Traditional Irish wooden ship sets sail towards West Greenland to follow salmon migration and highlight their decline
Ireland’s sole surviving ocean going wooden sailing ship, the ‘Ilen’, which was re-built through a community educational programme in Limerick, has set sail from Limerick Docks to follow the migratory journey of salmon in the Shannon River to West Greenland. ‘Salmon’s Wake’ is the title of The Ilen Project’s Community and Schools Education Programme which is highlighting the decline of salmon during International Year of the Salmon.
The Ilen Project operates the wooden sailing ship ‘Ilen’ as a community learning platform from her home port of Limerick. The rebuilding of the Ilen and her preparations for sea were completed in June and the crew from all parts of Ireland are looking forward to her longest ocean voyage since 1926.
The Ilen
The voyage follows a creative programme which saw building workshops and community days take place at multiple locations across the city with local schools, artists, craft makers and institutions all playing a role in bringing this majestic ship back to sea. Young people from Limerick and West Greenland are participating in this project and discovering what both communities share as North Atlantic maritime island peoples.
Sean Canney TD, Minister with responsibility for Inland Fisheries said: “The ‘Salmon’s Wake’ project is just one of a number of initiatives taking place across the country as part of International Year of the Salmon to raise awareness of what humans can do to ensure salmon and their habitats are conserved and restored against a backdrop of several environmental factors. Inland Fisheries Ireland is co-ordinating International Year of the Salmon in Ireland and is supporting the The Ilen Project’s Salmon Wake initiative to generate interest in the status of salmon populations and the role they play in Ireland’s economic and cultural heritage”, he added.
The crew at work on The Ilen
Atlantic salmon populations are widely distributed throughout Irish freshwaters with over 140 such systems designated as salmon rivers. While in the 1970s, the number of Atlantic Salmon returning to Irish waters peaked at 1,800,000, the numbers returning have decreased by 70 per cent in recent decades.
Gary MacMahon, Director of The Ilen Company said: “The Ilen is today setting off for its longest voyage in decades. It is the culmination of a lot of hard work by so many in our community who helped us realise our vision of reimagining this impressive ship. Throughout this journey, participants in the project have shared and learnt skills through the build which will remain with them for a lifetime. It is a symbol of what can be achieved when people work together and it is fitting therefore that our ‘Salmon Wake’ journey is highlighting the decline in salmon populations.”
The Captain of the Ilen will provide updates on the ship’s progress as it follows the route of salmon migration to West Greenland as a guest blogger right here on www.fishinginireland.info.
The following is the angling report for the Erriff for the period 20th – 27th June.
We have had great fishing here on the Erriff landing 32 salmon for the period. An experienced angling party visiting from Delphi Lodge accounted for 18 of these, ranging in weight from 1.4lbs – 8.8lbs and were caught on Willie Gunn, Delphi Collie and shrimp patterns, all wild fish were released.
Some of the other catches included father and son team Dieter and Tomas Weiss from Germany who fished on the 21st and 23rd and landed 3 grilse between them of 3lbs, 3.4lbs and 3.5lbs from the Upper Garden and Falls Pool on Beat 9 and the Horseshoe Pool on Beat 3. Kylemore House fishery manager Jasper Matthews had 2 grilse on the evening of the 24th which he released on Beat 4 from Kings Pool and Toads Pool estimated at 3.75lbs and 7lbs on a Cascade variant.
Regular angler Neil Spellacy had a great day fishing beats 6 and 5 on the 25th, landing 4 grilse of 2.5lbs, 4.2lbs, 4.2lbs and 8lbs – Neil was using his trusty Black Shrimp fly! That evening John Phelan landed a fine ranched salmon of 7.75lbs on a Cascade in the Gauge Pool which gave him a great fight. Seamus O’Neill returned on Wednesday 26th and released 2 wild grilse of 3lbs and 4lbs from the Willow Pool and Altamont’s Dam on Beat 6 using a black and yellow shrimp. Prospects for fishing are good at the moment with fresh grilse entering the system on each tide, so get in touch to book a day on the river!
