With the tides dropping over the last few days bass fishing was never going to be easy this week. Even at a time of year when bass can be more inclined to follow and chase lures rather than hit them hard, they were very conspicuous by their absence on the Boyne Estuary and surrounding coastline so far this week. Six anglers fished the estuary on Monday did not produce a single fish from Mornington and Baltray to near Queensboro. This was despite reasonably clear water, overcast day and a good strong breeze. Winds have now gone around to the west.
There had been reasonable bass fishing on the estuary in August but so far it has failed to get going in September. Further north along the Louth coastline things are just as tough with only a few small fish reported. Hopefully, things will improve again over the next week as the tides start to build from Friday.
Louth bass anglers are not alone though and a number of very accomplished anglers also experienced very tough fishing on the south coast. Even when tides were better. We will keep you posted and hope to have better news when the next reports are received.
Romanian C&R Angling Association are hosting the Pike Master Ireland event again this year. This is a boat team event and teams can fish any water in Ireland lake or river (once they have permission or permits of course!).
Last year the competition was organised to allow anglers who could not travel due to Covid restrictions to still take part. Registered anglers could fish any waters in their area and using the Score Fishing app their scores would be counted. This was a great success so the format remains pretty unchanged for 2021.
The price of a ticket is €70 per boat and there will be 90% pay out, based on 50 boats/100 anglers participating
€1300 First place
€975 Second place
€650 Third place
Biggest fish €100Voucher @BaracudaFishingTackleShop
10/9/2021 The Currane Anglers were all quiet on the Western front this day. Wind NW light with reasonable cloud cover.
11/9/2021 I think Currane anglers were concentrating more on the All Ireland Final than manipulating flies and lures this day as they watched the Red hands of Tyrone made sure the so called curse of Mayo continues as they went down by 2-14 to Mayo’s 0-15 if this was a Currane fishing result there would be a good few Currane Anglers smiling. Wind NW light with reasonable cloud cover.
12/9/2021 All quiet in all departments so on that note we will head for an article on escapes well worth clicking. Wind ENE light and variable and overcast.
13/9/2021 The Currane anglers were all quiet on all fronts. Wind ESE light to fresh and variable, followed by light and heavy rain throughout the day.
Lough Currane, 14 September 2021
14/9/2021 Straight to today’s facts, firstly there was a good flood last night, so one doesn’t need be a rocket engineer to know the C&R Inny anglers were manipulating their skills this day and here is some of today’s C&R Inny action, there were four Salmon caught on the fly and one on the spin.
Now we head for Lough Currane, there were 5 boats out and there was a mixture of Juniors and Brown Trout caught on the drift. Wind light to calm NNW with reasonable cloud cover in the morning as you can see by the picture but come early afternoon their was a fair bit of bright sunshine.
The rivers and lakes of Waterville drain a large catchment and are regarded by many as the foremost Salmon and Sea-Trout fishery in the country. The lake system is well developed with access to boats and guides being readily available to the tourist angler. The Sea-Trout caught here are renowned for their size and quantity. For more details see
The Irish Feedermasters final was held last Sunday, Sept 12th, on the Concra Wood section of Lough Muckno in County Monaghan.
Practice sessions earlier in the week saw all weights in excess of 14kgs with a number in the 17kgs and 18kgs bracket, so prospects were good for the participating anglers. Having analysed end peg trends in recent matches, organisers decided to negate that element by placing ‘blockers’ at either end of the competing anglers, so volunteers Peter Walsh and Andy Chapman acted as the blockers on pegs 48 and 93.
Peg 50 was not well fancied peg, known for being quite rocky, but that is where formidable angler Philip Jackson ground out a winning weight of just under 13kgs made up of 165 fish and topped up by some decent skimmers in the last hour.
Jacko and his winning haul
Damien Foltyn was just grams adrift and inaugural winner Rory Dunne also finished just short from the most difficult area on the stretch. A strong showing from Piotr Horbinski saw him capture 4th place, followed closely by Nigel Houldsworth in 5th, while the final Podium place went to Arthur Craznoski.
What a venue
Well done to all the winners on truly deserved wins, following some very tightly contested qualifiers. The presentation was held in the open air at the car park opposite Old Coach Inn in Castleblaney.
Lanesborough/Ballyleague was the starting point for the annual Lough Ree International Pike Classic on Saturday the 11th and Sunday 12th of September. This angling competition was held with the support of the Camlin and District Angling Club and Lough Ree/Lanesborough Angling Hub and made history with the presence of two anglers with disability in a boat for the first time.
This event has grown in popularity over the past five years and this year had 78 boats and 158 anglers coming from all over the country and abroad to take part, but this year the presence of wheelchair users Dorothy Coyle and Joe Donlon was the headline.
