Damien Culliney from Anglersparadise.ie reports on two great days of leisure fishing on Lough Derg Derg last Friday and Saturday. Friday was windy, but despite the tough conditions, produced some good fish. But things seemed to switch on on the Saturday with over 12 fish to the boat, 4 of them were over 100 cm and 3 of them over the magic 20lb. The Boot Tail from Castaic lures was the winning lure of the day. Great to see the fish in such great condition and they all went back fighting fit.
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Go Fishing
Anglers Paradise Ireland
Trout and Pike Guide
Anglers Paradise Ireland is owned and managed by Damien Culliney, a well-known angler and chef in the Clare region and a man passionate about the inland waterways and natural history of County Clare. At Angler’s Paradise, we love the thrill of Game fishing and Pike fishing in equal measure and can take our clients to some of Europe’s most unspoilt rivers and lakes in search of trophy predators and the realisation of their angling dreams.
French Anglers Pascal, Alain, Gerard and Dominique who are regulars to Ireland and Melview Fishing Lodge have had a great start to their holiday, they are using both lures and dead baits and we will have a full report and catch up with them again next week to see how they finished up.
Alain with his firstDominique braving the weather for this pikeGerard all smiles with his pike
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.
Cedric and Frauke from Belgium who we reported on last week at the beginning of their holiday had a great finish to their week. Uusing fly only they managed to bring some lovely pike to the boat. Cedric’s uncle had his own boat fishing with lures also managed to catch some good pike.
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.
Clive and Kevin were up at Melview Fishing Lodge in Longford for a couple of days for some Bream fishing, Host Kevin showed them a venue on their arrival which they began fishing straight away. That evening they prebaited the swim and returned the next morning, feeder fishing at 25 / 30 yards they were rewarded for their efforts with Bream, Hybrids lots of Roach and some bonus Tench. Well done guys!
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.
This past week saw a further drop in temperatures with heavy rain and thunderstorms bringing substantial flooding to many parts of the country making freshwater fishing quite challenging. Sea angling, however, was equally challenging due to strong and gusty winds which prevailed for most of the week. These poor angling conditions are also reflected in a lack of angling reports this week.
Inland Fisheries Ireland would like to take this opportunity to remind all salmon and sea trout anglers to return their 2021 angling logbooks.
Salmon anglers are looking back on the 2021 season…
The trout season has also come to an end on quite a number of fisheries like Lough Conn in County Mayo where anglers experienced difficult fishing in tough conditions.
Trout rods on Lough Conn have been stored away for another season
While most brown trout fishing is closed, the many stocked rainbow trout fisheries such as Ardaire Springs in Co. Kilkenny provide ample opportunities for keen fly anglers during the winter months.
Glenda Powell & Julie McGeever at the Fish-Live-Learn event held at Ardaire Springs
When the game angling season closes, many anglers will draw their attention on pike fishing, and the month of of October is considered by many as one of the prime times for pike fishing. While we heard of some good fly fishing for pike to be enjoyed in the Boyle area, this week’s focus is on a number of pike angling competitions which took place in recent days.
Starting in the Midlands, The Lough Ree International Pike Festival & World Cup was held last week, and it saw a couple of hundred of Ireland’s top pike anglers descend on the lake for three days of hot competition.
Damien Culliney with a 106cm pike caught during the Lough Ree Festival
Staying in the “Hidden Heartlands”, The Irish Federation of Pike Angling Clubs reported that Ireland came out on top in a recent international competition fished on the River Shannon that pitted teams from the UK and Ireland against each other.
Over to coarse fishing where Abbey Lodge in Leitrim welcomed some British anglers to fish in the Ballinamore/Fenagh area over the past couple of weeks. And judging by the comments left on their Facebook site, the anglers went home pleasantly surprised by the quality of fishing they encountered.
Quality bags from Leitrim
The stormy weather didn’t just impact on freshwater fishing, it also meant that sea angling was slower than usual for this time of year. However, Kit Dunne from Wicklow Boat Charters says the tope fishing is going better than usual for this late in the season with plenty of action for his anglers.
Fine East Coast tope
Killybegs Mariners SAC member, Peter McGroary, has proven over the last few months that good size tope and specimen smooth-hounds can also be caught from the shore which makes our Catch of the Week!
Specimen smooth-hound for Peter McGroary
After a longer period of poor weather and poorer fishing, bluefin boats were back to normal for a while in Donegal Bay making good use of a short break in the weather, while stately sized pollack were also reported from the northwest coast.
Great catch for solo bluefin angler Steffen Binz aboard ‘Deep Blue’
Finally, a great round of applause for the Irish anglers who topped the charts at the E.F.S.A. European Shore Angling Championships which were held last week in Kilmuckridge, Co. Wexford. A great achievement and well done!
