Foxford Salmon Anglers report…
A continuation of last week with the river remaining high. The fishing also mirrored last week with 19 fish reported mainly due to the lack of anglers. However, the river is dropping and more fish are showing all along the river and the coming week looks promising. Only a few more weeks until the season ends, so now is the time to get fishing while we all can.
Tight Lines for the coming week!
Joe Fitzharris of Lake O’Flynn & District Angling Association reports on their latest competition…
Lake O’Flynn & District Angling Association had an outing on Sunday 2nd of August with 20-anglers competing with a 2-fish limited applied for the day. This event was run under strict government COVID 19 guidelines, with a COVID officer, and safety officer ensuring a register was kept with contact details of all who participated. Sanitisation was also made available to those who required on the day.
Results of Sunday Aug 2nd outing on O’Flynn.
Lough Sheelin Angling Report, August 10th – August 16th 2020
“…it is not fly fishing if you are not looking for answers to questions.”
― Norman Maclean
There is no doubt that August can be a bit of a different animal in the fishing calendar. Stuck three quarters of the way through the fishing season, this is the month that can be slow and trout successes are mainly down to a great deal of a hard work, both physical and mental.
This is a time which is sometimes referred to as ‘the dog days of the summer’ – nothing to do with dogs of course but an expression taken from Greek mythology which referred to the rising of the star Sirius (the dog star) which occurs in August and which was associated with heat, drought, sudden thunderstorms, lethargy, fever, mad dogs and bad luck. A more modern take is that August is supposed to be the hottest, most uncomfortable part of summer in the Northern Hemisphere.
This week has supported the ‘dog days’ theory, temperatures soared to 26°C and sultry conditions permeated days and nights, it was hot, with that rare ‘burning’ feeling experienced when out on the water. The trout, true to form, disappeared, sinking down into the cooler regions of the lake with only the odd splashy rise as a kind of acknowledgement to us that they were actually still there. Although not ideal fishing conditions Lough Sheelin for this week was not to be written off and combinations of perseverance, good fly tying, good presentation and analytical thinking produced some beautiful fish with the heaviest being caught by Michael Farrell weighing in at an impressive 8 lbs. The majority of the trout were caught in the evening and at nightfall. Day time fishing was poor although anglers reported seeing plenty of small fish and Sunday was particularly busy with lots of small fish pitching in the middle of the lake.
The local angling club – the LSTPA, ran their annual McDonald Cup on Saturday last, conditions were unfavourable to say the least with water temperatures reaching 19°C and unforgiving sunshine persisting throughout the day. Some 26 anglers took part, with Monaghan angler Brian McAvinney winning the cup with a lovely 4¾ lbs trout and Ned Clinton taking second place.
Going through the week:
Monday was a mild and muggy day with good cloud coverage but little movement from the fish. The hatches of the Peter sedge were poor, very patchy and only happening in a few areas of the lake and sometimes it was only one or two caddis at a time. Day time fishing was a challenge, with a few trout around 2 lbs caught on tiny sedge patterns fished static.
Temperatures climbed to 23°C with light breezes and good cloud cover on Tuesday, nothing happened for anglers during the day but there were some lovely trout caught as the light faded into darkness. The Peters have reduced considerably in number and at this stage appear to be bowing out of the angling season. All fish caught were on small dry Peter patterns.
Wednesday was the hottest of the days with temperatures climbing into the mid-twenties after the early morning mist burnt off. A lovely trout of 3lb 12ozs was caught on a small Klinkhammer pattern during the day along with three others averaging around 2½ lbs on Stimulator patterns. There was a small hatch of sedges later on in the evening.
Air temperatures stayed around 23°C – 24°C for Thursday, there were a few trout caught during the day, all before noon and after that little else happened, there were only a few sedges hatching in the evening and no sign of Murrough or Peters. Trout were caught on Golden Olive Bumbles, Green Peters, Silver Daddys and Claret Dabblers. There were small hatches of Peters in a few areas on the lake with fish feeding on them in the dark.
Friday was warm and sultry with light east to north east winds, day time fishing was slow and successes confined to the early morning and late evening, fish averaged 2½ lbs, heaviest at almost 4 lbs which was caught on a Green Peter sedge pattern.
