Irish Angling Update -16 May 2019

By

-

May 16, 2019

It’s been an odd week weather-wise. The past 7 day’s rainfall was above average in Eastern, Southern and some Northern coastal areas and it was dry enough everywhere else. Temperatures were about 2C down on what they normally should be. And at the same time last week’s sunshine was above normal everywhere. Needless to say this had an effect on the fishing. But not all bad…

Starting in the east, some great spring salmon have been caught and released on the Boyne in the last week. The fish are not as big as the 20lb beauties seen in April, but they are still fine double figure salmon. Moving south, the reports from the Slaney are that the fish are there, but running hard and not easily met. On the Nore, conditions have been described as perfect and some lovely fish have been caught and released.

Brian Hennessy releases his salmon — Brian Hennessy releases his Blackwater salmon

The Munster Blackwater is also in good order and salmon are been caught on a number of fisheries. Low water across the south west has seen the Lee, Bandon, Ilen, Roughty, Laune and other rivers suffer. There were 6 fish reported from the Ilen, but apart from that it’s been very tough going for anglers. Lough Currane had slightly better luck and some good fishing was enjoyed at times by the odd boat. One lucky angler caught and released 2 fish earlier this week – a 9lb and a 14lb salmon. Staying in the south west, Inland Fisheries Ireland introduced two new Bye-laws during the week in Waterville, Co. Kerry and Rosscarbery Bay and River Roury, Co. Cork following public consultations. Full details can be found at: Inland Fisheries Ireland introduces two new Bye-laws in Kerry and Cork.

Further up the Atlantic coast, milder weather and dropping water levels combined with an increase in visiting angler numbers saw 97 salmon reported caught across the system. Up to now, most of the fish caught were taken upstream of Foxford but over the past week lower and mid Moy Fisheries were reporting fish.

Tom Doc Sullivan CPR — Tom Doc Sullivan releases a trout on Corrib #CPRsavesfish

Trout anglers are reporting good fishing from and number of rivers and this week we have two reports from the River Nore where Olives are providing a lot of sport. On the Lough scene, Corrib and Conn and Cullin are getting great hatches of mayfly and the anglers are getting some great fishing. On Corrib two anglers who stuck to buzzer fishing tactics caught and released 15 trout for over 50lbs – a huge average weight. In Cornamona 6 rods for 6 days landed 63 fish over 13 inches, all returned and mainly caught on mayfly. The fish on Lough Conn might not be so big, but you’d be hard pressed to catch more wild trout anywhere! Two anglers operating out of the Cloonamoyne Fishery caught 164 trout over 3 days. Although many of these were small (20 – 30cm) there were some fine fish up to 2.5lb among them. 160 of the fish were returned.

Last week’s bream catches were far from a once off and there was more serious fishing reported from Carafin Lodge on the Erne system where bream to over 8lb and tench of 5lb were landed. A little further up the system the 2019 Waterways Ireland Classic Fishing Festival in County Fermanagh got underway on Monday. 205 anglers are competing for the £5,000 top prize. So far the fishing has been very good and the competition is shaping up to be a cracker. Good catches have also been reported from the River Bann and the River Shannon.

Ronan's 17Ib 15oz fish caught at today's qualifier — Ronan’s 17Ib 15oz fish caught at today’s qualifier

Lough Derg and the River Shannon are always popular with pike anglers. The last week saw good fishing, and even on the sunnier days some decent fish were caught. Mind you, they weren’t always pike! It’s funny what a trout will take when the Mayfly are hatching. The first of the IFPAC National Pike Championships was fished in Longford at the weekend and some good bags of fish were weighed in. Sean Markey had 9 pike 47lb to win 1st place.

The winds have not been the kindest to anglers, but they were not bad enough to stop the charter boats taking to sea. Our first report is from the Clare coast where Limerick woman Charlene Dillon caught and released a 15 feet long sixgill shark estimated at 1200lbs. Charlene was fishing on the Clare Dragoon and it is likely that this is the biggest fish caught by a woman in European waters. It’s no surprise that this is our Catch of the Week.