The Erriff on the morning of 24 June
Go Fishing
The Erriff is a spate river draining beautiful mountain scenery and entering the sea at Killary Harbour, near Leenane. The river is split into 9 beats, and is flyfishing only for the most part. The river provides quality fishing for salmon and sea trout in spectacular surroundings. There is also lake fishing available on Tawnyard Lough, on one of the tributaries, providing sea trout fishing from July to September.
If you wish to book fishing please call the fishery office on (095) 42382 or email us at [email protected]
Inland Fisheries Ireland, together with Monaghan County Council and Lough Muckno Matches & Festivals Group, have confirmed the arrangements for the holding of the Inland Fisheries Ireland European Fishing Championships at the prestigious venue of Lough Muckno, Castleblayney, County Monaghan.
The championships will take place over two days of 30th & 31st August 2019, with teams of five anglers present on the venue for practice in the preceding week.
Lough Muckno is widely acknowledged, amongst anglers, as one of the best coarse fishing venues in Europe. It was developed, over recent years, by Monaghan County Council, in collaboration with Inland Fisheries Ireland and Lough Muckno Matches & Festivals Group, as an angling tourist venue.
EPFC Championships organisers at the launch of the event
The 2019 championships will see over 100 international anglers and their support groups compete in the championships. Local tourism providers and services will greatly benefit from the hosting of this event in Monaghan. The staging of this competition in Castleblayney will result in approximately 800 bed nights bookings at local hotels, B&B & other accommodation providers.
The staging of these championships in Ireland has been the culmination of a significant voluntary effort and the organizers wish to acknowledge the support of the many sponsors of the event, in particular the Tackle Sponsors, Browning Tackle, without whose support the event would not have been possible.
Temperatures over Ireland – Thursday 27th @ 3pm source: wunderground.com
The summer has arrived at last and, while we did have some nice sunny weather last week, it was cooler than one would expect for this time of year. The cool northerlies and easterlies that held for so long have now been ousted by mild southerlies and south-easterlies bringing warmth from the continent and while the rest of Europe stews we can put away our layers of clothes (for a few days at least) and opt for layers of sun block instead………
The salmon know that the summer is here too and, right on cue, there are runs of summer fish appearing in many of our rivers. In the west of Ireland tradition has it that St John’s day (June 24th) is the start of the summer grilse run and with good numbers of them building above the salmon weir bridge in Galway before their ascent upstream, who are we to disagree. Over on the Moy conditions were difficult, the lower beats and Foxford area produced plenty of fish but good numbers ran straight through the mid-river sections without resting. Further west, on Carrowmore, the sea trout have arrived in numbers. In the south and south west, those rivers that got fresh rainwater fished well. The Munster Blackwater was one of them, with some nice fish caught by anglers of all ages. Liam Davis had caught and released a grilse at the Blackwater Salmon Fishery Young Person’s Day held last Saturday. No mean feat in front of an audience! The adults had to wait for the youngsters to go back to school on Monday and Tuesday to catch a few themselves.
Liam (11) brings a Blackwater salmon to the net. Liam is our Catch of the Week winner.
Some grilse were also showing up on Currane, along with the odd sea trout, and this was despite the low water levels there early in the week. Over in Kenmare, the flush of water got things moving on the Sheen and Roughty with some fish to 7lbs caught. In Cork, the Ilen produced a few fish but things were much slower than last week and, while plenty of fish were seen on the Bandon, few were caught. Donegal fisheries seemed to do a bit better this week, good numbers of grilse and the odd double figure salmon came off the Drowse but up on Melvin they were more dour and difficult to tempt.