The weekend was close and humid with water temperatures hitting 19°C. Very few catches were recorded and the anglers fishing the the McDonald Cup on Saturday struggled through the day under a hot sun and light easterly breezes. Sunday was overcast with temperatures reaching 23°C, a few fish were caught on lures, heaviest at 3lbs.
It seems as if the Peters are leaving the building here but, although not really happening during the day, there were huge hatches of small sedges at dusk particularly on Thursday night; there is still some dry fly fishing to be had so anglers should not throw out the small sedge patterns yet.
August is a time of plenty in the water world. There is more food available to trout than at any other time of the year; invertebrates, fry and insects – sedges, terrestrials and late olives to name but a few. Basically, in terms of catching, anglers must give the trout something that is too good to pass up, it sounds easy but Lough Sheelin is far from easy and now more than anything is putting its anglers through the mill.
The Peter fishing has been exhausting as well as exhilarating as with Peters you put all your eggs in the one basket; it is so short lived that if it doesn’t happen where you choose to fish then it’s over before there is time to pick another area of the lake to go to – the window of opportunity could be as short as 5 – 10 minutes. Sheelin will wear you down at times because the fish are so selective about what they are on and they keep changing what they are on so it can be both exasperating and exhausting. It is ironic that this idyllic pastime that people think is recreation and is a privileged pursuit is as mentally demanding as it is. Fishing Lough Sheelin is harder than any work imaginable but anglers do it purely because of the bliss that is possible when it finally comes good.
25 trout were recorded for the week. The majority of the catches were as dusk fell and the best of the day time catches were before noon. Brendan Daly from Loughrea caught 5 ‘night time’ trout on Green Peter sedges, between 3½ and 4½ lbs while Peter Donoghue had no complaints with his 6 lbs catch, all fish were returned. The weight of the week was a beautiful fighter of 8 lbs caught by Michael Farrell.
The flies that rose and caught trout were large Murrough patterns, small dry sedges (12 -14), small dry Green Peters, Peter Emergers, Shipman’s, Bobs Bits, Hoppers, Claret Bumble, Silver Daddy, International Dabbler, Sedge hogs, small Klinkhammers, Stimulators, Sedge pupae, Daddies, Zulu, the Grey Duster and a Red Tailed Peter. For those anglers after the daphnia feeders, head for the open water using a bright orange fly. When fishing small dry sedges along sheltered areas it is best to use a floating line with a 4 – 6 lbs leader.
Humans, not just fishermen have been griping about the weather as far back as written history reaches. Civilization has long credited the objects in the sky with influence over the earth and its inhabitants; if it’s not the Dog Star cursing you with sultry summer heat and madness it’s the moon driving you to lunacy so it seems you can’t win when it comes to the celestial bodies.
The weather however, does have a huge influence on the fishing and it’s hard not to gripe when the weather is not conducive to trout fishing. It makes sense that trout will not rise into warm deoxygenated water and because Lough Sheelin has an abundance of food in the lower cooler larder, surfacing is just not a sensible option for them. Things will change, the weather will change and the fishing will speed up somewhat but whatever is thrown at us Lough Sheelin never blanks and always produces catches for her most experienced anglers, regardless.
A catch & release policy is actively encouraged on the lake at all times
Please remember anglers to abide by BYE-LAW 949 which strictly prohibits from June 14th 2017 onwards:
Lough Sheelin Guiding Services (www.loughsheelinguidingservices.com) 087 1245927
Christopher Defillon
[email protected] (+33685964369) evasionpecheirlande.net
https://m.facebook.com/christopher.defillon?refid=0&fref=seaperch#
Michael Farrell @ 087 4194156Telephone: +353 43 6681298 Email: [email protected]
Grey Duster Guiding
Kenneth O’Keeffe
Tel: 086 8984172 Email: [email protected]
John Mulvany [email protected] 086 2490076
D.C. Angling & Guiding Services – contact David @ 087 3946989
Please remember All anglers are required to have a Fishery Permit to fish Lough Sheelin which must be purchased BEFORE going out on the lake.
After all the recent rain it was good to have a few dry days over the last week. Sunshine levels were almost 75% more than normal in some parts, great news for those trying to iron out the t-shirt tan, but not so welcome for anglers fishing the rivers and lakes. But not all anglers were undone by the settled, sunny weather. Those who tried their luck in saltwater fared well, as baitfish and mackerel seemed to be everywhere…
The salmon run continues to make the news and those rivers where water levels have suited angling continue to produce some great catches. Rivers in West Cork are doing very well at the moment with anglers on the Ilen having a great season. The Bandon is also producing some good fish and in common with some of the rivers across the south and south west there have been some good big salmon running with the grilse. Unfortunately for anglers on the Moy the river remains high. It’s been in spate for almost 2 months. There have been some great catches recorded, but it’s a matter of getting out when the conditions are right.
