Brian Curran, fishery manager at Costelloe & Fermoyle, reports on the month’s fishing:
With some small increases in water levels as we only have short rain bursts over the past number of days, it has been enough to bring the fish alive again after a few sultry weeks of high water temperatures.
The O’Rorke party fished weekend of 27/28 had 5 small seatrout for 6 rods during what was a slow period. With wind and some showers David McDonagh, home from England and a native of Spiddal/ Furbo had 3 seatrout on Glen on Friday 2nd Sept, 3 on Crumlin ‘s Ugga Beag and 9 on Clogher on Monday 5th with many more lost.
The Carraroe Club fished Glen on Sunday and best angler was Myles Costello with 8 seatrout followed by Jason Folan with 4, the other 6 rods had 9 between them .
Expectations are high for better fishing, both salmon and seatrout will become more active with increasing water levels and winds throughout the system.
Rudy van Duijnhoven reports from the Kings Classic in Co. Leitrim…
Prior to the four days of the competition, the King’s Classic, started on Tuesday last week, as the Lol Higgings Memorial 2022 was fished on the Monday on the same pegs as the Classic. The sectors were on Lough Scur, Garadice Lake and Eonish. Theresa Kennedy’s Glenview House was this year the epicentre for both competitions, here the nets were being disinfected and the draws and the prize giving took place here as well. Participants were staying at different B & B’s and hotels in the area. The directions to the different sectors were put up by the staff of the Inland Fisheries Ireland. The King’s Classic is supported and/or sponsored by Shimano (main sponsor), Tourism Ireland, Inland Fisheries Ireland, Berlok Groundbait, Tackle Guru and Country Leitrim.
The Lol Higgings Memorial competition lasted five hours, from eleven o’clock to four o’clock, after which staff from Inland Fisheries Ireland took care of weighing the catches. The weather had been almost un-Irishly beautiful, dry, sunny or only slightly overcast, about twenty degrees and a little wind which only occasionally picked up. On the different sectors the fishermen sometimes switched between the pole and the feeder rod. If the takes on the pole dropped off for a while, perhaps because a pike was active on the swim that sometimes managed to steal a fish, a feeder was placed at a distance again. The pole seemed to produce the highest catch weights, although the bigger fish were often caught on the feeder rod. The results of the Lol Higgings Memorial would be announced on the Friday, at the same time as the results of the King’s Classic. Steelworks (www.steelworks.nl) sponsored a plateau for the winner of the Lol Higgings Memorial.
Big Tench from Lough Scur
On Monday evening at Glenview House around 6.30pm a draw took place for the order of the sectors for the different competitors. The draw for the peg numbers would take place each day at eight o’clock in the morning, also at Glenview House. On Tuesday it was even warmer than on Monday. After the draw at Glenview House at 8am, the competitors soon left for the various sectors. The sectors on Eonish seemed to be producing good fish, especially with the pole, including for Willem Multem. On Connoly Shores, on Garadice Lake, the feeder rod in particular produced the most fish. Andrew Higgins, wearing shorts and with his boots full of water, gathered a nice weight of 9,500 grams. Only Francis McGoldrick came close with 7,920 grams.
The second day brought some more wind and at least on Garadice Lake some lesser catches, but the other sectors seem to remain constant or even improve. In sector A, Marco Hofman had a lot of perch on his fishing spot, but these fish gave him the sector win in the end, while André Schipper took the second place in this sector with the pole, followed by Martin Snijders on 50 grams. In sector D, also on Eonish Lake, Willem van der Helm got off to a great start, collecting almost twice as much weight with the pole than Leo Koot, who had a slower start, and young Charlie Richards came third. Simon Willsmore won his sector on Garadice Lake this day as well, second was André Multem, third Sipke Goldstein. Arjan Klop lived up to his Dutch name and beat everyone on Lough Scur. Francis McGoldrick came in second, Rien Verhoeckx third.
Fish and weed for Marco Hofman on Garadice Lake
The wind was again much lighter on the third day of the King’s Classic, but the catches were clearly better than the day before! After the presentation of the sector prizes from the previous day and the drawing of the peg numbers, the calm soon returned to Glenview House. Simon Willsmore was again unstoppable on Lough Scur, The Rocks. With over fourteen kilograms, he was well ahead of Sepke Golstein and André Multem, who had over eleven kilograms each. Anne-Jurgen Golstein’s three tench, plus many fine roach and hybrids, helped him to a fourth place with over ten kilograms. On Connoly Shore, Marco Hofman now had to acknowledge his superiority to Peter Kruithof, the difference being only 140 grams… Third place here was for Tom Sexton with five kilograms. Francis McGoldrick did well in sector D on Eonish Lake with almost eight kilograms of fish, Andrew Higgins came in second and Martin Marico third with over six and five kilograms respectively. Willem van der Helm also won his section this day, sector A on Eonish Lake, with almost fifteen kilograms of roach and hybrids. Peter van de Walle came in second and Leo Koot third, both with over twelve kilograms.
