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.
On Monday morning, 11 April 2022, a virtual draw took place to allocate 38 River Lee Brown Tags to prequalified salmon licence holders. A total of 205 entries were received. As 2 of these had already received a tag and not used it, they withdrew their entries. Entrants were issued numbers ranging from A1 to A203 inclusive by email on Saturday 9 April. Number A188 was provisionally allocated but the entrant did not confirm application.
IFI recorded the draw and used a random generator to draw the numbers, which is evident in the recording. A total of 43 numbers were drawn in the first instance. The first 38 will be allocated brown tags. The 5 reserve numbers may be allocated a tag in the event one of the first 38 is not in apposition to take, or returns their allocation.
The draw was witnessed by Sean Long, RBD Director, Michael O’Donovan, Cork District Assistant Inspector, Myles Kelly, Angling Advisor and Catherine Dwane, Assistant Inspector (Administrator of the Tags).
Numbers selected are laid out below.
A87
A156
A32
A67
A164
A96
A21
A9
A169
A199
A173
A126
A70
A130
A150
A37
A188 (Invalid)
A2
A112
A6
A72
A99
A120
A115
A128
A81
A186
A152
A168
A33
A177
A90
A41
A29
A185
A91
A134
A135
These are the initial 5 reserve numbers:
A148
A51
A63
A125
A94.
As number A188 was drawn, the first reserve A148 is allocated a Brown tag
It is envisaged that the Brown Tags will be issued by post tomorrow afternoon. All anglers are asked to acknowledge receipt of their Brown Tag by email including the tag number to 2022corkleebrowntag@fisheriesireland.ie
‘PERSEVERANCE IS FAILING 19 TIMES AND SUCCEEDING THE 20TH’
Julie Andrews
The fishing on Lough Sheelin this week reminded me of both band title and lyrics of the song by Lost Frequencies ‘Where are you now’, as this lake repeatedly threw curve balls at its anglers and the trout were as elusive as ever. North Westerly winds dominated on most days and although not the worst to cope with, still skewed things sideways for angling as they turned gale force, gusty and fresh on several occasions. Bitter south easterlies resulted in blanks for most who ventured out on Sunday.
Now, into April, it is typically the cold winds that are the killer, especially from the North or East as they effectively clobber any hatches by chilling the surface film and sending the emerging nymphs and possibly buzzers back down to wait another day.
Tuesday was the pick of the days with the weight of the week – an impressive 4kg, being caught on a lure at Wilsons. Sheelin was its usual punishing self by producing one trout in one place and then playing ‘dead man’ by refusing to give any more, forcing anglers to continually move from one area to another. Water temperatures both surface and on the bottom are hovering just above the 9°C which apparently is still too cold to encourage trout to move upwards to feed – 10°C and over is supposedly the magical figure. Lures are still ruling the roost with flash vibrant colours and slow retrieves producing the piscatorial goods.
Holding happiness
Without wanting to sound like a broken record, most of our trout are still glued to the bottom feeds of asellus, freshwater shrimp and snails. Fly anglers who think ‘big meal’ when fishing this early in the season are making better catches with their lures than those using small fly patterns. The odd sunshine induced warm spell did bring on insect hatches but the Sheelin trout are still, more or less feeding most of the time close to or on the bottom this lake. Bright jazzy lures and streamers fished slowly are bring the occasional strike by a lethargic but hungry trout. Statistically trout spend most of their time feeding on bottom dwelling insects and small fry and Sheelin is no different, 75 per cent of their diet comes on or near the lower regions of the lake. Anglers need to cut through the clutter and focus on what works and for the past seven days this has been the lures in the form of Zonkers, Minkies, Wooly Buggers and Humungus.
Spotted Success
There has, however, been a subtle change here in that buzzer patterns – epoxy and emerger are starting to feature in the returns. Daytime temperatures did increase and with this heat came copious hatches of the dark early season buzzers known generically in Ireland as duck fly, swarming in masses overhead in the more sheltered areas. The buzzer adults are also known as midges with other interesting variations like sand flies/lake flies/blind mosquitoes and muffle heads (to name but a few) hatch all the year and because of this ‘365’ availability, the classic profile of the buzzer nymph or pupa, is indelibly stamped into the trout’s memory bank so even on days when there’s not a buzzer to be seen, if the trout are in the upper regions of the water they will find it hard to resist a nicely presented artificial.
