David Norman of West Cork Bass was out with Hugh McMahon on a Guided Kayak Fishing Trip at the weekend. Hugh was lucky enough to catch his first bass ever on a topwater lure during an intensive offshore Bass feed on massed Sandeel shoals under clear blue sky’s, and followed it up with a few more for good measure!
Vincent Appleby reports from Waterville…
15/6/2022 It was blazing saddles on the Waterville Fishery and the Currane Hampshire Hogs this day and their quote of the day, Hi Vincent, dead as a dodo today. Fishing conditions bright sunshine all day, wind SW light.
16/6/2022 The Hampshire Hogs Currane Anglers had it hard this day with 3 Grilse lost and a few Brown Trout for their efforts but to be fair they had some fine action and kept the Currane flag flying high. Wind S fresh with good cloud cover.
17/6/2022 The Hampshire Hogs headed out on to Lough Currane today for their last day’s fishing trip and of course weren’t disappointed, fishing with their boatman the commander in chief Mr. Michael O’Sullivan and at watervilleboats@gmail.com. The Shy Man and the lonesome boatman and at www.fishingwithdom.com and fishing out of www.cliffordbandb.com so on that note we let the Hampshire Hogs have their say on their trip, so take it away Hampshire Hogs. Hi Vincent, last day and one small grilse for Mr Peter Ruffle, some very hard fishing this week but 4 grilse and a 10lb springer for the week. A good dose of water is desperately needed! Hopefully when we’re back later in the year, the conditions will have improved. Cheers. Now we head for the Lobster Bar for the presentation of the Hampshire Cup to Mr. Trevor Dewberry who wins the Hampshire Cup for the first Salmon caught on their Trip.
18/6/2022 The Currane anglers were all quiet this day on the Currane waters. Wind North light to fresh with reasonable cloud cover. Just for the record there were three boats out.
19/6/2022 Low water or not the Waterville Fishery produced a nice bit of action today, so on that note we head out on to Lough Currane from the North Shore and Vincent’s Harbour with the Lonesome Boatman at www.fishingwithdom.com and his client renowned Northern Ireland Currane angler, Mr. Andy Wishart who caught a fine Grilse on the troll. Just for the record there were three boats out this day.
Now we head down stream to the World-famous Butlers Pool and at www.watervillegolflinks.ie. US Anglers take the Salmon headlines and for good reason. Tom and Susan Reilly from Boston Massachusetts caught 1 Grilse each ranging 4 lbs and 5lbs on the Butlers Pool and it was their first time fly fishing for salmon. On a personal note may it be the first of many and congratulations to you both. Wind NNE light to fresh with reasonable cloud cover.
20/6/22 In the words of the Lonesome Boatman of www.fishingwithdom.com and including his good dog Hugo and I quote, Rough in the morning, not too bad in the afternoon and finished my day off with a 10 lbs. Salmon on the troll. For the rest of the Currane anglers it was all quiet. Wind NNE fresh to strong and bright sunshine all day.
21/6/2022 They say today is the longest day of the year and that’s very appropriate because it’s the night shift and the Lonesome Boatman Currane angler of www.fishingwithdom.com that takes all the C&R 3lbs. Grilse headlines and just for the record the Lonesome Boatman caught his Grilse on the troll. Wind North light and variable followed reasonable cloud cover.
22/6/2022 The Waterville Fishery was all quiet on all fronts this day as the sun blazed down. Wind NNE first thing this morning then veered North, come afternoon the wind veered into the NW light, max speed 10 mph.
Vincent Appleby
Eureka Lodge, Caherdaniel West, Co. Kerry.
Telephone: +353 (0) 87 207 4882
E-mail:salmonandseatrout@gmail.com
Web: www.salmonandseatrout.com
A new online survey has been developed by IFI for the Currane catchment to gather anglers’ knowledge – the survey method called FLEKSI was developed by IFI to help give an insight into the status of the fishery. Currane Anglers are needed for Citizen Science survey to examine fish stocks
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:
To hear how the mayfly season went this year on Lough Sheelin, the latest Ireland on the Fly podcast spoke to Eamonn Ross from the Lough Sheelin Trout Protection Association.
Eamonn also talks about his memories of Sheelin from the 1980s to its current popularity and he explains why it is so special and magical for so many fly anglers, especially during the mayfly.
Don’t forget to rate, review and follow the Ireland on the Fly podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts from. Plus you can keep up to date on IrelandontheFly.com as well as on Instagram.com/IrelandontheFly
Sunday, June 19th, saw the 5th qualifier of Ireland’s Feeder King on a very blustery Lough Muckno in County Monaghan.
Fishing was good in places, with the highest weights of 12kg and 13kg of skimmers and hybrids coming of the last 2 pegs on higher Concra with Rory O’Neill on the end peg just pipping Irish feeder international Johnny McKinley.
