There were no salmon reported last week despite perfect conditions for fishing with the latest flood fining off, but it must be stressed that the river is hardly being fished at all due to the current travel restrictions due to covid.
Go Fishing…
Bandon Angling Association have set up a guiding service in conjunction with Jason Nash, Peter Aspinwall and Phil Dewey. Details of the guiding service are provided on the website and they are looking forward to making memories and enhancing people’s fishing experiences on the river Bandon. Day tickets and club membership are also available. Web: https://bandonangling.com/
Kilcoleman Fishery, Enniskeane, is renowned for its hospitality. The owners David and Patricia Lamb make a particular effort to make their guests feel at home. Past visitors have described the atmosphere as ‘laid back’ and the accommodations as ‘cosy’. Kilcoleman is “fly only” throughout the entire season. However, in certain water conditions, spinning is permitted for salmon. Trout angling is “fly only” at all times. web:http://flyfishing-ireland.com
Kevin O’Boyle reports from Lough Conn & Lough Cullin…
Due to the 5km Covid-19 travel restrictions only a small number of anglers are currently fishing. Those who ventured out did enjoy some good sport. Duck fly hatches were patchy on both lakes mainly because of the cold weather. The best reported hatches occurred in Cloghans Bay on Lough Conn and most of the fish reported were caught in this area of the lake.
A fine 59cm trout released by Peter Roach on Lough Conn
Padraig Traynor had 5 trout during the week, the best fish weighed 1.25 lbs. and was caught on a Black Dabbler. Colm McAndrew landed a couple of fish, the best of which weighed 1.5 lbs. Brendan Murphy had 2 keepers, all returned alive to the water. Peter Roach had some good fishing over a few days on the Brackwansha shoreline, mostly on the Bibio. All fish were released. Popular flies included Black Dabblers, Bibio, Watson’s Fancy & Kate McLaren.
Cold weather, easterly winds and rain deterred some anglers from wetting a line this week despite a couple of unseasonably pleasant days. One salmon was recorded as being caught in the East Mayo Anglers’ waters on Monday 2nd April. The fish was landed by Ian Guegan and weighed 8.5lbs. With the easing of travel restrictions from Monday 12th April permitting county wide travel it is likely that angling activity will increase.
Marcin Redka with a fine trout from the Fergus, estimated at nearly 7lbs.
Marcin Redka has been out with the lure rod recently, fishing the River Fergus near Corofin, Co. Clare. On Tuesday 30th he hooked and landed a cracking trout, estimated at 7lbs. The fish took a 7cm Salmo minnow lure in a brown colour.
Marcin Redka with a fine trout from the Fergus, estimated at nearly 7lbs.
Then on Monday putting the hours in paid off with a fine river pike of almost 20lbs! Marcin is definitely getting the rewards at the moment, and the Fergus is certainly providing good sport. Both fish were returned safely to the water.
With the promise of some warm days I decided to try something a little different than euro nymphing. Packing both a wet fly rod and dry dropper rod it was off to the Kings River again. The Nore on the stretch I fish is just about right now so I am hoping that my next report will be of a day on the Nore. Anyway, for now it’s back to the Kings. I tied some nymphs the night before my trip to use for my dry dropper set up. I decided to stay with the olive patterns on various sized hooks / beads. When it comes to the tying of wet flies I am currently an apprentice so for this outing I had to rely on Pat to tie me a couple of wets to try out.
A lovely Kings River trout
I had a good idea where I was headed on the river so headed straight there. I was starting with the dry dropper, so I put on one of last night’s creations which was an olive biot nymph which I’m sure a lot of you have used / tied before. I waited a little longer than previous sessions for my first trout but nonetheless I got one to the net. Some trout did follow but little hungry and inquisitive salmon smolts began taking my nymph. After having four casts resulting in four salmon smolts it was time for a sandwich then a re – route.
Moving to the next spot I had a few casts again smolts were hitting the nymph with a scattering of 20-25cm trout.
Another lovely trout from the Kings River
Now it was time to try out Pats trusty wets. I am quite new to wet fly fishing. I have done a little in the past and of course at a young age fired a bubble and fly into some of the fast paced water of the River Barrow. Tying on my leader and a couple of wets I began fishing them. About 6 or 7 casts in I got a solid pull which I lifted into. Oonly to see a trout about half a pound leap into the air. Half shocked I played the fish in the strong current took a quick photo and set him on his way. Walking down a little I had some more trout perhaps 15-20cm all on the same wet. I did have a couple of good sized trout which gave a good run around.
