Simon Timoney sent us in his photo of the first reported salmon to come off the Foyle system for 2021 – a lovely fresh fish with the lice to prove it. Simon landed the fish on March 5th and a few more have been caught and released on the Foyle catchment since then, which is great to see.
Inland Fisheries Ireland launches Go Fishing Week 2021
A programme of virtual events running from the 25th April-3rd May
For the first time ever Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) launches a virtual Go Fishing Week 2021, a national celebration of fishing with a programme of online events taking place. Running from Sunday, 25th of April to Monday, 3rd of May, Go Fishing Week provides an opportunity to connect with people virtually across the country to encourage them to try fishing by making information accessible to all. The programme of events will spread awareness of a series of themes during the course of the week including sustainability, protecting habitats and wellbeing benefits.
Go Fishing Week 2021 events will take place online and are free to join, but registration may be required. A sample of the Go Fishing Week 2021 events taking place and available to join online are:
As part of the event Inland Fisheries Ireland will be running a video competition ‘Why I love to fish’. The competition is an initiative to get more people to spread the word about fishing by sharing a short video clip of their fishing adventures online and telling the world what angling means to them. To learn more about what is happening and how you can get involved, visit www.fisheriesireland.ie/gofishingweek. Also details will be posted in the run up to the week on Inland Fisheries Ireland Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/inlandfisheriesireland and Twitter: https://twitter.com/InlandFisherIE.
Please see www.fisheriesireland.ie/gofishingweek for up to date events programme.
A belated report from Darren O’Brien who caught this fine 5lb trout while out fishing on Lough Gara, Sligo, on March 1st. Darren was fishing with a silver spinner under blue skies in fairly calm conditions when the fish took. The fine trout was released to fight another day after a quick photo #cprsavesfish.
Nice one Darren.
March is being March. Spring is definitely taking hold, but it is still pretty cold, and the recent days show just how changeable the weather can be at this time of year. All the same, trout anglers within easy reach of rivers and lakes are starting to feature in reports, there are a few salmon on the go and fishing at sea will be improving too.
The River Moy saw another salmon landed last week and the Munster Blackwater produced a few fish too. Anglers on the Blackwater did pretty well, with fish caught and released at Killavullen, Careysville and on Glenda Powell’s beat at Blackwater Salmon Fishery. On the Lee, one salmon was reported and IFI announced details of the 2nd draw for brown tags on the river. Reports in from the Bandon are that water levels were much improved last week. Anglers are meeting a fair number of kelts and we advise anyone who hooks into one to release it as quickly and safely as possible, preferably without removing it from the water.
Boats out on Lough Conn had some decent trout fishing as fish came well to a mix of wet flies and lures. Anglers trolling on Lough Corrib had good fishing too. One pair hooked into two trout of about 5lb and 6lb at more or less the same moment. River fishermen are also seeing some good trout come to a variety of tactics as another pair trying their luck in Co. Longford found out last week.
Not much sea angling to report this week. Charter boats remain tied up but the odd time skippers are getting out for their own pleasure. David Edwards was fishing last week and reported good pollack were taking a variety of baits and lures. Hopefully, it won’t be long until all the charter boats, which offer a hugely important service to anglers across the country, get back up and running.
No fresh pike reports this week but we have another exciting video from Marcin Kantor who shares a fly and lure fishing adventure from back in December.
Hopefully we’ll start to hear from the coarse anglers later this month, but for now, we have no update from this normally busy segment of Irish anglers.
Continuing cool and breezy with blustery showers over the weekend but becoming more settled next week with drier and milder spring-like conditions expected. Temperatures will jump to 14ºC on Monday and climb further to 16ºC on Tuesday and Wednesday. St. Patrick’s Day should be mild and dry with partly cloudy skies and highest temperatures of 11 to 16ºC. Winds out of the northeast look to introduce somewhat cooler air towards the end of the week, but it should remain mostly dry and settled. For those of you who like to start your trout fishing on the 17th (and are lucky enough to have fishing inside your 5km) it’s looking good!
Safe fishing to all and tight lines, especially here in Ireland.