Buzzer Bonanza
Although these tiny insects are around all through the year the main event is Spring – the end of March and April. Buzzer fishing flies imitate the emerging form of a midge fly. The skinny buzzer patterns i.e. the Epoxy Buzzers imitate the pupa moving and sinking in the water as it heads for the surface to hatch, the best way to achieve this movement is sparseness, so small, slender and skinny is the way to go, the less body volume the more freedom evoked. Still in the depth of lure fishing it is important that the same technique of stripping is not applied to buzzer fishing. It is a static or slow drift for the buzzers. Popular fishing teams for buzzers were a Stimulator fly, Black Buster Buzzers, Flashback and Epoxy Buzzers.
Epoxy time
Next week promises a welcome increase in temperature which could result in some good buzzer fishing and perhaps the appearance of some early olives. Trout are starting to follow but are still finding it hard to leave the full larder down below. Few fish are being seen but this will change as the season progresses, Easter is coming and with it perhaps the resurgence of the Sheelin trout.
Some of this week's action
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Slipper success for French angler, Jules Mell
Porcupine reeds - Rusheen
Over 60
Merger Buzzer (K.Sheridan)
Male buzzer
making the grade
Lying in wait
Languishing line up
Joining the spots
Jed Shevlin with his '49cm bar of gold'
Hopping along (Sheelin Aphid)
Glister Olive (Kevin Sheridan)
Flash Attack Buzzer
Damien Willis' fish on a Claret Dabbler, April 6th
Craig Barr's Flash Attack Buzzers
Amphibian watchman - “When we save the frogs, we’re protecting all our wildlife, all our ecosystems and all humans.” — Dr. Kerry Kriger
A trout on the wets
The flies that were used this week were the Dabblers – Silver, Pearly, Green, Sooty, Hare’s Ear and Fiery Brown. A size 6 Claret Dabbler fished as a top dropper using a di5 landed a 2lb plus fish at the weekend. The Fiery Brown Dabbler is a very versatile fly representing freshwater shrimp in early season. When you don’t know where to start with fly selection, think seasonal colour patterns. Early Spring flies tend to be darker, matching the colours of their environment, light flies typically appear in warmer weather.
Billy Boland’s Bibio Muddler
Fly patterns include: Black Pennell, Connemara Black, Blae & Black, Watson’s Fancy, Bibio, Mallard & Claret, Sooty Olive, Stimulators, TC fly. A good point fly is the Jersey Herd. Other flies were the Cock Olive, Peter Ross, Fiery Brown, Claret Dabbler and Golden Dabbler, Hog lice patterns, Coch-y-Bondhu, Silver Invicta, Glister Ollie, Duck fly Pupa and Emergers. Sizes 10-14.
Successful lures and Streamers were large and bright – Snakes, Humungus, Muddlers, Blue Flash Damsels, Titanic Bug Black, Cats Whisker, Boobys, Wooly Buggers, Clouser Minnow, Minkies and Zonkers.
There are few nymph anglers fishing Lough Sheelin at the moment but the one or two that do try this method are use Pheasant Tail and Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear.
‘I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore; While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey, I hear it in the deep heart’s core’.
(W.B Yeats)
Competitions
McDonald Cup 13th of August
LSTPA Stream enhancement competition 2nd of October
Interprovincial Championships 20th of August
Please remember anglers to abide by BYE-LAW 949 which strictly prohibits from June 14th, 2017 onwards:
The taking of any brown trout of less than 36 centimeters.
For a person to fish with more than 2 rods at any one time.
To fish with more than 4 rods at any one time when there is more than one person on board the boat concerned.
For a person to take more than 2 trout per day.
All trolling on the lake from March 1st to June 16th (inclusive).
To fish or to attempt to take or to fish for, fish of any kind other than during the period from March 1st to October 12th in any year.
