Steven Powell of Lure Guides reports on his weekend’s adventures…
Eric and Matt fished with us at the weekend. Both anglers wanted to brush up on their sports fishing and learn a little finesse science. When it comes to catching predatory fish with teeth nothing beats the light gear.
Getting to grips with the Humminbird mega360 Matt followed a nice pike he saw on the display and landed it a few minutes later – not bad going even if l do say so myself.
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Found, tracked, caught and released!
Another pike for the boys
Lough Erne perch
Lough Erne pike
It was hard going on the day and both anglers put a serious effort in to making every cast count; searching, locating and catching their way through the water column.
Hope you guys have a safe trip home and welcome back soon
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.
Belmont Anglers report on another successful competition held on Sunday on the Grand Canal…
The Belmont Anglers had another competition on the canal on 5 September. The weather was good for fishing being, cloudy and over cast and there were a few fish showing. We had 16 anglers turn out on the day. The club would like to thank all the anglers for taking part. There were a lot of new people out today and a lot of the old regulars too.
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Fishing on the Grand Canal
Grand canal tench
A fine Grand Canal tench
Tench and few other coarse fish
Tench, perch and roach
More tench
The club chairman, Les Howard, kindly donated a bronze fish which was put up as a prize. It was won by John Mulligan. The following are the winners
Jeff Morrison
Colm Oliver
David Cullen
Peter Turner
John Howell
Belmont Anglers would like to thank the staff of Giannas Takeaway, Banagher for the lovely food – winner winner chips and sausage dinner!
Go fishing…
Our next outing will be in October on the Grand Canal at Shannonharbour. Kepp an eye on our Facebook page for details: Belmont anglers
Join the Club…
Belmont Anglers is taking new members.
Belmont Anglers is a Coarse Angling club based in the Irish midlands. Competitions are held regularly on the Grand canal and river Shannon. All are welcome to participate.
Tony Santry poses with the first Cork bluefin of the season
A number of the Cork based authorised bluefin tuna boats had their first fish of the season in the last few days…
Tony Santry, Skipper of Tigger, had two bluefin tuna at the weekend. These are the first tuna caught off the Cork coast this year. A big well done to Dave Bradley on catching both bluefins, estimated to weigh 500lb and 550lb. Tony says he was astounded at the power of these early season fish with the first fish making at least 4 very good runs. The second was also a powerful fish and took at least 700 to 800 yards of line on his first run. They put up great fights testing both angler and the tackle to the very limit.
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Dave dedicated the Capture of his two tuna to the memory of Martin Colfer
Dave dedicated the Capture of his two tuna to the memory of Martin Colfer
Tony tells us it was truly an awesome sight to see these magnificent creatures rise to the surface after a mammoth fight and it was even better to see them tagged and released as they both powered off into the depths to continue their global journey. Dave dedicated his epic battle and most importantly the safe release of these two magnificent bluefin Tuna to the memory of the late Martin Cole who passed away recently.
the first tuna of the season for Ocean Ranger
Mike Walsh, Skipper of Ocean Ranger, was quick to follow with a tuna caught tagged and released yesterday.
A 95 inch tuna for Silver Dawn, not a bad way to open your account
And Dave Edwards at helm of Silver Dawn had his first tuna of the year earlier this morning. The bluefin came after only 30 minutes from starting fishing. At 95 inches it works out at about 553lb so another big fish for the Cork boats.
Go Fishing
Tigger
Pro-charter Offshore 31. 330 HP Skipper: Tony Santry Base: Cork Harbour Operational Area:
Authorised blue fin tuna boat
Notes: Cork Angling & Tuna Charters operates on the south coast of Ireland out of Cork Harbor. We cater for all types of angling from general fishing trips ,shark fishing, common skate, off shore wreck fishing and Giant Bluefin Tuna (catch, tag & release).
We cater for complete novices to highly experienced anglers. Simply bring your wet gear and sandwiches or bring your own fishing tackle and we will provide the rest through your highly experienced skipper.Based in Marlogue Marina on Cobh island in Cork Harbor, we fish the waters to the east, south and southwest along the Wild Atlantic Way.
