Dan O’Neill at the Mount Juliet Estate reports on the trout fishing on the Nore…
Loads of small trout are being caught , great news for the future of the Nore #CPRsavesfish
Water temperature has been above 15C all week. We are getting extreme fly hatches every evening. Nmphing has shown to be the best method until 7pm and then a change to wet fly “black spider” until around 9pm when the “sherry spinner” or “black gnat” takes over. There is an abundance of small trout in the rivers, which is great to see, as it shows successful spawning and gives us some hope of good trout fishing in years to come.
Nymph fishing is selecting some of the better fish #CPRsavesfish
Larger trout also have been caught mostly on nymph with some falling to a wet fly fished directly up stream. There also seems to be quite a number of dace along the stretch also, with shoals of them being seen in the shallows with the warmer temperatures of the last 10 days.
This trout fell for a bead head nymph. #CPRsavesfish
We are also seeing good number of small lampreys, still, amongst the gravel and also some common eels are showing their presence. The nearby lakes have quite a number of boot lace sized eels in also,some great fishing since last reports went in.
Mount Juliet House is set on a large estate, which offers private fishing on 2.5 miles of the middle to lower reaches of the River Nore. Mount Juliet Estate offers fishing of the highest quality, just a short stroll away from the Manor House. There is a fishing room on site in the Manor House for your convenience i.e. for storage and drying of fishing equipment. Mount Juliet Estate can also provide the necessary equipment on site if needed.
L-R John Potters, Wayne Fuller, James O'Doherty, Tony Kersley, Ryan Kersley
Padraig Carroll, from our base in Birr, reports that on 26th June Tullamore and District Anglers held the first of their summer junior coarse angling competitions.
The conditions were bright and very hot. All kids caught fish and some nice bags were weighed in.
1st Oisin Carroll
2nd Stephanie Lawlor
3rd Kai Owens
Oisin Carroll with one of his fish a 2lb 4.5oz tench .
The competition will run for 7 weeks on Tuesday evenings with check in at 6.30pm and fishing from 7pm to 9pm at Parse Park, Tullamore. All are welcome and entry is €10 euro on first night and this covers all competitions.
New partnership will help conserve fisheries resource and facilitate flood risk management investment activities
Inland Fisheries Ireland and Office of Public Works commit to five-year working agreement
Inland Fisheries Ireland and the Office of Public Works, Flood Risk Management Unit have signed a new shared service agreement which will see them continue to work collaboratively over the next five years in the protection of fishery requirements while carrying out flood risk management investment activities. The agreement will see both parties work closely together to help ensure the country’s statutory drainage objectives are achieved with a focus on the protection of fishery habitats and resources.
The agreement, which spans from 2018 until 2022, has been secured at a time when Government investment in flood risk management operations is increasing. It follows the recent publication of the Government’s Flood Risk Management Plans which will see some €1 billion in funding under the National Development Plan invested in projects across the country to mitigate flood risk. This new partnership formalises the historical working relationship between the two organisations and commits them to continuing their positive engagement for Ireland’s fishery habitats and resources.
A series of scientific investigations to further understand environmental impacts of river maintenance works.
Development of best practice to minimise environmental impacts and maximise environmental gain of river maintenance and flood relief activities.
Work programme to identify barriers to fish passage on arterially drained rivers that have potential for improvements works.
Work elements to assist achieving so that all waters will attain ‘Good’ ecological status by a specified date, as per the Water Framework Directive.
The aim is to provide a science-based platform to the IFI-OPW linkages. For example, scientific investigations will provide an evidence base for determining the appropriateness or otherwise of undertaking physical river enhancement works in locations to bring about improved Ecological Quality Ratio (EQR) scores. Facilitated by Inland Fisheries Ireland surveys, an EQR will be generated for the fish community and the physical form of the river at each site. This will inform all requests to OPW from third parties, such as angling clubs or community groups, to undertake such works. Inland Fisheries Ireland will be taking a prioritised approach in undertaking surveys and could handle a small number of cases annually.
‘It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see’ Henry David Thoreau
Lough Sheelin’s sedge
Over the past seven days Lough Sheelin has baked under blue cloudless skies and blistering heats of between 28 and 30 degrees. Met Eireann last Friday announced a partial drought for some parts of Ireland and our lake came under that unenviable title. The definition of this kind of drought is 29 consecutive days with less than .2mm of rainfall which apparently we seem to have had.
