Lough Currane and River Inny updates from Vincent Appleby and the Waterville Lakes and Trust…

5/9/18 All the Sea Trout head lines are as follows, UK Anglers Mr. David Burton and Mr. Bill Shackleton, while fly fishing with their Gillie Mr. Tom O’Shea and at www.flyfishingatloughcurrane.com caught and released 5 juniors on the drift. Now we head for the South side and the hired out boat department of www.lakelandhouse.com Anglers Mr. David Delap and Mr. John Delap, caught 3 fine Sea Trout on the fly all in the 1 ¾  lbs. class and they also caught a few small ones. Wind Light variable and overcast with misty rain at times. Yesterday’s weather, maximum air temperature 16.4 .

6/9/18 All Sea Trout headlines come from the North Shore and the Bungalow, UK Anglers Mr. David Burton and Mr. Bill Shackleton, while fly fishing with their Gillie Mr. Tom O’Shea and at www.flyfishingatloughcurrane.com caught and released 5 juniors again today on the drift and for the rest of the Currane Anglers it was all quiet on the SW front. Wind NW and overcast. Yesterday’s weather, maximum air temperature 15 c.

7/9/18 Lough Currane was more on the quiet side today, but at least UK Anglers Mr. David Burton and Mr. Bill Shackleton, while fishing with their Gillie Mr. Tom O’Shea and at www.flyfishingatloughcurrane.com finished their weeks Salmon and Sea Trout fly fishing holiday at lunch time today and Bill finished off his trip by catching a fine Junior just before leaving at lunchtime, their total catch for the week was 3 Grilse on the World famous Butler Pool and at www.watervillegolflinks.ie  and 21 Sea Trout On Lough Currane, their fly line of the week was a Midge Tip, and fly of the week was a Dunkeld. Now for the rest of today’s manipulations it was all quiet on the SW front. Wind SW light to fresh. Yesterday’s weather, maximum air temperature 15.0 c.

8/9/18 Lough Curran was on the wild side with a strong SW wind blowing down the lake, wind or no wind a few boats did venture out and hoping to get on a crest of a wave by catching a Wild Atlantic Salmon, well that’s  exactly What Tralee Angler Mr. Eugene Ferris did while trolling with his Gillie Mr. Neil O’Shea of www.oshealoughcurrane.com caught a fine 4 lbs. Grilse, for the rest of the Currane Anglers it was all quiet on the SW front. Wind as already stated and overcast and raining for the best part of the day. Yesterday’s weather, maximum air temperature 16.4c.

9/9/18 UK Anglers the Hampshire Hogs are back to the Waterville Fishery and were in good form as usual today and for good reason, Mr. Pete Ruffle and expert skittles  player as proven today as he skittled his fellow anglers in the Salmon and Sea Trout fly department, by catching a fine 5 lbs. Salmon and finished with 6 Sea Trout ranging from Junior class up to 2 lbs. While fishing with his Gillie Mr. Dominick McGillicuddy of www.fishingwithdom.com and out watervilleboats@gmail.com and www.cliffordbandb.com Staying with Waterville Boats and at watervilleboats@gmail.com and the Hampshire Hogs, Mr. Nigel Henshaw, while fly fishing with Gillie and at watervilleboats@gmail.com caught two Sea Trout ranging from 1 ½  up to 2 ½ lbs. I will finish today’s notes by saying going by my phone this evening that that Hampshire Hogs scuttled the rest of the Currane anglers. Just for the record, yesterday Cork Angler Mr. Martin Coveny, fishing out of  www.bayviewhotelwaterville.com  caught a fine Salmon on the Commeragh River. Wind West light to fresh with reasonable cloud cover. Yesterday’s weather, maximum air temperature 16.4 c. and made a good flood.