Myles Kelly
Catch, Photo, Release
If you have an angling story to share with the Irish Angling Update please send it to reports@fisheriesireland.ie.
There were a few anglers out to mark the opening of the Bandon last month, but condition were not great on the day, and continued to be poor enough for the rest of February. High water and floods have made fishing difficult. March has seen an improvement thouth and the river was in good order for all methods last week. But there is still no sign of the first fish of the season.
There are still a lot of well mended kelts in the river and we would ask that these be handled with care and released while still in the water.
The works on the river below Bandon town are now complete and the river is open once again for 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
One salmon caught on River Lee Sunday 7th March. The salmon was estimated to weigh 8lbs. and was caught in low water.
Salmon anglers are reminded that from 1st February 2021 to midnight of 30th September 2021, Brown Tag regulations are in force on the Lower River Lee.
179 Brown Tags are available for the season. Due to Level 5 Covid-19 Guidelines, normal distribution through T.W Murray, Halfway Angling Centre and The Tackle Shop, Shandon Street is unavailable at present. Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) hereby gives notice that while non-essential retail outlets remain closed, distribution of brown tags will be by lottery for the remainder of the 2021 Angling Season on the Lower River Lee.
IFI issued 45 brown tags by way of lottery on 31st January 2021 and will release another 45 tags on Monday 22nd March 2021.
Any angler requesting a brown tag must be in possession of a valid 2021 Salmon Licence and must apply by email only to: corkleebrowntag2021@fisheriesireland.ie before midnight on Friday, 19th March 2021.
Anglers must provide their Name, Contact Address, Telephone Number and 2021 Salmon Licence number – including licence letter prefix. This is the only method to apply for a brown tag. Multiple applications will be disqualified. Salmon Licences are available online at: https://store.fishinginireland.info. Anglers on the Reserve List from the previous lottery are eligible to enter this draw.
IFI will hold another lottery to release additional Brown Tags prior to the June Bank Holiday weekend.
Salmon anglers not in possession of a Brown Tag must fish using Catch and Release methods i.e., single or double barbless hooks. Use of worms is not permitted. A Salmon cannot be taken unless the angler is in possession of a Brown Tag. If a Salmon is taken both a Blue and Brown Tag must be affixed to the fish. Failure to do so may result in penalties.
IFI will send all applicants their entry number for the lottery by email before the draw which will take place at 9:30 am on Monday, 22nd March 2021 using random number generation. No personal information will be shared. 10 reserve licence numbers will be drawn in case the initial offer of a brown tag is not taken up. Tags will be issued to successful applicants by post.
Late applications will be excluded.
For further information contact Inland Fisheries Ireland, Macroom on 026 41221.
It has been a quiet start to the season on Corrib, with only local anglers living within 5km legally allowed to fish. Understandably, this has meant very few boats out, with most people adhering to public health advice and looking out for everyone.
We did get a report in from Robert Moloney, who with his dad Paul has been out fishing the lower lake on a few occasions. With the cold start to the season, trolling small Rapala lures was the order of the day, they met a nice fish between the Friar’s Cut and Sca Island.
Almost at the same time, the second rod went, and they were into two fish! Robert’s fish measured 20 inches, and they estimated it to be 5.5-6lbs, a fine trout! Paul’s fish was not a lot smaller – 5lbs estimated – and taken on a Tasmanian Devil. Both fish were in great condition, and went back strongly.
On Saturday they were out again and Robert had a lovely fish of 3lbs 12oz trolling near the Friar’s Cut.
Robert also mentioned that they saw small hatches of fly on the islands behind Fly Island with sparse olive coloured flies around in the evening, a good sign for the duckfly which should be making an appearance soon.
Well done Robert and Paul. Hopefully we will get a few more reports in over the next few weeks, and with luck the restrictions on travel will be eased and more anglers will be able to fish the lake. Myself included!
Reports of 2 Salmon caught in Ballyhooley/Killavullen area this week. One of these was caught on March 7th. Noel Crowley tells us it was a fresh fish of about 9lb. Water clarity was good at the time, and the level was reading 1.56m at Killavullen Bridge with a water temperature of 6ºC.