Summer sunset on Lough Sheelin
Sweltering under these unfamiliar Mediterranean heats there is a reluctance among us to complain as we continually remind each other of the ’10 month winter’ when the Beast from the East incarcerated us in our homes for days at a time and so we lash on the sun cream and soak it up at every available opportunity reassuring ourselves that burning up is an necessity in preparation for another long and cold winter.
Ruairi Coleman, Swords Angling Centre
Whatever our reasoning is, hot weather like this is disastrous for good trout fishing coupled with the worrying fact that the nursery rivers feeding into Lough Sheelin are extremely low and suffering continual oxygen depletion as the temperatures remain high. A discharge of any kind of pollution would undoubtedly result in a fish kill so we all need to play our part in being extra vigilant to prevent this from happening.
Frank Kelly, Cavan with his 5lb trout caught on a spent
Lough Sheelin is a challenging and contrary lake to fish at the best of times so now along with this piscatorial fact an extra dimension of difficulty has been added by our present heat wave.
‘Getting acquainted’
Trout are cold water fish and they don’t like it when the water temperature gets too warm. They need lots of oxygen and the amount of oxygen water holds decreases the warmer it gets. When the water temperature goes over 22 degrees (which it has done this week) the oxygen level drops so much that the trout get uncomfortable and typically they stop feeding until things cool down again. Of course, the water in lakes isn’t at a constant temperature throughout, unless there is wind (which we got little of this week – another angling obstacle) it becomes stratified – layers of warm and colder water. Surface water gets warm but the depths and any shady spots often remain cool. Fish can be caught during the day in hot weather but it will be much much harder.
Catches
Ned Clinton with his Murrough trout
This has been an extremely tough angling week here and although there are photographs and results from those that did catch fish, these anglers had to work tirelessly often through the night for their quarry. I appreciate their efforts more than most as I feared I might be producing an insect rather than an angling report for this week!
The future – a young Sheelin trout
The majority of catches happened late into the night and in that first hour after dawn. There were few reports of fish moving until well after 11pm and because there were not considerable nocturnal temperature drops the trout were slow to become active again. The trout, of course, just don’t just stop eating because it’s hot but they will confine their meal times to night time and early morning so certainly for this week this was the only window of opportunity open for striking lucky.
Kilnahard
The biggest fish for June was caught by Scottish angler Mark Lough, an impressive 68cm beautifully conditioned Sheelin classic, caught on a spent pattern.
Mark Lough, Scotland with an impressive 68centimeters of Sheelin perfection (www.loughsheelinguidingservices.com)
Total number of trout recorded: 23
Selection of Catches
Frank Kelly, Cavan – 2 trout – 5lbs on a Spent Gnat pattern and 4 ½ lbs on a brown sedge (10pm).
Jim Condron, Kells – 1 trout at 4lbs using a Spent pattern.
Sean Reynolds, Cavan – 1 trout at 4lbs on a Spent Gnat pattern.
Cathal & Aidan Rush, Northern Ireland – fishing wet may fly patterns heaviest trout recorded 5 and 5 ½ lbs.
Brendan Corr, Belfast – 2 trout at 4 ½ and 5lbs using Spent patterns.
John Delaney, Northern Ireland – 2 trout heaviest at 3lbs fishing Murrough patterns in the Bog Bay area.
Trout caught by a Northern Ireland angler on a Yellow Wulff
Hatches of mayfly were still in evidence on parts of the lake – Holywell to Crover, into Chambers Bay and around the islands. There were small hatches of caenis in Goreport, Sailor’s Garden and Chambers Bay at first light. Best places for sedge fishing on this lake are behind Stony Island, Gaffney’s Bay, Ross Bay, Rusheen and the bottom of Goreport and Bog Bay.
