Dutch Pike angler Piet and son Lex Van Saase along with friends Glen, Ronald, Marnix and Stephan were back at Melview Fishing Lodge for their annual Pike fishing trip.
Glen Timmer with hid first of the trip.
The guys fished three different locations over the six days catching 223 Pike. The first couple of days saw a good few smaller Pike being caught. There were, however, some nice fish caught and lost over the week using both lures and dead baiting methods,
Stephan Wolhuis with his Pike caught on dead bait.
Whether catching big fish or small the guys were always in good form from start to the finish of the day.
Lex van Saase happy with his first.
Thanks for all the fun and laughs over the week and we 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.
The Eire Bass guide Richie Ryan sent us a report on his outings this week. Richie takes up the story.
The bass season has picked up here in Cork Harbour as the water warms up. We know from our acoustic tagging program that most of the bass have returned to their old feeding grounds. Site fidelity was a big lesson we learned back then. If you take a bass from a mark every time you catch one then for sure you’ll be very disappointed with your sport in later years.
The bass are back in Cork harbour
Just like last year there are plenty of small bass around which of course is a good sign. Sven Scholz from Germany and Flavia Paradiso from Switzerland were very happy with their few small bass over the May Bank holiday. Super sub Tim Murrell arrived in on a cruise liner to brighten up my day and he managed to land a few bass. I enjoyed a few sessions with Jacques Bronkhorst and Jean Marias also. To quote Jacques “after the initial pleasantries ” we fell into our usual banter and slagging with the Doc telling Jean to be very careful releasing fish over the side as his beard might get caught in the propeller.
Mind the prop Jean!
Plenty of small fly caught bass were released as were some fine big pollack. On one of the sessions I caught a large beautiful spider crab on the fly. It’s hard to tell whether he grabbed the fly as it was passing his nose or if I just snagged him, but if you haven’t tried one they’re as nice to eat as lobster anytime. And so the season starts for me. Let’s hope it’s not as windy as last year !
Good to see the wee onesThe fly caught crab (or the crab caught fly!)
Mark Gannon reports from the Lady Patricia in Courtmacsherry:
Last Monday the 6th May, with nice weather and calm seas, we fished on the offshore reefs. Fishing was good with conger, ling, pollack, coalfish, cod, dogfish, bullhuss, whiting, ballan wrasse, cuckoo wrasse, pouting, poor cod and mackerel. Heading to the wrecks this Saturday so hopefully we’ll have a good report next week!
A nice ling on the Lady PatriciaA variety of species were landed – including cod
A wet and windy May fills the barn with corn and hay; a wet May and fine June makes the farmer whistle a merry tune……
We’ve had a cool start to May with slightly below average temperatures in many areas and cool winds from the north and east at times that would skin you if you didn’t prepare for them. The good news is that from Sunday onwards we will see an increase in temperatures in all parts with good sunshine in places; not exactly good fishing weather later in the week, with mainly dry and gentle northerlies and easterlies dominant from Wednesday, but we won’t complain (though we might not fill that barn with corn and hay……)
On the loughs there have been good hatches of fly and trout fishing has been pretty good, Lough Mask has trout feeding on olives, campto buzzer and mayfly while Derg has been producing fish to mayfly patterns. Sheelin has been good at times; fish there have been caught on both wet and dry buzzer patterns and mayfly are starting to show in the usual areas. On Corrib, spells of sunny and calm weather this week meant the mighty buzzer accounted for many fish. Mayfly fishing is improving by the day and the slight increase in temperatures, along with cloud and gentle southerlies forecast from Sunday through Tuesday, should see good mayfly fishing before easterlies and clear skies take over again for the rest of the week.
On the rivers and as the saying goes ‘first floods in May, smolts away’ and if you are fishing small wet flies or nymphs you are likely to catch small, silvery salmon smolts as they begin their long journey to the rich feeding grounds off of Greenland, the Norwegian Sea and the greater expanse of the North Atlantic Ocean. If you happen to catch one, make sure to unhook it gently with wet hands and return it safely to continue its difficult journey to sea and beyond in this International Year of the Salmon. Even better still – use barbless hooks and let you’ll find they wriggle off by themselves most of the time. Back to trout and there are reports of good trout fishing from rivers around the country, like the Nore, with an increase in fish feeding at the surface and more abundant fly life to encourage them.
Fly caught pike Italian style in Mullingar
On the predator scene, pike fishing has been good this week with pike feeding hard after spawning season. The midlands, Erne and upper Shannon loughs are all producing great fishing for visiting anglers and one group of four Dutch anglers had a pike bonanza with over 200 fish for their stay. Some nice pike are also coming off the big loughs in the west as are some fine ferox trout.
Marie Christine of France with one of 48 pike caught and released on the Erne system by her group
To coarse fishing and the NCFFI All Ireland Feeder Club Championships were fished at Inniscarra over the bank holiday weekend with five teams of five competing for the title; CM Lakelands Green came out on top and an average bag of 10kg per angler per day across all competitors really highlighted the quality of the venue. Some fine specimen sized bream and tench are being caught by pleasure anglers further up the country in Cavan.
