Jasper Mathews reports on the lure fishing along the West Connemara coastline…
Relatively calm weather and swell has made for some great lure fishing recently in West Connemara, with some substantial coalie and pollock being caught from the shore and even a bass schoolie surprising us.
I had introduced my long time fishing buddy Louis Maloney to this mark before the new year and we had had 2 chunky pollock and a coalie in 45 minutes with a few more knocks and fish lost. He was clearly impressed with the spot, on Sunday 16th I woke up to a text saying he was heading west and asking if I was around, we agreed to meet at the mark. I arrived with my girlfriend Stephanie to Louis shouting you won’t believe what I have caught, prompting me to abandon Steph on the rocks and run down to him (sorry about that). I walked up saying, “so which is it, a bass or a sea trout?” and he showed me the schoolie, which was safely handled and released.
I have tried the local area a lot over the past two years for bass and I am yet to have a Connemara one myself, so as delighted as I was for Louis to get one on his 2nd visit to this mark, I didn’t let him hear the end of it for the rest of the session, which is customary when he outfishes me, all said with a smile of course.
We spent an hour and a half there resulting in the schoolie, 4 big pollock and a coalie between us. There seems to be a great quality of fish to be had from the shore at the moment, long may it last.
The Drowes River played host to the first salmon of the 2022 season
We’ve had the odd cold morning, but overall it’s felt like a pretty mild week. According to Met Eireann temperatures are average for the time of year, so it’s probably the sunshine levels that are giving people that impression. And it’s been pretty dry in most parts this last week with slack enough winds so that probably helped too. The weather conditions made for some lovely fishing conditions, but reports are scare. Having said that, we do have some good news this week…
Garret Byrne with the first salmon of the season
The first salmon of 2022 was landed yesterday afternoon at 1.45pm from the Eel Weir pool on the Lareen stretch of the River Drowes. The fish, estimated at 12lbs was taken on a cone head shrimp pattern by Dublin angler Garrett Byrne. The fish, our Catch of the Week, was released to continue its onward journey. In other salmon news Andrew McGall was in touch with us again this year – he put together a nice video featuring many of his salmon angling exploits of 2021. Between Garrett’s fish and Andrew’s video it’s hard not to be enthusiastic about 2022.
In recent weeks, we have had a few posts of young anglers having successful pike angling sessions in early 2022. This week it’s the turn of Ruben, who was fishing with his dad Cearbhuil in the Clare area. Nice fishing Ruben, let’s hope we see a few more from you during 2022.
To finish the angling round up we have good news from the midlands spawning streams where trout have been very busy this winter. If you are walking beside an Irish river or stream in the next few days keep an eye out for redds and you might even see a trout or two close by, the lack of rain in recent days will help you to spot them.
Other News
One Week To Go
Running an angling event or competition in Ireland in 2022? Funding for eligible events is now available through Inland Fisheries Ireland’s Sponsorship Programme – but hurry, the deadline to apply is fast approaching! Get all the details at fisheriesireland.ie.
Habitat and Conservation Fund
Did your club or group express an interest in the Habitat & Conservation Fund before Christmas? If so, please don’t forget to turn your expression of interest into a full application before the January 28th deadline! Here’s a link to the Online Application Portal: https://ifi.smartsimple.ie/
Irish Spring Fair
Ned Maher of Ardaire Spring Angling Centre, Mooncoin, County Kilkenny has announced that he will host his first IRISH SPRING ANGLING FAIR.
Taking place on the May Bank Holiday Weekend, the Fair will open to angling enthusiasts on Saturday 30th April and Sunday the 1st of May 2022 over the bank holiday weekend.
It is, without doubt, a must-attend event. Throughout the 2 days a host of world-renowned celebrity names such as Scott Mackenzie, Glenda Powell, Peter Driver, Paul Procter, Henry Gilbey, Jim Clohessy, Rupert Harvey, John Maduro, Jimmy Tyrrell, Sean Deeny, Denis O’Toole, Cathal Hughes and Paul Young from the TV series Hooked on Fishing, will provide talks on angling related topics and give free demonstrations to attendees. More information at New Irish Spring Angling Fair in Ardaire Springs announced for May Bank Holiday Weekend
And now the weather…
A cold and dry night ahead, with any fog or mist clearing on Saturday morning. Quite cloudy again overall, with patches of light rain or drizzle, but some sunny periods developing also. Highest temperatures of 5°C to 10°C mildest in the southwest, with a light southerly breeze. A chance of some rain in places on Sunday also, but staying settled overall. A bright and frosty start to next week, but patchy rain moving in on Monday evening and spreading south-eastwards on Tuesday. The outlook is for the weather to remain largely dry and settled into next week. Make the most of it!
