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Inland Fisheries Ireland seeks views on ways to improve Wild Salmon and Sea Trout Tagging Scheme

By
Sadhbh O'Neill
-

Inland Fisheries Ireland, the state agency that has responsibility for the protection and conservation of freshwater fish and habitats, has launched an important public consultation on the future management of the Wild Salmon and Sea Trout Tagging Scheme.

The state agency is encouraging anyone with an interest in the area to submit their views on how the tagging system, which started in 2001, can be improved and modernised. It is especially keen to hear from salmon and sea trout anglers, angling clubs, commercial fishermen and those businesses that distribute salmon and sea trout licences, such as fishing tackle shops.

The Wild Salmon and Sea Trout Tagging Scheme was set-up twenty years ago to record the issuing of wild salmon and sea trout licences, gill tags and logbooks to both recreational anglers and commercial fishermen and to process details of fish catches on a database for further analysis. It was part of a series of measures introduced to help with the management and conservation of Ireland’s wild salmon and sea trout populations, which have been in decline.

Figures from the 2020 Wild Salmon and Sea Trout Statistics Report show that 14,138 salmon and sea trout licences were sold to recreational anglers in the state last year, which were a mixture of virtual licences sold online and hard copy licences sold over the counter in shops. In addition, 78 public commercial licences were made available to commercial fishermen in 2020.

Inland Fisheries Ireland is now carrying out a review of the whole tagging system, to see how it can be made more user-friendly in the future and to ensure that it can provide the agency with real-time, accurate data to assist with the protection, management and conservation of wild salmon and sea trout.

Public Consultation on the future management of the Wild Salmon and Sea Trout Tagging Scheme – how the public can submit their views before the closing date of Wednesday, December 1st 2021 (at 5pm).

 

Dream piking in East Clare for USA visitors

By
Paul O'Reilly
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Dream pike

Damien Culliney of www.anglersparadise.ie had some friends over from the USA in search of Irish pike in the past week. Kimberly and Louis had never been fishing for pike before, so Damien decided that one of the many beautiful lakes in East Clare would be the perfect venue for them to break their duck.

They started off the day by casting lures into the shallows, where they had one or two half hearted jack attacks but no solid hook ups. After lunch Damien decided to move into deeper water and that’s when they started getting some better action.

The day finished up the with a few nice fish and was topped off with a fin perfect beauty of 107 cm and 20lb, which was a new PB for Louis. Not bad considering that this was his first Irish pike – he was understandably over the moon.

Louis and Kimberly with their prize pike
Dream pike

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.

Address: 7 Horseshoe Grove, Crusheen, Co. Clare.
Tel Mobile: +353 86 060 2718
Web: https://www.anglersparadise.ie/
Social: facebook.com/Anglersparadiseireland/
Email cullineydamo@gmail.com

Irish Angling Update – 15 October 2021

By
Shane O'Reilly
-
The end of a great day's fishing

As is often the case, the weather divided the country over the last week. Many counties on the Atlantic seaboard endured some very wet weather, with up to twice the average rainfall. At the same time, it was much drier than average for those situated on the eastern side of the island, with very little rain falling in most places. All the trees are now sporting their autumn livery, dappled with spectacular hues of orange, gold and yellow, but we’ve yet to endure any really harsh weather, as temperatures remain above average for this time of year, inviting us all to get out and enjoy the outdoors and, hopefully, cast a line or two…

And the mild weather we’ve had this October seems to be just the ticket for the blue shark patrolling our coasts, as Dungarvan Offshore Charters declared that late-season catches were as good as would be expected during the summer months. Dave Edwards from the Silver Dawn in Courtmacsherry seems to concur as he experienced similar success with the blues last week, and they continue to provide good fishing for anglers on days when bluefin tuna have been scarce. Closer inshore in West Cork, David Norman made the most of the calm spell to target bass and pollack from his kayak and some good fish were happy to oblige. John Fleming, skipper of the Brazen Hussy II, was also crediting the recent good weather for bringing the pollack back on the feed in Galway Bay, with the skipper even getting in on the act with a nice triple shot.

Skipper John shows how it’s done, catching pollack 3 at a time!

Down in Caherciveen, it was the return of good numbers of mackerel that got the fish in feeding mode as anglers on the Fuego caught some cracking pollock and ling. Meanwhile, up in Donegal, the bluefin tuna season is still tipping away with some nice catches last week, including one for an 83-year-old angler. Last but definitely not least (on the sea angling front), we have a potential Irish Record reported this week as Cork small boat specialist Jim Clohessy boated a fantastic 13lb 6oz stone basse. With the current Irish record standing at 11.72lb, Jim’s fish well exceeds that and will hopefully be certified as a new record by the Irish Specimen Fish Committee later this year. With a fish of that stamp, Jim easily romps home with our Catch of the Week award.