Lough Ree and the Shannon River is an excellent venue for this competition giving the anglers a large area in which to fish and offers a wide range of deep areas and shallow bays giving anglers lots of choice and suits a variety of angling methods. Both the weather and fishing conditions were good over the weekend and as expected a lot of fish were caught with all boats registering catches.
A Lough Ree classic
The organisers operate a strict catch and release policy with minimal disturbance to the fish. The angers photograph their catch on specially designed measuring boards and the fish are released immediately in the same area they were caught. The adjudicators then view the photographs with the anglers having the longest five fish over the two days deemed the winners.
Fishing aside, this was the first competition the Camlin Anglers have helped organise since before the Covid 19 pandemic called a halt to everything. It was fantastic to meet up with old friends again and it added an extra buzz to the whole experience.
Phil Gordon of the Lough Ree Angling hub said the festival could not have taken place without the sponsorship and support of Inland Fisheries Ireland and Roscommon county council. “This was a red letter couple of days for our hub” he said, “it’s the first time we have had two competitors in their wheelchairs and they thoroughly enjoyed it. This is equality at last for people with disability and we would like to thank the crew of the Lough Ree Access For All boat for their help and cancelling their weekend sailings.”
Dorothy Coyle and Joe Donlon aboard the Lough Ree Access For All Boat with skipper and crew
The prize fund over the two days was €10,000 and overall winners of the event, Lukasz Sankiewicz and Peter Kaczmarek, collected the first prize of €2,500 euro for the 2nd time in the history of the event. The pair are regular participants at festivals here and paid tribute to the fishery’s performance over the last ten years.
Winners Lukasz and Peter with Aaron Carr – chairman of the Camlin Angling Club and member of the Lough Ree Angling hub
For further information please contact Philip Gordon, [email protected]
Alek Nowak reports on the antics of Jonasz and Miłosz, nature fanatics turned fishing fanatics and their last sea fishing trip…
Last Saturday we’ve ventured out to Dun Laoghaire Harbour for a mini species hunt. Armed in two light pole rods (with tiny float rigs) and a humble dropshot set up, me and my two sons, Jonasz (9) and Miłosz (6), managed to catch (and release) six different species in one afternoon sitting:
2 Ballan wrasses
9 picturesque corkwing wrasses
8 uncommonly audacious common blennies
1 tremendously handsome long-spined sea scorpion
5 ubiquitous whitings and
3 very pretty, yet surprisingly brave poor cods
There was also a by-catch of quite massive velvet crab, hooked by mistake by one of his joints, and unluckily landed a bit too hard on the concrete. Stunned and missing one leg, yet still deadly dangerous (by the look of his eyes at least) was quickly sent back home.
1 of 6
One of 9 picturesque corkwing wrasses and a sea scorpion
1 tremendously handsome long-spined sea scorpion
A very pretty, yet surprisingly brave poor cods with that tremendously handsome long-spined sea scorpion and
The Deadly Dangerous Velvet Swimming crab - he's a biter!
Uncommonly audacious common blennies
Ballan wrasse looks on as the adventure continues
When we ran out of ragworm, the hunt continued thanks to limpet slivers with an almost equal success rate.
Apart from being frowned upon due to the misjudged amount of bait, I was told by the two intrepid fish hunters to reconsider our supply of different sized hooks – as removing a deeply placed 10 sized barbless from a boisterous blenny, trying to nip my hand like a feral mongrel, was entirely impossible and we sadly had to cut the line leaving the hook to rust and wishing the little fighter all the best.
The boys had stars in their eyes starting from the first fish they landed, and after two days they’re undoubtedly still there… It will be a very long school week for them until we can set out for another best day in their lives!
Well done to Jonasz and Miłosz worthy Catch of the Week winners. We look forward to hearing more of your adventure in the future
Steven Powell of Lure Guides reports on his weekend’s adventures…
Some say 13 is an unlucky number – not for Harley who just turned 13.
He marked his birthday with some impressive milestones; PB pike, PB perch and Greatest amount of perch ever.
Lucky 13 – Harley with his PB pike
It was a pleasure to introduce Harely and his dad to some excellent sports fishing with finesse gear and it wasn’t long before they cracked the method and started putting pike and perch on the boat nearly all day constantly.
Who says 13 is an unlucky number – make your own luck 🍀.
Hope you had a great day and this one l think will stick in the memory for a while
Go Fishing
Come fish with us for big predators in Ireland on Lough Erne in Northern Ireland, a stunning waterway with many many specimen pike perch and trout. Come visit and catch your dream. Fish with us using lures for predators such as pike perch and trout.
We get about on a competition spec polarkraft aluminium 16.5ft with good deck and casting area design – powered by super reliable 40hp Yamaha getting about won’t take long traveling at high speed on open water.
