Sunshine has dominated the South Eastern River Basin District for much of the month of June to date with minor thundery outbursts in places. Temperatures have ranged from 22 – 27 degrees Celsius, with cloudless skies over much of the West Waterford District and surrounding areas during daylight hours. The rise in temperatures have also seen a significant rise in the footfall along many river banks in the area.
A local guide originally from France recently caught and released 8 Salmon (all freshly run) ranging in weights between 11lbs and 18lbs in the Poulatrass, Gurteen and Newcastle areas between the 2nd and the 9th of June.
Jean Jacques Chaumet from France with a Salmon caught on the river Suir. Our catch of the week winner. (Jean Jacques Chaumet, 2018)
The guide reported that 3 of his clients hooked 16 Salmon between them while himself hooked 3 during the first week of June. Also, approximately 8 salmon unhooked themselves.
Another angler from the Carrick on Suir area landed a mullet on a Salmon fly in the Glenview Angling waters and he reported 6 salmon caught during the first week of June all ranging in sizes from 11lbs to 20lbs weight.
Carrick on Suir & District Anglers report 5 Salmon caught since the beginning of June ranging in sizes.
Bio Security: As always, we would kindly like to remind all who use Irelands watercourses to please use appropriate biosecurity measures for themselves so to help prevent the spread of invasive species in and out of the water.
Water Safety: The Carrick staff would kindly like to remind all about the importance of using Life Jackets in and around water as they really do save lives. Adequate Flotation devices should always be worn and it especially sets a template regards water safety where younger Anglers are present.
“Take only memories, leave only footprints”. The Carrick staff would like to ask all who are using the water courses in the area to be mindful of littering and to please use bins provided or take home their rubbish.
‘We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope’
Martin Luther King
A stuck shuck Sheelin mayfly
This year’s mayfly season on Lough Sheelin has undoubtedly been fraught with a mixture of disappointment, frustration and despair. Dubbed ‘the heart breaker’ these hallowed trout waters have submerged its anglers into an entomological and piscatorial confusion.
Jeremy O’Brien, England with his 60cm fish
2018 saw record breaking mayfly hatches on this lake, many would say that it was the biggest number ever, with the plume of mating masses taking to the evening air akin to an extract from Tchaikovsky’s ‘Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy’. The eventual falling of spent covered the water’s surface, each evening, like a large and elaborate carpet spreading out over the lake.
Dancing mayfly
You didn’t have to go to any exotic country to encounter such a gripping natural and very beautiful spectacle.
May is the month which is marked firmly in most trout angler’s diary – duffers’ fortnight, a time of racing pulses, of easy pickings, when trout supposedly rise in abundance to feed on the surface food of emergers and freshly hatched greens, culminating in the spents lying prostrate on the surface in the last throes of life, offering an irrestible meal to hungry trout. It is a month synonymous to easier fishing.
It is safe to say that the word ‘easy’ hasn’t been used in any angler’s vocabulary over the past number of weeks here – other words have been used frequently but easy has definitely not been one of them.
Sheelin since mid-May attracted the predictable influx of anglers, mostly from Ireland but with a respectable representation from England, Scotland, Wales, Holland and France as well as a few from America, Australia and Italy.
Tim Brown, Belfast with his 4 pounder caught May 17th, off Stony Island on a Grey Wulff
Traditionally it takes a few days for the fish to get locked on to the freshly hatched mays and then, when their suspicion abates, the best time seems to be when feeding initially begins on this new food, as the month progresses and with it the fully blown hatches of mayfly, the trout seem to go off the boil with the copious quantity of daytime hatches and instead latch on to the spent in the warm evenings. This sequence of events is what customarily happens from May into June but for this year it didn’t, Lough Sheelin’s trout refused to co-operate and duffer’s fortnight was thrown out the window. The trout stayed down deep and there was a very poor rise to the abundance of surface food.
A visible surface feeding fish was something of an anomaly and this revered time in the fishing calendar came crashing down.
Rory Coleman, Swords Angling Centre with a beautiful Sheelin mayfly trout, May 30th
So what happened? there is no one particular explanation but perhaps a combination of a number of factors as to why our trout refused to do what they were supposed to do, but whatever personal conclusion we come to we must remember that nature sometimes cannot be compartmentalized and that there will always be a certain element that cannot be explained.
Thomas Lynch, Cavan with one of his mayfly fish
Firstly, no trout lake in Ireland had a good mayfly season this year, most reports mirrored Lough Sheelin’s frustrations, in that there was plenty of surface food but not good surface feeding by the trout.
contemplation
This was a peculiar year, in that, somewhere down the line we seemed to have lost spring and dived straight from winter into summer. The blackthorn blossom overlapped the may blossom when normally these two blooms are weeks apart.
Spent mayfly
The weather particularly the wind direction has always had a big influence on how the trout behave. East and North Easterly winds predominated for weeks and both these wind directions play havoc with feeding fish with some anglers forcefully adamant that trout will never surface feed in an east wind. The desired winds for this lake are south to south westerly’s which didn’t happen very often.