Jim with his 13lb 6oz potential record stone basse

Moving inland from the sea, it’s no surprise to see that pike angling is dominating most of our reports as October is generally considered one of the prime months for these freshwater predators. Lough Derg has been throwing up a pike or two of late, and a couple of French guests of TJ’s Angling Centre in Ballina enjoyed some fine fishing with pike to 105cm. Also on L. Derg, taking a break from the competition scene, Damien Culliney from Anglersparadise.ie had some great sport last Saturday with 12 fish to the boat, including three over the 100cm mark. Further upstream on the Shannon system, a few Belgian anglers staying in Melview Lodge with Kevin Lyons finished a week of fly fishing for pike in style with some great looking fish. And as the Belgians departed the midlands, the French moved in, and, luckily, the pike kept biting, giving them an encouraging start to their holiday. Over to the competition scene, the Romanian C&R Angling Association held the inaugural Pike Master Ireland competition, which was spread over multiple venues around the country. Fishing was tough as anglers had to deal with fog and then bright sunshine but the winners on the day managed 19 pike for 488cm.

Two happy clients of TJ’s Angling Centre

To coarse angling now, and as the season is winding down, there’s still some fish to be caught as the mild weather means that the fish have not yet headed for the deeps. Up in Melview Lodge, eager anglers couldn’t wait to get at their swims and managed some good bags of roach, bream, hybrids and a bonus tench. In Cork, anglers have been testing the waters in Inniscarra ahead of the Feederfest 2021, which will be held there next week. Catches have been steady, which should lead to a hotly contested match for the 70 anglers signed up to attend.

Melview Lodge guest with his catch of bream, hybrids, roach and tench

With the salmon and trout season finally over for another year, we have a couple of retrospectives as anglers look over the season that was. Donavin Brinklow reports on an overly dry season on the Erriff, where lack of rain hampered fishing for most of the year. The dry weather certainly didn’t put Tomi Kurmann off though, as the ferox trout specialist managed 122 trout over 65cm in what was an exceptional year. And staying with trout, long-time L. Mask angler Toby Gibbons sent us a report of his final couple of days on the lough, where he managed to land himself a fish of a lifetime trout of 9lb 5oz on a Yellow Octopus.

Toby with his super 9lb+ trout

In other news, Inland Fisheries Ireland are looking for submissions from interested parties regarding the proposed introduction of a bye-law to protect one of our most threatened freshwater species: the Arctic Char. And finally, we would like to remind all salmon and sea trout anglers that their Salmon & Sea Trout angling logbooks are now due for return.

And now the weather

Outbreaks of rain will move southwards from Ulster tonight into parts of north Leinster and Connacht, but the rest of the country will stay mostly dry. It will remain dry for the most part tomorrow with good patches of sunshine, particularly in the north of the country with temperatures of 10-14 degrees and possibly even 16 degrees in Munster. Saturday will be wet and breezy, but this will clear to a mix of cloud and sunny spells on Sunday. This unsettled pattern will continue into early next week, but temperatures will remain milder than average for this time of year.

Safe fishing to all and tight lines, especially here in Ireland.

Shane O’Reilly
Catch, Photo, Release

If you have an angling story to share with the Irish Angling Update please send it to reports@fisheriesireland.ie.

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    Calm spell makes for good kayak fishing in West Cork

    By
    Paul O'Reilly
    -

    David Norman of West Cork Bass reports that the recent calm spell delivered some fine fishing in beautiful West Cork.

    Surface lure fishing by kayak for bass was steady with plenty of mid sized fish and the kayak pollock fishing was some of the best he’d ever experienced in terms of size and numbers.

    David says that he has never seen so many large fish on his screen, with many good fish more than willing to put a maximum bend in his lure and fly rods!

    Although the bass fishing will probably start to taper off soon, he expects the kayak pollock fishing on fly and lure to be strong during the calm spells for the next couple of months and maybe longer…

    David still has some free dates available for one to one guided kayak fishing this year so give him a call…

    Bluefin season tipping along nicely in Donegal Bay

    By
    Shane O'Reilly
    -

    The bluefin tuna season is still tipping along in the Donegal Bay area with a few of the licenced boats reporting decent fishing. Ewings Sea Angling and Boat Charters had a super fish of 510lb on Tuesday this week and lost another nice fish on the same day. A couple of days earlier anglers on Tuna.ie managed 5 fish to the boat including one for an 83-year-old angler who must have had his Weetabix for breakfast that morning. Killybegs Fishing Trips has also been in amongst the tuna this week with a lively 220lb fish reported.