Hatches
Cian Murtagh’s trout on a French Partridge
Despite the constant searing heat here, the entomogical clock keeps turning and Sheelin is awash with all sorts of potential fish food – regardless of the dining apathy of the trout. Impressive hatches of sedges (at dusk), alder flies, buzzers, olives, some spent and the odd terrestrial inadvertently blown on the surface water all offered potential meals for the trout. The terrestrials are interesting in that they may have aquatic relatives but none intentionally spend any of their life cycles in the water. The bees, butterflies, damsel flies, spiders and so on only comprise less than 1% of trout food and they only become that statistic if they accidently get blown in front of the trout but there again this is sometimes just what the fish feel like.
The mayfly is still in evidence here but preferred the cool of the shoreline bushes with only a scattering of spent going out late on some evenings. There were some nice fish caught using spent patterns but the trout were still sluggish to avail of this surface food.
Lough Sheelin’s murrough
Murrough patterns and small brown sedge patterns in a size 14 or 16 brought in the majority of the catches for this week. The Murrough is consistently a late evening sedge, the ideal time is at dusk and using short pulls is best to imitate the natural as it leaves a big wake fluttering and agitating on the surface. Best fished as a single fly either static or skated across the surface on a floating line. Any shoreline with rocks can be promising for fishing this great red sedge, Lynch’s pt or in and around Chambers Bay. There were impressive hatches of a variety of species of sedges along banks and in sheltered bays – Goreport, Bog Bay, at the back of Church Island, Crane Island and up along the western shore of the lake.
After the mayfly, anglers always hope that they will get a run at the sedge fishing before the appearance of a very popular trout food – the pinheads – shoals of tiny roach and perch fry which traditionally dominant the shallows particularly around Orangefield, Plunketts Pt. down along Derrysheridan and into Goreport. During the week, a Drogheda angler dashed these hopes when he spooned his fish caught in Bog Bay and found its stomach was bloated with fry. Once the trout become fixated on these fry it adds another challenge for the angler and really the best option is just to simply stay away from these areas.
This week provided ideal caenis fishing weather, calm and warm. Caenis is definitely a late evening and early morning sport, requiring perfect conditions and precision fishing using usually a single small fly – a grey duster in 14 or 16 might fit the bill but sometimes a fly as small as a size 22 is necessary so good eyesight is a requisite. A two team set up of a Balling Buzzer and the Duster is worth a try as well. In years gone by Sheelin saw big hatches of caenis but nowadays, for whatever reason their numbers have declined and although still holding on can only to be found in certain spots.
hard work
Lough Sheelin at the moment seems a lot of hard work but bolstered by a comment from angler Fennel Hudson’s which goes ‘I propose that it only matters that you attempt to catch a fish’ things will improve and there are a lot of good fishing opportunities lining up in front of us here – buzzer, bloodworm, murrough and green peter along with the myriad of sedges, apple green midges, terrestrials, daphnia and even imitations for those fry bashers.
Spent and Buzzer
This week’s weather promises to be cooler with freshening winds which bodes well for better fishing here.
The flies
Dry sedges
The flies that were most used this week by anglers were the Murrough, a small brown sedge (12 -14 or smaller), Spent Gnat patterns, the Fiery Brown Sedge, the Chocolate Drop, the Grey Flag, the Hare’s Ear sedge, the Wulff (grey and yellow), the G&H Sedge, the Welshman’s Button, Klinkhammers, Balling Buzzer, Dry Buzzers and Bumbles.
In very hot weather, trout will often stop chasing flies so fishing a pattern static, either under an indicator or fishing a buoyant fly on a sinking line could help to attract fish. Their lethargic behavior means that they are more likely to take a fly that’s not moving much, or at even at all, so slowing down the retrieve or keep the flies completely static could be a good plan.
Aquatic snail
Competitions
The McDonnell cup will be held on Saturday August 11th on Lough Sheelin, fishing from 11am till 6pm from Kilnahard pier… This competition has been fished catch & release for the last five years, which proved to be very successful. Measures will be provided for all boats with the cup awarded to the longest fish. This competition is open to members of the club only but membership is available on the day
There will be lots of prizes on offer and this day is generally viewed as a great day out.
For further details contact Thomas Lynch @ 087 9132033.
The Lough Sheelin Trout Protection Association will be hosting a Youth angling day on Saturday July 21st. For further details contact Thomas Lynch @ 087 9132033 .
