Anglers fishing Irish waters caught hundreds of huge fish in 2021 according to the just-published Irish Specimen Fish Committee report.
One new Irish record was set by Jim Clohessy from Cork who smashed the existing record for a rare species, the Stone Basse taken when fishing off Cork Harbour.
Over 470 exceptionally large fish of different species were caught by anglers from venues throughout Ireland in 2021. The main species were smaller shark species like Spurdog and, in freshwater, Tench, Roach Bream Hybrids and Brown trout dominated. All fish were caught, weighed, measured and released.
Details of all of these fish and current Irish record fish are in the Irish Specimen Fish Committee Report 2021, which has just been released. The Irish Specimen Fish Committee, which is supported by Inland Fisheries Ireland, is an independent all-Ireland voluntary body which verifies and records the capture of large fish caught on rod by anglers in freshwater and marine waters.
The Irish Specimen Fish Committee report is available on the ISFC website www.specimenfish.ie or from the Inland Fisheries Ireland website http://www.fisheriesireland.ie/. Hard copies of the report are available free of charge from Inland Fisheries Ireland offices nationally.
The ISFC Awards Day, when anglers will be presented with their awards and certificates, will be held on 5th Nov 2022 in Dublin.
Meanwhile, anglers both at home and abroad will be reading the report carefully to plan their angling trips to catch the big fish in Ireland in 2022.
It’s the middle of June, and an Irish summer stretches out before us – so more wind and cloud! It’s been a strange year, a dry spring, weeks of wind, even the hurling championship only has a few games left! With the solstice only a few days away, we are currently enjoying long hours of daylight at least – and anglers are making the most of it.
Low water prevails in most rivers, although some spate fisheries have seen a drop or two. Some rivers are suited to low water conditions, including the Galway Fishery where anglers have enjoyed the arrival of the grilse lately. The Moy is also fishing well, with 302 fish recorded there. Grilse and sea trout were reported from Lough Currane, but wind hampered fishing greatly. Low water didn’t deter grilse running at Costello & Fermoyle, where several grilse were landed to kickstart the season.
Garrett Ruigrok just about to release a beautiful 10 lbs salmon on 9th June at the Ridge Pool
Wind also made for tough conditions for coarse anglers, and the competitors at the Edenderry 3-day festival had to work hard for their catches. Lough Muckno provided some quality fishing for the Feedermasters qualifier, with the top weight an incredible 41.56kgs. Elsewhere, Tony Green won the Arva Senior Festival with a brilliant performance.
Not to harp on too much, but the wind also hampered sea angling, with charter boats unable to get out some days. Despite that, we have reports of great fishing when conditions allowed. Silver Dawn repeated the achievement of the previous two years and boated the first blue shark of the season. We believe that’s what you call a hat-trick! An incredible 21 species, including two specimen fish, were reported from Clonakilty. One of the specimens was a 186cm Common Skate, which is our Catch of the Week.
Catch of the Week
Good fishing was also reported from west Clare, where fisdh were feeding well, and Galway Bay, where a run of tope and spurdog provided great sport, while down south in Kerry anglers aboard the Fuego enjoyed great pollack fishing, with fish to 11lbs caught. Shore anglers also had good sport, with Nigel Larke catching his first ever bass, a nice fish, on the fly no less! South Shore SAC had great fishing for their competition in Wicklow with plenty of ray, dogfish, gurnard and whiting caught.
Nigel in flying form with his first bass
Other News
Serious Concerns Over Pacific Pink Salmon in Irish Waters: At the recently held North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation (NASCO) meeting, serious concerns were raised that pink salmon may spread to and establish in rivers throughout the wider Atlantic region. These concerns are raised after an explosive growth in their stocks was observed in northernmost Norwegian rivers in 2021.
Mature male pink salmon with characteristic humpback and spotted tail (photo credit: Eva Thorstad, NINA)
NASCO has raised concerns about the potential for spread and establishment of Pacific pink salmon in rivers throughout the North Atlantic region
Inland Fisheries Ireland issues an urgent appeal for anglers to remove and report any catches
EIFAAC Symposium: The 2022 EIFAAC Symposium- Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture – Advances in Technology, Stock Assessment and Citizen Science in an Era of Climate Change is being hosted by Inland Fisheries Ireland and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications in association with the FAO on the 20th and the 21st of June 2022 in Randles Hotel, Killarney, Co. Kerry. For more information and registration see EIFAAC SYMPOSIUM
And now the weather
Patchy outbreaks of rain moving southeastwards this afternoon, followed by brighter weather from the northwest. The patchy rain may persist in the southeast tomorrow, but remaining mostly dry elsewhere, with sunny spells developing, though there will be isolated showers, mainly in the northwest. Highest temperatures of 13 to 16 degrees in moderate north to northwest winds.
