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.
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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.
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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.
17/8/2022 The Inny Anglers are ready and waiting for the down flow of rain as forecasted, the same goes for our Noble Currane anglers and of course as is the World-famous Butler’s Pool and at www.watervillegolflinks.ie Now back to today’s news, well as you can see by the picture it tells the story. Wind North and veered NNW light and variable with good cloud cover at times.
Michael Roden releases his salmon
18/08/2022 Straight to the Lough Currane Salmon action, Our Chairman Mr. Michael Roden, while fishing with his Gillie Mr. Tom O’Shea of www.flyfishingatloughcurrane.com caught and released a fine 9 lbs. Spring Salmon on the troll on their way home this evening after a hard day’s flyfishing. Just for the record there were three boats out. Just for a matter of interest, Michael’s C&R Salmon tells you a lot on the weather front. Wind SW veered W light and variable.
19/8/2022 There was some good action on the Waterville Fishery today, we start on the Big Lake/ Lough Currane, straight to the Currane fly Drifters and for good reason, they caught a few Sea Trout today and staying in the Sea Trout Department I failed miserably in my duties to report yesterday that there were also a few Sea Trout caught on the drift. Now we head across to the River Inny, I can report that the C&R Inny anglers caught and released a few Salmon today. Wind West fresh and overcast all day followed by heavy rain at times.
20/8/2022 There was one boat on the drift and caught two Trout for their efforts. On the Inny front no report so I will leave that to your imagination but I’m sure to be sure there was a few C&Rs. Wind WSW veered SSW light to fresh and overcast all day.
Ballinaskelligs Bay
21/8/2022 Bright and sunny all day as you can see by the picture but saying that at least one boat did have a little bit of action on the South side, while fishing on the drift caught a couple of Trout. On the C&R River Inny I would say all quiet? Wind East and veered SSE come midday veered SSW for the rest of the day.
22/8/2022 Just one boat out this day and by all accounts it was all quiet on the SW front. Wind variable SW light and overcast all day and very humid. That sums up today’s manipulations.
23/8/2022 The Currane Anglers were all quiet on all fronts and in the words of one Currane angler what do expect with a rock bottom lake and the sun blazing down at times and as my Grandfather would say, there is enough blue up there in the sky to make a pair of riding britches. Wind light SW and variable followed by reasonable cloud cover.
24/8/2022 The Currane rocks get clearer every day and in the words of one Currane angler, you can’t even fish your lure’s or flies in shallows, so you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know today’s Salmon and Sea Trout net weights. Wind West light to fresh with reasonable cloud cover.
The view of Ballinaskelligs Bay shows another sunny day for anglers on Lough Currane
25/8/2022 There were four boats out manipulating their flies and lures this day and for their efforts it’s great to see a few Trout caught on the drift. On the Salmon front all quiet, so on that note we head for today’s weather, as you can see by the photo it was bright and sunny this morning but come afternoon there was a few showers but nothing to talk about. Wind fresh WSW and veered SW for the rest of the afternoon, followed by the odd strong gusts up to 30 mph?
The rivers and lakes of Waterville drain a large catchment and are regarded by many as the foremost Salmon and Sea-Trout fishery in the country. The lake system is well developed with access to boats and guides being readily available to the tourist angler. The Sea-Trout caught here are renowned for their size and quantity. For more details see:
Some members of the IASCaire Feeder Fishing Club had an early start and high expectations as they set forth for a Cavan lake where good nets of fish had been caught a number of on previous occasions.
Conditions were good for fishing and the fish played their part as Sarunas Zenkovas bagged up with 33kg of really good bream, hybrids and skimmers. Not far off on the scales was Romas Na, with 27kg of quality bream & hybrids, great fishing for both anglers.
This report on the latest round of qualifiers for the Ireland’s Feeder King final from the CM Lakelands Feeder Club:
Qualifier 7 was fished today on a wet Lough Muckno, fishing was generally good, but Black Island was tough in the middle.
Zone A yellow island was won by Nick Richards with a very impressive bream weight of over 20kg, he now joins his world champion son, Charlie in the final.
Zone B was won by Robertas Zilaitis, who has had a great run in the last 3 matches with an 11kg plus weight, to book his place in the final.
Zone C was won by Paul Leese from a good draw on Concra Wood, with a weight of 12kg plus.
RESULTS
GOLDEN TICKET WINNERS.
ZONE A YELLOW ISLAND/NICK RICHARDS 20.560KG
ZONE B BLACK ISLAND/ROBERTAS ZILAITIS 11.650KG
ZONE C CONCRA MIDDLE/PAUL LEESE 12.160KG
Golden Tickets
SECTIONS
A Brenton Sweeney/Nick Richards
B Robertas Zilaitis/Seamus Winters
C Damian Folytn/Paul Leese.
The final qualifier is on Lough Sillan/Annaherrin, with only 3 golden tickets left for the final.
August is often a time pike anglers take a rest as the high water temperatures don’t make for good pike angling. But August can be a good month for perch, and Artur ‘Pikeseeker’ made the most of a recent trip to the River Barrow.
Fishing with a mix of both soft plastics and spinners, he found the perch to be in an active mood, and landed a few nice fish. With the perch season ramping up over the next few months, lets hope to see a few more of these beauties.
