Luke Aston reports on the first day back on the water in 2019 for the Clare Dragoon of Carrigaholt Sea Angling:
First day back yesterday. It was lovely and calm. Water was just under 10c. We got just 3 or 4 Mackerel for a short drift in close. We moved around quite a bit to try out different reefs and the catch was mostly Pollack and Coalfish. We also got some whiting and small Codling. Fishing was not flat out but there was a steady flow to the boat.
First fish of 2019
If you’d like to fish and stay in Carrigaholt contact Luke and Mary Aston
Rahona, Carrigaholt, Kilrush, Co. Clare, Ireland
Web: http://fishandstay.com
23/4/19 The Currane anglers had a feeling of optimism today over yesterday’s Fish Farm News, but sadly today their optimism didn’t bear any fruit in the Wild Atlantic Salmon and Sea Trout department!! Wind SE light to fresh with reasonable cloud cover. Yesterday’s weather, maximum air temperature 17.6 c.
So on that Note we will head for the Wild Atlantic Currane Salmon and Sea Trout and sadly it was all quiet on the SW front. Wind Southerly light to fresh with reasonable cloud at times. Yesterday’s weather, maximum air temperature 12.1 c.
21/4/19 The Currane Anglers couldn’t crack any Salmon this Easter Sunday be it on the fly or troll, you could say the Wild Atlantic Salmon and Sea Trout kept their Eggs intact. Wind, light Southerly. Yesterday’s weather, maximum air temperature 15.1 c.
20/4/19 All the action comes from the North Shore and the hired out boat department of [email protected]. Renowned Northern Ireland and Currane Angler Mr. Andrew Wishart takes all the Salmon headlines and tells in his own words so its over to Andrew.
‘Hi Vincent, Andy Wishart here, left saintfield County Down at 5 am this morning arrived in Waterville at 11. 30 am, out on lake 1 pm, caught a 10 pound salmon on the troll at 1. 15 pm and thanks to Dominic McGillicuddy of www.fishingwithdom.com (who I might add was having lunch at the holly and netted fish for me). Went to lobster to watch the rugby but unfortunately Munster couldn’t complete what would have been a perfect day’.
Wind light SSE and bright and sunny all day. Yesterday’s weather, maximum air temperature 18.9 c.
19/4/19 For starters it was a Good Friday for the wild Currane Salmon and Sea Trout and a hard day for the Currane Anglers as they tried their best in all departments to rise and lure those mighty Wild Game Fish but to no avail. Wind SSE light to fresh with reasonable cloud cover. Yesterday’s weather, maximum air temperature 20.4 c.
18/4/19 Today wasn’t a good Thursday and for good reason, temperatures skyrocketed up to 22 c with clear skies with light to fresh winds from the ESE. All we can hope for is that tomorrow will be a Good Friday and as we all know it certainly is, but will it be in the Salmon and Sea Trout department? Yesterday’s weather, maximum air temperature 15.6 c.
17/4/19 All the Salmon and Sea Trout headlines come from the North Shore, so straight to the action and to renowned Currane fly angler Mr. Phil Staniford, who was in flying form today, while fly fishing with his gillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy of www.fishingwithdom.com caught a cracker of a 12 lbs. Salmon and Phil finished his day off with a fine C&R 3 lbs. Sea Trout, I’m open to correction but I believe that’s the first Sea Trout caught on the fly this season? For the rest of the Currane Anglers it was all quiet on all fronts. Wind SSE light to fresh with reasonable cloud cover. Yesterday’s weather maximum air temperature 14.1c .
Luke Aston reports on the first day back on the water in 2019 for the Clare Dragoon of Carrigaholt Sea Angling:
First day back yesterday. It was lovely and calm. Water was just under 10c. We got just 3 or 4 Mackerel for a short drift in close. We moved around quite a bit to try out different reefs and the catch was mostly Pollack and Coalfish. We also got some whiting and small Codling. Fishing was not flat out but there was a steady flow to the boat.
First fish of 2019
If you’d like to fish and stay in Carrigaholt contact Luke and Mary Aston
Rahona, Carrigaholt, Kilrush, Co. Clare, Ireland
Web: http://fishandstay.com
The first Easter Festival on Lough Muckno concluded on Easter Monday with Philip Jackson continuing his strong showing over the three days to take the spoils with ease. Fishing was tough but as ever the fairest in the land with the outcome determined as usual on the final day. Well done to Philip Jackson on a fine win against some fine opposition and to our runners up
1st Philip Jackson
2nd Mick Smith
3rd Will freeman
4th Rory O Neill
Philip Jackson (centre) wins the first Muckno Easter Festival
Other winners contained in our paying out of daily winners and sections included Andy Moss, Howard Kaye, Barry Rogers, Mick Carr, Pete Jayes, Jim McAllister and Ian Henry – all shared in the fine prize fund of almost €3000 which included significant sponsorship.
The Dave Bacon Memorial Feeder Festival was held over the Easter Weekend on Inniscarra reservoir. The event saw 24 anglers compete over the three days in the Coachford area.