The Munster Blackwater also features in our trout reports. Dan O’Neill enjoyed a beautiful afternoon slinking around under the cover of willows, casting to fat trout. In the cool umbrella of the sallys he enjoyed a great day’s sport. The news from Lough Corrib is that the week gone by proved more fruitful and rewarding to anglers than the week previous with sedges and fry patterns proving the best and some action on daphnia. Anglers out after ferox on the troll were also rewarded with some good fish to 11lbs caught and released. On Sheelin it was all about the Green Peter. Sedge hatches varied from ‘patchy’ to ‘not too bad’ to ‘good enough’ depending on what area of the lake was being fished which was dictated by wind direction. All the bigger fish from 3 ½ lbs up to the top weight of 6 ½ were caught on dry fly whereas a respectable number of 1 – 2lb fish were caught on teams of wets.
There was not much else to report from the freshwater scene this week. Tulla Anglers held a pike competition and a coarse competition on the same day and enjoyed lively sport. 13lb 4 3/4oz won the coarse competition while the pike event was won with a combined length of 168cm.
Starting on the east coast, Kit Dunne of Wicklow Charters was out after sharks in the south east and he didn’t let his anglers down as his first couple of trips produced 8 and 7 blues. Sharks also featured for small boat anglers out of Waterford where tope and blue shark made for a really enjoyable day. Charter boats fishing out of Dungarvan have had good fishing on the wrecks, reefs and for sharks too.
And there were more sharks for anglers fishing out of Cork Harbour – Amy’s Fishing Adventures has some great footage of their day out. Moving on to West Cork it was shark again. Silver Dawn, skippered by David Edwards, had a couple of good specimen sharks and they got into double figures most days. Some other interesting species were reported including big skate, a spurdog caught in open water and a pair of trigger fish on Tom Collins’s Loch and Iasc out of Union Hall. It’s a long time since we’ve had trigger fish reported to us here, so they win Loch an Iasc Catch of the Week.
We hit Galway next, where once again sharks take the headlines. Brazen Hussy is having a great season by all accounts. Shore anglers in Donegal Bay once more report some great fishing. The Killybegs Mariners enjoyed a beautiful night on Rossnowlagh where decent catches were recorded and their members followed it up with some brilliant fishing from the rocks over the weekend.
Finally, we finish with an update from the authorised Bluefin Tuna boats. Catches are now being recorded off the Cork and Galway coasts. Anglers are reminded to only book fishing with the authorised boats.
After taking a break, Daire Whelan of the Ireland on the Fly Podcast is back again. This time interviewing Robert Gillespie. To find out more and for links to listen in see
Once again we remind all our anglers of the Leave No Traces message. When you’re out fishing simply don’t leave anything behind. Whatever it is, put it back in your pockets, tackle box or gear bag – National Awareness Campaign launched promoting responsible behaviour outdoors to combat increase in littering
Saturday, will see showers or longer spells of rain affecting Munster and southern parts of Connacht at first and later in to Leinster. There’ll be drier weather for Ulster and north Connacht with sunshine there. Temperatures staying on the high side, between 21 and 25C, once again the best in Ulster. Winds remain light variable or easterly in direction. Low pressure is dominating the weather pattern for the rest of the weekend and into next week. Light easterly or variable winds throughout, relative humidity stays on the high side with no change of airmass until the midweek period. A little cooler from Sunday though. Breathable rain gear is the right job, or else just plan to get wet…
Safe fishing to all this weekend 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 [email protected].
Tom Collins reports from Union Hall in West Cork:
09 August: A massive 219lb Common Skate today for Maurice.
11 August: What a magical day today floating around for blues in flat calm seas. Despite little or no drift we still managed plenty of blues and got to watch a small porbeagle robbing baits.
Two big surprises today, a spurdog on the drift to almost specimen size, and these two nomadic creatures.