41′ Rodman 1250. Twin 430 HP Engines Skipper: David Edwards Licence: P5 Licence Base: Courtmacsherry Operational Area:
Authorised blue fin tuna boat
Notes:The range of fishing found within close range of Courtmacsherry is superb, with trips producing anything between 6 and 15 different species as a norm and in excess of 20 is possible if anglers are prepared to change methods and use different baits and lures throughout their trip. As a rule mackerel, pollock, cod and ling are usually encountered but several species of wrasse along with whiting, pouting, coalfish, bull huss, conger and many more are often added to the catch.
If you do choose to head offshore to sample the superb shark fishing available within 10 miles of Courtmacsherry, there is a very strong chance of encountering blue sharks and an increasing chance of bringing a porbeagle shark to the boat.
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 will open on the 1st July and close on the 12th November 2021.
Andy Burnett reports on the first annual Strokestown autumn angling festival:
The conditions were not favourable for any sort of decent fishing with average daily temps of 25 degrees plus baking sunshine and not a breath of wind, anyhow excuses out of the way and down to the fishing…
The 3 venues chosen were Cloonahee Lake, the River Shannon on the mudflats, and a new lake called Clooncullan, which threw in some mystery as no one knew if this venue would produce or not. A lot of work went into preparing the venues, cutting pegs, organising quad and trailer to transport anglers to the pegs, pre-baiting etc, and I would like to say a big thank you to all who helped out with this as without this help it would be impossible to run these great festivals.
Day 1.
Open draw and peg 3 Clooncullan was my office for the day, with not knowing how this venue would fish I had to cover a few bases. So whip, waggler, long pole, and feeder were all set up, a very deep lake so fished at 7.5mtrs on the whip where it was a touch over 6mtrs deep, had to feed a lot of bait and keep altering tactics to keep in touch with the fish. Finished the day with 57lb 6oz, narrowly beaten for overall 1st on the day by Paul Williams who had 57lb 14oz, awesome start and lovely fishing.
Day 2.
Saw me draw peg 1 on Cloonahee Lake, it was 26 degrees when we got to the lake so expectations were not good for much apart from a suntan.
Anyway set up the whip at 6 meters and the pole at 7 and 11mtrs. Filled the 11mtr line in at the all-in, and went on the whip, had 34 fish the first hour then it died, so took a look on the long pole, a small roach first drop quickly followed by a good skimmer so stayed on this line most of the match to catch fish in bursts to weigh 15lb 3oz for a lake win.
Day 3 final day
Peg 3 on the mudflats was pulled out of the bag for me which had won the previous day, set up pole and feeder, as this is usually a decent roach peg, but it soon became apparent there were very few roach about to be caught, so got my head down and concentrated on the feeder to win my section with just over 20lb of skimmers and hybrids.
Happy days, and with it being a weight festival this gave me a total weight of 92lb 13oz, keeping me clear of the chasing pack to win the festival overall, absolutely delighted to have won it and was. Good to meet new people looking forward to next time already, well done to all who fished, no moaners or whingers just a good set of lads out to enjoy their fishing.
Picture of dead fish on the riverbank of the Glore River in County Mayo, as a result of a fish kill incident in September 2021
Dead fish on the riverbank of the Glore River, as a result of a fish kill incident in September 2021
Fish kill confirmed at Glore River in Kiltimagh, Co Mayo
Inland Fisheries Ireland, the state agency responsible for the protection and conservation of freshwater fish and habitats, is investigating a serious fish kill incident at the Glore River in Kiltimagh in County Mayo.
Environmental and Fisheries Officers from the Western River Basin District in Ballina were alerted to the incident on Friday, September 3rd. Water and fish samples were taken from the scene and removed for scientific analysis at an independent laboratory.
Inland Fisheries Ireland estimates that there could be in excess of 500 mortalities of young salmon and trout.
Investigations are ongoing and Inland Fisheries Ireland is not in a position to comment on the cause of the fish kill at this stage, pending further analysis of samples taken.
The Glore is an important spawning river for trout and salmon within the Moy catchment area.