A trout of almost 3lbs caught on a spent pattern off Crover shore
Damien willis releases a fish for the future #CPRsavesfish
A catch & release policy is actively encouraged on the lake at all times
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.
The Irish Bass Festival organisers sent on a photo of a super bass caught from a rocky mark on the Waterford coast…
What about this for a fantastic fish! Ray Horgan had this 12lb bass recently off the rocks. Great to see such good quality fish turning up along the coast in the run up to this years festival.
Ray Horgan gets a quick photo with his 12lb bass before releasing it. #CPRsavesfish
Joe Byrne (left) and Tom Lillis (right) Pictured with Gold Medal Winners 2014 John O'Brien and Mike Curtain
Kevin Lyons of Melview Lodge in Longford reports on the coarse fishing in the Longford area…
Last week we reported on Nigel and Howard with some nice specimen Bream, Rudd and Tench. Well, after changing venues due to Pike problems they prebaited another recommended venue. Again the guys did well, ending up with some nice catches of Bream and Roach. They put the time in and got the rewards despite some very warm weather conditions.
Nigel and Howard finish their week well.
Well done again lads and look forward to seeing 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.
Inland Fisheries Ireland is asking anglers and the general public to report any sightings of distressed fish which may be caused by high water temperatures and low water levels. Inland Fisheries Ireland is also asking anglers to voluntarily cease using ‘keep nets’ during this period to avoid causing unintentional distress to fish kept for long periods.
Your co-operation is very much appreciated.
The public is invited to make reports of fish in distress to Inland Fisheries Ireland’s 24 Hour Hotline on 0818 34 74 24 or 0818 FISH 24. Inland Fisheries Ireland staff will continue to monitor water bodies for any signs of distressed fish in shallow water, but will be able to react more quickly to timely reports received.
Dr Ciaran Byrne, CEO of Inland Fisheries Ireland, said: “Low water levels and high water temperatures may lead to fish kills. The temperatures are dangerously hot at the moment and fish kills may be unavoidable. In some instances, moving fish may prove too stressful. We would ask anglers practising catch and release fishing during this hot spell to consider taking a break from fishing entirely until conditions are more favourable.”
The unusually hot weather can see fish in considerable distress
Inland Fisheries Ireland is also reminding landowners, industry and farmers that as these low water levels and warm water temperatures put additional pressures on Ireland’s watercourses, there is a reduced amount of oxygen in water. As a result, poor quality discharges to rivers and lakes, such as silage effluent or sewage discharges can put additional demands on the oxygen levels, resulting in pollution incidents and fish kills.
Landowners are reminded that abstraction of water from rivers and lakes should be carried out in a sustainable manner to ensure sufficient levels are available for other water users and to protect the aquatic habitat.
Dr Byrne continued: “Our confidential hotline number 0818 34 74 24 or 0818 FISH 24 is available to members of the general public who, in addition to reporting fish kills, can also report incidents of illegal fishing, water pollution and invasive species.”
A 14lb salmon from the Ballyduff Bridge fishery about to be released. #CPRsavesfish
It’s been a hot few days here in Ireland and though it has been glorious, inland the fishing is starting to suffer, though the saltwater fraternity are less inclined to grumble…
In the run-up to the hot weather we had some pretty good salmon fishing. Parts of the country actually had some real, honest to goodness rain and the Moy a had huge catch of about 800 fish. There are plenty of grilse running at the Galway Fishery and they have recorded 255 fish in the last fortnight. Most of the west of Ireland salmon fisheries saw some bit of a run following the rain, but many were quick to drop back to low levels again. In the south and southwest there was some good fishing at times on Lough Currane and the Suir and Munster Blackwater.
Trout anglers are finding that heatwave is really impacting on water levels and water temperatures, with fishing mostly restricted to early morning and late evening. Last week provided good fishing on Corrib, with mayfly, sedges and Caenis getting trout feeding. This heatwave has made things rather more difficult, but the early morning conditions have been perfect for Caenis fishing. On Sheelin it was a similar story but the emphasis was on evening sedge fishing as Caenis hatches have been small so far.
