After weeks of great tuna cation, Killybegs Fishing Trips report a great start to October with big pollack for anglers onboard Fiona Tee. Robertas and crew managed to catch a number of excellent pollack in exceptionally tough weather conditions!
Big Donegal pollackTough conditions in Donegal Bay
Fair play to the lads battling through these conditions but they got well rewarded!
Go fishing….
Fiona Tee
33′ Interceptor. 300HP Caterpillar Skipper: Michael McGettigan Licence: 961 Base: Mullaghmore Operational area: Donegal Bay. Within 30 miles of land.
Notes: With over 40 years experience in Sea Angling in Donegal Bay, we bring you to the best locations and guarantee the best that angling in Donegal Bay has to offer. The MV Fiona Tee is equipped with all the latest technology ensuring all our fishing charters are monitored and offer real time tracking. We are also fully equipped with the latest in onboard safety equipment.
Killybegs Mariners SAC report some unbelievable fishing over the last few months on the local Donegal bay marks for for club member Peter McGroary.
Peter had lots of shore caught tope to 39 lbs. and was also enjoying the smooth-hound run managing an Irish specimen sized smooth-hound from the beach. Great stuff and well done!
Irish specimen sized smooth-hound for PeterDonegal beach-caught topeAnother tope for PeterSmooth-hound
All images courtesy of Killybegs Mariners SAC.
Mariners sea angling club Killybegs Co Donegal. The club runs a shore league and boat competitions and angling trips around Ireland doing the sport we love. Get in touch at www.facebook.com/mariner.sac
The E.F.S.A. European Shore Angling Championships were held last week in Kilmuckridge, Co. Wexford. The three day event was fished on a range of beaches in the (this time not so) “Sunny Southeast”.
The first day of the event saw tough conditions with a top score of 8 fish. On day tow, conditions improved considerably, but it was clearly a day for the distance casters.
On day three, however, the Irish anglers topped the charts and 31 flounders for Paul Whelan won him the zones and overall individual winner! Also a great result for the Irish A team (Shay O Neill, John Hughes, Stephen Glynn, Michael Quinn and Paul Whelan) taking top spot overall! Congratulations also to Anne Whitty on her fantastic achievement at the E.F.S.A. European Shore Angling Championships winning a total of 4 medals (Gold Ladies Winner, Gold 1st 2 Man Team, Gold 1st 4 man Team & Silver 2nd Senior) and finishing 10th overall! Well done!
A proud Anne Whitty with her four medals at the European Championships
As another season has passed, David McEvoy rounded up the final few weeks of the season on Delphi, with a look back at 2021 overall.
“I don’t think I can say I’m sorry to see the end of the 2021 fishing season. It has been an amazing, crazy, whatever you want to call it two years. I’ve dwelt enough on it in the past but I hope at this stage that all these lockdowns are confined to history and 2022 can be a normal fishing season, without interruption.
As is often the case the first half of August was very productive, which was especially true this year as it was the first few days in the month before we got rain. As reported in my last update we had plenty water up until the 15th and then the fine weather returned, with only 34.8mms for the remainder of the month. As a result, the fishing slowed down, with only another 21 fish landed. 7 of these were taken in week 33, with William Beattie, Jim Wilson, Teddy Coulter, Jim Carolan and Seamus McEvoy all scoring. There were 6 in week 34, with John Moran, the Lucas brothers and Pat Horkan landing fish. There were 8 more landed for the rest of the month by the Lucas brothers, Teddy Coulter, Jasper Mathews, Bruce Williamson and Sjoukje Williamson-Verf. That brought our total for the month to 99 which is the highest since 2008.
In September, despite relatively good conditions, fish seemed to get the August Blues with only 12 landed up to and including the 29th. Father and son duo of Florian and Marc Demanet had fish early in the month, while Brendan Wilson, Terry Bradley, Ed Caffrey, Jack Browne, Robbie Scott, Stephen Hegarty, Charles Hardinge all landed fish, while Niall Tierney managed to land his first ever on the 11th. The 30th was an all-method day which saw 18 landed, with fish being landed by the Carroll and Heneghan families, Michael O’ Kane, Heather Ritchie, Seamus McEvoy and a first ever for Cian O’Malley. Weather conditions on the day were wet, wet , wet, not unusual for the final day!”
Daragh Heneghan with a nice fish, lifted for a quick photo before release.
That brought our total for the month to 30 and 301 for the year which, was not bad, considering we lost the first few months due to lockdown and then our weather in the main grilse run, with water temperatures reaching 25.5 degrees made salmon angling extremely difficult. Sea trout were yet again disappointing, the final figure which I will have in the annual newsletter. Until then thanks to all for your support and patience.
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. Great to see plenty of big bags and smiling faces!
Pascal Brissaud from Watermill Fishing Lodge has been hosting and assisting in some pike angling competitions in the past week.
First out were the Upper Erne Predator Challenge and fishing was slow enough, with no real monsters caught. The eventual winner was Joe McDermott with a 16lb pike.