To report fish kills, members of the public are encouraged to call Inland Fisheries Ireland’s confidential hotline number on 0818 34 74 24, which is open 24 hours a day.
Oscar Wilde must surely have known that feeling of “Where did the summer go?!” when he wrote that line. It seems like only yesterday we were exiting lockdown and looking forward to an outdoor summer, and already the days are drawing in, the kids are back in school and warm summer nights are giving way to cool morning mists and ripening blackberries on the hedgerows. Or perhaps the observation that the years seem to go by faster as you age is entirely correct, and your correspondent is, simply, getting old.
Like migrating swallows, game anglers feel the onset of autumn and with it, the approaching end of the season. We have had a bit of an Indian summer of late, however, with little rainfall to bring welcome relief for salmon anglers. Fishing was even quiet on the mighty River Moy. A round up from the River Erriff reported some excellent fishing during August, once the July heatwave passed, with up to 37 salmon on one day.
Trout anglers have also suffered this week, with settled weather and low water levels not producing much sport. Hopefully as September moves on, cooler conditions and late hatches will improve matters.
The coarse fishing festival scene is in full swing now, and Cathal Hughes was a popular winner of the East Clare Lakelands Festival. The All Ireland Feeder Club Championships were held on Lough Muckno, and a hotly contested event saw Lurgan Blue take top honours, with Philip Jackson also taking top individual prize.
Philip Jackson had a great start to the Championships which saw his team win
September is usually a great month for sea angling, with sea temperatures at their warmest and fish feeding hard before the long winter ahead. Great mixed species fishing was reported from charter boats around the coast, including west Clare and Galway Bay. The settled weather allowed some lucky anglers on Dave Edwards boat Silver Dawn to get out to the continental shelf, where they encountered albacore tuna and blue shark, while some incredible ling were also reported while wreck fishing. Evan McGovern’s specimen fish of 31lbs makes our Catch of the Week.
Bluefin tuna fishing is also picking up again, and legendary Fermanagh rod man Gavin Mannix enjoyed his trip aboard Kiwi Girl, landing the biggest fish of his life.
The Killybegs boats also reported tuna, but the Killybegs shore anglers also enjoyed some great fishing, including trigger fish, and incredibly smoothhound in numbers off a local beach!
Gavin made sure the photographer got his best side!
In other news…
International Women’s Fly Fishing Day takes place on 11th September, and you can read all about it here, or check out Facebook here for info.
Western anglers interested in learning more about freshwater habitats and biodiversity may be interested in a Water Biodiversity course starting shortly, run by Galway Rural Development.
The Department of Environment, Climate and Communications has requested IFI to develop a medium to long-term management plan for the Western Lakes. CEO Francis O’Donnell commented: “From our research to date, it’s clear that the Western Lakes are under threat, and we must take action underpinned by best available scientific data to protect and conserve the unique status and importance of these salmonid waters in the long-term. The new management plan should inspire a positive vision for the future of the Western Lakes and serve to protect them as they are topographically distinct waters in terms of salmonid habitat.”
IFI have just launched an exciting opportunity for recreational sea anglers in the Republic of Ireland to become citizen scientists and help collect information on fishing effort and catches around the coastline. By doing so they will be playing a vital role in the long-term conservation and sustainability of the resource for future generations.
The Irish Marine Recreational Angling (IMREC) project aims to answer three main questions:
How many people fish?
How often do they fish?
What do they catch?
If this would interest you, the IMREC initiative is now live and can be viewed here. To take part, All you have to do is click this link or send your name and email to seaangling@fisheriesireland.ie with the subject line “IMREC Diary Sign Up” and we will get you signed up.
And now the weather…
Saturday will start mainly dry and bright, with sunny spells, but showers developing through the afternoon. Winds mostly light southerly or southeasterly.
Outbreaks of rain will push up over the western half of the country on Sunday morning, extending across much of the country through the afternoon, although parts of the south and southeast may stay dry. Highest temperatures of 17 to 20 or 21 degrees in light to moderate southerly winds.
