It’s not normally the way that the bad weather turns out to be a bonus, but that’s how it turned out for Bryan Curtin this week. Kit Dunne of Wicklow Boat Charters had planned a trip out to the wrecks on Monday but had to abort it as the weather turned fouler than expected. He headed back into calmer waters where they proceeded to catch some wrasse, pollack and black bream, but the day was saved when Bryan landed himself a specimen sized hound, making a silk purse out of a sows ear.
Bryan with his 109cm hound
Kit also has a couple of Dutch journalists out with him this week and they have been enjoying some of the best of what Wicklow has to offer with some nice wrasse, huss, hounds and tope. They plan to hit the wrecks now that the weather has settled so lets hope to hear of some lunker pollack next week…
Owner of Melview Lodge and expert angler himself, Kevin Lyons had a group over for a week from the UK for some coarse angling last week. Although water temperatures were high initially, they enjoyed great fishing and some rain brought much cooler conditions towards the end of their stay. Read Kevin’s report below:
Martyn with his farther Alain, and lifelong friends Neil and Dave from Blackpool in the UK were over once again for their annual Ireland fishing trip to Melview Fishing Lodge in Longford. As soon as the bags were put away and fishing gear and bait were sorted, it was “off fishing we go” for the lads. The first afternoon was just about getting a line wet and prebaiting the swims ready for the next day.
Catches just got better and better as the week went on and the weather became more overcast. Some very nice Hybrids to 2lb 10oz and good Roach were the main catch along with a few Bream, never the less some cracking weights were put together considering the weather on some of the days. All fish were returned unharmed, with keepnets only in action on the last day when the water had cooled down a bit.
Host Kevin said, “When you have been fishing in Ireland for as long as they have you would expect them to catch well. Great company and lots of laughs every year and look forward to next time, thanks guys.”
Keepnets were only used on the last day, with cooler weather favouring fish welfare.
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.
With the water cooling down again, festivals are in full swing at Inniscarra Reservoir in Co. Cork. Some great bags have been caught, with Cathal Hughes from Galway proving his pedigree and dominating this week.
Cathal Hughes
The O’Callaghan’s Open kicked off the week and saw anglers averaging 9.46kgs, a great average weight. Cathal was top weight with 19.50kgs, ahead of Trev Platt in 2nd with 17.44kgs, and Paul McCall in 3rd with 14.55kgs.
The next 3 days was taken up with the Celtic Shield Festival, a 3 day competition with anglers rotating between sections. As ever, the Garden Centre was the most prolific section, with anglers there dominating each day.
At the end of the 3 days, Cathal Hughes was again victorious, with a total weight of 70.45kgs. Well done Cathal!
In 2nd place was Pawel Swistun, with 66.90kgs, and Graham Jones was 3rd with 63.62kgs. Fantastic fishing by all, with even the lowest weight over 3 legs being over 30kgs!
The nest festival, the Centra Cup sponsored by Centra in Coachford, began on Wednesday and continues to Friday. Day 1 saw yo-know-who – that man again Cathal Hughes – taking 1st place with 22.56kgs from Turtle Bay, ahead of Neil Richards in 2nd with 19.78kgs from the Long Straight. Will he continue his winning streak, or will someone else clip his wings? Keep an eye on the Inniscarra Lake page for regular updates.
Inniscarra Lake TDL
Inniscarra Lake TDL are affiliated to the National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland, NCFFI the National Governing body for coarse and predator fishing and . www.ncffi.ie
For details of the all the events, venues and more, a downloadable copy of the events calendar, 2020 festival results and a directory of angler friendly accommodation in the local area please visit www.ncffi.ie/inniscarra-angling.
Siegy Grabher, skipper of Siouxout of Valentia Island reports some great fishing around the Skelligs and Valentia Island for his German visitors. Some good cod and ling have been caught, as well as plenty of pollack.
A nice pollack
Ling
Cod
Pollack
Heading out
Heading in!
Siegy also captured a video of a large sunfish that came close to the boat. These mysterious fish, which can grow to over 3 metres, are regular summer visitors to Irish waters, where they feed on jellyfish, squid, small fish and crustaceans.
Go fishing…
Sioux
The charter boat “Sioux” is an Offshore 105 equipped with a 300 hp Ford Sabre Turbo Diesel engine. The season for most species is from April to the end of September; cod, pollock, ling, coalfish, whiting, haddock, mackerel, garfish, pouting, plaice, ballan wrasse, cuckoo wrasse, grey and red gurnard, seabass, mullet, skate, ray-thornback, conger eel, dogfish, bullhuss and blueshark (July – September)
Keith Miller was in touch with us with some photos of his son Rikus with some nice bass he caught recently.