Simon Willsmore in action on Lough Scur
On the fourth and final day of the King’s Classic, the road to the final victory was still open to several participants. Martin Marico won sector A on Eonish with 8,700 grams, second was Luk Lubbers with 8,500 grams and third Francis McGoldrick with 7,600 grams. Willem van der Helm won his sector B on Garadice Lake again, with 12,800 grams. Leo Koot came in second with 10,800 grams and Johan Backaert third with 7,700 grams. Sector C on Lough Scur, The Rocks, was again won by Marco Hofman with 14,500 grams, second was André Schipper with 13,400 grams and third Willem Multem with 10,600 grams. Sipke Goldstein did good business in sector D on Eonish, with 7,200 grams he took first place, second was André Multem with 6,550 grams and third Simon Willsmore with 3,800 grams.
On the Friday evening, the results of the Lol Higgings Memorial and the King’s Classic (for which the worst result of one of the days was cancelled) were announced and the prizes presented.
Willem van der Helm, the festival winner, shows a roach from Eonish
Lol Higgings Memorial:
Willem van der Helm, 15,300 grams
André Multem, 15,250 grams
Marco Hofman, 13,950 grams
Peter van de Walle, 13,750 grams
Marnik Vekeman, 10,950 gramsFinal results King’s Classic 2022:
1. Willem van der Helm, 3 points, 47,900 grams
2. Simon Willsmore, 3 points, 42,590 grams
3. Marco Hofman, 3 points, 38.450 grams
4. Leo Koot, 5 points, 34.500 grams
5. Francis McGoldrick, 5 points, 30,820 grams
6. Sipke Goldstein, 6 points, 25,300 grams
7. André Multem, 6 points, 25,210 grams
8. Andrew Higgins, 7 points, 22,700 grams
9. Martin Marico, 7 points, 18,660 grams
10. André Schippers, 8 points, 29,800 grams
For more information about the next edition of the King’s Classic in 2023, which is provisionally scheduled for the same week, please visit the website www.bbi-travel.nl.
Madeleine Kelly reports on the 3rd International Women’s Fly Fishing Day which is due to be celebrated on 10 September 2022…
The third ever International Women’s Fly Fishing Day (IWFFD) will take place on Saturday 10th September 2022. It’s planned that at 11am, in every time-zone across the world, that female fly-anglers will post photos or videos of themselves to Face Book or to Instagram that will show their enjoyment of flyfishing.
Posts to celebrate International Women’s Fly Fishing Day may be made to https://www.facebook.com/groups/573597536965118/
Don’t forget to add #IWFFD onto your posts please or post to Instagram (IntlWomensFlyFishDay)
This is an initiative from two women in two very different parts of the world – Maddy Kelly from County Down in Northern Ireland and Pamela Caldwell Dunlap from Hurricane in West Virginia, USA. They met on a women’s Flyfishing site – Women Wine & Waders – (https://en-gb.facebook.com/groups/1496931843942254/) that was set up by Pamela and they’ve been sharing fishing tales and life stories for the five years since.
Maddy Kelly enjoying lunch on the shores of Lough Melvin, Ireland.Pamela Dunlap getting ready for a days guiding on the Potomac Rover, WV, USA.
The Mission Statement of International Women’s Flyfishing Day is “To bring women together from all over the world, virtually, for one day in mid-September to celebrate their fly-fishing life and to encourage them to be role models who will support new women who take up fly fishing.”
Unfortunately the effect of Coronavirus is still being felt around the world and although some women will be flyfishing, some plans will have been curtailed. There’s always the chance as well that weather may interfere with fishing plans and as International Women’s Fly Fishing Day is a world-wide event there will be some women in the part of the world that is currently out of the fly fishing season. To allow for those circumstances the photo or video posted can be of anything related to fly fishing e.g. practicing casting, tying a fly, or even reading a book on the topic or watching a fly fishing video etc. Or for women unable to be doing anything related to flyfishing at 11am on 11th September 2021 they can post a photo or video that shows that they do indeed enjoy fly fishing.