Keith Lough, Scotland with his 55cm fish
Water levels were high and temperatures were consistently low until we reached May and then we were treated to barometer bursting Mediterranean temperatures hitting the 28 degrees. Trout, with their absence of protective eyelids and natural aversion to warm low oxygen areas will automatically stay in the lower cooler regions during a hot spell.
A newly molted mayfly
Perhaps the biggest problem, to the angler anyway, is that Lough Sheelin is stuffed with fish food, 80 – 90% of the time trout are sub-surface feeders so their natural preference is to stay under regardless of what the menu is like on the top. This year as well as having a plethora of food in the lower water regions, there were vast quantities of mayfly followed by the subsequent dense covering of spent on the surface coupled of course with all the other seasonal flies – hawthorn, the terrestrials and the appearance of the sedges which of course meant for the angler that there was little or no hope of a trout going for an artificial, except by accident. Trout that were spooned in May were stuffed to the gills with nymphs.
Derrysheridan, Lough Sheelin
The Hatches
Successful Buzzer fishing by Jeremy O’Brien, England
Buzzer fishing pre May fly was excellent this year, with billions of buzzer all over the surface in certain areas and unlike the spent, the trout rose in huge numbers to feed on them. Buzzer fishing lacks appeal to many anglers because of its dusk and nighttime preference. Anglers reported hearing large rises all around boats but were forced to fish blind because of the dark. Successes were good using dry buzzers and targeting fish as they came on to the water at dusk. The southern reedy areas of the lake worked best.
Buzzer shucks
Sheelin arguably experienced its biggest hatch of mayfly on record and this is something to be celebrated as this graceful transitory insect is a vital component of the overall ecology of a freshwater system. Mayfly nymphs are particularly sensitive to water pollution so the vast quantities of adults exhibited this year on this lake is an indication that for a water that hangs in the balance from a nutrient loading point of view, ecologically for this period of time things are very good.
Happiness is a Sheelin trout – Shane O’Reilly, Dublin with his 6lb plus trout, May 24th
Now, into mid-June there are still hatches of the greens and with the colder weather and cooling down of the water the trout are finally surface feeding on them. There was good fishing using teams of wet mayflies last Friday June 15th with Cavan angler Cian Murtagh catching a number of fish around the Long Rock area, heaviest at over 4lbs.
A 56.5cm 5lb trout caught by Brendan Glass on a Murrough, May 29thWelshman’s hitching a ridewelshman’s button on grassthe murroughmayflies on may blossomfollow the leader
The number of boats have dropped dramatically in the past week and coinciding with this falling off in numbers the trout have now started to surface feed on the mayfly – this capricious, moody and premier wild brown fishery puts manners on us all…
Spent on water
The Catches
On the positive side of things and regardless of all the above obstacles there were still some great trout caught during May and into June. Most of the returns weighed in at over 4lbs with a top weight of 9 ½ lbs for Dublin angler John Moloney using a French Partridge. These fish were all in great condition, plump and well fed which supports the theory of plenty of sub surface feeding. A variety of mayfly patterns were used predominantly in yellow with hints of brown, grey and claret threaded through. The Wulffs – grey and royal featured in the evening time with spent gnat patterns in white and black with a small piece of red at the butt being the most successful.
3lbs 6ozs trout caught on a Daddy Long Legs
Hatches of mayfly were prolific all over the lake so really no area shone out as being more successful than the other. Fish were caught mostly in Holywell and down to Crover, Merry pt, Stony Island, at the back of Church Island, Wilson’s pt. and down along the Long Rock.
A 4 ½ lb trout caught on an Olive Nymph
For Buzzer fishing it was all along the weeded silted areas – Bog Bay, Goreport and the Sailors Garden.
Tomas Harten with his 63cm trout
The biggest fish for the week was a 9 ½ lb trout caught by John Moloney, Dublin using a French Partridge fishing off Holywell.
Total number of trout recorded: 280
Shane carefully releasing his 6 lb plus piece of Sheelin magic
Selection of Catches
Cian Murtagh, Cavan – June 15th, 3 trout heaviest at 4lbs using wet mayflies, fishing off the Long Rock
Gerry Taggart – 1 trout at 4lbs on a wet mayfly.
Mark Lough, Scotland – 1 trout at 55cm.
Keith Lough, Scotland – 4 trout at 60, 55, 52 and 49cm, fishing with Lough Sheelin Guiding Services.
Willem van der Wal, Holland – 2 trout at 50 and 52cm on mayfly patterns.
Thomas Lynch, Cavan – 2 trout May 20th 5lbs and 4 ½ on Buzzer and wet May fly patterns.
Cathal Rush, Tyrone – 2 trout, both at 4lbs on balling buzzers.
Ben McKay, Scotland – 1 trout at 3lbs using a nymph pattern, May 18th at Arley.
Barry Harton, Cavan – 1 trout at 4lbs fishing a wet Mayfly pattern.
Peter McArdle, Dundalk – 4 trout for 19lbs (heaviest 5 ¾ lbs), 1 trout at 6 ¼ lbs, all on Buzzer patterns.