Another Irish feeder international, Rimantas Kondrakas won Black Island with just under 10kg of mostly skimmers and small hybrids from the middle of the section.
Jacek Januszewscy was best on Yellow Island with a mixed bag of fish to win with just over 11kg.
GOLDEN TICKET QUALIFIERS
SECTIONS
Only 9 More GOLDEN TICKETS LEFT for the €11k plus Final.
Q6 in 2 weeks’ time at Garadice/Rockfield/Gulladoo.
Angling guide Jasper Mathews spent a few days on Corrib last week and sent in a report.
I was out 3 days on corrib this week, on Wednesday, with clients, we found some hatching mayfly with a few fish feeding on them, we moved 2 to dries but no connection, before getting 4 smaller fish on wet mayflies and a green Peter, these were my clients first Irish trout, ticking off a bucket list item for them.
Thursday Steph and I went trolling, Steph had her first experience of losing a fish (we weren’t quite sure what it was, as I use a method that takes both salmon and trout and it wasn’t on long), I gave her a playful slagging over it, karma kicked in and I lost a salmon a couple of hours later.
On Friday I went for a solo troll, fishing was slow other than being plagued by perch, however it ramped up quickly on the way back to the launch when one of the rods started screaming and I saw a substantial fish go airborne way out of the stern of the boat. I took my time with it after losing a fish the day before, I got it close to the boat 3 times with it running off before I could get a proper look each time, the 3rd time I glimpsed the tail and realised I was in a very good fish, the 4th time I managed to get its head up and a coloured springer weighed at 12lbs 13.5oz made the net, before going back strongly to fight another day. To me that’s the beauty of Corrib, it can be a hard lake to fish but you just never know what’s going to happen there.
Jasper runs Wild Atlantic Angling Experiences, providing bespoke guided fishing for salmon, trout or saltwater species. To book a guiding trip with Jasper you can give him a call on 087 6031975, or check out the new website: wildatlanticangling.com
Another guide on the fish was Tomi Kurman, who gave some of his clients a red-letter day on the ferox trout before taking a mid-season break to rest the big fish and concentrate on pike.
In Tomi’s own words:
To book a trip with Tomi, give him a call on 085 7318541 or check out his Facebook page here: Tomi Guidedfishing
Keith Miller and his family recently moved from South Africa to County Cork. Keen anglers, they were looking forward to taking up the sport again when they got their feet under them in Ireland. In South Africa is was mainly Carp and Bass Keith and his son Rikus were after. There was trout fishing around, but it was limited and very expensive.
So, imagine their reaction when they found the Funcheon River was only 100m from their new home. Straight away they purchased basic fly fishing equipment and a basic fly tying rig, and Rikus dove right in. Within a couple of months he taught himself to tie flies and cast a fly rod and in no time he was off on the river catching trout.
For his birthday last week Keith bought Rikus a pair of waders so he can make the most of the fishing on the Funcheon. As you can see from the photos, he’s having a great time.
Kevin Lyons of Melview Fishing Lodge has a couple of first time visitors to his angling guesthouse:
Perseverance and Experience pays off for UK Anglers
UK Anglers Mark and Dave were over for one of their annual fishing trips to Ireland and this time around stayed at Melview Fishing Lodge with host Kevin.
On arrival it was decided that they would prebait and fish a venue only accessible by boat. This idea was short lived due to a few days of very high winds and it was deemed as to dangerous. However their experience of many years fishing waters in Ireland paid off for them in the end.
Fishing and prebaiting another venue for a number of days started to produce fish for them. Their first day produced just over a 100lb of Hybrids between them and by the last day produced a cracking catch of both Bream and Hybrids using a feeder cast around 35 / 40 yards into 15 feet of water.
Both are due back in September and sees them return to one of their regular haunts so we wish them the best of luck when they return, well done lads it was a pleasure to have you come and stay.
ALL FISH RETURNED UNHARMED.
Drumlish Road, Clonrollagh, Longford, Co. Longford
Tel:+353(0)43-33-45061 Mobile:+353(0)87-268-7441
E-mail: info@melviewlodge.com Web: www.melviewlodge.com
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.
Lough Sheelin Angling Report June 13th – June 19th 2022
“Every time you come around, you know I can’t say no
Every time the sun goes down, I let you take control
I can feel the paradise before my world implodes
And tonight had something wonderful”
Ed Sheeran ‘Bad Habits’
It has been another tough fishing week on Lough Sheelin where, certainly during the day, our trout here have seemingly done a vanishing act with anglers reporting very few rises and poor visual movement of fish. The Tara Mines angling club ran their competition last Saturday, June 18th – 11am to 8pm reporting only seven fish being sighted for the duration with competitors trying everything (aside from a grenade)– dapping, dry and wet fly, but with no result.
