Fishery manager Colin Folan draws the curtains on a good sea trout season on Inagh with his final report for the year…
Mark McDonald, Northern Ireland, 4lbs sea trout on the dap
2018 was a season in which the weather played the lead role. Similar to most other fisheries the water arrived far too late. In fact it was the start of August when the first floods of the season arrived. The salmon numbers were well down, as they stuggled to enter rivers that looked like roads during June and July. Its good news on the Sea Trout though. Although angling effort was down, sea trout numbers were up. Also the average size and condition of fish was amazing to see. Numerous fish from 2-4lbs were recorded with boats recording catches of 15 or more.
Baet Suez from Switzerland 8lbs Brown on a blue butcher
It was also a brilliant year for Brown trout. Numbers were up on last year. We also had a few big browns from Lough Inagh. Two 9lbs were amongst the largest ones. The annual end of season competition was held on September 29 and seventeen anglers recorded 1 salmon, 18 sea trout and 30 brown trout in very calm conditions. First place went to Sean McCloskey for the second year running. Denis Murphy came second and Michael Heery was third. The catch totals for 2018 are as follows. 31 salmon, 662 sea trout and 545 brown trout.
Mervyn Bell, Northern Ireland, on a brexit fly
Lough Inagh Lodge would like to thank all its friends and customers for your support and also the IFI staff that work tirelessly for all our benefit. P.S. please return salmon licenses before October 10.
Info and bookings to hotel reception 095 34706 inagh@iol.ie
Loughs Derryclare and Inagh lie in the lovely Inagh Valley with the Twelve Pins (Bens) of Connemara rising steeply to the west, and the Maumturk Mountain range to the east. There are two short connecting rivers, which contain four river beats. The fishery has spring salmon, grilse, sea trout and large indigenous brown trout. In recent years the fishery has seen a resurgence of fish numbers, and in 2010 – 2012, the fishery has produced Salmon to 15lbs, Sea Trout to 5lbs and Brown Trout to 12lbs.
‘They say that to catch wild brown trout, you have to be near invisible’
Jimmy D.Moore
Jack Spratt, Northern Ireland with his beautiful 3lb 14oz Sheelin classic (September 29th)
Mornings are later, evenings are shorter and there’s already a distinct nip in the air – autumn’s chilly tentacles are finally starting to tighten around us. It’s that time of the year where, when out fishing on this lake you begin to feel as if you shouldn’t be there, that you’re somehow on borrowed time.
The back drop to Lough Sheelin is gradually changing colour from previous greens to multitudes of browns, oranges, yellows and reds. The first frosts of the season occurred this week and Keats ‘seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness’ was re-enacted as shrouds of mist consistently blanketed Lough Sheelin’s surface in the early mornings.
Gerry Teggart, Belfast with his beautiful Sheelin trout
Although we are at the very back end of the trout season here there is still plenty of enjoyment and good fishing to be had out on this lake. This is a magical and special time for the angler for it is this part of the season that perhaps offers the biggest opportunity of catching one of Sheelin’s much fantasied heavy weights. From September on, the trout are in pre-spawning mode and included in this mix of moving trout are, of course, the larger, perhaps wiser and much coveted bigger fish. These are the trout that spend most of the season feeding down in the lower water columns, seldom gracing the upper layers until now when their mission is to gather at pre piscatorial planned points in the lake before their eventual run to the river to spawn from late October onwards.
Catches
Lough Sheelin produced a steady number of catches on all days this week despite weather conditions wavering between bright and sunny, cloudy and warm. Anglers fixated about good cloud cover and south to south westerly winds but the weather did not always oblige and those northern cold winds crept in followed by mirror calm conditions. Regardless of the unpredictability of the autumnal weather coupled with Sheelin’s mercurial temperament amazing trout in prime condition were recorded, averaging 3 to a top weight of 8lbs.
Michael Byrne, Clonee with his first ever fish on Sheelin, a 5lbs 12oz slab of perfection (released)
The areas of the lake which fished best (weather dependent) where mid lake, the back of Church Island, the Long Rock, Merry Point, Stony and from Derrahorn down along the western shoreline.