Charlene’s fought her 15 foot sixgill shark to the side of the boat where it was released. #CPRsavesfish

We also have good reports in from Cork Harbour, Courtmacsherry and Galway Bay. There were more specimen spurdogs from Galway Bay and interestingly Cork Harbour has seen its first spurdogs in many a year caught and released also.

Anglers National Line Recycling Scheme

Off the Scale recently announced that they will be the official coordinators for the fantastic Anglers National Line Recycling Scheme (ANLRS) in Ireland. This is a really useful initiative that protects fish, wildlife and the environment for future generations. The scheme is simple; old nylon monofilament, braided lines, fly lines and even line spools are collected in designated bins or containers at tackle shops, fisheries and other businesses and either sent to Off the Scale. They then store it temporarily before shipping direct to a UK-based recycling facility where it is recycled. Find out more at: Off the Scale teams up with Anglers National Line Recycling Scheme

And now the weather…

Friday is going to see some rain and temperatures will be between 14 and 18C. East to northeast breezes will be mostly light to moderate in strength. Saturday will start mostly dry with just isolated showers and some sunny spells in the west and southwest. However, it will be cloudier with showery rain in the north and east which will spread further westwards during the day. Some showers could turn heavy later. Maximum temperatures will be around 13 to 17 degrees in moderate north to northwesterly breezes. And so far it looks like Sunday, Monday and Tuesday will be much the same. So if that weather suits what you have in mind, well, you’re in luck…

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 [email protected].

Headlines

Salmon angling news

Trout fishing reports

Coarse angling reports

Sea angling news

Pike angling reports

Other news

Pike to nearly 18lb caught in first National Championships qualifier

By

myleskelly

-

May 16, 2019

John Chambers reports for IFPAC on the first qualifying competition of the 2019/20 National Pike Championships…

65 anglers turned up in Legan, County Longford to attend the first qualifying competition of the 2019/20 National Pike Championships. We fished around 6 miles of river on one bank. Fishing was very patchy with some areas only producing a few jacks. That said there were some great bags and 8 doubles to 17lb 15oz.

One Lithuanian angler was playing a pike of 2lb 04oz when a very large pike attacked it. The big pike didnt want to let go and went up and down the bank hanging onto the unfortunate jack which it eventually released leaving it in a poor state.

The top 7 who qualified to fish in the Final next April were

1st Sean Markey 9 pike 47lb 00oz
2nd Seamus Coffee 5 pike 39lb 09oz
3rd Martin Lynch 6 pike 31lb 11oz
4th John Woods 6 pike 29lb 15oz
5th Pat Behan 4 pike 29lb 02oz
6th Chris Maguire 11 pike 28lb 08oz
7th Ronan Murray 7 pike 26lb 09oz

Pools for heaviest pike

1st Ronan Murray 17lb 15oz
2nd Seamus Coffee 16lb 02oz
3rd Pat Behan 15lb 01oz

The Irish Federation of Pike Angling Clubs (IFPAC) is a body representing pike anglers in Ireland, North and South.The IFPAC was founded on 17th January 1988 at a meeting held at the Ardboyne Hotel, Navan. The membership for that year stood at fifteen clubs representing six hundred anglers, today membership of IFPAC is approaching 100 affiliated clubs representing in excess of seven thousand anglers from all walks of life.

http://www.angling-in-ireland.com/

A Few Nice Salmon on the River Nore

By

David Byrne

-

May 16, 2019

Water conditions were just about perfect for anglers on the River Nore last few weeks and a some nice salmon were reported on the Thomastown Anglers’ Association waters. The improved and milder weather encouraged a few anglers to try their luck. With the water conditions in great shape at the beginning of the month Alan Dunne connected with a lovely fresh fish which was released back to the river after a quick photo.

Further information on Thomastown Anglers Association and the River Nore can be found at the following links.

Information on the Thomastown Anglers Association be found on their website at https://thomastownfishing.wordpress.com/ and Facebook page HERE

Information on salmon fishing on the Nore can be found at https://www.fishinginireland.info/salmon/south/nore.htm

Anglers on the River Moy enjoyed good fishing over the past three weeks!

By

Markus Muller

-

May 16, 2019

William Thornton reports

Moy System WE Sunday 28^th April 2019

Over the past week milder weather saw an increase in angling effort with 86 salmon reported caught. Ballina Salmon Anglers reported only one fish with Gerry Seck taking a 9lbs. fish on spinner.

