Well-known angler and guide Mick Flanagan of Midland Angling & Shooting took a back seat last week as he went out in his brother’s boat in search of perch on L. Ennell. The first few hours were tough going, but then the lake came alive as bite after bite resulted in a fish landed. Mick was fishing a jelly lure, or as he calls it a wine gum… Looks like the perch are as partial to then as I am!
The Leinster Pike Anglers held the fourth leg of their winter league last weekend and posted this report on their Facebook page:
We fished the 4th leg of our Winter League yesterday. Anglers had a choice of 3 lakes to fish. The Kiernan family dominated proceedings taking the Top 3 rods. Mark Kiernan his son Alex and Mark’s brother Jody had great fishing. Sean O’Brien had a nice double to claim the heaviest fish.
We would like to thank our club sponsor SOUTHSIDE ANGLING for their ongoing support of the club, it is greatly appreciated.
1ST MARK KIERNAN 23 FISH 57LB 7OZ
2ND JODY KIERNAN & LUKE KEARNS 54LB 13
The Delphi Fishery annual newsletter is now available on their website here, a must-read for many salmon anglers who have fished this little gem of a fishery, or those who are considering it.
Fishery manager David McEvoy opens with a summary of a very strange year:
” It was once again a very strange year, with tight restrictions until May and practically no visitors from outside Ireland prior to August. There are many of you reading this, that we have not now seen since 2019 and you have all been missed, obviously for the custom you bring to us but especially for the friendships we have developed over many years. Covid is not going away but hopefully we have found a way to live with it. For those of you who have lost family or friends as a result, I can only extend our deepest condolences and look forward to seeing many of you in 2022.
The weather, as I have often said before has a huge bearing on salmon angling. In that regard, this year was no different and long periods of dry settled weather are what nightmares are made of for the serious salmon angler, especially if it coincides with high temperatures. This year was a record for us as regards water temperature, reaching a high of 25.5 degrees Celsius on the 1st of August. Thankfully within a few days temperatures dropped and the rain finally arrived. What followed was a period of piscatorial bliss, with 61 fish being landed in a week. This helped greatly in bringing our season total to 301.”
The newsletter has detailed summaries of each month. Overall, despite the long dry spells, lockdown and heatwave, the fishery recorded a rod catch of 301 salmon, bang on the 10 year average of 301.9.
The early season was impacted by a strict lockdown, with only anglers living within 5km allowed to fish. Two fish on opening day for David and GM Michael Wade were an auspicious sign, but only one further fish was landed in February.
Good water levels in March would have produced good fishing if more anglers were able to fish, but 8 fish were still caught, including a lovely 13lbs fish from the Rock Pool for Eric Heneghan, whose father Seamus, a long-time Delphi angler had just passed away. Young local angler Iarla Gavin also landed his first salmon on St. Patrick’s Day.
April saw very light pressure, with low water levels prevailing, but 11 fish were landed, including 3 in a day for the Clesham brothers, and a first salmon for Iarla’s brother Finn.
With restrictions eased, and good rainfall, May saw more anglers about, and 20 fish were recorded for the month. The best of which was without doubt Gareth Beattie’s stunning fish of 15lbs from the Turn Pool on a Willie Gunn on the 11th. As is often the case, the average size of the fish in May was up on previous months. Sixteen anglers had fish, with Greg Turley and Seamus O’Neill having 2 each and Barbara Ceillier stealing the show on Glenda Powell’s Fly Fishing Course, landing 3 cracking fish of 9lbs 7oz, 10lbs 4oz and 13lbs 9oz. Grace Wade also managed to land her first ever salmon, a fish of 6lbs 5oz on a Collie Dog on Finlough, ably assisted by her father Michael.
June again saw some rainfall, certainly enough to keep water levels high enough for grilse. With more anglers around, including some experienced veterans, June produced a great catch of 84 fish, including 66 grilse and 18 springers. The early part of the month
up until the 12th saw some cracking Spring fish being caught. The best of these was Wendel Armstrong’s fish of approx. 17.5lbs that he hooked in the Rock Pool and
landed in the Kings on a Badger tube on the 2nd.
July 2021 was a long, fairly dry month, with temperatures increasing as a heatwave hit from the 16th to the 26th. Air temps peaked at 29.2C, with water temps hitting an incredible, and worrying 25.5C. Before this year, water temps had never been recorded above 21.5C! 46 fish were landed, including 40 grilse, with 34 of these in the first 10 days of the month.