The heaviest trout for the week was an 8lb trout caught by Dominic Murphy, Tallagh, Dublin
Total number of trout recorded: 57
Selection of Catches
David Kidd, Northern Ireland – 1 at 4lbs on wets.
Gerry Teggart, Belfast – 1 at over 6lbs
Tony Grehan, Dublin – 1 at 3lbs on a Claret Sedge at Crane Island.
Tommy King, Northern Ireland – 2 trout at 3 and 3.10lbs using Daddy variants.
Pat Magee, Northern Ireland – 1 at 2lbs fishing green wets.
Lawrence Hickey, Dublin – 2 trout heaviest at 5 ½ lbs fishing Claret Dabblers.
Michael Byrne, Clonee – 1 trout at 5lbs 12ozs (September 30th).
Pat Brady, Cavan – 2 trout at 3 and 2 ½ lbs using Cock Robins and Bibios.
Frank Smith, Coothill, Cavan – 3 trout heaviest at 4lbs using Claret Dabblers and Gorgeous George.
Michael Shaw, Dublin – 2 trout heaviest at 4 ½ lbs using Pearly Dabblers on an intermediate line.
The McIntyre/Guider Cup was held on Saturday September 29th and despite breezy cold sunny cloudless conditions, trout of 5, 4 and 3lbs were landed. This is a nice competition organised by Dessie McEntee and with the biggest competition of the season looming in the horizon on the following Saturday October 6th, you would imagine this one would offer an excellent warm up to this event. Suggesting this to last Saturday’s competitors was a mistake as the response was that ‘every day is a practice day’ on Sheelin and that these waters could be alive one day only to be like the dead sea on others. There is seemingly no pattern to this lake as far as the trout are concerned, sometimes they are there and sometimes they vanish.
Dessie McEntee with his winning 5lb 1oz trout at the McIntyre/Guider Cup (September 29th)
Hatches
At this time of the season there is little or no point arriving too early in the morning as the water needs to ‘come to life’ at this time of the year. Terrestrials like daddies are at their most active from mid morning and generally it’s the middle hours of the day, veering towards the afternoon that will be the most productive. The temperature drop in the evenings is guaranteed to send the fish down and out of casting range.
Flies
The flies that were successful were a mixed bunch from dry Daddies, Gorgeous George, Stimulators, Dabblers, CDC Sedges, Leggy Peters, Red Tailed Peters, Hoppers,Telephone Flies, tiny dry sedges, large lure like creations, Silver Invictas, Sedgehogs and Bibios. It was interesting to see the lures creeping back in and Kevin Sheridan’s streamer (see photograph included in the report) which took a 3 pounder looks as if it might be something that you’d find in the reptile section of a pet shop. Minkies and Humungus seem to be back on the menu for the final weeks (apologies to the purists out there).
Kevin Sheridan’s Streamer – responsible for a 3lb trout
A competition gives me a great opportunity to have a proper look at what anglers are putting on lines and because it’s close to the end of season here there’s a more relaxed approached to sharing those ‘secret’ flies. Claret still features heavily in fly colour but greens and browns are holding their own too. Patterns are the traditional ones – the daddies, bibios, Peters and dabblers with a thousand and one angler variants imposed on these. One Northern angler showed me one of his most successful flies which was effectively a collapsed Daddy, a Daddy pattern which after being used frequently had lost its body and was a flattened straggly version of its original self, green with a hint of sparkle, this was the fly that had nailed him 5 or 6 fish during the week.
Sheelin’s Gorgeous George
Angling magazine ‘Trout Fisherman’ has an interesting twist on the usual Match The Hatch theory changing it to Match The Thatch implying that fish fall to a fly that matches not so much the bug as its back ground so it’s all about browns, reds, greens and golds in fitting with the changing shoreline foliage.