Thankfully, the trout on Melvin were less stubborn than their silvery cousins, with good Sonaghan fishing over deeper drifts and good fishing for Gillaroo to wet flies. Mayfly were still on the water there last week to keep the fish looking up for their food. The improvement in the weather has the lake trout feeding early and late on some loughs. Once more, it’s the caenis that has produced the best of the catches early in the day (very early) but the sedges come into their own later on. Both Corrib and Sheelin fish well at these times but if you are too late onto the lake in the morning or too early leaving in the evening you may well miss the best of the action……
Andrew Flitcroft with a stunning 5lbs Corrib bar of gold. #CPRSavesFish
On the rivers there are some blue winged olives appearing and, when they do, the trout find them hard to resist. The lack of rain has meant that many rivers, like the Nore and Goul, are low, clear and weedy making fishing tricky. The warmer evenings ahead along with summer hatches of BWOs should improve things.
Castleblayney was the venue for the Lough Muckno Feeder Festival held this week over five days where roach and hybrids made up the bulk of the weights. The EPFC European Fishing Championships, which will also be held on Muckno, was launched on Thursday; over 100 anglers in teams of five will compete over two days in August for the title. Meanwhile, over in Longford anglers have had some great success targeting tench and bream; prebaiting, dawn starts and local knowledge being the key to success there.
Nick from Belgium with a nice Bream from Longford
A reminder that the FIPSed 25th European Coarse Angling Championships will be held this weekend on the Lower River Bann and the National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland are appealing to members of all communities for their help in stewarding the event with 100 volunteers are required. If you are available from 9am to 2pm on the Saturday and Sunday, or both, and would like to get involved please visit http://ncffi.ie/euro25/volunteer/ for more details and to register on-line.
Not many reports from pike anglers this week, we do have news of the launch of the Lough Ree International Pike Classic which will be held on Lough Ree in September; anyone interested in entering should go to http://loughree.ie/lough-ree-international-pike-classic-2019/ for more info.
A spurdog and a smiling angler
The fine weather means that offshore marks are more accessible and shark species are turning up along with good catches of wreck species around the coast. Off the Clare and Galway coast it wasn’t just the fish that kept the anglers entertained (and there were plenty of those); sightings of dolphins by the hundred along with both humpback and minke whales were enjoyed aboard the Clare Dragoon and the Leaca Rua – a great sight to see. The tope, blue shark and porbeagles that have been caught from the south and west coasts are pretty impressive sights too and some pretty big pollack have been landed as well.
Sean Ryan with a good fly caught pollack
Back on dry land the inaugural All Ireland Smooth Hound Championships were held in Wexford where over 40 anglers from around the country took part and landed 135 fish, including 40 smoothies, congrats to Rory McDowell who was crowned champion there. In Donegal, the Killybegs Mariners took advantage of the mild weather to celebrate the summer solstice with an all night session that produced some good lumps of fish including conger to over 20lbs.
And now the weather……….
Warm and humid today, Friday, with good sunshine for Ulster and much of Leinster. However, it will be cloudier across Munster and Connacht for a time with potential for a few thunderstorms bringing heavy rain and the risk of surface flooding. Top temperatures of 22°C to 27 °C. Variable amounts of cloud around overnight with the risk of a few heavy showers, possibly thundery in nature. Minimum temperatures of 12°C to 16°C in light southerly breezes.
A mix of cloud and sunny spells on Saturday with some heavy or thundery showers in places. Another warm day with maximum temperatures ranging 20°C to 26°C in moderate southerly breezes. Breezy on Saturday night with clear spells and a few showers, these mainly affecting the west and northwest. Minimum temperatures of 12°C to 15°C in fresh southwest winds.
Sunday will be bright and breezy with sunny spells and a few passing showers. Maximum temperatures of 17°C to 20°C in moderate to fresh westerly winds. Most areas dry overnight but a few showers will affect the west and northwest. Minimum temperatures 10°C to 13°C
Sunny spells and showers on Monday but holding mainly dry in the south of the country. Maximum temperatures 15°C to 20°C, warmest in moderate northwest breezes. Largely dry overnight with just the chance of an isolated shower in the north. Minimum temperatures 7°C to 10°C. Tuesday will be mostly dry with a mix of cloud and sunshine, top temperatures 17°C to 20°C in light breezes and another dry day on Wednesday with sunny spells and patchy cloud, maximum temperatures 17°C to 22°C in moderate southwest winds.