After his fantastic bream catch of 49.440kg at the Garden Centre on day 2, Peter Mills was going to be hard to catch and is this year’s festival winner with 64.040kg, well done Pete. Top weight of day three came from Cathal Hughes at the Graveyard with 20.440kg – just enough to place him second in the festival with 44.740kg. In 3rd place overall is last year’s winner Paul Leese with 42.690kg. Congratulations to all.
23/4/19 The Currane anglers had a feeling of optimism today over yesterday’s Fish Farm News, but sadly today their optimism didn’t bear any fruit in the Wild Atlantic Salmon and Sea Trout department!! Wind SE light to fresh with reasonable cloud cover. Yesterday’s weather, maximum air temperature 17.6 c.
So on that Note we will head for the Wild Atlantic Currane Salmon and Sea Trout and sadly it was all quiet on the SW front. Wind Southerly light to fresh with reasonable cloud at times. Yesterday’s weather, maximum air temperature 12.1 c.
21/4/19 The Currane Anglers couldn’t crack any Salmon this Easter Sunday be it on the fly or troll, you could say the Wild Atlantic Salmon and Sea Trout kept their Eggs intact. Wind, light Southerly. Yesterday’s weather, maximum air temperature 15.1 c.
20/4/19 All the action comes from the North Shore and the hired out boat department of [email protected]. Renowned Northern Ireland and Currane Angler Mr. Andrew Wishart takes all the Salmon headlines and tells in his own words so its over to Andrew.
‘Hi Vincent, Andy Wishart here, left saintfield County Down at 5 am this morning arrived in Waterville at 11. 30 am, out on lake 1 pm, caught a 10 pound salmon on the troll at 1. 15 pm and thanks to Dominic McGillicuddy of www.fishingwithdom.com (who I might add was having lunch at the holly and netted fish for me). Went to lobster to watch the rugby but unfortunately Munster couldn’t complete what would have been a perfect day’.
Wind light SSE and bright and sunny all day. Yesterday’s weather, maximum air temperature 18.9 c.
19/4/19 For starters it was a Good Friday for the wild Currane Salmon and Sea Trout and a hard day for the Currane Anglers as they tried their best in all departments to rise and lure those mighty Wild Game Fish but to no avail. Wind SSE light to fresh with reasonable cloud cover. Yesterday’s weather, maximum air temperature 20.4 c.
18/4/19 Today wasn’t a good Thursday and for good reason, temperatures skyrocketed up to 22 c with clear skies with light to fresh winds from the ESE. All we can hope for is that tomorrow will be a Good Friday and as we all know it certainly is, but will it be in the Salmon and Sea Trout department? Yesterday’s weather, maximum air temperature 15.6 c.
17/4/19 All the Salmon and Sea Trout headlines come from the North Shore, so straight to the action and to renowned Currane fly angler Mr. Phil Staniford, who was in flying form today, while fly fishing with his gillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy of www.fishingwithdom.com caught a cracker of a 12 lbs. Salmon and Phil finished his day off with a fine C&R 3 lbs. Sea Trout, I’m open to correction but I believe that’s the first Sea Trout caught on the fly this season? For the rest of the Currane Anglers it was all quiet on all fronts. Wind SSE light to fresh with reasonable cloud cover. Yesterday’s weather maximum air temperature 14.1c .
Changeable winds in the week gone by curtailed anglers at times, especially when easterly winds were prevailing. Olive hatches were moderate to poor and mayfly hatches were reported in the Carrick, Dooras, Baurisheen & Connor’s Island areas, albeit sparse hatches.
On Easter Sunday, the Annaghdown Angling Club hosted The Freedom Trophy Competition sponsored by the Nolan Family.
28 anglers weighed in 11 trout, placings were as follows:
1st Joe Butler from Cork 3 fish
2nd John Maloney 2 fish
3rd Ronan Sweeney 1 fish
Heaviest Fish was won by Ronan Sweeney with a fish weighing 1.3Kgs
Joe Butler winner of the Freedom Trophy Competition pictured with his prize
On Easter Monday, Cong Angling Club hosted their Annual Wet Fly Competition, 33 Anglers weighed in 22 Trout, placings were as follows:
1st Stephen Lydon 3 fish for 6Lbs.
2nd Gerry McDonnell 3 fish just under 6Lbs
3rd Stephen Norton.
Heaviest Fish was won by Stephen Lydon with a fish of 3Lbs.
Stephen Lydon (centre) winner of Cong Wet Fly Competition with club officers presenting the trophy
In the Cornamona area, Richard Molloy of Ballard Shore Boat Hire & Self Catering (087-2879339) reports of Meath angler Paul Geraghty landing a beautiful Corrib trout while trolling; the fish was 13lbs and was sportingly caught & released. #CPRsavesfish
Ted Wherry of Mayfly Lodge (087-4305957) guided father & son duo Noel & Gerard Moran from Ballinrobe; good sport was had on buzzer with three fish landed, the best being two and a half pounds.