The early part of the week saw a continuation of the calm and warm conditions which have dominated our weather for quite some time. These dry conditions continued to impact on the majority of trout and salmon fisheries around the country with many rivers running extremely low and very few signs of fly life on the loughs. As a consequence, trout fishing reports were still very scarce this week with anglers on Lough Conn finding conditions extremely difficult. However, after the recent heavy rains, mainly in the northern and western half of the country, there is growing hope among game anglers that the next few weeks could provide much better fishing and a “happy end” to the remainder of this year’s trout and salmon season.
Pat O’Toole caught & released a fine 12lbs. salmon on the Boyne during the week
Over to coarse angling, where tough conditions with average daily temperatures of 25 degrees plus baking sunshine and not a breath of wind made it difficult for competitors of the first annual Strokestown Autumn Angling Festival. However, after three difficult days, Andrew Burnett scooped 1st price with a total weight of 92lbs. 13oz keeping him clear of the chasing pack.
A happy Andrew Burnett winning the 1st annual Strokestown Autumn Angling Festival
Pike anglers were equally quiet, with just one report received by Steven Powell of Lure Guides from the Erne which is probably no wonder as many of Ireland’s top predator anglers took part in this year’s Lough Ree Predator Challenge which was fished by a total of 24 teams and won by Tomy Kurman and Jacek Gorny known as the “Disco Team”.
The Lough Ree Predator Challenge saw great catches of pikeThe “Disco Team” receiving their trophy
Inland Fisheries Ireland recorded an increase in illegal fishing activity last year.
As a result, the agency initiated 119 prosecutions for fisheries-related offences in 2020, compared with 67 prosecutions in 2019. It also seized 1,287 illegal fishing items last year, up from 788 items the year before. Officers issued 240 fixed charge penalty notices last year, compared with 158 in 2019 and gave 756 cautions, up from 425 cautions in 2019. Read the full press release here.
Types & numbers of patrols carried out by Inland Fisheries Ireland in 2020
And now the weather…
Tomorrow, Saturday, will be a fresher day with a mix of cloud and bright spells. There will be well scattered light showers over the northern part of the country, with more isolated showers to the south. Highest temperatures of 15 to 19 degrees, coolest in the northwest, in a moderate west to northwest breeze. The outlook is for more changeable weather with heavy rain possible in places Sunday and on Monday. However, early indications for the second half of the week are for a fair amount of dry weather mainly in the west and southwest.
Bluefin boats based in the northwest enjoyed another exciting week with a few nice tuna caught. Adrian Molloy of tuna.ie reported that numbers are still down on 2020 but size and quality of fish so far this season are better than last year.
Happy faces onboard Deep Blue
Wildatlanticwayangling fishing out of Killygbegs and Kiwi Girl based in Mullaghmore, Co. Sligo also reported good tuna action during the week. Check out some exciting video footage here and on tuna.ie
Great tuna for Wildatlanticwayangling
Go Fishing…
Kiwi Girl
From Mullaghmore Harbour, our Sea Fishing Ireland experience aboard the M.V. Kiwi Girl will bring you to some of the best inshore fishing grounds in Europe. We offer a wide range of Sea Fishing Ireland Boat Trips to suit both novice and expert, from Short 2 Hr Sea Fishing Boat Trips to Big Game Options.
Kiwi Girl is a Fastcatch Kingfisher 31′ with a 420 HP Caterpillar engine.
Skipper: Adrian Molloy Base: Killybegs Operational area: Up to a 30 mile radius from the point of departure.
Authorised bluefin tuna boat
Notes:We can also offer you some of the finest Sea Angling in Ireland, inshore and offshore on the best boats and with the best skippers.
Whatever your angling interests from ultra light tackle and fly fishing for big reef pollack to trolling and stand-up tackle for fast fighting Tuna – we aim to please ! Dolphin and whale watching, scenic tours and wildlife trips available along some of the most spectacular scenery in Ireland. Shark fishing! Skate fishing! Tuna fishing! Donegal has it all.
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.
Brendan Murphy’s trout for 1.25 lbs caught on a Green Peter Hopper
Kevin O’Boyle reports from Loughs Conn & Cullin…
Because of the weather conditions, trout angling has been very quiet on the lakes. Very little fly life with the odd small sedge and large daddy were evident on the water.
Gary Binley from Foxford with two American friends caught a trout each and moved a few more along Brackwansha Shore and Cormorant Rocks on Lough Conn. Chris Meadows caught two trout and released both which were caught on silver daddies.
Pat Mc Nulty, Crossmolina, had three trout on dry sedges, while fishing partner Colm Mc Andrew had one trout on a Dabbler in Castlehill Bay.
Brendan Murphy fishing with his brother Cormac Murphy from Cloghans caught a trout for just over 1.25 lbs. on a Green Peter Hopper that he tied himself, outside Cloghans Bay. Well done!
Brendan Murphy’s Green Peter Hopper that he tied himself