Richard Caplice reports from the Lough Muckno Feeder Festival…
No fluke from Mihalyi as he wins with a clear lead,having led from Pillar to Post.
Gordon collects his prize
They all attacked his lead but none could topple Gordon as he piled on the pressure daily, with a section win every day. Tony Hopkins in the end made the boldest bid but even he came up 5kgs short, just ahead of Rory O Neill who held on for third, edging out the ever consistent Shamie Winters who was the final man on the podium.
With a share of the €5,000 on offer and the winner netting over €1500 this was a valuable Festival where monies were spread to a maximum, including daily top three, section winners, section rotation prizes and top individual payouts,much praised by all competing.
Fishing was as ever fair in the extreme while the weather took its toll somewhat on the returning Roach from their seasonal spawn.
Many thanks to Raymond at the Old Coach Inn for his massive support and to Monaghan County Council for their continued assistance.
Charter boat anglers on the Shannon Estuary and off the Clare coast are reporting some great catches when the conditions at sea play their part. Anglers on the Lady Gwen II from as far away as Australia are seeing a steady stream of pollack coming to the boat. A lot of first timers had their first fish and had great fun doing it.
Meanwhile on the Clare Dragoon species fishing was on the list of requests and over the last week they have had a decent mix of dogfish, bullhuss, cod, mackerel, ling, gurnards, pollack, and after a couple of false starts, tope. They also had the thrill of seeing hundreds of dolphins, more than 10 Minke whales and 2 Humpback whales keeping company on one of the days this week.
Go Fishing…
Fishing Adventures
Doonaha, Kilkee, Co Clare
Fishing Adventures will cater for whatever fishing you desire. With state of the art electronics, quality fishing gear, and large deck space, the Lady Gwen II is a stable and comfortable boat to fish Telephone:
Séan Macguire +353 (0) 87 7508758 or +353 (0) 89 4431182 Email:[email protected]Web:www.fishingadventures.ie
Clare Dragoon
Clare Dragoon is a LOCHIN 366 powered by 650HP engine, skippered by Luke Aston and operating out of Carrigaholt Co. Clare…
I have some offers up on my web site www.fishandstay.com and if anybody is interested in putting a trip together please do get in touch. Also I Twitter from the boat on @fishandstay and try to update my face book page www.facebook.com/CarrigaholtSeaAngling fairly often!To experience some of the best deep sea fishing available in Ireland contact Luke. Telephone: +353 65 9058209 or +353 87 6367544 Email:[email protected]Web:www.fishandstay.com
Stefan Martin reports for the Killybegs Mariners in Donegal…
All night rock fishing at midsummer solstice, 20lb congers, 11 species, 60 fish, a nice report from Cormac and the lads at the Weekend…..
With the lovely calm and mild weather this weekend there was never going to be a better opportunity for an ‘all-nighter’ on a local deepwater rocky mark for myself, Gavin Dorrian and Johnny Byrne – and the effort was well rewarded 🎣
Ten hours’ fishing through the night brought us in excess of 60 fish made up from 11 different species (and excluding the whiting, flatties & red gurnards that this mixed ground mark usually throws up).
My highlight of the night was a new personal best for a conger from the shore @ 20lbs and while Gavin coaxed in some of the hard to get smaller species such as three-bearded rockling and goldshinney wrasse, Johnny’s persistence out in the deeper water was rewarded with a fine thornback ray.
Solstice competition results
Calm conditions and the midges dancing for the league outing on the longest day of the year brought very few flatties with just the one over the minimum size of 23cm which was a 31cm flounder for Sean O Donnell. A haul of 3 dogfish and a few undersize flatties for Christopher Noctor won the first place prize and his 2nd league win of the summer. Sean O Donnell won the longest fish prize with a 31cm flounder and also the 2nd place prize money. League table after 4 outings attached. Well done to all who took part
Upcoming Boat Competition
Mariners sac FishComm Ltd boat species competition will take place this Friday 28th June —- boats Evie Rose & Fiona Tee (6 anglers on each boat but room for late entries) – anglers will draw boat when paying entry fee of 50 euro.
