Well, I must admit that I wasn’t expecting to be updating the blog so soon again, but you could say it’s a great complaint to have. Just after I had updated the blog yesterday, I got called down the river for the necessary photoshoot.
Yesterday we had a few local anglers from the Erriff fishing club and Peter Coyne was off the mark within minutes of starting in the Rock Pool, with a lovely fish of 7lbs2ozs on a Delphi Collie. The river was running at 53 at the time.
Today we had our own ghillies and our long serving fishery staff and in fairness they delivered in style. Noel Wallace who has been with us here at Delphi since 1994 and has probably clipped over a million smolts in his time, showed all the pros how to do it when he landed a picture perfect 7lb 1oz fish in the Meadow Pool on a Delphi Collie. It was indeed just reward for Noel who has put in tremendous work here over the years and everyone was delighted. Pat Flaherty who helps us out from time to time also had great success when he landed a fish of 8lbs5ozs in Morrisons Pool also on a Delphi Collie.
That now brings our total for February to 6 and there are still a few rods left here and there for February, but they are filling up fast, so if you’re interested give us a shout as this kind of fishing is hard to get anywhere in February.
At Delphi Lodge, with many years of experience with the timing of the best runs of fish, we have in place a price system that offers both great value fishing and lets our anglers know when they have the best chance to catch a fresh run spring salmon or a summer grilse or Delphi sea trout.
New research shows young salmon survival is surprisingly low when migrating to sea
Inland Fisheries Ireland hosts international scientists as innovative project gives insight into salmon migration journey during International Year of the Salmon
Wednesday, 13th of February 2019: A new study shows low salmon survival leaving freshwater is an important factor in declining European salmon populations, according to early results from a project examining the early migration phase of salmon smolts (young salmon) from rivers across Europe. Leading salmon scientists from Denmark, Spain, Sweden, UK and Ireland are today attending an important meeting in Dublin, hosted by Inland Fisheries Ireland, to mark International Year of the Salmon. The scientists will discuss some of their new findings from the international SMOLTRACK project, the results of which reveal factors in the known decline of salmon stocks.
The SMOLTRACK Project, which is funded by the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation (NASCO) / EU, aims to help determine the survival rates of young salmon as they move from rivers into the marine environment. Work commenced in 2017 and early results show that survival during movement from rivers to the sea is lower than expected. While it was already accepted that salmon are impacted by a number of factors when they migrate at sea including the effects of climate change, limited feeding opportunities and sea lice induced by fish farms, the low survival rate in river systems which is presenting in this research is a new development.
A salmon smolt
The low survival of smolts in some river systems could be attributed to changes in temperature and flow while predators have also been shown to impact on the numbers entering the sea. The survival of smolts varies by catchment and in a bad year, survival of smolts can be three times lower than in a good year. These results will be published in international journals on completion of the research.
The international project sees scientists from each participating country tag salmon smolts with miniaturised acoustic and radio transmitter tags in rivers in their own country, and track their migration journey through the lower parts of rivers, estuaries and coastal areas. This study includes populations in Southern Europe which are most vulnerable to climate change. In Ireland, this work is being carried out in the River Erriff, Inland Fisheries Ireland’s National Salmonid Index Catchment (NSIC).
River Erriff National Salmonid Index Catchment
In addition to the activity in Ireland, tagging is being carried out on the River Bush (Northern Ireland), River Tamar (England), River Ulla and River Minho (Spain), River Göta and River Högvadsån (Sweden), River Skjern and River Storaa (Denmark). This information will help scientists to understand the survival rates of salmon smolts during their migrations under varying conditions ranging from cooler climates in Sweden to warmer climate in Spain. Already SMOLTRACK is providing new data on the initial migration of salmon smolts which will inform future management and conservation measures for this iconic species.
Dr William Roche, Senior Research Officer at Inland Fisheries Ireland said: “Understanding and comparing early marine survival of salmon in EU waters is a key output of this project in addition to providing data on smolt run timing and migration behaviour. The project has established a European-wide counting, tagging and tracking system to monitor smolts and will also contribute to understanding of the possible impacts of climate change.”
Dr Cathal Gallagher, Head of Research and Development at Inland Fisheries Ireland said: “We have seen a substantial reduction in the numbers of salmon returning to Irish shores in recent decades. This project is examining what is happening to our young salmon as they migrate to sea and what the international community needs to do to help salmon populations. While this research identifies issues in early mortality of salmon, this part of a salmon’s life cycle is where management actions can be targeted to support the future of these salmon stocks. International Year of the Salmon offers an opportunity to share knowledge across the Northern Hemisphere with a view to inspiring action and collaboration with positive effect on salmon survival.”