Julie Cook from the Southland Fly Fishing Club in Invercargill New Zealand is, at the minute, the most easterly woman planning to take part which means she’ll get the first opportunity to post her 11am photo, and Catrina (Cat) White from Los Angeles is the most westerly. She will close the day of celebrations.
Julie Cook from Invercargill New Zealand enjoying fishing on Lough Lene in Co Westmeath, on a 2019 trip to IrelandCat White from Los Angeles enjoying fishing on the Henry’s Fork River in Idaho.
With photos being posted at 11am from all over the world the day will unfold from New Zealand to the west coast of the USA over a 20 hour period.
Fly fishing, and angling in general, gives so much to the angler. Mindfulness is very popular now-a-days but anglers have known the mindful effects of angling for a long time. And it’s not just peace of mind, there’s also the fitness aspect. Wading into waist-deep water will work your core as will scrambling five miles up a riverbank and back down the five miles to your car with your rod and essentials for the day – that competes with any gym workout. And to complete the scene there’s nothing like lunch alongside the water’s edge with a nice cup of tea and a slice of lemon cake.
A lot of anglers will also start to care for their rivers and waterways. They organize work parties to clean up litter, fix river banks, create and improve access, build bridges and stiles, remove fallen trees, and clear water blockages that prevent the movement of migratory fish – all very physical work and a great work out.
Then there’s the workout for the brain. Anglers will say that they switch off while fishing and are in another world and that worries and problems just slip away. But the day is spent watching, really seeing what’s there and analyzing everything – the bug life, the water movements, the feeding patterns, watching for clues that might be as simple as feeding birds.
Angling is a work-out in nature. And women are catching on to the secret and they’re passing on the information to other women. More and more are becoming qualified as coaches and instructors or are attending women’s fishing days as volunteer-helpers.
Maddy Kelly has been flyfishing for over 30 years and has fished throughout Ireland. Since 1993 she has been a regular member of the Irish Ladies Fly Fishing team which takes part in the Ladies International Flyfishing Championships fished against teams from Scotland, Wales and England. She has recently gained coaching qualifications and has been organising events to introduce women and young people to flyfishing.
Practice Day at Straid Fishery in Co Antrim Ireland for Maddy Kelly and a monster-trout comes up from the deep.
Pamela Caldwell Dunlap is a more recent convert to flyfishing. Prior to discovering the joys of flyfishing she was not keen on the outdoors at all. She was introduced to it on a first date 6 years ago and enjoyed it so much that since then she has organised camps for women to learn and has been responsible for a number of women becoming anglers.
The internet friends, Pamela and Maddy, have spent five years sharing stories of the days that they organise for women to enjoy flyfishing. Though separated by 3,590 miles, most of it ocean, it turns out they’ve a lot in common. They are both committed to encouraging and supporting new women into flyfishing.
The International flavour – Maddy Kelly (centre) with Diane Roberts (left) and Sandra McTear (right) both from ScotlandFishing in all weather for the women. A training session on a winters day for an early Irish Ladies fly fishing team at Tildarg Fishery in Co. Antrim NI. Maddy Kelly front left. Noel Lowry, Team Coach, back left.
Get involved…
The third ever International Women’s Fly Fishing Day (IWFFD) will take place on Saturday 10th September 2022. It’s planned that at 11am, in every time-zone across the world, that female fly-anglers will post photos or videos of themselves to Face Book or to Instagram that will show their enjoyment of flyfishing.
Posts to celebrate International Women’s Fly Fishing Day may be made to the following. As it may not be possible to post at 11am they can be made all day.
It’s been another very dry, very sunny, warm week. With blue skies dominating and so much sunshine it’s no wonder that temperatures were 1-2°C higher than you expect. On top of that a number of stations reported just 1% of the normal rainfall for the time of year. So, although water temperatures have dropped recently, low water prevails on our rivers and lakes and fishing conditions can still be pretty tough. Mind you, sea anglers have been enjoying the settled conditions, though the weather man says that’s all about to change…
Back to the week that was for now though, and in salmon angling news anglers on the Moy reported 50 fish caught despite the low water and warm temperatures. Fishing in the estuary has improved as the sea trout are feeding hard on herring fry hunted inshore by mackerel shoals. Very few other rivers reported much at all. The Currane system struggled with calm weather and bright skies. A few sea trout were caught and released on the drift and one grilse was reported. We also have a lovely video from Andrew McGall who has some great insights into his approach to salmon fishing.