Although August started as July ended, with record temperatures, the weather broke early in the month, and it proved to be a prolific month with 99 fish landed. A large number of fish were waiting in the Killary to run, and as the rain arrived conditions, and fishing, improved markedly. There were 8 fish landed in the first five days, the highlight of which of which was without doubt, 12 year old Eabha Jones’ first ever salmon. Having had
many near misses in recent years Eabha persisted with the fly, when many would have reverted to other methods to land that elusive first ever. Well done Eabha! Fishing was very good up to the 18th, when water levels started to drop away, but nymph fishing produced a few more fish thereafter.
September proved a quiet month, with 30 fish landed and angling effort reduced. Although conditions were decent, fishing on Finlough didn’t pick up as usual, possibly a hangover from the lingering high water temperatures of July. Young Cian O’Malley from Louisburgh and Heather Ritchie, both managed to land their first ever salmon on the 30th.
David signs off: ” Here’s looking forward to a more normal 2022, when we will get to see many of our long term friends and customers again. I would be hopeful that 2022 should be more productive from an angling perspective. Then again one never knows with salmon fishing what a year will be like! In the meantime regards to you all and stay safe”
At Delphi Lodge, with many years of experience with the timing of the best runs of fish, we have in place a price system that offers both great value fishing and lets our anglers know when they have the best chance to catch a fresh run spring salmon or a summer grilse or Delphi sea trout.
Delphi Fishery
Delphi Lodge, Leenane, Co. Galway.
Tel: +353 (0)95-42222 Fax +353-95-42296
Web: www.delphilodge.ie
Pauric from Carafin Lodge has been in touch about a great Christmas Giveaway competition he is running at the moment.
You could win a 7 night angling holiday in their self-catering 2 bedroom lodge, sleeping 4 people, situated on the shores of Carafin lake, a fantastic location for predator and coarse fishing.
Prize also includes the use of a 19ft boat with engine & fuel.
Artur ‘Pike Seeker’ sent us in the report below where he describes catching a cracking pike on the River Barrow:
I bought a lure from Jacek Gorny, a “Disco Pike Size XL” and went fishing with a friend. We drove up the section of the Barrow River in Co. Carlow. It is a beautiful stretch of river. There was no contact for the first half of the day. At around 12 o’clock I cast a long throw between the reeds and started slowly retrieving the bait. After a while, I felt a strong blow. I have strong fishing equipment so there were no problems with hauling out. Beautiful pike and my PB 113cm, 11kg.
It has been a quiet week for angling in Ireland as the unsettled weather of last week continued with wet and windy wintry conditions in most parts of the country. The first days of December saw vast amounts of rain, and as a consequence, many inland fisheries experienced high water levels and flooding. Some estuaries were full of freshwater too and this no doubt impacted on the sea angling recently.
However, some areas escaped the windy weather for a little while allowing for almost perfect angling conditions. This was the case in West Cork where angling Guide David Norman of West Cork Bass experienced excellent kayak fishing together with a client in almost perfect conditions.
In sea angling news we have a further report of excellent late season fishing from Co. Kerry. Sea Bass Hunter Tomasz Eckert has been enjoying some late season sport recently, deep in the Kingdom of Co. Kerry. A passionate lure angler, Tomasz knows his marks intimately, and when they will produce. But even he probably didn’t expect the quality of the recent sport for late November and early December when he caught a fantastic bass of 73cm which wins our Catch of the Week!
Elsewhere, Sea-Angling-Ireland SAC hosted the annual All Ireland Open Cod Championships on Youghal Beach on Saturday last. Over 50 anglers took part in this popular event but the fishing in general was difficult. There were fish to be had by anglers willing to experiment with different ranges and smaller baits. Check out the full report and results here.
In pike angling we received a fantastic report from Ronan Murray of Irishpikefishingguides.com. Ronan fishes on a range of lakes in and around the Cavan area, and with water temperatures being so high for this time of year, he and his clients have had some great success fishing lures catching over fourteen 20lbs+ fish and two falling just shy of the magic 30lbs over the past few weeks.