International Year of the Salmon is a joint world-wide initiative of the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation (NASCO) and the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC) alongside other partners across the globe, creating an international framework for collaborative outreach and research. It is hoped that IYS will raise awareness of what humans can do to ensure salmon and their habitats are conserved and restored against a backdrop of several environmental factors.
Water levels were good to high this week. The gauge read 0.64m at the start of the week but heavy rainfall and sleet & snow showers added to snow melt meant the river rose rapidly and by the end of play on Sunday the river read 0.85m on the gauge at The Four Masters Bridge.
The 1st Drowes salmon of 2019 was caught on the 5th by Jackie McErlean from Briney’s and took a Fluorescent Yellow Flying ‘C’ lure. This was a 10lb fish that he released again and Jackie was awarded the Drowes Perpetual Cup, the newly commissioned Thomas Gallagher Conservation Cup and also a 1kg bar of silver that the Drowes Fishery had prepared for the 1st Released Salmon of the season to mark 2019, The International Year of the Salmon.
The 2nd salmon of the season was caught on Saturday. This was a 7lb salmon caught by Brett McKee on worm.
On Sunday, Brian McEvoy recorded the 3rd salmon of the season. This was a fine 15lb salmon caught on a Yellow Belly Devon Minnow. There was also another fresh salmon hooked and lost on Sunday.
Make a booking
River Drowes
The Drowes Fishery is one of Ireland’s premier spring salmon and grilse fisheries. The river is some 5 miles in length, with over 70 named pools, flowing from Lough Melvin at Lareen Bay and entering the sea at Tullaghan, just outside Bundoran. The Drowes has a wide variety of water suitable for all fishing methods, including several miles of good fly water and deeper slower moving pools suitable for spinning and bait fishing.
For information and bookings on the Drowes Fishery & Lough Melvin see http://www.drowessalmonfishery.com Tel: 071 9841055 (8am to 12 noon). Mob: +353 (0) 87 8050806
Vincent Appleby reports from Lough Currane where the first reported salmon of the year from Co. Kerry was caught earlier this month, but anglers are been made to wait for the next one…
7/2/19 Just a few boats out in a nice SW wind with good cloud cover and all the Currane anglers caught were a few Kelts on the troll. Yesterday’s weather, amount of rainfall 17.8 mm.
Maximum air temperature 10.3C.
8/2/19 Lough Currane was at a stand still as strong SW wind hits Currane followed by rain and hale stones. Yesterday’s weather, Amount of rainfall 7.9 mm . Maximum air temperature 10.7C.
9/2/19 Lough Currane was all quite on the SW front in all departments , after Storm Erik . Wind SW Fresh with good cloud cover. Yesterday’s weather, amount of rainfall 12.6 mm . Maximum air temperature 11.4C.
10/2/19 Lough Currane was all quiet on the SW front in all departments as again the wind takes control with a squally NW wind and cold.
Yesterday’s weather, amount of rainfall 3.8 mm. Maximum air temperature 9.4C.
11/2/19 All quiet on the SW front and talking of the SW that’s exactly where the wind was coming from, plus there was reasonable cloud cover, but sadly the Currane anglers didn’t stimulate their flies or lures enough to procure a Wild Atlantic Salmon, bur remember Currane anglers especially fly Anglers its coming up to the middle of the month so keep on line or even better catch a Wild Lough Currane salmon on a fly line. Weather as already stated, yesterday’s weather, amount of rainfall 4. 5 mm. Maximum air temperature 8.6C.
12/2/19 Local Gillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy of www.fishingwithdom.com reported that the only bit of action for the Currane anglers today was in the Kelt department and just for the record Dominic caught 4 Kelts today on the troll. Staying in the Kelt department, yesterday, proprietor of www.thecrescentwaterville.ie/Mr. Robert Elson caught 5 Kelts on the troll, while fishing with his good friend and local angler Mr. Brod O’Sullivan. Today’s weather, wind SW fresh and overcast all day with misty rain, yesterdays weather, amount of rainfall 0.8 mm. Maximum air temperature 11.5C.
That is your ration from your Gillie and the Waterville Fishery, no spin no fly’s just facts.
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.
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
10 February: We caught O’Brien’s Bridge in a benign mood today with lots of bites and fish (admittedly a lot were small) for every one.
Florian Peter was 3rd on his first club outing
While all the other sections around us were over the bank and pushing through, we found the Shannon at O’Brien’s bridge was at summer level; no flow and just a tint of colour thanks to the dam.