Knockmore Anglers reported their first two fish of season and Attymass their first with Stuart Blair, NI, taking a fish of 7lbs. on worm. On Gannon’s Fishery, Davey McKee, NI, had a fish of 10lbs. on worm. Upstream on the Cloongee Fishery, Thierry Coulm, France, had a fine fish of 10lbs. on spinner, while on East Mayo’s water, Reto Coutalides, Switzerland, caught an eleven pounder on fly. Also on the EMAA water Justin Kilos, France, had an 8lbs. fish , Gerard Portes, France, landed a 10lbs. and Frank Sommer Germany caught and released a ten pounder, all fish were caught on fly.

Frank Sommer from Germany about to release his bar of silver from the Moy

Moy System WE Sunday 5^th May 2019.

Broken weather and harsh North Easterly winds made angling conditions very difficult over the past week despite this 63 salmon were reported caught. On the Ballina Salmon Anglers’ water, Peter McHugh had a 7ls.b fish on spinner, on Gannon’s Fishery, John Marshal ,NI, Took a fish of 11.5lbs. on prawn, on Cloongee, Jez Leech, UK, had a 10lbs. salmon on worm and a twelve pounder on spinner, while Clement Polard, France, had a fish of 10lbs. on bubble and fly. On the East Mayo Anglers’ water, Frank Sommer ,Germany, had fine 14lbs. fish on fly. Other successful anglers on East Mayo included Phillippe Fonsica with an 11lbs. fish and Thomas Le Guilchet ,France, with a 7lbs. fish, both on fly.

Moy System WE Sunday 12^th May 2019.

Milder weather and dropping water levels combined with an increase in visiting angler numbers saw 97 salmon reported caught across the system. Up to now, most of the fish caught were taken upstream of Foxford but over the past week lower and mid Moy Fisheries were reporting fish. On the Moy Fishery (Ridge/Weir Pools), John McKinley, Athlone, had the first fish of 9.5lbs on fly, followed by Ivor Trimble, NI, with a 7.5lbs. fish also on fly and Paul McGowan, NI, with a 4.75lbs. fish on fly.

John McKinley in a fish on the Ridge Pool

On the Cathedral Beat, Simon Leonard had the first fish of 8.5lbs. on spinner. On the Ballina Salmon Anglers’ water, David McLoughlin had a nice fish of 9.5lbs. on spinner. On Gannon’s Fishery, William Marshall, NI, had a fish of 14lbs. on prawn. The Foxford Fishery reported their first fish of the season which was taken by John Chambers. Upstream of Foxford, Karl Heinz, Germany, had a 13lbs. fish on the Foxford Salmon Anglers’ water. On Cloongee, Mathew Doyle caught & released a fish of approx 8.5lbs. on Bubble and fly, while Xavier Le Corre, France, had one of 12lbs. on spinner.

Mathew Doyle abut to release a fine Moy salmon on the Cloongee Fishery

Also on Cloongee, a party of French anglers with Thierry Coulm had 14 salmon for the week on Bubble and Fly. On the East Mayo Anglers’ water, John Gerard, UK, had a 5lbs. fish on spinner, Ivor O’Connor ,Kerry, had two at 12lbs. &13lbs. on fly, while Michael O’Kane, NI, had one at 8lbs. also on fly.

Some Nice Trout Fishing on the River Nore

By

David Byrne

-

May 16, 2019

After the good weather of late, the water levels on the River Nore have dropped and cleared making it ideal for trout fly fishermen. With temperatures in the high teens to early twenties yesterday accompanied by bright blue skies, most trout were reluctant to take off the surface in the bright sunshine. There was some small black fly on the water with sporadic hatches of olives and there was also some sedge around. Two anglers fishing nymphs on the Thomastown Anglers Association waters had good results with some nice brown trout from 20cm to 32cm.

Gold-head, pheasant tail and hares’ ear nymphs all produced results. The trout were in fine condition and were all released quickly and carefully back to the river. The Association often hosts International and other competitions and welcomes anglers for all over Ireland and abroad. Further information on Thomastown Anglers Association and the River Nore can be found at the following links.