In the Oughterard area, Basil Shields of Ardnasillagh Lodge (091-552550) reports of reasonably good angling for the week gone by; on Wednesday last Noel and Derek Rooney from Dublin had 7 fish on wet fly, on Friday last Peter Boyle had 5 fish on dry olives, three of which were around the three pound mark and on Sunday last Tony Duke had seven fish on mayfly with the best fish being two and a quarter pounds.
Kevin Molloy of Baurisheen Bay Boat Hire, Guiding & Self Catering (087-9604170) reports of visiting French anglers on Tuesday and Wednesday last trolling in the Oughterard area; they landed seven fish over the two days with the best fish being two and a half pounds. On Thursday, Kevin guided visiting USA anglers and landed three trout trolling with the best fish being 2Lbs and on Friday Kevin fished himself and landed two trout on buzzer for 4Lbs. Kevin fished again on Sunday with Alan Bowes and landed two on wet flies with the best being a pound and a half. Joey Fox caught a fine fish of 7.5lbs while trolling in the Glann area.
Joey Fox with a fine 7.5lbs fish from the Glann area
On the competitions front, Cornamona & District Anglers Association are hosting their Annual C&R Pairs Competition with all proceeds going to The Galway Hospice on Sunday 28th of April; for further information contact Eamon Gavin Club Secretary on 087-7785713.
Collinamuck & District Anglers have two upcoming events The Dowling Cup on May 5th and The Butt Cup on May 18th, Members and Non Members are welcome, for further information contact 087-6329077.
Cong Angling Club will be hosting their Mayfly Competition on May 26th; for further details contact club secretary Dan O Donovan on 086-1238174.
Lough Gowna & Upper Erne Anglers Association held a junior competition recently with 24 children taking part using 10 boats. Overall winners were: first place Evan Hewitt, Nikita Mayeynuk and Matthew Lee on Stephen Lee’s boat; in second place Ella Reilly, Noah Reilly and Glen Reilly in Gabriel Reilly’s boat and in third place Christopher Corrigan, Ryan Kiernan and Marc-Anthony Lee in Kieran Lee’s boat.
Junior anglers at Lough Gowna
The heaviest fish caught were Marc-Anthony Lee with 5lb 10ozs, Ella Reilly 4lb 6ozs, Matthew Lee 3lb 5ozs and Xavier Sztejno 3lb 1ozs.
Marc-Anthony Lee with organisers Gabriel Madden and Kieran Lee
Lough Gowna & Upper Erne Anglers Association also held the annual Barney Kiernan Memorial with 10 boats taking part on Arnaghan and Corfree Lake on Gowna north side. Final placings were:
1st Tony McManus 29lbs
2nd Marty Cosworth 19lbs
3rd Tommy Doyle 18lbs
4th Kieran Lee 16lbs
There are a number of pleasure pike anglers in the region, a party of 2 caught 24 pike in one day on Lough Oughter, biggest pike 91cms.
We have had some very dry weather since our last report and there has been a biting Easterly wind a lot of the time. Water levels dropped off to 5 on the gauge last Saturday (April 13th) and then we had some heavy rain on Saturday night, followed by extreme winds on Sunday and Monday. The river went to 50 briefly on Sunday morning but is now back down to 15 with high temperatures and blue skies. There may be some rain early next week, which would be a big help, especially to get the remaining kelts and smolts out safely to sea.
Good conditions on the Bundorragha
Jim Stafford was the first on the catch sheet since my last update, with a nice fish of approx. 10lbs off Doolough on the 9th. There were a few fish met that week on the river, but none were landed. There were fresh fish still coming in, but they were not co-operating. This changed with the rise in water levels on Sunday morning when Bob Hadden had a fish from the Whin Pool of 8lbs6ozs on a RS Super Snaelda. Shortly afterwards Wolfgang Bohn landed his first ever salmon, a fish of 8lbs 8ozs from the Turn Pool on a Cascade.
A ranched Delphi fish
Angus Sutherland managed to land a fish on Finlough on the 16th, of 6lbs 9ozs on a Willie Gunn and Brian O’Donoghue followed suit on the 18th when he landed one of 7lbs from Wrens Bay on a Silver Shrimp. Fish have been seen entering the river in the last couple of days but with the lower water and sunny days they are much more difficult to tempt.
Hopefully there is a change on the way which should freshen things and help the downstream and upstream migration.
Friends John and James from Kilkenny are no strangers to Melview Fishing Lodge visiting 3 or 4 times a year for both pike and coarse fishing, with the pickup in the weather it was decided that the fly could be the better option. This decision was the right one, it only took a few casts of the fly to start temping the fish into feeding hard.
John all smiles with this cracker on the Fly.
The anglers reported that ‘……after a few casts the water just became alive with pike chasing and taking the fly almost every cast, we had some good ones lost but we didn’t mind because we knew on the next cast there would be another. Nothing like catching pike on the fly, we’ll return to Melview in the summer for some coarse fishing too!’
James gets another nice pike on the fly.John has a change of fly and produces another good pike.
ALL FISH RELEASED UNHARMED #CPRSavesfish
For more information on fishing at Melview Lodge contact:
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