Sunny spells and isolated showers on Sunday morning will give way to a mostly dry and sunny afternoon with highest temperatures of 14 to 18 degrees in moderate northerly winds. Monday will be mainly dry with light northerly winds becoming variable in direction and good spells of sunshine. Temperatures to reach 21 degrees in the afternoon, although still a little cooler in the northwest.
A damp start to Tuesday after overnight rain, and the outlook suggests next week will continue somewhat unsettled with some spells of sunshine and showers at times. Temperatures will be close to normal for the time of year.
In common with most charter boats along the west coast, the west Clare fleet has suffered from all the windy days recently. Being tied up in port is not good for business!
On the less windy days, local skippers have been able to provide good sport for guests. Luke Aston, skipper of the Clare Dragoon, had a group who wanted to target pollack, and they enjoyed good sport when they were able to get out to the reefs. Although the average fish were small, at 3-4lbs, there were some better fish amongst them, and anglers had plenty of action to keep them happy.
PollackFish on!
Another fit pollack
Sean Maguire, skipper of the Lady Gwen II, has also been out and had a good mix of species to the boat, including pollack, suprdog, pouting and red gurnard to name a few.
SpurdogGorgeous colours on the red gurnard
Pollack
Pouting
Spurdog
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
Skipper Kevin MacGabhann has been showing his clients some toothy critters this week, as tope and spurdog arrived in Galway Bay in good numbers.
Mackerel have been plentiful, which prpovides good bait stocks allowing anglers to target these big predators. Kevin also reports good moxed fishing, with big pollack and plenty of coalies too, with some cod mixed in as well.
TopeA nice tope on a fine dayA decent spurdog for this happy anglerAnother fine spur
Go fishing…
Galway Bay Fishing
A regular Galway Bay Safari is from 9am to 6pm. The Maighdean Mara will pick up your party from the pier at Spiddal, County Galway. The boat is yours for the day, though of course skipper Kevin will advise you where the best fishing is to be found. Tackle hire is free.
James Quinn updated us this week with how th Galway Fishery has fished through May and the early part of June.
May saw 48 fish landed on the fishery, including 18 on fly and 21 on prawn. Of these, 17 were spring salmon with an average weight of 11lbs.
The heaviest fish was landed by Martin Kiely – 14lbs on spinner. Martin also had a 13.5lb fish on fly on another day!
The first week in June saw 64 fish landed, predominantly grilse with the odd springer up to 10.5lbs. A few young anglers were also getting hooked this week.
Daire White (age 12) from Dublin caught his first salmon of 4lbs on shrimp while his proud uncle landed and released a 6lbs fish on fly. Another young man, Adam Trimble from NI caught a 4lbs fish to the fly.
Then we have the “professionals”, including Eddie Corry with a 10.5lbs springer on fly. Kevin Mitchell from Galway had fish of 3.5lbs and 9.5lbs on fly. Ray Drennan landed 2 fish to 6.5lbs on fly.
Musician Enda Scahill of “We Banjo 3” fame landed 2 to 5.5lbs on fly.
Veteran angler Michael Leonard is back with a bang landing a nice 5lbs fish on fly, after a cracking 15lbs fish from the Clare river earlier on in the season. Another local angler Denis Heffernan landed 2 for 4lbs each on prawn.
Dr Paddy Gargan, now with more time on his hands after an illustrious career in fisheries caught 2 to 6lbs on fly, fish beware!!
Andy Smith from Dublin had a pair of nice fish of 4 and 5lbs on prawn. Jim Wilson had 3 fish to 5lbs on fly, including 2 released. Henry Cosgrove had 4 fish to 5.5lbs on a good day’s fishing (2 fish sportingly released). Finally Louis Brennan had 2 for 4 and 3lbs on prawn.
Thanks James. Sounds like the grilse are running in Galway, and a drop of rain should get them moving upstream too.
Go Fishing
To enquire about availability, contact the fishery at 091 562388 or email [email protected]
Tony and Paul, who we mentioned last week, had an enjoyable finish to their week despite some high winds that restricted them to fish more sheltered places on a few occasions. The duo, who normally prefer the casting method, were forced to use trolling and dead baiting methods which paid off for them.
Tony with one of his Pike on their last day
They managed 59 Pike to 95cm during their stay and I’m sure this would have been a lot more if the three days of bad weather had not hampered their efforts. Nevertheless, they had a great time also taking in some of the local Irish hospitality and we look forward to seeing them again. Well done guys and 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.
Our nice new guests Michael and Martin from Germany found tough conditions here on their first trip to us with super strong winds for the week. But we found fish every day.
Pike angling Bonanza for first time guests Martin & Michael
Their last day, however, was one they will remember for a long time…after a few single fish earlier in the day it was just “mayhem” afterwards…100,98,91,90,90,90,89,89,85…Lost count after that.