     

    Proposed conservation byelaw prohibiting angling for Arctic Char

    By
    Sadhbh O'Neill
    -

    Public consultation: have your say before November 16th

    Inland Fisheries Ireland has launched a public consultation on the proposed introduction of a conservation byelaw, prohibiting angling for Arctic Char.

    This public consultation opened on Thursday, October 14th 2021 and closes on Tuesday, November 16th 2021 at 5:00pm.

    Inland Fisheries Ireland is seeking submissions from interested parties in relation to the proposed introduction of a conservation byelaw prohibiting angling for, killing or retention of Arctic Char (Salvelinus alpinus) from any waters of the State.

    The proposal currently under consideration is:

    to request the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, to introduce a conservation byelaw prohibiting any person from taking, or attempting to take, an Arctic Char (Salvelinus alpinus), by means of any fishery engine or rod and line from the waters of the State and to prohibit killing, retention or possession of Arctic Char.

    All submissions must be marked ‘Public consultation – Proposed prohibition of angling for Arctic Char’ and must be received in writing by 5 pm on Tuesday 16th November 2021.

    Written submissions can either be emailed to ArcticChar@fisheriesireland.ie or can be posted to this address: Inland Fisheries Ireland, Station Road, Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal, F94 WV76

    All valid submissions will be published on the Inland Fisheries Ireland website at www.fisheriesireland.ie

    Additional Note about the Arctic Char

    The Arctic Char is a glacial relict fish species, native to Ireland, which is currently classified in the Irish Red Data Book as vulnerable due to a range of anthropogenic and environmental pressures such as water abstraction, eutrophication, climate change and introduction of non-native fish species. More information about the Arctic Char can be found on Inland Fisheries Ireland’s website here

    Good mix of species for Fuego

    By
    Paul O'Reilly
    -

    Des O’Connell of the charter boat Fuego in Caherciveen reports that he had good ling fishing at the weekend along with another fifteen or so species recorded, including pollack up to double figures.

    Des says that the mackerel have returned and there is a lot of activity on the surface close inshore as the tuna are back too. Sea conditions have been testing with big swells at times – but that just makes the fishing more interesting!!

     

    Fuego

    Ocean Tramp 37′. 370HP Cummins
    Skipper: Des O’Connell
    Licence: 562
    Base: Caherciveen Operational Area: Up to 30 miles from Caherciveen, Knightstown and Portmagee.

    Notes: Deep sea fishing around Dingle Bay, the Skelligs and Blasket Islands. All types of fishing catered for – conger, ling, pollack, garfish and many more species. Can take 10 anglers comfortably. Half day fishing trips and mackerel trips also available.

    Address: Caherciveen Marina, Co. Kerry.
    Telephone +353 87 2843283
    Email: desfishing@yahoo.ie
    Web: kerryseaanglingcharters.com/

    Pike Master Ireland results

    By
    Paul O'Reilly
    -

    The Romanian C&R Angling Association held the inaugural Pike Master Ireland event on Sunday October 10th where some 66 anglers in 33 boats spread over 15 different venues took part.

    Anglers were spread all across the country: Lough Derg, Lough Ree, Lough Erne, Lough Sillan, Keeldra Lough, Lough Gara, Lough Gortnacorragh, Lough Ross, Whitewood Lake, Loughanilloon, Lough Sheelin, Lough Ramor and different sections of the River Shannon, including Clonmacnoise and Shannonbridge, all featured.

    The day started mild, very thick fog in places and little or no wind at all. When the fog and early morning mists lifted, the sun came out in most places and made the challenge of becoming Pike Master Ireland for 2021 even more difficult.

    Despite the weather conditions, some teams cracked the code and managed to still catch decent specimens, including a magnificent albino pike.