Twenty lbs+ pike were also common on Lough Erne for clients of Simon Gibbons from Guided Predator Angling ,while Dutch anglers Patrick and Ruben enjoyed world class pike fishing together with host Kevin Lyons of Melview Fishing Lodge. The two Dutchmen who are no strangers to the Longford area had several pike over the magic 1 meter mark including a personal best of 110cm!
There was also some pike fishing taking place in the east of the country. Newbridge & District Pike Anglers held their annual open pike competition last weekend and had a huge turnout with over 100 anglers turning up to fish on Poulaphouca Reservoir.
In coarse angling, the CM Lakelands continued their winter feeder league on Lough Muckno last weekend. There was a good turnout with 33 anglers showing up on the day. Full results online here: CM Lakelands.
Inland Fisheries Ireland wishes to confirm that a fishing permit is required for angling on the River Suck and its tributaries for the 2022 season. It had been reported that the Midland Fishery Group permit was abolished for the River Suck, and its tributaries. However, Inland Fisheries Ireland wishes to clarify that this is not the case. In the mean-time, details about the 2022 permit scheme for the River Suck and its tributaries can be found at http://permits.fishinginireland.info/product-category/shannon/.
Finally, we would like to remind interested parties of a public consultation on the Wild Salmon and Sea Trout Tagging Scheme Regulations 2021 and Conservation Measures for the 2022 Season (launched 10th November/deadline for submissions 9th December): https://www.gov.ie/en/consultation/3aee7-consultation-on-the-wild-salmon-and-sea-trout-tagging-scheme-regulations-2021-and-conservation-measures-for-the-2022-season/
Early tonight rain will extend southeastwards across the country, with further scattered showers following behind, some of which will be heavy with the potential for isolated thunderstorms, hail and sleet, particularly over higher ground in the northwest. Frost may develop in some sheltered areas with lowest temperatures of 0 to 4 degrees in moderate to fresh westerly winds. The weekend will be cold with more wintry showers and moderate to fresh west to northwest winds. The outlook for the week ahead is for more cold and unsettled weather with winds gradually easing but there will be further showers, some wintry, and spells of rain.
Safe fishing to all and tight lines, especially here in Ireland.
Markus Müller
Catch, Photo, Release
If you have an angling story to share with the Irish Angling Update, please send it to reports@fisheriesireland.ie.
Dutch anglers Patrick and Ruben were looking forward to their trip to Ireland this year after having to cancel last year due to the travel restrictions. Both guys have stayed with host Kevin Lyons of Melview Lodge before, so they know the waters well. Their last visit saw them have some cracking Pike and Patrick managed his personal best of 107 cm that trip, so this trip he and Ruben were in search of a 107 +.
The week started with most of their Pike in 96, 97 and 98 bracket, then the Pike started to hit the 1m and up to 104cm. The last day had come and it was a case of it’s today or wait for the next visit. They were around four hours into their session using various dead baits and Patrick got into a good fish and was praying for something over the 107cm. They landed the Pike safely and measured in at 110cm, so celebrations all round.
Patrick said that on his next visit to Melview Fishing Lodge next year he wants to beat this new PB, no pressure then for host Kevin. Well done guys and thanks for your company and I’m looking forward to seeing you back next year.
ALL FISH RETURNED UNHARMED.
Kevin Lyons – Melview Lodge
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.
David Norman of West Cork Bass reports that the great late season action continues along the West Cork coast. David had an excellent time afloat on the yaks guiding Dublin based Andy Kish earlier this week having 6 hrs of near non-stop action in perfect conditions!
David Norman is a Clonakilty based Bass Fishing Guide and Coach specialising in Shore Based Lure Fishing & Workshops.
Notes: Having intensively fished for Bass (Catch & Release) on the West Cork Coast plus all of the recognised Bass fishing counties of Ireland I want to share with other like-minded anglers the thrills of responsible lure fishing for Bass on a One-to-One basis over a limited number of trips throughout the key times of the Bass fishing Year, which for me is June – Sept, sometimes earlier or later depending on how the weather is behaving…
I can offer a range of options around key tides, to include night fishing, in a safe and environmentally conscious manner including bespoke workshops to help build knowledge and confidence
Mobile: 0858492691
Email: westcorkbass@gmail.com
FB: West Cork Bass
Web: West Cork Bass
INSTAGRAM: westcorkbass