Further downstream there were 3 Salmon caught & released in Careysville. One of these was caught by Glenda Powel who was on site in working on the April edition of her new newsletter Fish-Live Learn.
In addition to these fish salmon have also been caught on Glenda’s own fishery. Glenda tells us that the water is still high but lovely and clear and that she and Noel have started to catch fish in the past week. Beautiful spring fish around 7-10lb in weight and all have been returned so far.
It’s great to see a few fish coming through as most of February was unfishable (some of the biggest floods in the last 5 years). Indications are that there has been more Salmon seen so far this year than for same period last year.
Glenda Powel of Blackwater Salmon Fishery has launched an inovative new service to her business the Fish-Live-Learn newsletter.
This Newsletter will include articles and videos on topics such as; On the Water, The Journey to the water & Local Gems, Fly-fishing tuition with tips to improve casting/fishing techniques/water craft, Equipment, Interviews, Cooking and Wellness.
The first newsletter which will be delivered on 1st March will include an interview with one of the most respected teachers and gentlemen in the fly fishing/Spey casting industry today and World Champion Ian Gordon.
Glenda will be writing about the benefits of using Skagit Lines with the Double Handed Rod from the bank in high water, including which casts are most suitable to use in these conditions. On the water this month she will be highlighting her own fishery on the River Blackwater in Ireland. Glenda will be displaying her most used piece of fly fishing equipment that she have worn for over 20 years, making a visit to Ballyvolane House to talk to Justin Green about the passion behind Bertha’s Revenge Gin production, and cooking something nice that you may wish to try for St Patrick’s Day.
Each year Glenda willl I will host four Zoom meetings for her community of subscribers, where she will present a fly-fishing topic, and host a question and answer session. This is is sure to be a great way to get to know each like minded anglers, learn something new, and make friends/contacts from all over the world.
To find out more about subscribing to this monthly newsletter visit https://glendapowellfishing.com/products/
Blackwater Salmon Fishery
Blackwater Salmon Fishery has 3 beats downstream of the weir and 2 upstream of the weir. Blackwater Salmon Fishery offers fishing on approximately 5 miles of the river Blackwater. The fishing is spread throughout the middle section of the river to offer good sport throughout the fishing season. Due to the location of the beats, fishing can still usually be offered in low or high water.
Contact Glenda Powell: Lismore, Co Waterford,
Email: info@blackwatersalmonfishery.com
Mobile: +353 (0) 872351260 Telephone: +353 (0) 5853929
Web: www.blackwatersalmonfishery.com
Fortwilliam Fishery & Self-Catering Cottages
Fortwilliam Fishery offers two miles of double bank salmon and trout fishing over five beats on the river Blackwater.
Our salmon include – Springers, May Salmon, Grilse, Back End Salmon, and in Summer sea trout.
Our beats provide a wide variety of water, suitable for both beginners and the more experienced fishermen.
Fortwilliam Fishery, Glencairn, Lismore, Co. Waterford, Ireland
Web: www.fortwilliamfishing.ie Email: fishing@fortwilliamireland.com
Tel: (00353) 87 8292077 or 058 75299
Ballyduff Bridge Salmon Fishery
Ballyduff Bridge fisheries control a number of beats of the Munster Blackwater. The Ballyduff Bridge beat is almost a mile long offering a huge variety of water and is particularly suited to fly fishing. Upstream near the village of Ballyhooley (a few miles outside the town of Fermoy, Cork) we have two beats. The Ballincurrig Beat is one of the most beautiful locations along the river and has an excellent piece of fly water flowing into a deep pool. Just downstream on the opposite bank we have a short but productive beat, called Magners. This beat fishes also well in high water.
Contact Jason Corcoran:
Ballyduff, Co. Waterford.
Tel: +353 (0)586 0146
Mobile: +353 (0)87 720 5690
Web: www.blackwatertroutandsalmon.ie
Careysville Fishery
Careysville Fishery offers some of the best salmon fly fishing in Ireland and includes 26 named pools. It is considered by many to be one of premier beats for salmon fishing in Ireland. Wading is excellent and among the numerous streams, pools and glides there is a great variety of fly fishing to suit both complete novice and challenge the most competent of fly casters.