On the salmon front, we would like to give special mention in this International Year of the Salmon to the Salmon Protection Programme being headed up by Ballyduff Bridge Salmon Fishery; anglers who provide a video of themselves safely releasing a salmon back to the river will have their names drawn from a hat for the chance to win an array of prizes including fishing tackle, one year’s fishing on the Ballyduff beat and fishing day tickets on some of Inland Fisheries Ireland’s salmon fisheries. Other fishery owners are encouraged to take part; for more information see https://www.facebook.com/Salmon-Protection-Program-276995096518432/
Salmon fishing has been quiet this week, the lack of a good, wet south westerly wind keeping levels low in many areas. The bigger rivers that hold water for longer like the Munster Blackwater and the Moy have had a steady trickle of fish; a few grilse are also starting to turn up as the season pushes on. In the south west, there are reports of occasional fish but rain is badly needed to kick things off. Lough Currane produced a few fine salmon after a quiet spell and our Catch of the Week goes to Judge David Burton’s released 7lb fish #CPRsavesfish.
Judge David Burton and the first C&R salmon of Currane for 2019 – this rare occurrence wins our Catch of the Week
In the salt, one or two tope are being landed in the east and lots of spurdog are getting caught in the west. Bass are showing up in Cork harbour and for charter boats heading a little further from the south coast, the offshore reefs have provided great angling for pollack, coalies, cod, ling and conger with a few wrasse and others thrown in for good measure.
Eoin Griffin and Sam Collins with a lovely pair of pollack
And now the weather……..
On Friday night showers will die out and clear spells will develop with lows of 2 to 5C in a light northerly wind.
Saturday will begin dry with good sunshine. Cloud will increase in the afternoon bringing a few light showers. Highs of 10 to 14C, mildest in the south in a light northerly breeze. Dry with clear spells on Saturday night. Cold with lows of 0 to 2C in the north with some frost forming, 3 to 5C elsewhere. Light winds veering southerly overnight.
Sunday will be a dry day with hazy sunny spells. The west will see the best temperatures with highs of 15 to 17C. Elsewhere, highest temperatures will generally fall between 14 and 16C though the light southeast breeze will keep temperatures a few degrees cooler in along eastern and southern coasts.
Monday to Wednesday will continue dry and settled. Highs of 14 to 19C, best in the west. Winds will be mainly from a southeast direction keeping temperatures cooler along eastern and southern coasts.
Junior anglers Josh and Sam Collins along with Eoin Griffin had super fishing at the weekend. The trio were hooking a fish a drop from the get go at a rocky mark outside Cork Harbour. There was no shortage of good pollack, and every third fish or so was a small cod.
Eoin and Sam with a lovely pair of pollack
The tactic for the day was soft plastics behind a jig head. The only time the lure was changed was when it had taken such a beating from the fish it was too raggedy and ripped to sit on the hook any more!
Just enough time to unhook, get a photo and then back it goes…
Sunday proved a great day to be out. Apart from the pollack there were also huge numbers of mackerel and the boys enjoyed the spectacle of the gulls and sea birds feeding hard; gannets diving and even a couple of fin whales paid a visit along with a few dolphins and even a cheeky seal.
Go fishing…
Small boats can be hired locally and there is also a number of charter boats operating from the harbour.
John Fleming reports from aboard the Brazen Hussy II fishing out of Spiddal, Co Galway:
The Hussy’s spurdog record was smashed yesterday by the Tinnemanns family of Mastbracht, Holland. Dad Jan and company are fanatical anglers and were very, very happy with yesterday’s outcome.
Spurdog bonanza on the Brazen Hussy II
We had 34 spurdog landed and released yesterday, 6 were specimens and 3 of those fell to Jan’s son Nick, the biggest of which was 112cm.
Specimen spur for Nick
The excitement was unbelievable when they started to feed.
Very happy crew and skipper!
Another of the 34 spurdogs landed and released
One for everyone in the family!
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
Dutch Pike angler Piet and son Lex Van Saase along with friends Glen, Ronald, Marnix and Stephan were back at Melview Fishing Lodge for their annual Pike fishing trip.
Glen Timmer with hid first of the trip.
The guys fished three different locations over the six days catching 223 Pike. The first couple of days saw a good few smaller Pike being caught. There were, however, some nice fish caught and lost over the week using both lures and dead baiting methods,
Stephan Wolhuis with his Pike caught on dead bait.
Whether catching big fish or small the guys were always in good form from start to the finish of the day.
Lex van Saase happy with his first.
Thanks for all the fun and laughs over the week and we 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.
We featured some fantastic characters in recent years in Angling Focus and Bob Bettinson is up there with the best. Bob and his wife Shirley were staying in the splendid Bloomfield House Hotel on the shore on Ennell and Bob was over to judge the National Alpaca Show in Mullingar Equestrian Centre. Bob runs and owns the Toft Alpaca Stud farm in Toft Manor Warwickshire and is also a retired theater Director working in West End and across the world on musicals for years. One of the big hits he told me was Buddy the Musical, which to be honest I told bob I had no idea. No matter we got on like a house on fire and Bob loves his fishing and shooting. We spent a few hours on Lene in North Westmeath and Bob was stunned with the Countryside and really impressed with the fishing. So much so he is planning a trip back to Mullingar with his brother, who I am told is another angling fanatic. You never know you might see me with an Alpaca woven hat on the Midland lakes in the coming months.