The very active C/M Lakelands Feeder Club held another pair of matches on Lough Garadice on Sunday, January 9th. They opted to fish from Haughton’s Shore and Church Shore to facilitate the great turnout of eighteen anglers.
Fishing was reportedly patchy, especially on Church side, but there was still a couple of good weights. Haughton’s fished better, with nearly all of the anglers catching steady for the time of the year.
Some of the bags from Garadice
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James O’Doherty put in another good performance to win the Church side and Garadice venue expert Richard Pratt made no mistake from end peg 63 to win Haughton’s Shore.
The top results were as follows:
Haughton’s:
1st Richard Pratt 5.140kg
2nd Rory Dunne 4.340kg
3rd Kevin Norcliffe 3.260kg
Church:
1st James O’Doherty 4.270kg
2nd Jacek Januszewscy 3.860kg
3rd Brenton Sweeney 2.620kg.
The club report that their Feeder King 2022 event is selling out fast. There are a handful of spaces available on two of the venues – the Bann and Suck
Q1 River Bann, March 27th, 9 tickets available
Q2 Gowna, April 10th, sold out, reserve list available.
Q3 River Suck April 24th, 5 tickets available.
Q4 River Erne, May 7th, sold out, reserve list available.
If you want one of the remaining slots please message 0872510260 to pre book, or make contact through their Facebook page.
Andrew McGall was back in touch with us – he put together a nice video featuring many of his salmon angling exploits of 2021. Andrew reckons that conditions were difficult for large chunks of the season, but he still managed to catch some really good fish. With the sustainability of the salmon angling resource in mind, and to try and do his bit for future salmon stocks in rivers on this island, Andrew returned all of the salmon that he caught in 2021.
The video is about as long as it takes to put your feet up and drink a mug of tea or coffee, so we suggest you go and get one before viewing!
If you like Andrew’s YouTube channel, don’t forget to like and subscribe, he tells us he has more fishing to upload once the post-season editing is done!
The Drowes often produces Ireland's first salmon of the year.
Garret Byrne with the first salmon of the season #CPRSavesFish
The first salmon of the season was caught at 1:45pm today on the River Drowes. Unlucky 13 for some, but 13 January will always be remembered as a lucky day by Garrett Byrne.
Garret was fishing at Lareen when he met this lovely fresh run fish. Fishing a weighted fly to get down in the river was the tactic that worked on the day. Garrett released his salmon after safely landing it, and the weight was estimated at 12lb.
A heavy fly was needed to get down to where the fish were
Make a booking
River Drowes
The Drowes Fishery is one of Ireland’s premier spring salmon and grilse fisheries. The river is some 5 miles in length, with over 70 named pools, flowing from Lough Melvin at Lareen Bay and entering the sea at Tullaghan, just outside Bundoran. The Drowes has a wide variety of water suitable for all fishing methods, including several miles of good fly water and deeper slower moving pools suitable for spinning and bait fishing.
For information and bookings on the Drowes Fishery & Lough Melvin see http://www.drowessalmonfishery.com Tel: 071 9841055 (8am to 12 noon). Mob: +353 (0) 87 8050806
Our Shannon RBD staff have reported high numbers of brown trout spawning in the feeder streams and rivers of our midland loughs this winter. Trout like to spawn in shallow, well oxygenated stretches of river. They need good water quality and plenty of gravel for them to dig their redds (gravel nests that the female fish dig to lay their eggs in). Big trout dig big redds and some of the redds pictured below were formed by the tails of some good sized fish.
Some of the streams where these photographs were taken benefitted from habitat restoration work under the Midland Fisheries Funds over the years, so it is great to see the hard work of angling clubs and IFI staff pay off.
Many of the fish that spawned this winter will have been fish that were caught and released by anglers fishing the loughs in the spring and summertime; the sustainable practice of catch and release angling will help to ensure healthy stocks of wild brown trout on our loughs for generations to come.
In low water conditions a keen eye can pick out the areas of disturbed gravel – washed clean from the disturbance and raised in to a hump downstream of a slight depression in the riverbed.
If you are walking beside an Irish river or stream in the next few days keep an eye out for redds and you might even see a trout or two close by, the lack of rain in recent days will help you to spot them. Most redds will be smaller than the ones shown – as these are the work of big lough trout (or they may even be locations where numerous fish spawned in the same spot).
Dave Edwards, skipper of the Silver Dawn based in Courtmacsherry reports on his start to 2022…
05 Jan: A short break in the weather and my first fish of 2022. A Pollack just short of double figures. finished the day with a few small Ling and this good Pollack. Saw plenty of Dolphins inshore. The weather was perfect to blow the cobwebs away.
