Skipper John Fleming says the reef fishing in Galway has been “on fire” of late, with pollack in particular feeding hard and taking lures eagerly. Plenty of other species have been caught too, including some fine tub gurnard, cod, tope and a good few scad around too.
A lovely pollack for this angler
A fine tub gurnardAmazing technicolour pectoral finsPollack
Another fine gurnard
CodScad
Go fishing…
To book fishing with John aboard the Brazen Hussy II, give him a call on 087 7571320
A regular day is between 9am- 6pm from either Rossaveal, 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 adrenaline rush with these hard fighting blue and porbeagle sharks all being tagged and released safely.
Package deals available
Belmont Anglers Open was fished on the Grand Canal at Shannon Harbour last Sunday. The weather was ideal with plenty of cloud cover and a good turnout on the day. Everyone enjoyed the day and even better – there were plenty of fish caught
Winners were:
1-Eugene Cahill
2-William c Martin
3-John Howell
4-John Mulligan
Belmont Anglers is a Coarse Angling club based in the Irish midlands. Competitions are held regularly on the Grand canal and river Shannon. All are welcome to participate.
Notes: We specialise in seatrout fishing and the Moy estuary is our hunting ground. We offer an excellent choice of sea trout fishing which caters for all levels… from complete beginner to the experienced angler and all tackle is provided if required.
Notes: The angling boat Pegasus is equipped with the latest technology, fishing tackle and safety equipment. Licenced for a maximum of 4 rods skipper Judd Ruane specialises in catching sea trout on the beautiful Moy Estuary. Daily charter departs Ballina Quay and booking is essential. A salmon licence is required.
Joe Fitzharris reports that anglers enjoyed improved catches in the McCarthy Cup event held on Sunday 21st August…
Lake O’Flynn & District Anglers ran the McCarthy Cup on Sunday in difficult angling conditions. Surprisingly most boats caught fish on the day. This was due to a much welcomed drop in water temperature. 11 Boats competed in what was a Heaviest fish event. Winner on the day was well known and popular Sligo angler Feichin McMorrow with a trout of 2lb 14.6oz.
The latest Ireland on the Fly podcast episode is a little bit different and a bit more far flung as Daire recently returned from a week’s fly fishing for sea-run Arctic char in Greenland and what an experience it was.
Although Ireland has a number of Arctic char populations none run to sea or reach the sizes of their Greenland cousins.
1 of 2
Char in colours similar to those in Ireland
Arctic char in silver sea run colours
Listen in to hear from the local Inuit, the Danish chef, the German camp manager and the Welsh guide to get an insight into what made the trip so special and what it’s like catching char in one of the remote fly fishing destinations in the world.
Rate, review and follow the show to keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly episodes on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Aidan Traynor from the Connacht Predator Anglers club was in touch with a report on their latest competition, held on Lough Corrib.
We held our Predator Specialists event yesterday on Lough Corrib. 3 species in 1 day – not an easy challenge but our anglers were well up for it, with some fantastic fish being caught, just showing the calibre of our members.
In 3rd place : Vinny & Ronan 161cm
2nd place : Rafal & Igor 188cm
1st place : Tomi & Jacek 214cm
Longest fish of the day
Tomi : Trout 70cm
Tomi : Pike 109cm
Jacek : Perch 35cm
All fish were carefully handled, measured and released again #CatchPhotoRelease #CPRSavesFish.
Congrats to the top 3 teams, massive well done to the winners and thanks to all of our members who came out to fish with us. We look forward to seeing ye at our next event in Oct.
Nothing has changed on the lakes, as trout angling remains very slow to non-existent.
All the regular anglers didn’t venture out as the warm and calm weather continued.
A lot of reports say good hatches of sedges and some Olives in Bays on the lakes but no sign of trout on the surface.
Dominick McGowan was out for two evenings on Conn and fished hard for a few hours but had no fish to the boat, and only encountered a few rising fish to sedges on the surface.
A relatively quiet week on the Moy Catchment, with 89 salmon caught and 9 released.
Water levels remaining extremely low. Water levels at Ballylahan Bridge on Monday morning were recorded at 0.19 m remaining low all week with a slight rise early on Sunday morning to 0.355m and dropping back to 0.281m by Sunday night.
The Moy Fishery recorded 2 salmon for the week on the Cascade fly.
Ballina Salmon Anglers reported 14 grilse from 2-5 lbs mostly caught on the worm.