Anglers are having no problem moving fish but many stumble at the final post i.e. to actually get the fish to take the fly. There are two reasons why trout change their minds at the last minute when it comes to a fly, either the pattern is just not close enough to the shape of the real thing or else they have seen the line and have become spooked. This week intermediate lines had the edge on the floating ones and going down that bit deeper proved a more successful ploy.
Upcoming Competitions
Stream Rehabilitation Competition
Click to download leaflet [pdf]
On Saturday October 6th Lough Sheelin’s angling club The Lough Sheelin Trout Protection Association will host their annual Stream Rehabilitation Competition starting at Kilnahard from 11am to 6.0pm.
All proceeds of this event go towards the enhancement and rehabilitation of the rivers within the Lough Sheelin catchment.
The club and organisers of this competition, now in its thirteenth year, welcome all anglers who wish to fish one of the best wild brown trout fisheries in Ireland and to experience first-hand the magic and allure of this lake which has the potential to produce the heaviest trout in the country.
Denis O’Keefe Memorial Cup
The LSTPA have added an additional cup on to their list this year, this cup is in honour memory of great angler and Sheelin advocate – Denis O’Keefe and will be awarded to the best member over the 3 senior competitions (Kilroy Cup (18/3/18), the McDonald Cup 9 11/8/18 & The River Enhancement Comp. 6/10/18).
For details please contact Thomas Lynch @ 087 9132033
Cavan/Monaghan Garda Divisional Fly Fishing Championship and Open Competition
The Cavan/Monaghan Garda Divisional Fly Fishing Championship and Open Competition will be held at Lough Sheelin on Sunday October 7th from Kilnahard Pier, 11a.m – 5.30p.m.
Weigh in at 6.30pm and meal at Pat Bannon’s Pub, Ballyjamesduff. Entry fee of €25 taken at Kilnahard.
This competition is for: The Heaviest fish – visitors and The Heaviest fish – Cavan/Monaghan Division Garda Members.
For further details please contact Colin Dodd 086 6000630, Pat Foley 087 2405313 or DessieMcEntee on 086 8937568.
A catch & release policy is actively encouraged on the lake at all times
CPRsavesfish
Extra care is needed when playing and releasing trout during periods of high water temperatures as additional stress at these times will decrease the survival rate of hooked and released fish.
BYE-LAW 949 strictly prohibits:
The taking of any brown trout of less than 36 centimetres.
For a person to fish with more than 2 rods at any one time.
To fish with more than 4 rods at any one time when there is more than one person on board the boat concerned.
For a person to take more than 2 trout per day.
All trolling on the lake from March 1st to June 16th (inclusive).
To fish or to attempt to take or to fish for, fish of any kind other than during the period from March 1st to October 12th in any year.
Join the Club…
For anyone interested in joining Lough Sheelin’s Angling Club – The Lough Sheelin Trout Protection Association please contact Thomas Lynch @ 087 9132033.
We would implore anglers and all other users to wear life jackets for their own safety as well as it being the law.
Life jackets are required by law – SI No 921 of 2005 – Pleasure Craft (Personal Flotation Devices and Operation) (Safety) Regulations 2005. Water rarely gives second chances and a life jacket is just that – it saves your life.
Please put on and keep on that life jacket until you are back on dry land.
Enniskillen angler Tony Kersley held off strong competition from Stoke based Gary Skerritt for a return festival win in County Leitrim reports the NCFFI.
Tony with big net of fish from the Shannon
The annual points based competition was held on the prolific loughs and the River Shannon with the lively waterside town and The Bush Hotel providing the all-round experience for the visiting 40 match anglers.
1st Tony Kersley 4pts 50.680 kg
2nd Gary Skerritt 4pts 29.770 kg
3rd Andrew Lightbown 5pts 45.750 kg
4th Mick Ellyatt 6pts 50.140 kg
5th Dale Stones 6pts 35.470 kg
6th Brian Bohan 7pts 32.970 kg
7th Larry Parkes
8th Dave Rowell
9th Chris Hardman
10th Brian Madden
The festival is run by Carrick on Shannon AC, March organisers Charlotte Fearon and Sheamus Shortt.