    The podium after a tough day’s fishing was:
    1. Team Polish Predator Hunters Ireland 488cm
    2. Team Boat Junkies 449cm
    3. Team Banner Pike Anglers 429cm
    Longest Pike:
    • Team Get The Net 105cm

    Scores were managed using the Score Fishing App

    Full results below

     

    Incredible Ferox Season For Tomi On Corrib

    By
    Kevin Crowley
    -
    Man in boat holding huge trout

    Big fish guide Tomi Kurman may be still out targeting big pike, but he wrote a round-up of what was an epic trout season for him and his guests on Lough Corrib, despite the spring lockdown which meant no fishing for a long part of the early season. Tomi and his partner also welcomed a new arrival in July (congrats guys!) which meant another break from fishing!

    May be an image of 1 person and body of water

    Over to Tomi:

     

    So that’s it! 2021 TROUT SEASON is now over. And what an exceptional Season it was. Exceptional and strange at the same time. Season started on February 15th but because of the travel restrictions (Covid-19) we were unable to venture to the real Ferox grounds until April 13th…. Then in July we had a break from fishing for just over a month due to a new family arrival and also temperatures were too extreme for safe fishing. Ferox welfare is always my priority so we just stepped back for a while. At the beginning of August we were back in action again, and I think the Ferox appreciated that move because they were happily visiting my boat in numbers…

    May be an image of 1 person and body of water

     

    My official scorefor the Season is now 122 Trout over 65cm. The magical number 100 was boated on 22nd of August and that was a huge achievement…. When I started count I was hoping for 50!  We have also caught a lot fish which just missed the count because they were a little too small, but they were there too.

     

    May be an image of 2 people and body of water

    in total we hunted Ferox over 42 days (some full days, some mixed with pike, some just short sessions due to the bad weather). Out of 42 days we blanked 8 times. That meant we have not caught fish, we lost fish, or we caught one too small for the count… that makes an average catch rate of 3 Ferox per day over total days or 3.6 Ferox over the day which made the count! This season we have missed the best of brown trout fishing, when normally we would have days with 30-40 wild trout caught PER DAY, but I’m sure we will have a go at them next year.

    May be an image of 1 person and body of waterThe biggest fishof the Season was 91cm, and over 20lbs beauty, followed by two different fish measured at 89.5cm (90cm is a Holly Grail of any Ferox angler!) another exceptional fish was 85cm and weighed at 18lb 12oz! A future record for sure!!! From 122 Ferox over 65cm, we have produced 38 SPECIMENS by length (>75cm) or 45 SPECIMENS by weight (>10lb) according to Irish Specimen Fish requirements.

    May be an image of 1 person and body of water

    Along with the great trout catches we also had some BIG pike, where current count is 40 fish over 100cm! (Season for pike still runs). Some of them caught as “by catch” while trout fishing and some as a result of planned targeting….Now enjoy a collection of some notable catches and if you want to be included in Next Season COUNT just drop me a line. Bookings for next season are open for February and March for now. Following months will be open after New Year, to accommodate corporate and regular bookings and also after dates of big Fishing Competitions and World Championships are announced.

    May be an image of 1 person, body of water and text that says 'MUSTO @TomiGuidedFishing Guided Fishing'

    Go Fishing

    Check out Tomi’s Facebook page here for regular updates and contact details:

    www.facebook.com/tomi.guidedfishing

    Better weather brings great pollack fishing in Galway Bay

    By
    Kevin Crowley
    -
    A nice pollack

    After a weather-enforced break, John Fleming had the Brazen Hussy II out again over the weekend in much better conditions. Guests enjoyed great pollack fishing on the reefs, with some wrasse too, and one angler even had a surprise tope.

     

    A nice pollack
    Pollack
    Cuckoo Wrasse
    A fine tope
    Skipper John shows how it’s done, catching pollack 3 at a time!

    Go fishing…

    To book fishing with John aboard the Brazen Hussy II, give him a call on 087 7571320

    A regular day is between 9am- 6pm from either Rossaveal, Spiddal or Galway depending on species being sought after. Fishing on the inshore reefs for pollock, cod, ling, wrasse, conger eel and mackerel can be reached in 10 minutes from departure, while our offshore reef marks are within 45 minutes of departure. Our ground fishing for tope, spurdog, ray, bullhuss, turbot, plaice and the giant common skate can all be reached within the hour which ensures the most amount of time is spent fishing.
    The shark season usually starts at the end of June and runs into late October, this is the ultimate angling adrenaline rush with these hard fighting blue and porbeagle sharks all being tagged and released safely.
    Package deals available

    Address: Baile an tSagairt, Spiddal, Co. Galway.
    Telephone: +353 (0)87 7571320
    Facebook: www.facebook.com/BlueSharkAngling

    Blue Shark Angling Galway,
    Phone John Fleming : +353 (0)87 7571320

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