The weather during the week was warm and muggy with good cloud cover and variable winds. Conditions at times seemed ideal but still there was no sign of the elusive trout and if there was a ‘miracle’ appearance, it was for just the once and that was it. Water temperatures climbed to 16.35 degrees at a depth of 0.5 metres and 15.2 degrees for the bottom depth of 12.5 metres. Cold northerly winds crept in from Friday and lasted throughout the weekend killing off any surface insect activity and yielding very poor results.
Although Sheelin anglers have always enjoyed a mixture of dry and wet fly fishing at this time of the year, it is the dry fly fishing that is perhaps the most fascinating, to watch a fish slowly and confidentially sip down an imitation is at least, the pinnacle of fly fishing but the sad fact is that trout don’t always rise, in fact it would be more correct to say that most of the time, they don’t.
Just because we don’t see the trout doesn’t mean that they are not there, just because they are not rising doesn’t mean that they have stopped eating and this is where nymph fishing comes in as an essential skill, at least if you want something other to do during the day than to wait for a rise.
Nymph fishing isn’t popular among many anglers here maybe because it is a slow method and in a world that’s craves ‘instant’ it doesn’t tick the box. When I suggest nymph fishing to a wet or dry fly angler I normally get the same response, a desperation to find a metaphor that suits the feelings on the matter – best one ever ‘its like an old couch, it gets worse over time’ or the angler who volunteered to lick the N52 from top to bottom instead of attempting to nymph fish. While influential angler and fly fishing author, Frederic Halford may have frowned upon any type of ‘sub surface’ fishing, catching fish regularly on nymphs is harder to learn than catching them on dry but that said there is really no reason to look upon any type of fly fishing as ‘finer’ than others. The simple fact is that trout will feed just as readily on nymphs as they do on ‘dries’. Colour, translucency and shape with a distinct thorax on nymph patterns as well as keeping them lightly dressed are the rules if anyone wants to step out of the comfort zone during the day time here. The Pheasant Tail nymph is a good starting pattern.
Day time fishing has been a disaster here but the same can be said for the majority of the other great trout waters in Ireland, so we are not alone. The consistent failure for the trout to feed as they have done in previous years can’t be attributed to some sinister fact that we humans haven’t figured out yet, not for Sheelin anyway. This lake is full of a mixture of trout weights, the trout are there but their choice of feeding has been confined almost solely to sub surface where the larder is full and easy to access. Trout will follow the food and are reluctant to expend energy, they will always go for the easier option, so toiling up to a surface that is more than likely devoid of a menu is not appealing compared to a pantry paved with food down below.
We can write the day time fishing off for this week at least but we can not write off the fishing because some lovely trout were caught but only during out of office hours, as the sun sunk in the west and the shadows fell across the water. We have entered the sedge fishing phase and there was some sport to be had but only by grabbing every chance and when the weather behaved itself. There were some murroughs skitting across the water and some rises to the evening sedges. Wednesday evening was the pick of the days with lots of sedges flitting around the surface and some takes from trout from 10.30pm onwards mainly to murrough patterns.
Some anglers have voiced their concerns about the diminishing numbers of sedges on this lake but again the weather seems to have an adverse effect on their appearance but there are still plenty around. The Caddisflies or sedges are perhaps the most underappreciated aquatic insect family. To many non-anglers, they look like little moths. Adults have wings shaped like a tent, segmented bodies without tails, and antennae that give a moth-like appearance. But unlike moths, caddisflies spend most of their lives living in the water as larvae, which look like little worms. The amazing thing about the sedges is that the larvae build themselves a little case from rocks, sand, plant material or even their own silk. At approximately the same time each year, the larvae begin to pupate. This means that they will encase themselves in a cocoon, just like a butterfly or moth, as they transform into the winged adult. The cased caddis larvae simply close the open end of the case before pupating. When the transformation is complete, the caddis will chew their way out of their pupal case and swim to the surface as fully formed adults.
Caddisflies or sedges are vulnerable to trout through much of their life cycle, giving anglers lots of opportunities for imitating them to catch fish. Gary LaFontaine broke ground with his Sparkle Pupa patterns for imitating caddis pupa, these flies can be fished with or without intentional movement. When emerging caddisflies reach the surface, dry fly imitations are often the best choice. Sedges tend to twitch, hop and jump on the surface as they try to flew and sometimes trout key on this movement. Anglers often skitter sedge dries to imitate this behaviour, this is done by intentionally allowing the dry sedge fly to drag on the surface ahead of a rising trout. Hackle sedge dry fly patterns work best because they are usually the most buoyant.
Examining stomach contents is the only real way to tell what trout are feeding on and can be really helpful going forward. This week the menu was Gammarus, murrough larvae, caenis larvae, a few beetles and a sedge pupa so this particular fish was feeding bottom and middle zones, the concession being the terrestrials in the form of the beetles which were blown on to the surface from the shoreline.