Tom Collins, Sea Angling Charters
Loch and Iasc
Operates 12 months of the year and specialise in shark fishing. With experienced skipper Tom Collins the Loch an Iasc is a modern charter company which offers a comprehensive range of services to customers and aims to cater for your every need be it Mackerel, Reef, Wreck, Specimen or Shark fishing.
Telephone: +353 (87) 2792983
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.seaanglingcharters.ie
Dave Edwards reports from the Silver Dawn where his anglers have been enjoying some great shark fishing…
10 August: Offshore shark fishing today as part of Inland Fisheries Ireland’s tag and release programme. After a misty wet start to the day the sun shone and the lads landed 12 Blue Sharks including a Irish specimen sized fish at 2.35 metres overall and 1.95 to the fork.
12 August: A great day on the Blue Sharks today, amazing weather and wildlife was full on with Fin and Humpback Whales as well as dolphins, seals and sunfish well offshore.
The craic was mighty and the 4 lads brought 12 sharks to the boat before release
One shark caught by Pat measured 2 metres to the tail and 2.4 overall which made it our largest of the season so far and our third specimen sized Blue of 2020.
13 August: Another great day offshore today and although we had little or no breeze for much of the day, the lads still managed to bring 13 Blue Sharks to the boat. Meaning the only day in the last month where we failed to reach double figures was the day Paddy dropped our trail basket overboard.
David Edwards,
West Cork Charters
West Cork Charters operates the Silver Dawn, a 41′ Rodman 1250 with twin 430 HP Engines out of Courtmacsherry. 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.
Address: The Pier, Courtmacsherry, Co. Cork.
Telephone: +353 (83) 449 1403
Email: [email protected]
Dan O’Neill made a trip recently to the Munster Blackwater and reports the following on his trip to the waters at Longueville House. Dan says that “the weather recently has been slightly unpredictable, the wind has made many of the different fly fishing techniques tough on even the most experienced angler, as anglers we take each of nature’s obstacles and we work around them in hope of beating the odds, Trying to catch the unexpected, fishing into the unknown is one part of fishing that time after time excites me, casting a fly over a pool not knowing what might make that klink shoot off, make that nymph indicator stop dead or make a fishy movement. I find when the ” take ” happens my reactions and feelings have never changed from the moment I hooked my first trout at the age of four.
Looking for a new challenge over the weekend I contacted William O’Callaghan of Longueville House. William is lucky enough to have the River Blackwater flow through his land, a dream come through for any angler. On arrival we had a cup of coffee spoke about some patterns that William himself used over the past season to see if I could make an educated guess as to patterns to start with. Looking at some of the patterns and studying some nearby fly life I started out with a pheasant tail nymph which was under my trusty ‘sighter sedge’.
The next step of the adventure was to walk the river with William himself to get an insight into where I should start to fish. There are many salmon pools and trout runs along the stretch which all looked like the kind of things that dreams are made of. After our walk I decided on a lovely run called ‘the sally stream ‘, I entered the water at the bottom of the run planning to fish directly upstream using my dry dropper rig. One thing I noticed and enjoyed the most was stealthy making my way upstream fishing in under the overhanging sally’s. Looking along the bank the sally’s looked as if they were sculpted and shaped perfectly, moving from one dome to the next was spectacular and something that brought a very unique sense to the experience. Trout on a few occasions took my ‘sighter sedge’ with quite a few falling to my trusty pheasant tail and working my way upstream I noticed many little runs also that held some trout. The most magical for me was the way in which the sally’s had grown creating canopies and fishing under them, it was like stepping into a different world, one in which i was more than happy to get lost in.
As with all fishing trips my few hours passed like minutes, seconds even, leaving thoughts and many happy memories of my day on the Munster Blackwater.
Go fishing…………
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: [email protected]
Website: www.longuevillehouse.ie
As reports have appeared about good salmon fishing on the north, west and south coast’s rivers, anglers on the east coast have been patiently waiting for the run to reach the east coast rivers. It is hoped that even though we may wait a bit that they will come, hopefully!
In saying that there have been some salmon caught on the Boyne and lower Blackwater over the last two weeks or so with a couple of notable fish, one of 13lbs and one of 17lbs both caught on the fly. In addition two further 17lb fish were landed and released to shrimp. Fly, spinner and shrimp have all accounted for fish and earlier in the week Michael Flanagan had a nice 6lb grilse at Navan. The fishing has been like the water level, up and down but anglers are happy that fish have had a chance to move on upstream and are awaiting the next run of fish to arrive.