Following a balmy warm spell at the end of March, the weather reverted to type in the first week of April as temperatures dropped off to normal levels for the time of year. We had a good blast of strong wind during the middle of the week, which will have tested the new season leaves poking out from our trees & shrubs, and made life difficult for anyone afloat in a boat. It was drier than usual though, meaning that many of our rivers are coming into good condition after the floods of winter.
The changing of the season during the March/April period is when atmospheric conditions and water temperatures conspire to trigger pike into spawning. Judging by reports from around the country, the pike have been hard at it in recent weeks and are now embarking on a post-spawning feeding frenzy. Irish and Belgian clients of Kevin Lyons at Melview Lodge found that pike were just beginning to come on the feed, with plenty of action from fish in the 90-100cm bracket.
A happy Belgian angler
Brendan Sharkey of PredatorFishingIreland also had some spectacular fishing for his clients, who managed 83 pike in a couple of days, including 13 fish in the 1m+ bracket. There were PB’s broken all around as angling guide Damien Culliney from Anglers Paradise brought a couple of his friends out on Lough Derg for a days pike fishing. Both Natasha and Bobby broke their pike PB’s, and then, just for good measure, Bobby demolished his previous trout PB (32cm) with a cracking wild brown trout of 72.5cm caught on light spinning gear. You don’t double your PB every week, so Bobby’s super catch wins this week’s Catch of the Week.
Stunning 72.5cm PB trout wins this week’s Catch of the Week
The switch from March to April seems to have spurred the salmon into action too, as there was a marked increase in reports from fisheries around the country in the past week. The Boyne system has started to produce a few fish recently, including a fine spring fish of 18lb. And Vincent Appleby reports that April also started well for anglers on Lough Currane with a couple of fish landed on April Fool’s Day followed by a few more up to 11lb later in the week. Water levels came into good order on the Moy during the week, and a total of 7 salmon were recorded throughout the system, with the best being a 10lb fish caught by local angler John Fitzpatrick. A good splash of rain last Sunday night drew some springers into the system at Delphi, and as the water dropped after the flood, the fish came on the take, with Tuesday and Wednesday proving to be red-letter days. Meanwhile, it was Monday that saw the action down on the River Blackwater at Ballyduff as three fish were brought to the bank, including a fine fish for lapsed angler Michael Quirke who returned to the bank after many years absence to land an absolute beaut of a salmon. Monday was also the day for Westport angler Sean Moogan who landed a cracking 12lb salmon in Paradise Bay on Carrowmore using a Green Peter fished on a sinking line. Finally, up on the River Finn, a couple of nice double figure salmon were landed on the system during the week and the Glenmore Fishery reported their first fish of the year, a fine 10lb+ salmon which was carefully released.
Smiles all round! Paul O’Malley (left) and Peter Joyce, with Paul’s wild spring salmon of ~14lbs. The fish was released quickly after the photo
We are reaching the tail end of the duckfly season on our loughs, and fish were still feeding on them in most places last week when the weather allowed for it. On L. Conn, a calm start to the week saw good clouds of duckfly and anglers had some productive fishing with buzzers, but a cold wind later in the week saw hatches dwindle, and a switch to wet-fly tactics proved more profitable. Good duckfly hatches on L. Cullin saw Bernard Kennedy Jnr entice a fine 3.5lb wild brown trout on a Bibio, which was his best ever trout, and was returned to the water after a quick photo. Lough Sheelin trout, as is their nature, chose to ignore the plentiful hatches of duckfly and preferred to chase more substantial prey down in the depths, but those that were prepared to follow them got some good results using lures fished deep. The recent warm weather has seen an uptick in action on the River Nore as Dan O’Neill found out on a couple of early-morning sessions which saw the fish respond to wet-fly/spider patterns.
Bernard Kennedy Jnr’s Lough Cullin Trout, a new PB of 3.5lb
We would like to remind all anglers that salmon smolts are running our rivers right now, and they will often take a fly meant for larger fish. The smolts are very delicate and don’t respond well to handling, so make sure to take care if they turn up while you are fishing and try and release them with as little handling as possible. View the video here to see how to best release a smolt.