A memorable day’s pike fishingAnd another one…And even 1m plus for the guide himself
Go Fishing
Bodo Funke, Angling Services, Ireland
Pike, Game and Coarse fishing Guide
Notes: Angling Services Ireland provides the very best in angling and angling tourism. We are based in Boyle, Co. Roscommon, in the North-West of Ireland, an area with many superb angling opportunities.
The Proprietor Bodo Funke holds the Marine and Countryside Guiding Certificate (achieved with distinction) and his expertise and local knowledge will be to your avail when you go on a guided angling trip or angling holiday with Angling Services Ireland. Pike fishing, Fly-fishing for Pike, Game fishing for wild Brown Trout, Float- tubing, Coarse fishing. Salmon fishing and Sea-angling can be organised.
Osgur Grieve reports from Lough Conn & Lough Cullin…
Fishing on Loughs Conn and Cullin was quieter during the week.
Ian Wise reports one group of anglers fishing from Eniscoe House did manage to connect with some good sized trout on Sunday 12th which weighed 2lbs. and 4lbs. They returned some smaller fish also. A variety of flies were effective such as the white hackled Invicta, Gosling and red arsed Green Peter.
Garrett Ruigrok just about to release a beautiful 10 lbs. salmon on 9th June at the Ridge Pool
Osgur Grieve reports from the River Moy…
River Moy Angling Report w/e 12/06/2022
302 salmon were reported caught for the week on the River Moy. Water levels recorded at Ballylahan Bridge were 0.26m on the Monday morning and after some rain early in the week, the river rose to 0.58m by the morning of Thursday 9th and levelled back again to 0.35 m by Sunday night. Water temperatures ranged from 10.4˚Celsius to 10.6 ˚Celsius throughout the system.
The Moy Fishery recorded 26 salmon caught for the week of which 21 were caught in the Ridge Pool, 2 in the Cathedral Beat and 3 in the Weir Pool. The majority of these fish came to the fly.
Elena Hamill with a 9.5 lbs. salmon caught on the Weir Pool of the Moy Fishery on 11th June
Ballina Salmon Anglers reported 12 salmon for the week
Mount Falcon Fishery recorded 2 grilse, 3lbs. and 3.5lbs. caught on a Toby and worm respectively from its waters.
Knockmore Anglers recorded 4 salmon for the week, the best of which weighed 12lbs.
Coolcronan Fishery had 3 grilse, the best of which weighed 4lbs., 1 caught on the worm and the other 2 on the prawn.
Byrne’s Fishery recorded 2 grilse of approximately 2.5lbs.
Armstrong’s Fishery reported 8 salmon for the week, 6 on the prawn, 1 on the worm and 1 spinning.
Gannon’s Fishery reported 6 salmon for the week.
The Foxford Fishery reported 51 salmon for the week best of which weighed 13.5lbs., 4 salmon came to the fly and the rest were caught by spinning, worm and bubble and fly.
Foxford Salmon Anglers reported 68 salmon caught for the week.
At least 14 salmon were reported caught in Foxford town water, 6 of which were released.
Cloongee Fishery reported 21 salmon caught for the week.
East Mayo Anglers recorded 85 salmon for the week, 18 of which were released. The salmon ranged greatly in size from 2.5lbs. to 13.5lbs.
Appeal to landowners to consult with Inland Fisheries Ireland before carrying out works on or near watercourses
Mr Colm Ginty from Dunbeggan, Aughnacliffe Co. Longford was convicted and fined €1,000 and ordered to pay a further €1,727.91 towards costs and expenses at Longford District Court on the 12th of April 2022 following a prosecution taken by Inland Fisheries Ireland.
Judge Bernie Owens convicted Mr Ginty under Section 173(1)(d) Fisheries (Consolidation) Act 1959 for carrying out works on the Aughnacliffe River on the 30th of June 2021 that involved the removal of a substantial amount of gravel from the channel of the river and causing the destabilisation of the bank. The works were carried out in an area of spawning habitat for wild brown trout and disturbed and injured sensitive spawning beds and bank where the spawn or fry of trout may be.
River Aughnacliffe after gravel removal
The court heard evidence from Senior Fisheries Environmental Officer Ailish Keane as to the adverse impacts caused by the actions which occurred on 30th June 2021 along the 90m section of the river. Ms Keane also outlined the negative long-term impacts that the works would have on the lifecycle of the brown trout for years to come. She explained that IFI staff frequently consult with farmers who want to carry out works in rivers and outline the way works should be carried out to avoid potential damage to fish life.
The Aughnacliffe River is a tributary of The Erne River Catchment which contains excellent spawning habitat for wild brown trout.
Inland Fisheries Ireland has a confidential hotline number to enable members of the general public to report alleged incidents of water pollution, fish kills and illegal fishing- 0818 34 74 24, which is open 24 hours a day.