I had a great time with wet flies . I’ve had 2 trips since the last report and had some lovely trout. I have also seen plenty of salmon smolts about which is great, but it really is important to release these delicate fish with as little handling as possible. And if you meet more than one consider resting the pool for a while or finding another stretch to fish.
Olive goose biot nymph
Olive biot nymph
Size 16 dohiku jighead hook
2.5mm gold slotted tungsten bead
Piscari fly Kevlar thread
Coq de Leon tail
Olive goose biot body
Olive seals fur thorax
Wet fly
Wet fly
Size 14 dohiku 301
Olive 8/0 72d uni thread
Gold rib
Piscari fly green glass bead
Red hen cape hackle
Olive seals fur dubbing ( behind glass bead )
For information on day tickets or memberships please call me on 0857652751 or email Doneill@mountjuliet.ie
Mount Juliet House is set on a large estate, which offers private fishing on 2.5 miles of the middle to lower reaches of the River Nore. Mount Juliet Estate offers fishing of the highest quality, just a short stroll away from the Manor House. There is a fishing room on site in the Manor House for your convenience i.e. for storage and drying of fishing equipment. Mount Juliet Estate can also provide the necessary equipment on site if needed.
Geoffrey Fitzjohn admires his catch, the first salmon of 2021 at Costello, before release.
#CPRSavesFish
Fishery manager Brian Curran was in touch to report the first fish of the season from the Costello & Fermoyle Fishery in Connemara.
Local angler, Geoffrey Fitzjohn, living just yards from the river, caught and released a 7lbs spring salmon from the Cabbage Pool on Beat 1. The fish took a size 8 Black Shrimp, in high water. Geoffrey sportingly released the fish after a good fight. This is the normal time on the Costello system to catch the first springer and we look forward to many more during the season.
Geoffrey Fitzjohn admires his catch, the first salmon of 2021 at Costello, before release. #CPRSavesFish
“The fishery will be open to Co Galway anglers in accordance with Government Regulations from April 12th and we will all be glad of the opportunity to wet a line” says Brian.
We sure will!
Go fishing…
Costello & Fermoyle Fishery
Costello & Fermoyle is a jewel in Connemara’s crown, with a short, productive river draining a chain of lakes, all providing quality salmon and sea trout fishing. Salmon run the system from April, with the grilse run peaking in June, while sea trout start in May, with the most prolific runs in June and July. Fishing can be excellent right through September.
It has been a mixed bag weather-wise this past week, with the eastern half of the country remaining largely dry with good periods of warmth and almost 40 hours of sunshine. Out west, it was a different story as duller, colder and wetter weather prevailed, with less than 15 hours of sunshine for the week recorded in Belmullet.
Unfortunately, the 5km travel restrictions continue to hamper most of our fishing efforts, and we are really down to slim pickings in this week’s Angling Update, with trout anglers providing the bulk of the action. No doubt, many of us were tuning in to An Taoiseach yesterday in anticipation of broadening our horizons. But it looks like we are in for the long game as we only have a slight lifting of restrictions, allowing travel within county bounds or up to 20km from April 12th. Details of what this means for anglers are available here.
Young angler Joey Pyke is lucky enough to have some fishable water within 5km of his home as he ventured out with his dad Kenneth on a mission to catch his first ever trout. Fishing a small river near Tullamore, Joey didn’t disappoint and managed to land a fine brown trout, which, as the photo shows, he was pretty pleased about.
Joey Pyke with his first trout
Meanwhile, on the Kings River, the trout were also active for Dan O’Neill, making the time spent at the tying bench worthwhile. Dan spent a few hours at the vice knocking out some extra weighted nymphs, which proved productive, particularly an olive version with a bit of flash in the tail. Fish were hard to the bottom, so a bit of extra weight was needed in the nymphs to get down to them, but he managed a decent bag of small trout with a couple of bigger ones thrown into the mix.
Nice fish from the Kings River
But the trout action wasn’t all confined to the depths last week as we have a report in of a nice bit of dry fly fishing on the River Boyne. Mark Watson from Trim & Athboy Angling Club ventured out on one of the colder days recently but was delighted to find a few trout taking flies off the surface, and he managed to get himself a nice brace.