Arūnas Mlečka was first
Well done to Arunas who fished the pole all day to take 1st with 11lb 7oz. I got 8lb 2oz as I fished the feeder and used my extensive knowledge of the riverbed after yesterday‘s tumble (fell in scouting the venue!) to good effect – 2nd place. Florian had 6lb 3oz on his first appearance with us and had enough for 3rd the pole.
Munster Coarse Angling Club are affiliated to the National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland and are members of the Angling Council the National Governing Body for coarse and predator angling. www.ncffi.ie
Dermot Page reports on the last qualifier of the Rathcon Winter League fished at the weekend…
10 Feb: Today was the last qualifier for the Rathcon final on 10th March. The top 5 today join the other 10 anglers in the final. 51 fish were landed with a few decent size brown and rainbow caught, including a 65 cm by Roger Fowler. The results were :
1st Marius Lincevius 7 fish
2nd Brian Brennan 6 fish
3rd Julie Gerry 5 fish
4th Eamonn Walsh 5 fish
5th Paudie Fahy 4 fish
Thank you to all the Stewarts and to Southside angling for sponsoring a prize.
Go fishing…
Rathcon Lake is 8.5 acres and is stocked with top quality rainbow trout. The lake is fly fishing only and designed to allow maximum fishing so that 90% of the water can be covered. The average depth is 10ft with deep holes of up to 20ft in places. The fishery is open all year round and is home to a wide range of fly life, in particular buzzers, sedges, hawthorn and daddylonglegs, all providing excellent dry fly fishing, especially in the summer evenings.
Another one who braved the elements of early season salmon fishing was Ciaran Conroy and he was duly rewarded with his first ever salmon. Ciaran was here for the weekend and started fishing on Friday, in what can only be described as horrendous conditions, with very high water and strong gale force winds.
On Saturday he had a refresher course in spring salmon fishing with our resident instructor Robert Gillespie, which proved to be invaluable as lost a fish on Saturday after having it on for about a minute. Then yesterday morning he managed to hook and land a lovely sea-liced 7lbs 2oz fish in the Holly Pool, without any assistance whatsoever. The fish took a Willie Gunn tied on a copper tube, fished on a sinking tip. Conditions at the time were good with the water running at 60, with nice sunny spells intermingled with the odd wintry shower. This fish was a ranched fish, which are kept at Delphi to prevent them spawning with the wild stock. Wild salmon are all released at Delphi.
A very happy Ciaran Conroy with his first ever Atlantic salmon from the Delphi Fishery, a nice 7lbs 2oz springer. Note the absence of the adipose fin identifying it as a ranched salmon from the ranching programme at Delphi, which differentiates it from a wild fish, which are all released here.
It goes without saying that Ciaran was delighted; not only landing his first ever salmon but doing it all on his own. Well done Ciaran and congratulations from all here at Delphi.
There is still some availability here for the rest of the month and at the moment it seems like there is a nice run of fish, so pick up the phone and give us a call. D.McEvoy
At Delphi Lodge, with many years of experience with the timing of the best runs of fish, we have in place a price system that offers both great value fishing and lets our anglers know when they have the best chance to catch a fresh run spring salmon or a summer grilse or Delphi sea trout.
Opening day on the Fort William Fishery, Munster Blackwater
Every salmon angler loves to talk of a bar of silver. Not many have actually caught a genuine bar of silver, and Jackie McErlan is certainly the first I’ve reported on. Jackie took all the honours on the Drowes Salmon Fishery on February 5th. Spinning a luminous yellow flying-C Jackie hooked, landed and released the first fish of the season on the river. For his efforts he received a host of awards; the Drowes Perpetual Cup and the newly commissioned Thomas Gallagher Conservation Cup. But he also was awarded a 1 kilo bar of fine silver by fishery manager Shane Gallagher in honour of International Year of the Salmon.
Jackie Mc Erlean won the 1kg bar of silver and the Cup for catching and releasing the first salmon of the season on the Drowes
In other salmon news Lough Currane also had its first salmon of the year as did Delphi. Delphi followed this with a second fish this week.
Sea anglers are doing well and as one set of winter league matches come to close the next set of competitions are kicking off. We have reports in from Wexford, east Cork and Donegal and there is some nice fishing to be had. We also have a bit of charter fishing news in from Co. Clare. Anglers hoping to get afloat will find that there are a number of boats which operate through the winter months, weather allowing, so why not make a booking for the next good day now!
In coarse fishing we have reports in from counties Monaghan, Leitrim and Wexford. The fishing in each report is quite different but the one thing they have in common is cold conditions. Nonetheless, some good catches were reported with bags to 30lb in Leitrim and over 55lb in Wexford.