Joe with the winning pike
Following that, the Monser Pike club spent a couple of days fishing Lough Erne and they also found the fishing tough. They managed plenty of 90+ pike but none over the magic 100. Simon Thompson won out overall with a fish of 98cm.
With the advance of autumn, I’m sure it won’t be long before the big ones are back on the feed and we get some reports of some of the monsters we all know are lurking in L. Erne!
The Irish Federation of Pike Angling Clubs report that Ireland came out on top in the recent international competition that pitted teams from the Uk and Ireland against each other. The competition was based out of Strokestown with the two teams of 10 anglers travelling to the River Shannon to fish. It was a two-day event and Ireland were slightly behind after day 1 but put in a mammoth performance on day 2 of the competition to come out easy winners in the end. The final score was Ireland 583lb – Great Britain 435lb. There were some great weights turned in at the event but the top angler went to Jody Kiernan with a catch of over 92lb.
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. The festival is usually run in the spring but had to be postponed due to the Covid travel restrictions in place at the time. Luckily the fish were not put off by the delay and there were plenty of +100cm pike landed over during the festival.
It’s a team event and anglers have to register their best pike each day over the three days of fishing. It is run on a Catch & Release basis with each fish being photographed on a measuring mat. This year Anthony Scanlon and Ollie Gilleran came out on top with lengths of 105, 110 and 103cm giving a combined length of 318cm. The longest pike of the festival went to Karol Schmiel with a cracker of 110.5cm
The festival will revert to its usual spring time slot next year so competitors won’t have too long to wait before they are back on the water again!
Damien Culliney with a 106cm pikeChris Barry with a nice trout, but unfortunately not a counter in this competition…
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. It seems that fresh mackerel is key to ensure good catches as the frozen stuff wasn’t nearly as productive. There probably won’t be too many more weeks to experience this type of fishing so pick up the phone an book a day out before it’s all over for the season…
1 of 3
Fine East Coast tope
Nice East Coast tope
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 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 methods of angling.
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.
As we neared the end of September and the end of the game season, the weather too reminded us of the change in seasons. Windy, showery weather came in with a bang, signalling the return of Atlantic weather patterns and autumn storms. While salmon and trout anglers will be looking back on a season to remember (or forget!), many more will be looking forward to the fishing opportunities that autumn brings. Who knows what fish will be at the end of that rainbow? (That one was a bass, by the way!)
Well. the game angling season is over for 2021. Many fisheries were busy over the last week. Rain and cooler conditions brought welcome conditions for many salmon anglers keen to get out before closing day. Unfortunately, that probably means many of our reporters were out too, and it will be next week when we start to see round-up reports of the season. The only report in was of excellent trout fishing from Lough Currane for visiting anglers from the UK.
The fish, meanwhile, have their minds on other things, namely finding a mate and spawning over the next couple of months. We wish them every success!
For now, it’s time to sort the game fishing gear for winter storage, tidy up tackle boxes and for many, get the fly tying desk set up again. But don’t forget, just because the game season is finished, that doesn’t mean there aren’t many more fishing opportunities still available. I’m certainly hoping to target a few bass over the coming weeks.
Specimens
Sea angling is still providing excellent sport at this time of year. East coast anglers have enjoyed great tope fishing with Wicklow Charters, while blue shark were feeding hard in West Cork. There were some fantastic bass for one specimen hunter in Waterford, a fine 70cm bass for kayak anglers in Cork, and a monster mullet for another in West Cork, both of which were front runners for Catch of the Week, but we plumped for the big mullet!
Catch of the Week. A cracking specimen mullet of 7lbs 13oz for Jim Murray
The cooler conditions sill suit pike anglers, and many pike anglers will be looking forward to good autumn sport. Belgian visitors certainly had good sport with quite a few pike on the fly in Co. Longford.
Coarse angling festivals and competitions are also in full swing at the moment. Fish are clearly in the mood too, judging by the incredible weights caught at the Cootehill Festival, where Tony Hopkins was a worthy winner.
With autumn well in now, remember to wrap up well to make the most of those fishing opportunities. Nothing spoils a trip like being cold or wet, and remember, there’s no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing!
And now the weather
Fresh and blustery today with a mix of sunshine and showers. Some of the showers will be heavy with a chance of hail and isolated thunderstorms, mainly over the northern half of the country. Highest temperatures ranging 11 to 14 degrees in fresh to strong and gusty westerly winds.
Outbreaks of rain will clear eastwards during Saturday with a mix of sunny spells and scattered showers following from the west. Some heavy bursts of rain are expected with a chance of hail and isolated thunderstorms. Top temperatures of 10 to 13 degrees in fresh and gusty west or southwest winds.
Sunday looks set to be a fresh and blustery day with showery outbreaks of rain spreading eastwards over the country at times. There’ll be some dry and bright periods also. Highest temperatures of 10 to 14 degrees in fresh to strong and gusty westerly winds.
Monday and Tuesday also look blustery, with a spell of heavy rain crossing the south on Monday, but drier on Tuesday, with just a few showers.
The further outlook is very uncertain, with extra-tropical storms in the Atlantic possibly coming close to Ireland, but even if they don’t it looks set to remain unsettled.