Moving from river to lake, we have reports that the duckfly hatch has been in full swing on the western lakes over the past week and most anglers that were able to get out managed some decent fishing. Poor weather over the weekend made it difficult for local anglers to get out on Corrib, but there were some nice catches later in the week, including a cracking 6lb trout for Cian Hughes while fishing with his dad Cathal. Cathal is himself no stranger to our angling updates, but more often with a pole in his hands than a fly rod, and it’s rare to see him coming second best…
Cian Hughes with a beautiful 6lb trout from the lower lake.
Marcin Kantor is back this week with loads of tips on how to catch that most elusive of fish: a big perch. Most of us will have caught tons of small perch over the years, but it’s certainly one of the trickier species when it comes to catching the bigger fish. Luckily Marcin gives away a wealth of tips in his video, and hopefully, we’ll see a few more big perch showing up in future angling updates as a result.
For anyone interested in ‘angling politics’, there was some good news during the week with the unveiling of the makeup of the Angling Consultative Council of Ireland (ACCI). This council has been set up to ensure anglers have a voice on future developments in angling through the participation of their federations/associations in the Council. There are currently 8 federations/associations signed up, with two more hoping to come on board in the near future.
And now the weather…
It looks like a decent start to the Easter weekend with the weather remaining dry and pleasant on Friday and Saturday. There is a change afoot on Sunday though as much cooler weather will spread from the north-west on Sunday morning bringing wind, rain and possibly sleet. This weather system will dominate the early part of next week, with the worst of the weather being in the northern half of the country.
In the above video Keith Barry, Magician, Hypnotist and keen angler has shown his support for Inland Fisheries Ireland Go Fishing Week 2021. Keith talks about how fishing helps him to alleviate the everyday stresses of life and gives him such much needed head space. One of the many health and well-being benefits of angling and being in the outdoors.
‘Such a wonderful thing to go down onto the banks of a river or down near the sea and think of nothing except just the purity of being in nature and being near the sea or some water and just thinking where are those fish!’
‘I would encourage each and everyone of you when it’s safe to do so this year to get out on the banks of a river, get down to the sea either on your own or with friends.’
Go Fishing Week takes place from Sunday, 25th of April to Monday, 3rd of May with a packed nine days full of virtual events and competitions for all!
Cian Hughes playing a trout to the boat on a fine spring evening.
Once again it’s a story of a quiet lough, as the 5km travel restrictions have meant fishing is only available to a few lucky souls. However, life goes on, and the annual duckfly hatch was in full swing last week, with hatches pouring off in mild, breezy weather. Of course the weekend brought torrential rain and yellow wind warnings, so even the weekend anglers living within 5km were unable to get out. So the trout have had a good time of it, with plenty to eat and few hooks in those duckfly to annoy them.
Good wet fly sport
Padraic Fahy of Birchall Guesthouse & Angling (www.birchallonloughcorrib.com) has been out a few days with friends and enjoyed good fishing to duckfly patterns. Fishing with fellow guide Patrick Molloy they had fish up to 3.5lbs over Tuesday and Wednesday around Birchall. On the previous Sunday (21st) he fished with Mark Regan from Moycullen and they had 6 fish on wet fly in the Lime Island and Saddles areas.
Padraic Fahy with a nice Corrib trout that took a wet duckfly pattern.
Larry McCarthy of Corrib View Lodge (www.corribangling.com) has also been out regularly, catching good numbers of fish on most days, with trout feeding well on duckfly. Larry reckons the biggest hatches were last week, and the hatch will be finishing up soon. He even reports some early olive hatches, and landing a trout on a dry olive during one of these. Pics to follow.
Great fish on the lower lake
With lockdowns restricting travel, international coarse angler Cathal Hughes from Moycullen has turned his attention to trout fishing over the past year. Son Cian, however, appears to have the beating of dad when it comes to flyfishing. Over the last couple of weeks, Cian landed his first trout on a buzzer.
Cian Hughes took this fish on a buzzer.
On Tuesday 29th, Cathal and Cian got out for a few hours in the evening, and while Cathal was still putting his rod up, Cian was into a fish on his first cast – a cracking 6lbs bar of gold that will take some beating. To make matters worse, Cathal reports that was the only fish of the evening!
Cian Hughes with a beautiful 6lb trout from the lower lake.
Outlook
The forecast is for bitterly cold weather next week, so the advice to anglers within 5km is get out this weekend and enjoy it while you can. From the 12th, anglers living within Co. Galway will be able to fish Corrib. By that stage we should see olives hatching off in good numbers. Until then we can all dream of fish like Cian’s!
Cian Hughes playing a trout to the boat on a fine spring evening.