23 lb 1oz for Brian Bohan fishing a Co. Leitrim venue at the weekend
When anglers are not fishing they love a fishing book, to help them reminisce about seasons past or help plan the season coming. Over the last 4 years Brian Bohan has worked tirelessly with Martin Allington to update their previous book on coarse fishing. The newly published The Ultimate of Irish Dreams will be launched at the angling show in Swords on 16 and 17 February. It weighs in at 2kg and is stuffed with information on new and old waters. To find out more and buy a copy visit http://www.irishdreams.co.uk/
The Ireland Angling Show will take place in the National Show Centre Swords, Co. Dublin from 16-17 February. The Ireland Angling Show is a great weekend for all the family with something for everyone, all ages and abilities catered for. Inland Fisheries Ireland will be there as will the Irish Specimen Fish Committee. We will be running the family zone with aquariums, creepy crawlies from the rivers and an angling simulator – the kids (old and young!) are sure to love it.
New records were set for four marine species – Golden Grey Mullet, Thin Lipped Mullet, Black Bream and Tope. The mullet species were taken in Cork while the Tope was caught off Greystones, Co. Wicklow. Kilmore in Co. Wexford was the venue for the Black Bream. To find out more about these and all the specimen fish reported in 2018 see Four new Irish record fish caught by anglers during 2018
And now the weather…
Yellow and Orange wind and rain warnings are in place today as Storm Erik lashes the Atlantic coast and makes for gusty conditions across the country. Flooding is likely in many places so take this into consideration if you are planning to fish over the weekend. Winds should ease through Saturday with good sunshine and just scattered showers, these mainly confined to Ulster and north Connacht. However, there is the risk of rain moving into southern counties later in the day. Highest temperatures of 5 to 9 degrees in moderate to fresh westerly breezes. There may be cold rain or sleet in the south but this will clear for a largely chilly, bright Sunday with sunny spells and a few showers in Ulster. Weather for next week will be dry and cold to start but rain is likely on Tuesday and temperatures will increase.
Terry O Donovan, West Cork and District SAC, reports on their latest match fished on Youghal Beach…
The 2019 season got off to a flyer on Youghal Beach on Sat 26th Jan last. 11 anglers made the trip East including new anglers Scott McShane and his dad Sean Og McShane, Eoin Cotter and Stephen Hurley. A big welcome to ye lads and hoping ye enjoyed the outing.
Fishing started at 5pm and to say it wasnt hectic at the beginning was an under statement. Young Scott in the middle peg showed us all how its done by landing a bass on his first cast. Things tipped away with Gearoid getting his card well marked by the half way point with Stephen and Joycey hot on his heels. At the half way mark Eoin, Sen Og and Scott Rory and Terry all had some fish recorded. JP on peg 4 shook his hangover off and in the second half put things into 5th gear and found some numbers of fish and finished the night in style pipping Gearoid to the post by 5 fish.
It finished:
1st: JP Molloy 25 fish
2nd: Gearoid McCarthy 20 fish
3rd James Kiniry 15 fish
4th Stephen Hurley
5th John Joyce.
Biggest round fish: 38cm Coalie Rory and Sean Og
Biggest flatfish. 27cm Flounder James Kiniry,
Well done lads and a massive well done to JP on the win.
A total of 116 fish were caught and catches were made up of Coalies, Codling, Dogfish, Whiting, Flounder and Bass.
The club was formed on march 19th 2009, in the small picturesque harbour town of Kinsale County Cork. We’re an inclusive club, this can be seen in our membership profile; from anglers who are new to match fishing all the way up to members of the Irish World Shore Team 2010, two of which are in the club! The club holds circa 10 competitions per year, members are encouraged to practice a catch and release policy in the interests of conservation. Anybody wishing to join our club is always welcome, just use the contact us page and we will give prospective members full details. Web:http://westcorkanddistrict.webs.com/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/pages/West-Cork-and-District-SAC/201776589958897
Stefan Martin reports for the Killybegs Mariners in Donegal…
Flounder
4 Feb: Blue sky days and still waters of Frosty February and Crownarad Mountain in a blanket of white as it stands sentry over Killybegs and Donegal Bay. The lads enjoyed some nice fishing on the local beaches and rock marks which is a great time to be out when wrapped up well.
coalfish
Trip to Bellmullet
Mariners trip to Belmullet April 12th and 13th staying in the Western Strands hotel, deposit of €20 must be paid before February 15th to either Gerry or Michael. This money will be given back when down there at the dinner in the hotel on the Friday night. It’s just so the booking and confirmation of definite numbers can go ahead. Always a great weekend on the stunning array of Erris beaches