Great success for Irish anglers at the E.F.S.A. Shore Angling Championships
And now the weather
Tonight, persistent and heavy rain in the west, will gradually extend eastwards to all areas with a clearance moving into western areas towards morning. Tomorrow morning, a clearance to drier conditions with sunny spells in the west will extend eastwards through the morning and early afternoon as the rain moves into the Irish Sea with some patchy drizzle following. Highest temperatures of 15 to 18 degrees with light to moderate northwesterly breezes developing.
The outlook for the coming week, however, will see largely settled weather but temperatures will be cooler than in recent days. A good deal of dry weather is expected as high pressure builds up over Ireland.
Salmon and Sea Trout Anglers who fished during the 2021 season are being asked to please return their logbooks and any unused gill tags.
Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) is encouraging salmon and sea trout anglers to return angling logbooks (setting out their fishing and catch record) and any unused gill tags from 2021 licences.
Under the Wild Salmon and Sea Trout Tagging Scheme, anglers can return these in one of three ways:
Using the postage pre-paid business return envelope that was supplied at the time of licence purchase (preferred option).
Posting the logbook and unused gill tags to the IFI office address that is displayed on their licence or logbook.
Scanning and emailing logbook and licence documents to [email protected] (please scan all sides of documents, including continuation pages, to ensure that the licence names and number can be correctly linked to the logbook).
On average, 70% of anglers in Ireland return their logbooks and these returns provide vital information regarding the status and management of our wild Atlantic Salmon and Sea Trout stocks into the future.
What an exciting and inspirational day at Ardaire Springs Angling Centre! The very first Fish-Live-Learn ladies meeting with Glenda Powell took place last weekend. Casting and fishing skills were improved with tuition, fish were caught and friendships formed.
Cold north westerly winds and thunder showers really kicked in suddenly for the last few days of the trout season. Unlike the salmon rivers, only a small number of anglers ventured out for a last cast.
Brothers John and Liam Reilly from Clare fished for two days out of Cloonamoyne Fishery with Ian Wise. Over the two days they encountered a handful of fish and had 3 trout to the boat, all around the 1 lb. mark on claret bumbles. All fish were released.
Sean Mc Nulty and Patrick Coyle from Dublin fished out of Massbrook and had 4 trout all on the dry Daddy Longlegs. Three of the fish were released.
Elaine Molloy and Gerard Thompson from Mullingar had 3 trout, all released on Bumbles and Dabblers at Cormorant Rocks.
Recently retired Peter Roche from Cloghans, came up trumps on the last day of season in Massbrook Bay with a nice 1.5 lbs. trout on a dry Devaux Sedge, later released.
A 1.5 lbs. trout caught by Peter Roche, Cloghans in Massbrook Bay on a dry Devaux Sedge
The final four days of the season saw big changes in temperatures down to between 10˚ and 12˚ Celsius with heavy thunder showers bringing floods to the catchment. Water levels at Ballylahan Bridge on Monday morning stood at 0.591M and rose to 1.194M by Thursday night. However, the Moy saw a surge of extra anglers casting a line for the last few days producing good results.
Considering the long drought conditions during the summer, it was a fairly good season for anglers on the Moy with a reported catch well in excess of 6000 salmon for the year!
Ballina Salmon Anglers reported 30 salmon caught for the last few days, with approximately 10 fish released.
Colin Rea from Northern Ireland finishes the season off with a smile on Ballina Salmon Waters
Mount Falcon Fishery reported 29 salmon caught with 7 released.
Knockmore Salmon Anglers reported 4 salmon, all caught spinning.
Coolcronan Fishery had 9 salmon mostly caught spinning.
Byrne’s Fishery reported 6 fish all on caught on the prawn.
Armstrong’s Fishery reported 8 for the last 4 days.
Gannon’s Fishery produced 11 salmon for last few days.
Foxford Fishery reported 3 salmon, caught on the fly for the last days of the season.
Foxford Salmon Anglers reported 34 salmon caught, all on the prawn.
Reports from the Cloongee Fishery suggest that 5 salmon were caught, all on the spinner.
East Mayo Anglers produced 15 salmon of which 13 were released.
After a longer period of poor weather and poorer fishing, bluefin boats were back to normal for a while in Donegal Bay.
Ewing’s Sea Angling & Boat Charters fishing out of Rosses Point, Co. Sligo reported some nice fish caught and tagged by their clients, while tuna.ie had plenty bluefin tuna to the boat for solo angler Steffen Binz and ‘Deep Blue’ skipper Adrian Molloy. The fish were ranging between 160 lbs. and 400 lbs.
A happy “solo” bluefin angler Steffen Binz aboard ‘Deep Blue’
Wildatlanticwayangling were also back on the water. Leah-C had the Marine Institute on board again with another 12 fish caught and tagged with satellite tags and biological samples taken for further research into these majestic fish. That is 22 bluefin caught and released for the Marine Institute on board Leah-C this season.
Marine Institute staff tagging and measuring onboard Leah-C
Bluefin tuna angling has become very popular and most boats are heavily booked for the remainder of this year’s tuna season. However, it is worth checking for free places if you fancy catching a fish of a lifetime… A list of all certified bluefin tuna boats is available here.
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.
