Leinster Perch Anglers Craig Murphy, Alan Walsh and Ciaran Bowers have all been on the perch hunt this week with some stunning perch to show for their efforts. Using light tackle and mini soft plastics fished slow, the lads have each had super fishing.
Craig got out for a half day session and hit tons of well conditioned fish. As he says himself, Irish perch don’t go huge, but what they lack in size they make up for in beauty! Perch are in peak condition at this time of year and while Craig didn’t land any monsters, he got some really good perch up to 35cm.
Craig and one of his perch
Alan fished a 3″ Keitech Live Impact on the dropshot and, despite only getting out for an hour, managed to land some stunning, fin perfect fish.
Fin perfect
Ciaran struggled for his first hour, but it was just a matter of finding the fish; once he did, he almost had a fish a cast. Plenty of 25cm+ fish fell to his 2″ Easy Shiner before a much bigger mouth engulfed it. At 35cm and about 1.5lb, this was Ciaran’s best perch yet – nice work!
Ciaran’s PB @ 35cm
Perch can provide great sport in our rivers, lakes and canals at this time of the year. Fishing for them with light tackle and small jigs or lures can be great fun – especially for younger anglers and beginners.
David Norman from West Cork Bass is still getting some great fishing in Clonakilty Bay and other hotspots in West Cork. The sea temperature in the area is now at 10.5c – so just about holding in double figures – and David has been catching quality pollock from the kayak on Lures & Slow Pitch-Jigs.
It is a tricky time of year for this kind of fishing, with longer periods of unsettled, blustery weather and sunsets getting earlier by the day. David expects the good fishing to continue for a while yet though, once he gets the windows of calmer conditions that will allow him out.
Skippers from the bluefin tuna CHART programme will have had their last opportunities to tag a giant this week, as the short season draws to a close this Friday, November 12th. As is often the case in angling, once you think you have cracked it, the fishing proves you wrong and following the highs of the 2020 season, the 2021 edition was a much more difficult affair.
Adrian Molloy of Tuna.ie managed an incredible 250 fish in 2020, but this week three more tuna, including number 85, of a much slower season were brought alongside Deep Blue for tagging. It must be said though, that 85 tuna in a four month season would still be pretty good anywhere else in the world. Bluefin number 85 for Tuna.ie in 2020, caught by Joe Foley on Wednesday, was a super 250cm fish.
Tag in, fish away
Tuna Mick managed to get a couple of fish in Donegal Bay last Friday, Nov 5th. A weather window of a few hours in the morning was enough for the Leah C to get out and a nice 520lber followed by a smaller version of 400lb+ were the rewards.
Down south, Dave Edwards of West Cork Charters wasn’t willing to let the season slip away without one last roll of the dice aboard the Silver Dawn. With so few fish around he wasn’t really expecting to hook up, but that he did, and following a 25 minute battle that proved to Dave just how unfit he is, a 200kg beauty was tagged and released. Dave also managed a single fish last Friday fishing out of Baltimore.
Silver Dawn and Radiance reflecting on the season gone
Irish Deep Sea Charters failed to tag a tuna on their last trip out – but only because the 80incher they played to the side of the Chloe Jay managed to wriggle free of the lip hook before the tag could be inserted! Skipper Adrian reckons that the area is full of dolphins, whales and, of course, the bait fish that they are all after at the moment.
We’ll hopefully bring you a 2021 season round up from the whole fleet in the coming weeks – once all the data is gathered and the numbers are crunched.
Tuna CHART
Tuna CHART (CatcHand Release Tagging) utilises authorised vessels to catch, tag and release Atlantic Bluefin Tuna for data collection purposes off the Irish coast. The programme, developed by Inland Fisheries Ireland and the Marine Institute in partnership with the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Department for Environment, Climate and Communications, operated on a pilot basis in 2019 and 2020.
The 2021 season opened on the 1st July and closes on the 12th November 2021.
Authorised Vessels
Anglers wishing to engage in this fishery must only do so on a sea angling vessel specifically authorised to participate in the programme. Any person engaging in this fishery on any vessel which is not appropriately authorised will be in breach of the Sea-Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction (Bluefin Tuna) Regulations.
A full list of authorised skippers can be found below:
It was his first time fishing that spot in along time, so he can't say if it has produced fish lately - but it produced for Paul!
Paul Sylvester was fishing in Longford last week and he did alright for himself. He hadn’t been at that particular venue for a while so he can’t say if it has been producing but he certainly found what he was looking for there, a fine pike of 16lbs and 102cm.
It was a dull cloudy day with the odd break of sunshine and light southwesterly winds. This was his only fish of the day though he did miss one not long after landing this pike. Paul was fishing a running leger with the bait, a 6 inch mackerel, popped up off the bottom. The fish was caught about 10.30 in the morning and after a couple of photos was swimming free again a couple of minutes later.
It was his first time fishing that spot in along time, so he can’t say if it has produced fish lately – but it produced for Paul!