NCFFI
Carrick on Shannon CAC are affiliated to the National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland who are members of the Angling Council the National Governing Body for coarse and predator angling. www.ncffi.ie
Angling for bass has less impact on stocks than previously assumed and Catch and Release working well as a conservation tool
Following revised advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) from 1 October to 31 December 2018 anglers fishing in Ireland will be allowed to keep one bass a day.
ICES submitted revised advice for bass in the ICES divisions covering the central and southern North Sea, Irish Sea, English Channel, Bristol Channel, and Celtic Sea for 2018.
According to that advice recreational angling does not impact on bass stocks to the degree previously assumed. In addition, ICES estimated a higher survival rate from the catch-and-release practice (a 95 % survival rate compared to the previously estimated 85 %). Therefore, it is appropriate that one fish per fisherman per day may be retained in recreational fisheries that take place in October – December 2018. A minimum size limit of 42cm applies.
Bass – #CPRsavesfish
The amendment to relevant regulation is as follows:
In Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2018/120, paragraph 4 is replaced by the following:
“4. In recreational fisheries, including from shore:
(a) from 1 January 2018 to 30 September 2018, in ICES divisions 4b, 4c, 7a to 7k, only catch-and-release fishing for European seabass shall be allowed. During that period, it shall be prohibited to retain on board, relocate, tranship or land European seabass caught in that area;
(b) from 1 October to 31 December 2018, in ICES divisions 4b, 4c, 6a, 7a to 7k, not more than one specimen of European seabass may be retained per fisherman per day.”.
ICES areas
The strict bass management regime currently operating for Irish waters is based on a heavily controlled and restricted recreational fishery. Bass anglers have an extremely positive approach to bass conservation using ‘catch and release’ alongside good handling in order to maintain the species and their recreational activity.
Inland Fisheries Ireland would like to acknowledge the support of anglers for Inland Fisheries Ireland’s ‘Citizen Science’ Bass Conservation Programme. Anglers, through their conservation-oriented ethos, have been the key stakeholders in supporting research into bass stock status over the past five years by providing catch and fish stock data, which has underpinned provision of scientific and management advice.
Enniskillen angler Tony Kersley held off strong competition from Stoke based Gary Skerritt for a return festival win in County Leitrim reports the NCFFI.
Tony with big net of fish from the Shannon
The annual points based competition was held on the prolific loughs and the River Shannon with the lively waterside town and The Bush Hotel providing the all-round experience for the visiting 40 match anglers.
1st Tony Kersley 4pts 50.680 kg
2nd Gary Skerritt 4pts 29.770 kg
3rd Andrew Lightbown 5pts 45.750 kg
4th Mick Ellyatt 6pts 50.140 kg
5th Dale Stones 6pts 35.470 kg
6th Brian Bohan 7pts 32.970 kg
7th Larry Parkes
8th Dave Rowell
9th Chris Hardman
10th Brian Madden
The festival is run by Carrick on Shannon AC, March organisers Charlotte Fearon and Sheamus Shortt.
NCFFI
Carrick on Shannon CAC are affiliated to the National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland who are members of the Angling Council the National Governing Body for coarse and predator angling. www.ncffi.ie
Last week’s storms have blown through and left behind a real Indian summer. Temperatures in the last couple of days have topped 20C, but the nights and early morning have been much cooler. The conditions seem to be suiting salmon anglers well and after a tough summer they deserve a good end to the season…
This week those rivers that had water saw a huge improvement in salmon catches. The Moy, Erriff, Bandon, Lough Currane and Munster Blackwater enjoyed some great days and a number of fine fish were caught. Individual anglers caught as many as 9 salmon in a day and there were big fish in the catches too. Catch of the Week goes to Gary Lamont who caught and released a salmon estimated to weigh 21.5lb on the Blackwater Salmon Fishery beats.
