth, Councillor Jim Moore