Information on the Thomastown Anglers Association be found on their website at https://thomastownfishing.wordpress.com/ and Facebook page HERE

For more information on fishing on the River Nore please visit https://www.fishinginireland.info/trout/south/nore.htm

Tough days on Currane but salmon to 14lb caught and released

By

myleskelly

-

May 16, 2019

Vincent Appleby reports from Lough Currane…

9/5/19 There was good trolling on Lough Currane today so straight to the lure department. First in the striking zone was local angler Mr. Stephen Donnelly, who caught a cracker of an 11 lbs. Salmon while trolling with his good friend Mike and by all accounts he had a mighty battle, which the Cahersiveen and Currane angler won. Staying in the trolling department UK and Currane Angler Mr. Phil Staniforth while trolling with his Gillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy of www.fishingwithdom.com caught a fine 11 lbs. Salmon on the troll. In today’s Salmon action you could say it was a draw in the lbs to lbs. department. On a personal note the photos were as good as the fish thanks for that and that goes for yesterdays photos. Wind Light to fresh and very bright. Yesterdays weather, amount of rainfall 2.2 mm. Maximum air temperature 12.2 C.

skelligs — Great day for Sea Fishing not for Game Fishing a picture tells the story!

10/5/19 There wasn’t any Judgment day this day, as the Wild Atlantic Salmon kept their nose’s down as the Currane anglers looked up to the clear blue skies and bright sunshine blazing down on Lough Currane and you could say the Currane Salmon ruled the Currane Waves today in a fresh wind from the NW. Yesterdays weather, maximum air temperature 11.3C

11/5/19 All the Salmon and Sea Trout headlines come from the Bungalow on the North Shore. Currane and Cork angler Mr. Martin Coveny, while fishing with his Gillie Mr. Neil O’Shea of www.oshealoughcurrane.com caught a cracker of a 10 ½ lbs. Salmon on the troll. Staying at the Bungalow Martins good friend Mr. Dave Homes, caught and released a fine 2 lbs. Sea Trout on the troll while fishing with his Gillie Mr. Bob Priestley. They say bright sunshine and a Northeast wind is a Currane anglers nightmare, well all I can say is a few more nightmares wouldn’t do any harm. Wind NE light and hardly a cloud in site. Yesterdays weather maximum air temperature 12.4C.

12/5/19 Just a few boats out and for good reason, there was a strong SSE wind blowing and going by the Currane Anglers mobiles it was all quiet on all fronts. Wind as already stated and bright sunshine all day. Yesterdays weather, maximum air temperature 13.5C.

13/5/19 The Currane Anglers today had to battle the wild SE wind and by all accounts that’s all they battled, as the Currane waves smashed into their bow’s and to make things worse the Currane Skies were as clear as a magnifying glass. Weather as already stated. Yesterdays weather, maximum air temperature 17. 7C.

Neil releases Paul's Salmon! — Neil releases Paul’s Salmon!

14/5/19 All Salmon C&R headlines come from the Bungalow on the North Shore, UK Angler Mr. Paul Haynes from Devon, while trolling with his Gillie Mr. Neil O’Shea of www.oshealoughcurrane.com caught and released two Salmon ranging from 9 lbs. up to 14 lbs. and in the words of Neil, wind SE and it was wild out there. Now to Breaking News on the Wild Currane Sea Trout, as from today the Waterville Fishery and Lough Currane becomes a C&R Fishery only! Just click the link and all will be revealed Inland Fisheries Ireland introduces two new Bye-laws in Kerry and Cork. Yesterday’s weather, maximum air temperature 16.9 C.

15/5/19 I’ve had emails all day because anglers were under the impression that the Waterville Fishery was totally C&R, this is incorrect, its only Sea Trout that are totally C&R. Now today’s action there were only two boats out and all was quiet on the SW front. Wind SSE fresh with reasonable cloud cover. Yesterday’s weather, maximum air temperature 17. 6C.

That is your ration from your Gillie and the Waterville Fishery, no spin no fly’s just facts.