Gary releases his big salmon – estimated at 21lb #CPRsavesfish
There were good numbers of anglers out on Lough Sheelin with good catches of trout being reported. All reports, however, echoed continually with the words ‘but they were hard got’. Fishing on Lough Corrib was slow last week due to Storm Ali mid-week and rising lake levels. Sport being very mixed with action on dry olives, dry sedges, Daphnia and fry feeders. We didn’t hear much from Lough Melvin this year but it has been fishing well for sonaghan recently and there were also good reports in from stocked fisheries like Carrigavantry and Lough O’Flynn.
Eoin Rogers, U15 All Ireland Champion beat off stiff competition with an impressive display on Town Lake, Killeshandra
Coarse anglers are busy with festivals at the moment at there is a lot to report from the competition scene. Excellent bags were returned in the Arva King of Clubs and Gavin Butler took first place with 68.180kg. In the first Lanesborough Autumn Festival, Irish international Tommy Dowd came out on top with a two day total of 38lb 6oz. Darius Karaliunas and Vaidas Jagela came home in 1st place in the Irish Open Pairs Championships fished on Lough Muckno. Their 2 day total of 30.525kg was just 100g ahead of the next pair – that’s a tight finish. Recreational anglers are also getting some good fishing and Cavan CAC reports good catches on Eonish while Belgian anglers fishing in the Longford area have been getting some good tench and bream.
It’s getting to peak pike fishing now as more and more pike anglers relish the cooler conditions. Winds associated with last week’s storms impacted on a number of lake fisheries but good pike have been caught at venues like Lough Derg and up through the midlands.
Trigger Fish – an unusual species for Cork Harbour
The Cork Small Boats Festival took place over 4 days between the 15th till the 22nd. The weather wasn’t great for much of the event but the anglers stuck it out. There were 32 species caught in total and the overall winner was Skua with 24 species. In other sea angling news Donegal Bay continues to reinforce its reputation as a shore angling paradise while the productive skate fishing at Courtmacsherry also continues to impress.
And now the weather…
Friday is to be dry with long spells of sunshine in most areas, however some cloud will tend to bubble up through the afternoon, mainly in northern and eastern counties. Cool, despite the sunshine, with highs of 12 to 15C in light north-easterly or variable breezes. Over the weekend weather should be predominantly settled, but weak fronts will produce small amounts of rain and drizzle at times, mainly in the west and north. It will be cold in the early mornings and at night, especially under clear skies, so don’t forget a woolly hat.
Casting a line at the National Ploughing Championships 2018
Inland Fisheries Ireland attended the recent National Ploughing Championships in Screggan, Tullamore. Hundreds of people attended the stand and received angling and environmental advice alongside general information around Ireland’s fish species and their habitats.
Inland Fisheries Ireland’s stand at the National Ploughing Championships
A new angling simulator, which allowed novice anglers to virtually try fishing from the marquee floor, made its inaugural appearance and was a hit with punters of all ages! Staff were also on hand to take the public through some of Ireland’s freshwater fish (swimming on display in cyclical aquariums) and show them some other creatures which live in the aquatic habitat via kick samples.
Cliodhna Young views some of the fish on display
Roisin Galvin takes a look at a kick sample and learns about the creatures living within our water systems
Simon and Aoife George enjoy the activities on offer
A novice angler tries out the angling simulator
The angling simulator in action
On the environmental side, Inland Fisheries Ireland offered advice and information on best practice farm management to the farming community. The team noted that there was also an increase in uptake of the leaflet ‘Fish Friendly Farming’ from the farming community and also increased engagement with farmers overall.
Publications on how to get started in angling and fish friendly farming were distributed at the Ploughing Championships
The team welcomed Minister Sean Kyne T.D. to the tent on Thursday and were delighted to take him through the fisheries activities.
Minister Sean Kyne T.D. with the team from Inland Fisheries Ireland
Ailish Keane from Inland Fisheries Ireland shows Minister Sean Kyne some of the samples on display
Michael Parry's 11.5lbs wild salmon being released, 26 September 2018. #CPRsavesfish
Osgur Grieve reports on the latest from the Erriff Fishery.