TJ from TJ’s Angling Centre at the bottom of Lough Derg has let us know there is a slight change to his shop’s opening hours for the few months of the winter. For the next while the shop opens from 8 am to 8.30 pm Monday to Friday and 8 am to 8 pm Saturday and Sunday.
On the fishing front TJ was telling us that a regular guest of his all the way from Boston really enjoyed his fishing last week getting six pike for his day on the water.
Ken from Boston with his best pike of the trip
Go fishing…
TJ’s Angling Centre
TJ’s Angling centre arranges trips and offers support to anglers visiting the Lough Derg area. All our guides are local anglers with a detailed knowledge of Lough Derg and its surrounds. All equipment needed can be supplied or if you prefer to use your own, our guides will be happy to offer advice on methods and baits to use, full or half day trips are available, contact us for prices and available dates.
Peter Horbinski won the recent open match on Lough Muckno which was held last Sunday, Nov 7th. Peter had 19 lbs of pole caught fish on Yellow Island and was followed closely by D Fairhurst and J McKinley just grams behind. The draw for the match was held at the Old Coach House as usual at 8.30am and the match was held on Yellow Island pegs 195 upwards on a two in, one out, basis.
The good fishing augers well for the impending Winter league events on the ever productive Lough Muckno – for more info keep an eye on their Facebook page.
Barring the barren month of May when the Roach exit to spawn, Lough Muckno once again yielded super weights all through this year, capped by highs of up to 30 kgs per man, in five hour matches.
Top Weights can and do come off all pegs on all sections, amounting to 250 park beside pegs, and fall to all methods, depending on ability and venue knowledge.
The Irish Federation of Sea Anglers are holding a Youth & Junior Day on the 4th of December at Woodstown Beach, Co. Waterford. Young sea anglers who fancy honing their skills and improving their catch rate will be very interested in this.
See the poster below for details on how to register.
Steven McKenna from our South Eastern RBD office reports that the 2021 season on the River Nore was regarded as one of the best the river has seen in the last few years:
The Nore opened in early March when strict Covid restrictions in force, only allowing a few local anglers to venture out with the odd report of a fish or two being caught through March & early April.
By the end of April & into early May, reports were coming in of more fish being caught between the mid and upper catchment of the river. In Mid-May, a good flood on the river brought some exceptional fishing, particularly from Brownsbarn up to Kilkenny. Local anglers think that it may have been the best run of spring salmon they have seen on the system in a long time. From May onwards, the run of salmon entering the river did not stop and, when conditions allowed, there was some exceptional fishing to be had.
By mid-June & into July, like most other rivers in the country, the Nore became very low with lack of rain. The low water slowed the run of fish but did not stop them, the lower end of the catchment started producing some great fishing particularly from Brownsbarn down to Inistioge. A lot of anglers also noted not just the quantity of fish but the quality of salmon and grilse which were running, all were good sized fish in great physical condition.
By mid-August, the run had slowed down quite a bit, low water & high-water temperatures most certainly did not help, but even so anglers where still reporting good fishing on a regular basis. By September the was a very good number of fish throughout the catchment, albeit resident fish which were difficult to catch. Nonetheless, anglers on the river where still happy with the season.
Over the past few years, the Nore would not be regarded as very productive sea trout fishery, but the last two years have shown a shift in the trend sea trout numbers – which have been getting better and better – and this season proved the same. There was some very good sea trout fishing on the lower Nore catchment particularly from Thomastown down to Inistioge. Local anglers have said that, in years gone by, sea trout fishing was very good on the Nore, but in recent times their numbers had declined dramatically. This season, as with last season, the anglers are very encouraged to see sea trout returning to the Nore in relatively good numbers.
Club chairman Brian Reidy reports on the final leg of the Galway Bay SAC Master Angler competition.
Traps set. Watching the rod tip on Lettergesh…
On a beautiful November day in Conamara we had our 5th and final leg of the Club league, the Master Angler 2021. Colin Harty was straight into fish with a fine double, a flounder 35 and turbot 23.
Colin Harty with a nice flounder
Brian had a counting turbot and John Cunningham had a blank first cast. But that was all to change as he almost reeled in a fish a cast for the next 2 hours. Colin stayed in touch with a fish here and there but Brian had nothing for well over an hour. He found the fish in the third hour and had a fish a cast but John was too far in the lead and his ten fish took the leg on 322 points.
John Cunningham with one of his catch
Brian was 2nd with 8 fish and 256 points and Colin third with 7 fish and 234 points. Biggest fish a flounder 36 cm Colin. Congrats John!
Brian Reidy presents John Cunningham with his winnings
Although John took the final leg, Brian had a good lead in the Master Angler standings, and his two wins and two top placings gave him overall victory, after many years of trying. A popular victory and well deserved. Well done Brian!
John Cunningham (orevious winner) presents Brian Reidy with the club Master Angler trophy.
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