Vincent Appleby
www.salmonandseatrout.com

Go fishing…

Vincent Appleby

Eureka Lodge, Caherdaniel West, Co. Kerry.
Telephone: +353 (0)66 9475248
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.salmonandseatrout.com

Waterville Lakes and Rivers Trust

The Waterville Lakes & Rivers Trust, formed by concerned volunteers in 2016, is one of the new Rivers Trusts to be set up in Ireland and is currently aspiring to Charitable Status. Its remit is to protect the fresh and coastal waters of the Iveragh Peninsula.

Find out more and how you can contribute at

www.watervillelakes.org

Find out more about Lough Currane…

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

Waterville lakes and rivers system

First of the season’s mayfly hatches well underway on Loughs Conn & Cullin

By

Markus Muller

-

May 16, 2019

Declan Cooke reports

There hasn’t been a huge amount of angling activity on either Lough Conn or Cullin until last weekend. Those that have ventured out, however, have found excellent trout angling and the first of the season’s mayfly hatches well underway.

On Lough Conn, Ian Wade, operating out of the Cloonamoyne Fishery at Enniscoe House, had two UK based clients out for three days during the week. After much deliberating and head scratching, they calculated that they had caught 164 trout over the 3 days. Although many of these were small (20 – 30cm) there were some fine fish up to 2.5lbs. among them. All fish were caught on wet flies and all but 4 were returned. Best patterns were , International, Green Dabbler, Golden Olive Bumble and Bibio.

At the Weekend, Dublin based anglers Maurice Dallaghan and Conor Donnelly had a very enjoyable two day trip to Lough Conn. They fished at Castlehill Bay, the Abbey Shore and Flannery’s Bay and had 23 trout up to 1.75lbs. in weight. Only three fish were kept and dry fly patterns accounted for most fish. Royal Wulff, Green Wulff and Mosley patterns in sizes 12 – 14 were the most successful flies.

Just landed! A nice trout of approx. 1.25lbs. (about to go back) caught at the Abbey Shore on a Mosley Mayfly.

There were also a handful of local anglers out over the weekend and all reported good hatches and good catches, mainly in the northern half of the lake. The international and the Royal Wulff appear to be the leading patterns.

Adrian Murphy from Cloghans had his two sons, 13 year old Brendan and 11 year old Cormac, out on Cloghans Bay and they had some lovely trout on a variety of wet mayfly patterns, including a fine 1.5 pounder. All fish were released.

13 year old Brendan Murphy with a nice 1.5 lbs. Lough Conn brownie

Lough Cullin hosted the two day Albert Berry Cup Competition over the weekend. This is the 27^th year in succession that this competition has been fished here, with 42 anglers from both north and south of the border competing for the coveted prize. With challenging conditions on the (catch and release ) Saturday leg, catches were surprisingly good but no big (2lbs.+) fish were landed. However, on the Sunday, the wind shifted to the south and cloud drifted in, making for ideal angling conditions.

53rd Cobh International Deep Sea Angling Festival 2019

By

myleskelly

-

May 16, 2019

The 53rd Cobh International Deep Sea Angling Festival will be fished Thursday 5th, Friday 6th, and Saturday 7th September 2019.

Are you fishing? Get your names down, by posting a comment below or email club secretary, Angus Reid, at [email protected].

Fishing should be interesting this year as a couple of species are making a come back in the harbour. Last year saw a number of small tope landed and many boats had catches of smoothhound. This year already 1 boat had 12 spurdog in a single trip. Everything was verified as the catches were part of Cobh SAC Master Angler Competition fished on 12 May.

Spurdog to 17lb on Galway Bay for young Liam

By

myleskelly

-

May 16, 2019

John Fleming reports from aboard the Brazen Hussy II fishing out of Spiddal, Co Galway:

We had 2 more specimen spurs from last week. It was a very slow start to the day especially after getting the 34 a few days previous. But anyhow we fished hard and got a result in the end.

Tom lynch was first of the mark with a nice spur of 111cm and weighed 14.5lb

Things went very quite on that mark so I suggested a change of mark and that made the difference.

Young Liam mellerick landed a fine specimen spur of 114cm and a whopping 17lb. Well done Liam.

We’ve also been doing well on the reefs over the last couple of weeks with some fine pollock being taken on lures. We also had some nice cuckoo wrasse and there is plenty of mackerel about too.