20th – 26th September.
We have had 10 salmon landed during this period. The day after storm Ali, Thursday 20th, saw the gauge reading 1.58m in the morning. The river was high but running clear after the previous couple of floods that had flushed it out. Regular visitor Archie McCauley took full advantage of his morning and released a 9lbs salmon from Poleen on Beat 4 using a Collie Dog tube. Gael Kerschbaumer fished Beat 5 that morning and released 2 grilse of 3lbs and 4lbs from Glenacally and Boat Pool using a General Practitioner. Later that day Tomas Weiss returned to the Erriff and released a 7lbs salmon from School House on Beat 3 using a Green Cascade variant.
On Friday 21st Sam Dawson released a wild grilse of 4.5lbs from the Quarry Pool on Beat 2 on a Collie Dog tube. Gael Kerschbaumer continued his successful weeks fishing releasing a 4lbs grilse from Mickey’s Run on Beat 7, using a General Practitioner.
Saturday 22nd saw the return of regular angler Neil Spellacy who fished the morning and released a 5lbs grilse from Mike’s Pools on Beat 3 using a Faughan shrimp.
On Tuesday 25th it was regular angler John Phelan’s turn who released a 3lbs grilse from the Lower Garden Pool using a small Cascade.
By the morning of Wednesday 26th the river had risen to 1.25m and was running clear. Regular visitor Michael Parry fished Beat 6 in the morning and had his personal best from the Erriff, an 11.5lbs salmon from the Colonel’s Pool using a Silver Stoat’s Tail. Later that day Lewis Matthews released a 2.5lbs grilse from the top of Doyle’s Pool using a Willie Gunn. There were also 13 sea trout returned ranging from 0.5lb – 1lb from throughout the river. For anyone wishing to have a last cast before the end of the season, you can book through the fishery office on (095) 42382 or by emailing erriff.fishery@fisheriesireland.ie
Michael Parry’s 11.5lbs wild salmon being released, 26 September 2018. #CPRsavesfish
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.
The Bandon rose by about 2ft last week and with it came a big improvement in salmon fishing. There were over 60 fish reported. Many of these were caught on fly. Although there were a couple of fresh fish the vast majority of them were coloured.
There were a few salmon from other West Cork rivers as follows:
A rise in water levels at the beginning of the week and an increase in angling effort saw 393 salmon reported caught with a large percentage released. On the Moy Fishery Freshwater beat Steven Armstrong, NI, Had a 5 lb fish on spinner. On the Coolcronan Fishery Paul Cullinane and Colin Healy from Cork had 6 fish on spinner. On the Cloongee Fishery Kenny Ferguson and Cathryne Boyes had a fish each of 10lb and & 12 lb on spinner.
East Mayo Anglers had another good week with 59 fish reported caught, 50 of which were released. Among the successful anglers were Frank Summer, UK, 4salmon to 7 lbs on fly released, Dan Gilman, USA, 4 lbs on fly, Michael Weisser Germany 5 salmon to 5 lbs on fly and all released.
Week ending Sunday 16th September 2018.
Water levels remained fairly steady during the week but angling effort was slightly down on the previous week. 204 salmon were reported caught and were spread fairly evenly across the system. Andy Wheeler from the, UK, Had his first ever salmon on the Foxford Fishery. Ken Dodd from Dublin had a 8+ lb fish on fly which he released and Guy Marister and son from France had a fish each spinning on the Cloongee Fishery. Successful anglers for the week on East Mayo Anglers Water were Matthais Engles from Germany who had a 3 lbs fish on spinner and 4 more to 12 lbs on fly. Uiki Kamizuru, Japan, had a 5 lbs fish on fly, Thomas Pleger Germany had 2 5 pounders on fly and Michael Wesser Germany had a 9 lbs salmon on fly.
How’s the river doing? Check the Ridge Pool Webcam
Grey Duster Guiding