Geoff with his first trout from the Maigue
Trout fishing has been very quiet. Very few rivers are fishing well, even for the evening rise but we did get one interesting report in from the Maigue. The lakes have also been tough. We do have a few reports in though from Lough Owel, Conn, O’Flynn and the stocked lakes Barfinnihy and Fadda in Co. Kerry.
Cathal Hughes won the three day Coachford Centra Festival with a total of over 66kg
Things are hotting up on the coarse angling festival scene with matches being held at numerous venues over the past week and plenty more planned for the coming weeks. Some decent nets of fish have been weighed in with a one day catch of 65lb registered in the Strokestown Festival and winning bags of 66kg and 67kg caught at the recent 3 day festivals on Inniscarra. For this and more see Coarse angling festival season in full swing.
Lovely Longford pike
Pike anglers have been catching some decent fish as water temperatures cooled. Lough Derg produced pike to over 100cm for TJ and Son for TJ’s Angling Centre in Killaloe. Further up the Shannon system, French anglers staying at Melview Lodge had super fishing around Longford with plenty of pike in the 90s and a few over the metre. Meanwhile, Connacht Predator Anglers had a competition on Lough Corrib where trout to 70cm, perch to 35cm and pike to 109cm were caught and released.
Last week recently launched the Draft Great Western Lakes Management Plan. Loughs Corrib, Mask, Carra, Conn, Cullin, Arrow and Sheelin are some of the best wild brown trout fisheries in Europe and are collectively known as the Great Western Lakes. Inland Fisheries Ireland wishes to develop a long term management plan for these lakes to address many of the factors currently impacting on the ecological wellbeing of native fish stocks in their catchments.
For more information, including the draft plan, a comprehensive list of Frequently Asked Questions, “open evenings” and how to participate in the public consultation and have your voice heard, check out the web page here: Western Lakes Plan
The next open evenings will take place on:
Tuesday 6th September: Monsignor Horan Memorial Centre, Partry Commuity Centre, Co Mayo F12 KF86
Thursday 8th September: Courthouse, Oughterard, Co Galway H91 CC96
Tuesday 13th September: Crover House Hotel, Mount Nugent, Co Cavan A82 P2D9
No tickets or registration is required and all open evenings are operating on a ‘drop-in’ basis from 4pm to 8pm.
And now the weather…
The current run of fine weather is due to break and the outlook is for conditions to become unsettled with plenty of wind and rain on the way. The rains will arrive tonight and Saturday will be mostly wet and windy. Highest temperatures of 14 to 18°C in a fresh south or southeast breeze. More rain overnight and strengthening winds sweeping northwards with a possibility of localised flooding.
Please note – there are Yellow Rain and Small Craft warnings in effect from Saturday night through Sunday afternoon.
Another breezy wet day on Sunday, but warmer with temperatures reaching 17 to 21°C in fresh and gusty southeast winds. Monday will start with bright spells and scattered showers before persistent rain sets in again. Another warm day at 17 to 22°C in fresh and gusty southeast winds. Much the same on Tuesday with the outlook for the unsettled conditions to continue. Freshwater systems will do well out of the weather and hopefully the winds won’t hit the sea anglers too hard…
Paddy Dunworth of Celtic Angling reports on a recent trip on the Maigue…
Geoff Ormiston from Washington State visited Limerick for the World Lacrosse Championships at UL but took time out to fish with me on the Maigue. The river was almost back to normal levels following the freak weather we had experienced, refreshed and with more pace.
We hit a fall of mating gnat which had the trout very active, and though Geoff would not be overly experienced with the upstream advanced fly-fishing approach, he acquitted himself admirably as my photos prove.
Geoff was blown away by Ireland and it’s natural beauty and will no doubt spread the word.
Badged Fly-fishing Guide and Instructor for wild brown trout on Co. Limerick’s rivers Deel and Maigue.
Notes: Based near the picturesque village of Adare(Ireland’s Prettiest Village)
Paddy has been delivering personal guiding for wild brown trout on local streams and rivers for 25 years now. He is a qualified Marine and Countryside Guide and offers Fly-casting tuition for beginners and improvers.
Paddy replies promptly to all queries, email best so I have reference record of details in the event of a follow-up booking. Deposit not usually required as advice of accommodation suffices in lieu.
Tackle and gear hire
Full fly outfit/waders etc. on hire also for those wishing to go alone.