Go Fishing……..
If you are interested in fishing on the River Boyne you will find all of the information that you require at the following link https://www.fishinginireland.info/salmon/east/boyne.htm
Stefan Martin reports on the Killybegs Mariners SAC – third summer league outing to Rossnowlagh…
Although not quite the feeding frenzy of the league outing last week, this second consecutive visit to Rossnowlagh beach (north end this time) was nonetheless well worth the trip for the 17 participants.
A bright warm evening at the 8pm start saw just a few small flounders (20 to 26cm) come ashore for most anglers but as the light failed and a light cool breeze set in, the surf began to offer up a bit more quality with flounders up to 36cm, plenty of weevers,small coleys and the fish of the night has to have been the lovely 52cm bass for Pat Byrne.
With a total of 112 fish plus a total of 7 species (all recorded & released) Johnny Byrne took first place with Kieran McGowan a close second and Mariners’ hot prospect junior, 6-year-old Cian Callaghan, winning ‘longest flattie’ prize for a fine 36cm flounder and worth mentioning that young Cian wasn’t far off the top two places with 9 flounders.
With neither of the two previous league leaders finishing in the top places in this leg of the league, things are certainly starting to tighten up and, taking into account that each angler must drop one score of their four outings, the overall league standings are poised to make the final outing on Fintra Beach (Friday 21st Aug – TBC) an interesting one.
The fishing didn’t end there though…
Some great shore fishing for the Mariners over the weekend as Pete and Christopher and Johnny found some fine shore huss and turbot along with thornback rays, spotted rays and scad.
The final of the Mariners summer league outing (4/4) will take place on Fintra Beach (Friday 21st Aug – TBC).
As always new anglers are welcome to come along and join in. Guaranteed 3 different winners and all a bit of fun on a great beach.
Stefan Martin
Killybegs mariners SAC
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mariner.sac
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
A big shout out to those boats who have managed to tag and release a bluefin tuna as part of the Tuna CHART Programme in the past week.
First up we have a big shout out for a couple of firsts as some of our charter boats managed to break their duck and tag their first ever tuna during the week. Baltimore Angling got off the mark with their first tuna and then went and got another one just to make sure. While a bit further east along the coast Sea Angling Charters also managed to get off the mark with their first bluefin.
Further north, more seasoned bluefin boats such as Kiwi Girl, Tuna.ie, Killybegs Fishing Charters and Wild Atlantic Way Angling all managed tag and release a tuna or two.
Bluefin Tuna fishing may only be carried out by authorised vessels as part of the Tuna CHART (Catch and Release Tagging) a Bluefin Tuna Data Collection Programme. The list of authorised boats is given below and more information can be found here.
Name |
Vessel name |
Current Port |
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Adrian Molloy
|
Killybegs, Co. Donegal
|
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Brian McGilloway
|
Killybegs Co. Donegal
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Donal McMenamin
|
Killybegs, Co. Donegal
|
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Michael Callaghan
|
Killybegs, Teelin, Co. Donegal
|
|
|
Michael McGettigan
|
Killybegs, Co. Donegal
|
|
|
Patrick O’Doherty
|
Bundoran Pier Co. Donegal
|
|
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Daryl Ewing
|
Rosses Point, Co. Sligo
|
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Declan Kilgannon
|
Mullaghmore Co. Sligo
|
|
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John Brittain
|
Cleggan, Co. Galway
|
|
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Luke Aston
|
Carrigaholt, Co. Clare
|
|
|
Noel Kelleher
|
Kilrush, Co. Clare
|
|
|
Peter Power
|
Mullaghmore Co. Sligo
|
|
|
Thomas McCallion
|
Rosses Point, Co. Sligo
|
|
|
Carroll O’Donoghue
|
Kinsale, Co. Cork
|
|
|
David Edwards
|
Courtmacsherry, Co. Cork
|
|
|
Derek Schwartau
|
Ballycotton, Co. Cork
|
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Séan Maxwell
|
Courtmacsherry, Co. Cork
|
|
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Tony Santry
|
Marlogue, Cobh Island, Cork Harbor
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Adrian Nowotynski
|
Union Hall Co. Cork
|
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Kieran Collins
|
Baltimore, Co. Cork
|
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Tom Collins
|
Reen, Union Hall, Co. Cork
|