Go fishing…

To book fishing with John aboard the Brazen Hussy II, give him a call on 087 7571320

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

Address: Baile an tSagairt, Spiddal, Co. Galway.
Telephone: +353 (0)87 7571320
Facebook: www.facebook.com/BlueSharkAngling

Blue Shark Angling Galway,
Phone John Fleming : +353 (0)87 7571320

pollack

Irish Angling Update -16 May 2019

By

myleskelly

-

May 16, 2019

shannon

It’s been an odd week weather-wise. The past 7 day’s rainfall was above average in Eastern, Southern and some Northern coastal areas and it was dry enough everywhere else. Temperatures were about 2C down on what they normally should be. And at the same time last week’s sunshine was above normal everywhere. Needless to say this had an effect on the fishing. But not all bad…

Starting in the east, some great spring salmon have been caught and released on the Boyne in the last week. The fish are not as big as the 20lb beauties seen in April, but they are still fine double figure salmon. Moving south, the reports from the Slaney are that the fish are there, but running hard and not easily met. On the Nore, conditions have been described as perfect and some lovely fish have been caught and released.

The Munster Blackwater is also in good order and salmon are been caught on a number of fisheries. Low water across the south west has seen the Lee, Bandon, Ilen, Roughty, Laune and other rivers suffer. There were 6 fish reported from the Ilen, but apart from that it’s been very tough going for anglers. Lough Currane had slightly better luck and some good fishing was enjoyed at times by the odd boat. One lucky angler caught and released 2 fish earlier this week – a 9lb and a 14lb salmon. Staying in the south west, Inland Fisheries Ireland introduced two new Bye-laws during the week in Waterville, Co. Kerry and Rosscarbery Bay and River Roury, Co. Cork following public consultations. Full details can be found at: Inland Fisheries Ireland introduces two new Bye-laws in Kerry and Cork.

Further up the Atlantic coast, milder weather and dropping water levels combined with an increase in visiting angler numbers saw 97 salmon reported caught across the system. Up to now, most of the fish caught were taken upstream of Foxford but over the past week lower and mid Moy Fisheries were reporting fish.

Trout anglers are reporting good fishing from and number of rivers and this week we have two reports from the River Nore where Olives are providing a lot of sport. On the Lough scene, Corrib and Conn and Cullin are getting great hatches of mayfly and the anglers are getting some great fishing. On Corrib two anglers who stuck to buzzer fishing tactics caught and released 15 trout for over 50lbs – a huge average weight. In Cornamona 6 rods for 6 days landed 63 fish over 13 inches, all returned and mainly caught on mayfly. The fish on Lough Conn might not be so big, but you’d be hard pressed to catch more wild trout anywhere! Two anglers operating out of the Cloonamoyne Fishery caught 164 trout over 3 days. Although many of these were small (20 – 30cm) there were some fine fish up to 2.5lb among them. 160 of the fish were returned.

Last week’s bream catches were far from a once off and there was more serious fishing reported from Carafin Lodge on the Erne system where bream to over 8lb and tench of 5lb were landed. A little further up the system the 2019 Waterways Ireland Classic Fishing Festival in County Fermanagh got underway on Monday. 205 anglers are competing for the £5,000 top prize. So far the fishing has been very good and the competition is shaping up to be a cracker. Good catches have also been reported from the River Bann and the River Shannon.

Lough Derg and the River Shannon are always popular with pike anglers. The last week saw good fishing, and even on the sunnier days some decent fish were caught. Mind you, they weren’t always pike! It’s funny what a trout will take when the Mayfly are hatching. The first of the IFPAC National Pike Championships was fished in Longford at the weekend and some good bags of fish were weighed in. Sean Markey had 9 pike 47lb to win 1st place.

The winds have not been the kindest to anglers, but they were not bad enough to stop the charter boats taking to sea. Our first report is from the Clare coast where Limerick woman Charlene Dillon caught and released a 15 feet long sixgill shark estimated at 1200lbs. Charlene was fishing on the Clare Dragoon and it is likely that this is the biggest fish caught by a woman in European waters. It’s no surprise that this is our Catch of the Week.

We also have good reports in from Cork Harbour, Courtmacsherry and Galway Bay. There were more specimen spurdogs from Galway Bay and interestingly Cork Harbour has seen its first spurdogs in many a year caught and released also.