It will be cold today, Friday, with wintry showers of rain, hail, sleet and snow followed by a cold, frosty night with temperature dropping to 3°C in places. Saturday will begin bright but cool, but cloud will form later in the day in the northern half of the country. It will remain chilly on Saturday night and become more unsettled on Sunday as the wind picks up, bringing rain to the south and west. Heavier showers will come on Monday and Tuesday as the weather remains unsettled into early next week.
Lurgan Coarse Angling Club report on their latest competition this year, fished on Lough Muckno…
Sunday saw the Club Angler of the Year League start again for the first time since 2019 before the pandemic stopped us from running the league.
Concra Wood narrows was used and it fished very well considering it’s still early in the year and the hard over night frost last night.
The weights were very tight right along the bank, top weight on the day was Johnny Mckinley who weighed 5.150kg followed by Jacko in 2nd place with 4.725kg and Kevin Maguire in 3rd with 4.650kg. Only grams split the top 6 people which is testament to how fair the venue is.
1 of 4
Johnny Mckinley of Lurgan Anglers with a L. Muckno bag
Jacko
David Herron
Jim McAllister
Top 6
1st Johnny Mckinley 5.150kg
2nd Jacko 4.725kg
3rd Kevin Maguire 4.650kg
4th David Herron 4.600kg
5th Scooby 4.575kg
6th Jim Mcallister 4.300kg
Go Fishing…
Lurgan Coarse Angling Club
The club is one of the most successful in Ireland, having won all of the main team based match fishing competitions, in some cases several times, over the last decade. The club has also a long list of International Honours earned by its members.
Our objective is to promote coarse angling in the greater Lurgan and Craigavon area.
Galway Bay Sac held the first leg of their club Master Angler competition recently on Renvyle stony beach in far west Connemara. A beautiful evening greeted the anglers, with a gorgeous sunset providing the backdrop.
Renvyle sunset
Anglers lined the beach in expectation, with first casts at 6.00pm.
Renvyle beachWaiting for the sun to go down
Fishing was slow until dusk, but picked up thereafter. Dogfish were the main catch, keeping everyone fairly busy.
Chris with the longest fish of the night, a 66cm doggie
The winner on the night was new member, and first time competitor Conor Murray. Conor had 7 dogfish, pipping Brian Reidy into second with 6 dogs and a rockling.
First time winner Conor Murray (left) with Brian Reidy
One member, Colin Harty, had a minor disaster when both his main headlamp, and his backup, failed. An engineer by trade, this was no problem to Colin, who jerry rigged a headlamp using hurling tape and his phone to provide some light. We bow down to his ingenuity!
Ingenious!
Go Fishing
Galway Bay Sea Angling Club is a progressive club based in Galway, but fishing competitions along the west coast. New members are always welcome, and every level of experience is catered for, with social outings right up to competitions held throughout the year. If you’re looking to get into sea angling in the west, check them out here
Galway Bay charter boarts have started the season well, with good pollack and wrasse fishing on the reefs providing great sport for guests.
Skipper Kevin MacGabhann took advantage of the recent fine weather (before it broke!)
Good pollack fishing was enjoyed, with Kevin himself having a nice fish.
Skipper Kevin with a nice early season pollack
Guests also caught some lovely ballan wrasse.
A fine ballan wrasse for this anglerAnother nice ballan wrasse
They even had some early mackerel on feathers.
John Fleming, skipper of the Brazen Hussy II, was also out and putting guests over some nice fishing on inshore reefs.
A nice wrasse for this anglerA nice pollack aboard the Brazen Hussy IIPollack
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.
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
Ballyforan and District and District Angling Club report that the river is in great condition at the moment and the levels are ideal for fishing. With the water temperature still being fairly low, the coarse fish remain bunched up in their winter shoals, in deep water.
One club member had 50-60 fish caught on Saturday morning on the feeder, mainly small Roach, with the odd Rudd, and bigger Roach and Hybrid making an appearance.
Join the club
Ballyforan and District Angling Club was formed in February 2012, with the aim of promoting angling within the local community, and improving angling facilities on the River Suck.