10/9/18 The Hampshire Hogs brought Waterville Fishery alive in all departments today, so lets go straight to the North Shore and Waterville Boats and at watervilleboats@gmail.com First to the Salmon department, Hampshire Hog Mr. Pete Ruffle the Skittle Man was in great form again today, while trolling with his Gillie and at watervilleboats@gmail.com and fishing out of www.cliffordbandb.com  caught a cracker of a 10 lbs. Salmon.  Now we stay with the Hampshire Hogs and for good reason, Hampshire Hog Mr. Nigel Henshaw, fishing out of watervilleboats@gmail.com and www.cliffordbandb.com  was in cracking form in the Sea Trout fly department, while fly-fishing with  his Gillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy and at www.fishingwithdom.com caught 6 Juniors. Now we head up stream to the Word Famous Butler Pool and at www.watervillegolflinks.ie  Hampshire Hog Mr. Trevor Dewberry and fishing out of www.cliffordbandb.com while fly-fishing caught a fine 4 lbs. Salmon Grilse and finished his day off with 3 Sea Trout and in the words of  Trevor’s Gillie and Commander-in-chief Mr. Michael O’Sullivan and at www.watervillegolflinks.ie The Hampshire Hogs had a cracker of a day and considering the wild conditions on the Lake we certainly deserve a liquid libation after today’s performance and there’s no argument to that. Wind SW and strong and overcast, some of the boats left the Lake at lunchtime. Yesterday’s weather, maximum air temperature 16.5 c.

11/9/18 The Hampshire Hogs again take all the Game Fishing headlines, all I can say they were Skittled in the Salmon department, but it was a different story in the Sea Trout fly department, So lets get down to today’s facts and we will start on the Upper Lakes and Copal Lake, Hampshire Hog Angler, Mr. Trevor Dewberry and fishing out of www.cliffordbandb.com caught and released 7 Sea Trout, ranging from Junior Class up to 2 lbs. while fishing with his Gillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy and of www.fishingwithdom.com  Now we head downstream to Lough Currane and Waterville Boats and at watervilleboats@gmail.com Hampshire Hog Angler, Mr. Peter Skittles, fishing out of www.cliffordbandb.com and fishing with his Gillie at watervilleboats@gmail.com caught two Sea Trout on the fly. Staying in the Sea Trout fly department, Hampshire Hog Angler, Mr. Nigel Henshaw and fishing out of www.cliffordbandb.com caught and released 1 Sea Trout, while fishing with his Gillie Mr. Michael O’Sullivan and at watervilleboats@gmail.com Wind WSW light to fresh and variable with good cloud cover. Yesterdays weather, maximum air temperature 16.6 c.

Vincent Appleby
www.salmonandseatrout.com

The Trust report

We are delighted to report that Professor Ken Whelan has started his survey work on the small streams,  which discharge into Lough Currane, as the first part of our Small Streams Conservation Project. The project is designed to assess those streams, which are most favoured by sea trout, for suitable spawning gravels and to highlight areas where additional gravel would be advantageous to the spawning effort. Professor Whelan’s report will inform the proposed second phase of the project where local volunteers will be transporting gravels to the identified locations before the onset of the sea trout spawning season in November.

It is of course impossible to cover all the streams in this 135 square kilometer catchment at this point in time, but the current project will act as a pilot scheme to inform future and ongoing  work to these critical spawning streams in the Cummeragh Catchment. The stock survey work carried out by IFI in 2014 identified the distribution and density of sea trout fry in the various streams and we are using the data from this document, together with our own red count survey carried out in November / December 2017, to target those streams which appear to have been the most productive before the recent crash in our sea trout stocks.

It is clear to us that these, often surprisingly small, streams act as ‘spawning channels’, where sea trout run up them on a flood, spawn and then promptly drop back into the lake before returning to sea. In this catchment the fry produced in these streams very quickly vacate them and drop back into the lakes, which then become their ‘nursery areas’, feeding on phytoplankton until they grow big enough to assimilate invertebrates. There are very few areas actually in these small streams, which are used as ‘nurseries’. The IFI survey showed this fact in detail, where the numbers of 1+ fry in the streams was extremely low compared with 0+ fry.

We are looking forward to the conclusion of the report and to the help and advice we will be having from the Wild Trout Trust in the second part of the project.

Rod Robinson
Waterville Lakes & Rivers Trust

Go fishing…

Vincent Appleby

Eureka Lodge, Caherdaniel West, Co. Kerry.
Telephone: +353 (0)66 9475248
E-mail: salmonandseatrout@eircom.net
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