Careysville, Clondulane, Fermoy, Co. Cork, Ireland
Email: fishing@careysville.com Mobile: +353 (0)86 2378788
Web: http://careysville.com/careysville-fishery/
Blackwater Salmon Anglers, Mallow
We provide Day Tickets for some prime Salmon fishing in Mallow Co. Cork. We have excellent fly water, shrimping worming and spinning also. We also have very competitive Day rates and we have very recently upgraded our fishing.
Tickets available from “The Bridge House” and “Vincent Downes Menswear” Mallow.
Facebook: Blackwater Salmon Anglers
Upper Bridgetown Salmon Fishery
Located on the Munster Blackwater in the south of Ireland. Situated mid river between the towns of Fermoy and Mallow. A productive left bank beat in stunning surroundings.
For bookings contact Conor Arnold: +353 87 755 4682
Facebook: Upper Bridgetown Salmon Fishery
Loungueville House Salmon Fishery
For details on availability and conditions of fishing for salmon and trout on the Longueville House waters please contact them at
Contact : Longueville House Hotel, William O’Callaghan
Address : Mallow, Co. Cork.
Telephone : 00 353 22 47156
Email: info@longuevillehouse.ie
Website: www.longuevillehouse.ie
Vincent Appleby reports from Lough Currane…
5/3/21 Today’s action as follows 3 Boats out, one Barbless Versus two hand me down Brown tag boats, sadly no rod benders in the Wild Atlantic Salmon, but they did see some action in the Kelt department. Wind ESE light to fresh with reasonable cloud cover.
6/3/21 There were two hand me down Brown tag boats and one Barbless boat out manipulating this day on Lough Currane and for all their efforts all they caught were a few Kelts. Just for the record today on the lake is Hawaii Five-0 Day, all Steve can say is “Book ‘em Danno”, for his 50th Birthday at www.fishingwithdom.com So watch out Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy! And Many Happy Returns of the day from all the Currane Anglers and I am sure we will celebrate with you in the near future. Wind SSE light to fresh and overcast.
7/3/21 We Start with the 2nd Brown Tag Draw which was held at 3pm today, the lucky and unlucky Currane Anglers should know their fate by Lunch time tomorrow. Now for today’s Action on Lough Currane, there were a total of 8 boats manipulating. Just for the record the Wild Atlantic Salmon were all quiet but there were a few Kelts caught. Now to you fly Currane Anglers the first hatch of Duck fly’s hatched today and the brown trout were rising for them.
8/3/21 Just two boats out, order of merit one Barbless and one hand me down Brown tag boat manipulating this day. Just for the record there were no C&R and No Brown tag used. Wind SSW light to fresh and overcast.
9/3/21 Brownless and Barbless Currane Anglers were at a standstill as a strong wind from the SW took control of today’s proceedings and going by the forecast it is not looking good for the next couple of days?
10/3/21 Strong SW wind was the order of the day as the Barbless Brown tag Anglers could only admire the Currane waves. Wind as already stated and overcast with heavy showers at times
Wind SSW light to calm and overcast.
Vincent Appleby
www.salmonandseatrout.com
Eureka Lodge, Caherdaniel West, Co. Kerry.
Telephone: +353 (0)66 9475248
E-mail: salmonandseatrout@eircom.net
Web: www.salmonandseatrout.com
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
Kevin O’Boyle reports from Lough Conn…
Six boats were reported angling on Lough Conn over the week and anglers who ventured out had some good results. Peter Roche from Cloghans had two healthy trout the best of which weighed 1.5 lbs. Both fish were caught on a Fiery Brown Dabbler in Cloghans Bay. Joe Quinn had 8 trout, the best of which weighed 1.25lbs over two days in Cloghans Bay and the Brackwansha shoreline.
Successful flies included the Humongous, Sooty and Pearly Dabbler and all trout were released. Three trout were recorded caught off Massbrook and two trout were reported caught along the Castle Island shore near Bog Bay.