We are looking for recreational sea anglers to take part in a citizen science project to help understand the health of fish stocks in our coastal waters. By providing catch information anglers can play their role in the long-term conservation and sustainability of the resource for future generations. Anglers can get involved in the project by using the IMREC online diary. Inland Fisheries Ireland is looking for shore, small boat, or charter anglers to collect and submit information on their sea fishing trips and catches around the coastline.
With your support the Irish Marine Recreational Angling (IMREC) project aims to answer three main questions about sea angling:
How many people in Ireland fish?
How often do they fish?
What do they catch?
IFI along with ESRIs ArcGIS Hub have developed a free angling diary that allows you to create an account and easily submit angling sessions on your phone or other device, providing information which will contribute to the evaluation of our marine fish stocks.
The application also creates a handy personal diary dashboard for your own use and each logged diary session will be updated here. This gives you the user an opportunity to view when, where and what fish you have caught along with any other notes (tides, rigs etc), that you may have submitted. A summary is also provided to give you an insight into how your season is progressing.
Bass fishing
An angling bundle (buff, line clippers, tape) will be sent to the first 20 anglers that sign up and a €50 tackle voucher prize draw will be held every month for active users of the diary application.
The survey team at IFI understand the importance of fishing marks to anglers. For this reason, your sessions will only be visible to you and the IMREC survey team.
If you are interested, the IMREC initiative is now live and can be viewed here or send your name and email to seaangling@fisheriesireland.ie with the subject line “IMREC Diary Sign Up” and we will get you signed up.
A full FAQ along with further information on the project can be accessed through our website. If you have any further queries about the IMREC project or the diary, please email seaangling@fisheriesireland.ie.
Lure fishing guide Vincent Corrigan has been back out on the coast lately, meeting some nice fish as they start to hunt again. He sent in a great report of a recent session.
I await those evenings after the clock leaps forward and the sun begins to linger till 8, 9, 10pm.
There is no rush, no panic to get out and drive for ages to find deeper water because those spots I’ve spent years dropping pins on my google maps are only 15-30 minutes away.
Finish dinner, throw the waders, lure bag and rod in the car and go.
It’s 7:30 and the sun is still out… but setting fast.
This evening’s mark is snaggy… very very snaggy so I start with a shallow diving bass lure because either I’m going to get smashed by a feisty pollock or catch that elusive Galway bass. I can stay above the rocks and kelp. But nothing.
I keep moving.. you need to keep moving.
Next rock, 50 meters to the right… I find an old tattered Fiish Black Minnow in my lure bag.. this one has seen a lot of fish… bass, wrasse, pollock… it’s the last of many I once owned. Wrasse seem to destroy them.
It’s 7:55pm – I cast out and bounce it slowly across the bottom.. it doesn’t snag. Second cast and I feel the first bump.. I stop.. and then the thud.. pollock on.
Quick photo and release.
Pollack
It’s 8:05pm – I change direction now and two casts later a different hit… if you fish for Wrasse you know this one… the rattle… and you know to hold on before they wrap you around a rock or kelp bed.
My first Wrasse of 2022… a quick photo and release
Wrasse
It’s 8:20pm – The wind is picking up now and so are the waves… though having the wind at my back gives me that extra bit of casting distance.
I put on an EvoBass Lures Sabre 130 in Mangach Color … rigged with my own weighted Jigheads.ie twistlock in 10g 5/0.
First cast I and let it sink and sit… then slow as possible.. feeling every rock and boulder as it rolls over them.
Then smash…. The strongest take I’ve felt this year, pulling drag.. fighting hard as these 3-4lb fish do.
What a beauty, a quick photo and release..
Nice pollack
I throw on a hard plastic bass lure and fish for another 20 minutes into dark.
No More hits.. no elusive bass.. but big smiles and a fun Quick session.. so close to home
Go Fishing – Wild Atlantic Lure Fishing
Vincent will be offering one on one guided rock fishing from summer, mainly for wrasse and pollack, and all within 1 hour of Galway city. I have fished with him myself, and can vouch for his knowledge of tackle, tactics and species.