A Lough Lene trout for Bob Bettinson
Peter Wiesmann was in the Mullingar Park Hotel over the Easter break and is coming to Ireland over 30 years, so it’s about time he discovered Mullingar. Peter is a school teacher in Gerlikon in Switzerland, but he was barking up the wrong tree trying to learn me something. The Peter lad spent years on Sheelin staying with Mary and Peter Reilly of Finea and has fantastic memories from his years in Ireland. We just had a few days fishing, but really pushed out the boat regarding what we have to offer in the Mullingar area regarding angling. Peter is in Ireland for two weeks, and gone West now, but might drift back to Mullingar before heading home.
Our good pals Stefano Belisario and Tiziano Finocchio are back in Mullingar for another weeks fly angling. Stefano and Tiziano have being coming to Mullingar for quite a number of years and have featured in our angling reports on every visit. This time around they have pals Luca Del Grosso and Pier Giorgio Di Benedetto on board, and the lads just got in time for Storm Hanna so we had a few rough days fishing. Naturally during the peak of the Storm we could not venture out on the lakes, but bank fished along the River Inny on some of our Hot Spots, that produced cracking pike. Local pike angling expert Barry Darby and my younger brother J.J. regularly take the lads out and put them over serious good pike waters. It’s kind of a pike angler’s reunion when we all get back fishing together and Stefano, and Luca are mad fly pike anglers with Tiziana and Piergiorgio loving the lure fishing.
Fly caught pike Italian style
Actually it was Pier Giorgio’s first pike angling adventure as he is a keen carp angler back home in Italy. The lads are based in their regular haunt Kerrigan’s B & B and really enjoy their stay. It’s always nice to get good feedback from visiting anglers and they were very impressed with their dinners in Liam Gilleran’s and the Greville Arms Bar food. We have another few days fishing left, and the Abuuzzo lads will be delighted to see their pictures in Westmeath Topic and a few will be taken home to show their family, and angling pals.
The Eire Bass guide Richie Ryan sent us a report on his outings this week. Richie takes up the story.
The bass season has picked up here in Cork Harbour as the water warms up. We know from our acoustic tagging program that most of the bass have returned to their old feeding grounds. Site fidelity was a big lesson we learned back then. If you take a bass from a mark every time you catch one then for sure you’ll be very disappointed with your sport in later years.
The bass are back in Cork harbour
Just like last year there are plenty of small bass around which of course is a good sign. Sven Scholz from Germany and Flavia Paradiso from Switzerland were very happy with their few small bass over the May Bank holiday. Super sub Tim Murrell arrived in on a cruise liner to brighten up my day and he managed to land a few bass. I enjoyed a few sessions with Jacques Bronkhorst and Jean Marias also. To quote Jacques “after the initial pleasantries ” we fell into our usual banter and slagging with the Doc telling Jean to be very careful releasing fish over the side as his beard might get caught in the propeller.
Mind the prop Jean!
Plenty of small fly caught bass were released as were some fine big pollack. On one of the sessions I caught a large beautiful spider crab on the fly. It’s hard to tell whether he grabbed the fly as it was passing his nose or if I just snagged him, but if you haven’t tried one they’re as nice to eat as lobster anytime. And so the season starts for me. Let’s hope it’s not as windy as last year !
Good to see the wee onesThe fly caught crab (or the crab caught fly!)
Mark Gannon reports from the Lady Patricia in Courtmacsherry:
Last Monday the 6th May, with nice weather and calm seas, we fished on the offshore reefs. Fishing was good with conger, ling, pollack, coalfish, cod, dogfish, bullhuss, whiting, ballan wrasse, cuckoo wrasse, pouting, poor cod and mackerel. Heading to the wrecks this Saturday so hopefully we’ll have a good report next week!
A nice ling on the Lady PatriciaA variety of species were landed – including cod
![Piet van Saase with one of his nice Pike](/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/PHOTO-2019-05-04-09-56-17.jpg")
![Glen Timmer with hid first of the trip.](/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/PHOTO-2019-05-07-09-58-15-480x640.jpg")
![Stephan Wolhuis with his Pike caught on dead bait.](/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/PHOTO-2019-05-07-08-27-53-480x640.jpg")
![Lex van Saase happy with his first.](/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/PHOTO-2019-05-07-09-58-38-480x853.jpg")
![Marnix Wolhuis takes a break from the boat.](/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/PHOTO-2019-05-07-08-27-09-480x360.jpg")
![](/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/CorkBass-480x360.jpg")
![](/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/IMG-0208-480x1039.jpg")
![](/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/CorkBass1-480x640.jpg")
![](/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/20010a9e-818a-4ee4-9b59-4886803f8372-480x270.jpg")
![](/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Courtmac-Ling-480x360.jpg")
![](/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Courtmac-Cod-480x360.jpg")