Summer is a time when there is a lot going on in the world of food and feeding trout. Fishing this is a lake cannot be rushed, it needs to be studied and appreciated, there is no room for an ‘instant fix’ sport here.
The transition from Ephemera to sedge has been abrupt with only the odd sighting of a mayfly doing a last farewell. For the past two weeks there have been lots of sedges around Church Island, Stony and Derry Sheridan. There are hundreds of different species of sedges but in the interest of sanity the basics are a small brown sedge, the cinnamon sedge, the Welshman’s Button, the Great red Sedge or Murrough and the Green Peter (which will happen later on in July).
The areas that fished the best were Lynch’s pt, behind Stony Island, Gaffney’s Bay, Ross Bay, Rusheen and the bottom of Goreport and Bog Bay
And now back to our survey – Inland Fisheries Ireland is asking anglers to fill in a survey which plans to capture anglers’ knowledge and hands-on experience to help track changes in fish stocks and ecosystems. The new method is called FLEKSI, which stands for Fisher’s Local Ecological Knowledge Surveillance Indicators. The results of this survey could shape future plans for this lake, but we cannot do it without the anglers who fish these waters.
This survey is easy to do, takes a maximum of 10 minutes (unless you want to add extra in on the comments section) and is important. We are asking anglers to have their say by taking the time to complete this survey. The link is included in this report and if contact details are submitted that person will be automatically entered into a draw for angling tackle (one voucher at €200 and two for €100) but this is entirely optional. If anglers are having difficulties with the online version, please contact IFI where the local staff at Sheelin are more than willing to help out.
Best patterns for the week
The Chocolate Drop, Red Tailed Peter, Claret Dabbler, Stimulator, Klinkhammer (green and in yellow), Gosling Mayfly wet (size 10), Nymphs – Pheasant Tail, Diawl Bach, Hare’s Ear and Olive in sizes 12 and 14, Mini Muddler as a top dropper, Greenwell’s Glory, the Gosling (good as a top dropper), Wickhams Fancy, Bibios and Dabblers (Claret, Olive and Green as top droppers), , Golden Olive Bumble, Spent Gnat and Buzzer patterns, sizes 8-12, Kate McLean, Zulu, Sedgehogs, Murrough, Green Peter Sedge Fly, Cinnamon Sedge, Hare’s Ear Sedgehog Fly and Grey Flag Sedge Fly,
Daytime fishing was all on the blind.
Competitions
McDonald Cup 13th of August, contact Thomas Lynch @ 087 9132033
LSTPA Stream enhancement competition 2nd of October, contact Thomas Lynch @ 087 9132033
Interprovincial Championships 20th of August
Please remember anglers to abide by BYE-LAW 949 which strictly prohibits from June 14th, 2017 onwards:
Lough Sheelin Guiding Services (www.loughsheelinguidingservices.com) 087 1245927
Christopher Defillon
evasionpecheirlande@gmail.com (+33685964369) evasionpecheirlande.net
https://m.facebook.com/christopher.defillon?refid=0&fref=seaperch#
Michael Farrell @ 087 4194156Telephone: +353 43 6681298 Email: loughsheelinguide@hotmail.com
Grey Duster Guiding
Kenneth O’Keeffe
Tel: 086 8984172 Email: trout@live.ie
John Mulvany johnmulvanyfishing@gmail.com 086 2490076
A catch & release policy is always actively encouraged on the lake
Please remember All anglers are required to have a Fishery Permit to fish Lough Sheelin which must be purchased BEFORE going out on the lake.
The biggest fish for the week was a 6.5lb trout caught on a Murrough pattern at Lynch’s pt.
Total number of trout recorded: 13
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.
Mayfly fishing on the loughs is over for the moment, and Brenda Montgomery reports on a frustrating mayfly hatch from Sheelin. Fishing was much quieter on Conn and Cullin as well. River fishing is producing fish at the moment, and the Liffey provided good sport in tough conditions for the North Kildare Trout & Salmon Anglers competition. The Nore also provided good sport for one young angler under the tutelage of Dan O’Neill.
The windy weather made pike fishing difficult, but trolling and deadbaiting produced good fishing for French visitors in Longford. Visiting German anglers enjoyed superb fishing in Roscommon too, with a lot of fish in the 90cm-1m bracket. Another visitor, veteran French angler Jean Feinte, had great fishing in the north-east, with pike to 103cm landed.
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.
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.
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.
Further information is available here.
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
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.
Safe fishing to all and tight lines, especially here in Ireland. If you’re heading to the coast, don’t forget to check the tides.
Kevin Crowley
Catch, Photo, Release
If you have an angling story to share with the Irish Angling Update, please send it to reports@fisheriesireland.ie.