On a recent trip to Youghal on the weekend 13 to 14 August 2022, to watch Iron man, my son Rikus who is always looking for an excuse to wet a line, got these nice sea bass, which were all released again. 6 fish were caught off the beach, with high tide moving out.
Skipper Tom Collins reports on some great fishing during the recent hot spell of weather. Conditions were ideal, allowing offshore trips, although the shady side of the boat was popular on the hotter days!
Plenty of blue shark showed offshore and an inshore drift produced porbeagle.
Blue shark
Porbeagle
No dentist needed here!
Overall we managed 22 different species and few swims in the 18 degree water.
Pouting
Bluemouth
Bull huss
A nice conger
Tom even managed to capture a rare video of a jumping mullet!
Belmullet Sea Angling Club held a two-day festival over last weekend, with anglers travelling from all over Connacht, and a contingent from the very active Killybegs Mariners journeying south for the weekend too.
Fishing on Day 1 was at Srah (Shraigh) beach facing out into Blacksod Bay. Visiting angler Daragh McGuinness from the Killybegs club took top honours with 8 counting fish. Weed was an issue for many anglers, so to winkle out 8 fish was a great achievement.
Weed left on the beach as the tide dropped
Day 2 was held on Cross beach, facing the open Atlantic. Plenty of flounder, turbot and weaver fish were coming in, along with a couple of nice sea trout.
Cross beachJohn Cunningham with a nice sea troutMind those spikes! The lesser weaver packs quite a venomous punch if not handled correctly.
Stefan Martin with a fine flounder of 36cm
Brian Reidy from Galway Bay SAC might have been a bit despondent after not featuring on Day 1, but drawing the end peg gave him a great start on Day 2, and he made the most of it, catching 19 fish to overhaul the field and take first prize.
Brian receiving his first prize.
In joint second were Daragh McGuinness and Shane Gilvarry.
Joint second – Daragh McGuinness and Shane Gilvarry
And top junior rod was another Gilvarry – well done to Sally Gilvarry on her win!
A future angling star – Sally Gilvarry with her top junior prize.
By all acounts the weekend was a great success, with many of the visiting anglers making a night of it in Belmullet and enjoying plenty of hospitality! Well done to Belmullet SAC on a fantastic festival.
Martin Scott was in touch with a great photo of his son Sean, who was fishing for pike on Lough Derg on Sunday last. 9 year old Sean from Ardcroney, Co. Tipperary was trolling for pike with big lures when he landed a fantastic trout of 60cm. As Martin says,
“Not bad for a first trout and the smile speaks for itself. Released safely to fight another day.”
We love those smiles too! If you have similar reports of young anglers having a great time and catching nice fish, feel free to send them in to us here at [email protected]
9 year old Sean Scott is clearly delighted with a catch that most of us older anglers would be thrilled with too!
East Mayo Anglers’ association, the largest and most extensive club located on the famous River Moy, held a Youth Angling event last Saturday 20th Aug at our disabled Anglers facility at Crillaun, Straide.
It ran from 10am-2pm with volunteers showing the children Fly, Worm and Spinning casting.
We also had Dr Bryan Kennedy, Entomologist who demonstrated what lies beneath the waters which proved very popular with the children.
Afterwards they were treated to some tasty food.
East Mayo Anglers Committee would like to thank all who gave of their time and made the day so special.
James Quinn reports on fishing for the month of July in Galway.
After a great month of June, July was a bit slower but still saw 115 salmon landed, with many more hooked and lost.
Fly accounted for 75 fish, with shrimp accounting for 40, averaging ~4.5lbs. There was no spinning due to only 1 gate open. The catch included 3 springers, averaging 9.37lbs.
Heaviest fish was 10.10lbs on shrimp, caught by one of the best anglers on the river, Michael Leonard.
Laurence Flood on his annual pilgrimage from across the pond had 4 fish over a couple of days on both fly and shrimp between 3 to 4.5lbs.
Louis Brennan from Tuam ha a nice brace on the 7th ,3&4lbs. on shrimp.
Conor Quinn had 3 fish on the fly on the 10th and released 2 and kept one for the pot. 4.5,4 and 3.5 lbs. Son of that famous angler who taught him everything he knows!!!! Shows he still has the touch since he caught his first salmon on the weir when he was 11, that was 17 years ago.
International golfer Mark O’Meara had 2 fish for an afternoon on the fly along with Sean McManmon, who would not be outdone and caught a brace as well.
Phil Donoghue had 2 nice grilse on the 15th on the fly of 5 and 3lbs.
Aidan Spooner had 2 fish for 6.5 and 2.5lbs on shrimp.
Kieran Clancy landed and released a 10lb fish on the fly.
Go Fishing
To enquire about availability, contact the fishery at 091 562388 or email [email protected]