French anglers Vincent, Maxime, Alain, Nicolas, Jeremy and Thibault were over in Ireland for their pike fishing holiday and decided to stay with their host Kevin at Melview Fishing Lodge in Longford.
The first couple of days produced Pike to 97cm and the second day was pretty much the same.
Maxime off to a great start
The guys fished a couple of different venues and as the week went on the fish started to hit the 100cm+.
Vincent with a nice 108cm fish
Casting both hard and soft lures they all managed to catch some great pike and at the same time losing a few very big ones.
Alain with his first of the day
Jeremy ( the caveman ) is all smiles
Kevin said, “Not only did the fishing go to plan for the guys, they managed to take full advantage of the good old Irish hospitality and you can read between the lines on that one! Thank you guys for a great week and great company with lots of laughs along the way, hope to see 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.
Kevin O’Boyle reports from the Moy on catches last week:
Despite the low water and warm temperatures 50 salmon were recorded in the Moy system.
Water levels were extremely low across the Moy catchment. Anglers are not fishing or travelling due to the warm temperatures and low water levels.
Water levels recorded at Ballylahan Bridge on the Monday morning were 0.255m (waterlevel.ie) and rose slightly mid-week to 0.292m and levelled off to 0.200m by Sunday night.
The Moy Fishery recorded 1 salmon and 1 sea trout for the week.
Ballina Salmon Anglers reported 10 grilse from 3 to 5 lbs.
Mount Falcon Fishery report 6 grilse from its waters for the week, mostly on bubble and fly to the Curry red.
Byrne’s Fishery reported 5 salmon, one for 17 lbs on the prawn.
The Foxford Fishery reported 2 grilse, all caught on bubble and fly.
Foxford Salmon Anglers reported 11 salmon from their Rinnaney stretch.
Foxford Rocks Fishery reported 7 salmon for the week.
East Mayo Anglers recorded 8 salmon for the week, and all released.
Luke Aston had a couple of days fishing in the Shannon Estuary last week due to the weather. Mackerel were scarce enough, but they managed enough bait to pick up some nice thornback ray. Tope were elusive though, a no show on the day.
A nice estuary thornbackAnd another good ray
The weather picked up over the weekend, with lovely weather and mackerel more plentiful, some nice fish were caught but the drift was slow with the light winds. Even bull huss were caught on the drift.
A fine pollackA beautifully marked bull hussOctopus!
Lady Gwen II
Sean Maguire, skippering the Lady Gwen II, has aso been out with a group from Dublin, and they enjoyed excellent fishing. There were plenty of mackerel and scad so bait was sorted early, then they picked up a good variety of species including good whiting, codling, ling and a few others, before going for the big ones.
A fine thornieYou know autumn is on the way when the squid appearA good blue shark to top off the day
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
Lady Gwen II
Fishing Adventures on Séan Maguire’s Lady Gwen II, a Lochin 33 M265Ti Perkins charterboat which operates 15 miles from Kilbaha, Carrigaholt, and Kilrush.
Whether you want to go to the Atlantic Ocean for a large selection of species, including different types of shark, or fish the estuary for ray conger tope etc, Fishing Adventures will cater for whatever fishing you desire. Telephone: +353 (0) 877508758 or +353 (0) 894431182 Email:[email protected]Web:www.fishingadventures.ie
The Belturbet September Angling Festival kicks off this weekend with an open match this Sunday 4th, followed by a hard week’s fishing from Monday 5th through to Friday 9th.
To enter the match on Sunday, register and pay at 8am at the Castle Sports Bar for the draw at 8.30am sharp please. Priority on this match is given to the festival anglers and advance booking on is recommended to save disappointment.
Registration for the festival itself is on Sunday 4th when the rotation draw for the week ahead also takes place at the Castle Sports Bar.
Good luck to all of the anglers participating during the week.
Andrew McGall was in touch with us – he has uploaded another nice salmon fishing video to his YouTube channel. Andrew’s channel has some really great footage and is very informative on different aspects of Irish salmon fishing – so don’t forget to like and subscribe!
Here is Andrew’s intro to his latest offering:
When we approach a pool it is always worth having a few casts at the top or head of the pool. Water here is often more oxygenated and attracts resident fish, but it also makes running fish to slow or even pause as they navigate their way on up river. It is therefore somewhere I will at least have a few casts as I work my way down the pool. I have also included a NEW ‘Behind the scenes’ section at the end, which hopefully you will find useful and be something you can put into practice in your own fishing.
Notes: Based near the picturesque village of Adare (Ireland’s Prettiest Village)