Knockmore Anglers association report 2 from their water.
Mount Falcon Fishery report 21 grilse from its waters for the week, mostly on bubble and fly to the Curry red and Foxford Shrimp flies.
Coolcronan Fishery had 5 grilse for the week, caught on the prawn and spinning.
Armstrong’s Fishery reported 3 salmon for the week, all on the shrimp.
Gannon’s Fishery had 1 salmon for the week, all on the bubble and fly.
The Foxford Fishery reported 17 grilse, all caught on bubble and fly.
Foxford Salmon Anglers reported 1 from Bakers waters and 9 salmon from their Rinnaney stretch.
Foxford Town stretch reports at least 1 salmon caught on bubble and fly.
Cloongee Fishery reported 1 grilse for the week.
East Mayo Anglers recorded 10 salmon for the week, with 9 released.
Lough Conn. Several reports suggest 2 salmon caught trolling spoons, with a lot of Anglers complaining about the amount of weed growing since June.
Late August – a time when the Rose of Tralee festival signals the approaching end of summer holidays, when apples ripen on the trees ,and when game anglers start to get anxious about making the most of the last few weeks of the season. While schoolchildren look forward to the return of lessons (do they really?!), pike anglers look forward to cooler waters and the return of hard-feeding pike, and sea anglers to reaping the benefits of warmer sea temperatures. For now though, some just want to enjoy the last few days of freedom…
Low Water
While we did see some heavy showers last weekend, and some more showers this week, rainfall amounts have not been enough to raise river levels, and salmon reports are sparse. One salmon and a few sea trout were reported from Lough Currane, where sunshine and low water kept most anglers at home. A late report for the Galway Fishery indicated good fishing for the month of July, despite the warm weather. The active East Mayo Anglers club held a fantastic Youth Angling event, which saw young anglers given casting lessons, flytying demos and an introduction to aquatic insects.
Sea Angling
With rivers and lakes, so low, sea angling was the main attraction this week, and we have reports of great fishing from all around the coast. Sea temperatures are nearing their maximum now, with all the summer species feeding hard, and the next month or two will see the best sea angling of the year.
There were reports of great reef fishing from Galway Bay, which more than made up for the lull in shark activity during the warm weather. Over in Wicklow, being blown off a deep water wrecking trip had a silver lining, as fishing in shelter produced a specimen smooth hound for one lucky angler with Wicklow Boat Charters. In west Cork, the warm water produced 22 species for anglers with Tom Collins and Sea Angling Charters, as well as blue and porbeagle shark.
Another young angler, 9-year-old Sean Scott from Co. Tipperary had a memorable day when he landed a 60cm trout on Lough Derg while trolling for pike. The beautiful fish was carefully handled and released by Sean, who gets our Catch of the Week!
Pike angling often takes a backseat in the warmer summer weather, but luckily predator anglers can target perch successfully at this time of year. One such angler, Artur “Pikeseeker” had some great perch on a recent trip to the River Barrow.
In other news…
Sea Angling Diary App
Inland Fisheries Ireland has partnered with Esri Ireland to create a smartphone app for sea anglers. The Irish Marine Recreational Angling (IMREC) project is a citizen science collaboration, which will help scientists gain an understanding of Irish fish stocks. The app can be used every time you go fishing, recording such variables as weather, tide, etc so you can look back through your fishing sessions to identify the best times to fish certain locations. The survey team at IFI understand the importance of fishing marks to anglers. For this reason, the data is anonymised and your sessions will only be visible to you and the IMREC survey team.
Check out the Youtube videos below to see what it’s all about
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…
Sunny weather in the west will extend slowly eastwards leaving a mainly dry evening with sunny spells for all. Highest temperatures 15 to 20 degrees, warmest in the south, in mainly light northwesterly breezes.
Saturday, will be mainly dry with sunny spells, the best in the southeast, cloudier conditions in the northwest may bring a little drizzle at times early in the day. Highest temperatures 17 to 21 degrees with winds light and variable.
Sunday to Tuesday looks set fair for outdoor activities, with just isolated showers, temperatures of 17-22 degrees and light easterly winds. The weather may turn unsettled from Wednesday on, just in time for the return to school!
Belmont Anglers is a Coarse Angling club based in the Irish midlands. Competitions are held regularly on the Grand canal and river Shannon. All are welcome to participate.
Pegasus II