Generally cloudy on Monday morning with scattered showers across the north of the country. Brightening up through the afternoon and becoming mostly dry. Feeling warm with highest temperatures of 20 to 23 degrees.
Current indications suggest this warmer weather will stay with us through to midweek next week with warm nights too. There’ll be rain at times but some sunny spells also.
With generally light winds and warm temperatures, the only thing hampering angling is free time. If you have some, why not get out and wet a line?
Galway Rural Development are kicking off a new training course this autumn. This exciting opportunity is all about getting to know rivers and streams and what our community can do to protect them. More details in the flyer below.
GRD are now ready to commence the training starting on September 20th. If you know of anyone that might be interested in completing this training see registration form in the following link. (https://share.hsforms.com/1PHitWc4LRPCFIz3R70LCrA30bps). Please hit “submit” at the end of the form when it is complete. Closing date is 15th September 2021.
Killybegs bluefin tuna boats had more decent fish during the week. Anglers onboard Deep Blue enjoyed good tuna cation during the week, while Wildatlanticwayangling had 9 fish to the boat, tagged, released and recorded including a nice double hook up. Biggest fish was 96 inches smallest was 66 most around 80 inches.
Bluefin for tuna.ieBluefin for Wildatlanticwayangling
Wildatlanticwayangling also started off the 2021 satellite tagging project with the Marine Institute. Over the past three days a total of seven fish were brought on board Leah C, tagged and released.
Marine Institute staff measuring & tagging a bluefin tuna
Go Fishing…
Leah C
11m BW Seacat Catamaran Skipper: Michael Callaghan Base: Killybegs Operational area: Up to a 30 mile radius from the point of departure.
Authorised bluefin tuna boat
Notes: Top charter angling business based in the beautiful Donegal Bay and in the heart of the Ireland’s stunning “Wild Atlantic Way”.
We run general charters for all species and are especially interested in taking anglers out targeting as many species as possible in a day.
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.
The 2021 season will open on the 1st July and close on the 12th November 2021.
More crazy fishing for the Mariners crew with specimen smoothhound from the Donegal Bay shore which is a species that would be considered a real rarity for the angler around these parts.
A lovely fish for Daragh of almost 100cm landed to start things off and another fish bust the snood. Then a fish of 106cm which is over specimen length for Cormac which both gave serious runs before measure and release. Later in the week, more hounds were caught by David and Darren getting the reels screaming. Great fishing and nice to get the first smooth hounds on the local beaches!
Darren Rawdon with his first smooth houndDaragh’s specimen smoothieDavid Matthew’s gets his first smooth houndCormac’s specimen smoothie
Elsewhere, an amazing sight greeted the crew as they landed to a rock mark and first thing they saw was a shoal of triggerfish patrolling along the rocks. Quickly throwing the rods together and slapping on float and traces Johnny and Diarmuid got the shoal feeding and these powerful fish busted several snoods before Diarmuid McCallig landed a first local trigger after years of trying for them by several anglers!
Triggerfish for Diarmuid McCallig
The local harbour can also provide some quality fishing. With a slice of bread and a float some quality harbour mullet were landed by the lads providing equal joy and frustration trying to tease a take.
Nice mullet for ChristopherFirst time mullet fishing in 45 years and a result for Cormac who is on a great run of fish
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 third edition of the Favorite Perch Challenge 2021 took place at the weekend on Lough Gowna in County Cavan. The NCFFI report…
On the day 40 anglers took to the water to fish in pairs. The day was all about tactics to seek out the best position to lure the perfect perch.
Only one fish counts in this event – Perch!
With the competition boards at the ready its catch – measure – release as quickly as possible with the longest fish submitted to the competition.
The Winning teams
Congratulations to the Winners!
1st Rafal Hara – Krzysztof Pawlowski,
2nd Tomek Kurman – Jacek Rafał Gorny
3rd Tomasz Gabrysiak – Kamil Majda
Well done to SHARP HOOK fishing club Dungannon for their repeated success with this event supporting the fast growing discipline of lure angling sport.
Reports courtesy of the National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland, NCFFI the National Governing body for coarse and predator fishing and casting. www.ncffi.ie