13 Jan: We headed 30 miles south last night and chanced a couple of shark lines while we drifted. Little showing on the bottom besides Smooth Hound Fortunately things improved this morning with a great variety of species showing so it was worth enjoying the cool West Cork weather.
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Conor O’Reilly had our best fish this morning with solid double figure Cod. Paddy and his son Glen had plenty of small Ling and mid sized Pollack along with loads of Starry Smooth Hound and a few Pouting amongst the catch.
41′ Rodman 1250. Twin 430 HP Engines Skipper: David Edwards Licence: P5 Licence Base: Courtmacsherry Operational Area:60 miles to sea from ports from Kinsale to Portmagee
Authorised blue fin tuna boat 2025
Notes:The range of fishing found within close range of Courtmacsherry is superb, with trips producing anything between 6 and 15 different species as a norm and in excess of 20 is possible if anglers are prepared to change methods and use different baits and lures throughout their trip. As a rule mackerel, pollock, cod and ling are usually encountered but several species of wrasse along with whiting, pouting, coalfish, bull huss, conger and many more are often added to the catch.
If you do choose to head offshore to sample the superb shark fishing available within 10 miles of Courtmacsherry, there is a very strong chance of encountering blue sharks and an increasing chance of bringing a porbeagle shark to the boat.
Kicking off 2022 much as he finished 2021, Kit Dunne of Wicklow Boat Charters is back among the specimens this January. Spurdogs are the order of the day at this time of year, and if there’s a bit of a settled spell, you can bet Kit will be out after them. He had well-known specimen angler John Millerick onboard with him this week, and John’s group managed four specimen sized spurs. Not a bad start to the year for him!
Go Fishing
Angling Charters are offered on a full-day, half-day and evening trip basis and can be tailored to suit your needs. Two boats are available – Lisin and Castle Maiden. All levels of anglers are catered for. Anglers will benefit from your skipper’s angling experience and local knowledge with advice and guidance on-hand at all times.
SPECIALIST ANGLING CHARTERS
Specialist Angling Charters are offered for those who wish to target specific species, specimen fish or try new angling methods.
ANGLING COACHING
Whether you’re a Club, Individual, School or Junior, you can have an angling coaching session or programme tailored to suit your needs.
In recent weeks, we have had a few posts of young anglers having successful pike angling sessions in early 2022. This week it’s the turn of Ruben, who was fishing with his dad Cearbhuil in the Clare area. He’s obviously been getting a bit of fishing in, as his first fish was caught in Dromore Lake, followed by another one on Atedaun Lake a couple of days later. Nice fishing Ruben, let’s hope we see a few more from you during 2022.
Ned Maher of Ardaire Spring Angling Centre, Mooncoin, County Kilkenny has just announced that he will host his first IRISH SPRING ANGLING FAIR.
Taking place on the May Bank Holiday Weekend, the Fair will open to angling enthusiasts on Saturday 30th April and Sunday the 1st of May 2022 over the bank holiday weekend.
It is, without doubt, a must-attend event. Throughout the 2 days a host of world-renowned celebrity names such as Scott Mackenzie, Glenda Powell, Peter Driver, Paul Procter , Henry Gilbey, Jim Clohessy, Rupert Harvey, John Maduro, Jimmy Tyrrell, Sean Deeny, Denis O’Toole, Cathal Hughes and Paul Young from the TV series Hooked on Fishing, will provide talks on angling related topics and give free demonstrations to attendees.
The fly casting competitions will give keen anglers an opportunity to showcase their skills to the wider audience and win some fabulous prizes with double-handed and single-handed amateur competitions on both days with lots of prizes.
Game, sea and coarse angling will be the hot topics throughout the weekend and the event guarantees to offer something for everyone.
Ardaire Springs Angling Centre covers over 4 acres of lakes, stocked with rainbow and brown trout ranging from 2lb to 20lb.
The venue provides a unique opportunity for both world-renowned celebrity anglers to showcase their skills and indeed leading tackle manufactures to demonstrate and promote their fishing tackle and boats on the lakes.
With ample room for exhibitors, it offers a fantastic opportunity to add to your tackle collection and indeed find out the latest tips and techniques. There will be stands from all types of angling including tackle suppliers and promotional stands from fisheries and even some international companies promoting angling holidays.
Not forgetting the younger generation we will have an abundance of activities for kids to include fly casting, lessons and much more. Onsite catering will also be available throughout the weekend.
Don’t miss out on an amazing weekend, meet with celebrity anglers and fellow angler enthusiasts, join us and support the first-ever fair at Ardaire Spring Angling Centre and see it develop into the greatest Irish Fair of future years.
Silver Dawn