Good roach to over 700g have been reported from venues in Cavan…
Coarse anglers in the Longford area reported that feeder tactics in 18 feet of water produced the goods and some fine sized tench, bream, rudd and roach were landed. In Leitrim, the five day Kilbracken Club Anglers Challenge saw Dave Brettel take first place with 131lbs 13oz. The venues had not been used for match fishing before and the results were really excellent with an average catch of 20lb per angler each day.
Lough Ree Angling Hub hosted the 2018 International Pike Competition on Lough Ree again this year. 150 anglers took part and some great fish were caught. Chris Barry had the biggest fish of the weekend, a fine 108cm pike, but the winning pair were Barry and Jack Darby who had a combined catch of 408.5cm. In Cavan one angler reported some of the best fishing he has enjoyed in recent years. He broke his PB twice in 3 days as big pike raided his roach swim, the best fish coming in at 11kg.
High water temperatures and Catch and Release
Last week we advised pike anglers to allow plenty of time for revival as water temperatures rise. This week with river water temperatures now reaching over 20C, this advice goes to all freshwater anglers. Many fish will already be stressed prior to being hooked, and while we we promote catch-and-release this may not be feasible during a heatwave. This is especially true for salmon anglers, as there is a high probability the fish will not survive. C&R is currently not permitted at the Galway Fishery until the water temperatures fall below 20C. All anglers intending to fish during this hot spell should consider the implications for fish they intend to return and coarse anglers should avoid keeping too many fish in keep nets, or simply not use them at all.
This huge, monster of a skate – 219lb wins charter boat Loch an Iasc Catch of the Week. #CPRsavesfish
Sea angling is really picking up now. The tope have arrived in Galway Bay, and reef fishing in the area has been very productive too. The first sharks should be reported off the west coast soon as well, with no shortage of good sport being enjoyed by shark anglers off the Cork coast. West Cork anglers are getting some great skate fishing too, with specimens to over 200lb caught and released. There was more specimen smoothhound action reported from Wicklow, while anglers on Killala Bay have been enjoying species fishing over sand and reef. Congratulations go to Janet Snoddy and Aidan O’Halloran who won the women’s and men’s Master Angler competitions, the finals of which were fished at Kilgorman at the weekend. Bass anglers are reminded that this year all fishing is Catch and Release only and there is no period during which a bag limit applies.
And now the weather…
Met Eireann has issue a Yellow Weather Warning – not wind, or rain, but a new misery for anglers – 30C cloudless days continuing into the weekend. In coastal areas, onshore breezes will moderate the heat to some extent, making it more bearable for some. The outlook is uncertain for Sunday, there may be showers, even heavy ones, but the weather is not set to break yet. The further outlook for the early days of next week is for continuing warm weather with hazy sunshine, although not quite as hot as recent times. As they say down under, Slip, Slap, Slop! Slip on a shirt, slap on a hat and slop on the factor 50.
There were 3 salmon reported last week on the Bandon, these were caught on shrimp in low water.
Go Fishing…
Bandon Angling Association have set up a guiding service in conjunction with Jason Nash, Peter Aspinwall and Phil Dewey. Details of the guiding service are provided on the website and they are looking forward to making memories and enhancing people’s fishing experiences on the river Bandon. Day tickets and club membership are also available. Web: https://bandonangling.com/
Kilcoleman Fishery, Enniskeane, is renowned for its hospitality. The owners David and Patricia Lamb make a particular effort to make their guests feel at home. Past visitors have described the atmosphere as ‘laid back’ and the accommodations as ‘cosy’. Kilcoleman is “fly only” throughout the entire season. However, in certain water conditions, spinning is permitted for salmon. Trout angling is “fly only” at all times. web:http://flyfishing-ireland.com
4 salmon landed for the week, best 8lbs landed by a club angler on a Flying C.
RIVER COOMHOLA
No report of catches.
Go fishing…
The River Ilen is a medium size spate river that fishes best on a dropping flood for both salmon and sea trout. Spinning, worm and fly fishing are the methods used and allowed on club water.
The river is beautiful and a joy to fish, pools along club waters are easily accessible with seats, steps and stiles put in place for the anglers comfort. With selective tree pruning done along the river in recent years fly fishing has become a more available option especially on the lower river with numerous pools opened up to suit fly fishermen, night time fly fishing for sea trout is a pleasure with great stocks of trout entering the river from April.
Grey Duster Guiding