Boats departing the slip at 08.30am. Lines down at 09.00am and lines up at 16.00pm.
Galway Bay charter boat anglers are getting in some good fishing , even though the inconsistent conditions are at times unfavourable.
Max and his big pollack
Max Couque on the Leaca Rua out of Rossaveel had his biggest pollack this year, 4.5kg last week. At the moment they are getting up to 11 species a day. Mackerel, sandeel, red gurnard, pollock, coal fish, pouting, whiting, dog fish, cuckoo wrasse, cod and 2 big bullhuss over 12lbs. Not only hat there has been some incredible minke whale and dolphin activity recorded too. Check out his Facebook page for more.
John Fleming of Blue Shark Angling was delighted to report that they got their first tope of the year last week. Not a huge fish, but at least a start.
Finally Kevin MacGabhann, skipper of Maighdean Mara, is getting some great fishing with pollack to 11lb, specimen spurdog to 16lb and good mix of other species too.
Go fishing…
Galway Fishing
Deep sea fishing trip in Galway Bay from Rossaveel. Fish for species such as shark, pollack, ling, ray, mackerel and much more… Licence for up to 12 persons. Smaller groups welcomed and individuals also catered for. For day trips, boat departs Rossaveel around 9am and returns around 5.30pm.
For evening charter, boat departs at 6.30pm and returns approx at 9.30pm.
45 min drive from Galway.
A regular day is between 9am- 6pm from either Rossaveal, Spiddal or Galway depending on species being sought after. Fishing on the inshore reefs for pollock, cod, ling, wrasse, conger eel and mackerel can be reached in 10 minutes from departure, while our offshore reef marks are within 45 minutes of departure. Our ground fishing for tope, spurdog, ray, bullhuss, turbot, plaice and the giant common skate can all be reached within the hour which ensures the most amount of time is spent fishing.
The shark season usually starts at the end of June and runs into late October, this is the ultimate angling adrenaline rush with these hard fighting blue and porbeagle sharks all being tagged and released safely.
Package deals available
A regular Galway Bay Safari is from 9am to 6pm. The Maigdan Mara will pick up your party from the pier at Spiddal, County Galway. The boat is yours for the day, though of course skipper Kevin will advise you where the best fishing is to be found. Tackle hire is free.
While Mask has been quieter of late, we received a report of a great capture from Paddy Donovan.
Paddy and his fishing buddy TJ Feeney were trolling a Savage Gear rainbow trout lure along the Tourmakeady shoreline when they hooked up. After a 15 minute fight, a fantastic 14.5lbs trout was finally brought to the boat, having made 4 to 5 long runs of 70-80 yards!
Paddy Donovan with his fine 14.47lbs trout from Lough Mask
The lads tried for half an hour, with the help of 4 French anglers, to revive the fish, but it would not go back safely and had to be taken. The fish went 14.47lbs on a shop scales when weighed later.
A fish of a lifetime, and well done to Paddy and TJ for doing their best to release the fish too.
Andy and Peter from the UK decided this year on a change of area, they decided to stay with us at Melview Fishing Lodge in Longford. We had already discussed things and had a plan for the week so it was off to do some fishing and later some prebaiting. I could not believe the guys’ energy. They were starting at 04:30 and got their just rewards with one of their catches at 175lb between them, a great time had by all. Thanks guys for your company and all your hard work, and hope to see you next year.
Kevin has over 30 years experience of fishing in Ireland and is happy to offer a guided tour on your arrival, and to advise where the on-form waters in the area are. We can arrange your bait order so it’s here when you arrive. Melview offers free use of 17ft lake boats with engines to our guests (pay fuel only) and Kevin is happy to assist with any pre-baiting requests. Maps and other information regarding fishing are also available.