Gary McKiernan (lough sheelin guiding services) – 6 trout heaviest at 6lbs using mayfly, nymph and buzzer patterns.
Nigel Gibbons, England – 1 trout at 50cm
Jeremy O’Brien, England – 2 trout at 59 and 60cm on Buzzer patterns.
Tim Brown – 1 trout at 4lbs on a Grey Wulff fishing off Stony, May 17th.
Paul Fingleton, Dublin – 1 trout at 1 ¾ lbs on a Spent pattern
Paul O’Reilly, Dublin – 1 at 4 ½ lbs on a Spent
Cian Murtagh, Cavan – 1 trout at 4lbs on a Spent Gnat pattern, May 29th.
Declan Young, Cavan – 1 trout at 4½ lbs fishing at Holywell on a Spent Gnat, May 21st.
Tom Walsh, Mayo – May 29th 1 trout at 4.3lbs.
Thomas Harten, Cavan – 1 trout at 3lbs on a Spent Gnat, June 12th.
Gerry Gannon, Kells – 2 trout at 4 and 5lbs using a Spent Gnat pattern, June 12th.
Frank Kelly, Cavan – 3 trout June 11th, heaviest at 6 ½ lbs on a Spent Gnat, 2 trout on June 10th heaviest at 5lbs, 1 trout on June 9th at 3lbs on Spent Gnat pattern at Merry pt. 9 trout on first week of Spent, heaviest at 6.2lbs.
Gerry McSean, Cavan – 1 trout at 4.5lbs on Spent Gnat pattern, June 12th.
A Sheelin juvenile
The Flies
The unreal meeting the real
The most successful flies this week were the Mayfly nymph patterns, wet Mayfly patterns in greens with mixes of brown and white mingled through, the Mosley Mays, the French Partridge, the Goslings, Dennis Moss’s Ginger Mayfly, Soft Hackle Mayfly Emergers, CDC Mayfly Emergers, the Wulffs (grey and royal), the Spent Gnat patterns (a predominance of black worked best). Other patterns catching fish were the Dabblers (Claret, Green and Silver), Stimulators and Bumbles (Golden and Cock Robin).
Mayfly nymph patternsWet MayfliesThe real battles the unrealSpent gnatWulffsDry Buzzer patternsmurrough pattern
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 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.
large red damsel fly
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.
A silent observer to Lough Sheelin’s mayfly season
An open fly fishing day for youths was held by the Dundalk & District Brown Trout & Salmon Anglers Association at its clubhouse at Toberona, Dundalk Co Louth on Sunday last 10th June 2018. The event which included fly casting tuition and fly tying was run from 11am to 5pm to develop the youth base of the Association by encouraging more youngsters to get involved in fly fishing and angling generally. The event which was open to all was well supported by club members, participants and their families and friends. The standard of tuition was fantastic which was no surprise with casting instructor Eamonn Conway and Youth Development Officer Matt Campbell involved. Youngsters that had never fly fished before were casting like experienced fly anglers less than half way through the casting tuition session. There was also great interest in the fly tying demonstration and tuition provided by club PRO Hubert Smyth. Also on hand to lend assistance with everything were club members Fred O’Hagan, Mike Woods, Gavin Hilliard, Mark Gallagher and Joe Macken. The event was hailed as a great success and everyone is looking forward to future events which will again be aimed at beginners and improvers. The club would like to express its sincere thanks to all who supported and sponsored the event.
Further information on the day’s events can be found on the associations Facebook page.
The clubs website acknowledges that the vibrant nature of the club owes it strength to the present and past generations of dedicated members who voluntarily give off their time and experience to preserve and enhance the quality of fishing for present and future generations of anglers. The future of any organisation is very much dependant on its youth and to this end and for the sport generally the development of youth angling has always been very important to and well recognised by the Dundalk & District Brown Trout & Salmon Anglers Association. This can be witnessed from the photo below which dates from 1958. There are also much earlier photos displayed in the Associations clubhouse at Toberona and youth has been a huge part of the Association since its official foundation in 1926 and indeed prior to this.
The Dundalk & District Brown Trout & Salmon Anglers Association was founded in 1926 but its history pre-dates this and is probably one of the oldest fishing clubs in Ireland. The Association has enjoyed a long history of angling in the North Louth/Monaghan area and is now recognised as one of the most progressive clubs in the country. Since its foundation the club has working with and encouraging youngsters to take up the sport of angling, including fly fishing. The clubhouse situated on the banks of the Castletown River has turned out to be a great asset for meetings and organising our various outings and events including last Sundays open fly fishing day for youths.
If you are interested in getting involved in the sport of angling around Dundalk and the NE, the Dundalk & District Brown Trout & Salmon Anglers Association can be contacted through its website and via email. Web: http://www.browntroutanglers.com/Email: [email protected]
Inland Fisheries Ireland has today revealed that it seized 647 items of illegal fishing equipment and 301 illegal fishing nets measuring 14,055 metres (8.6 miles) in 2017.
The agency’s Fisheries Protection statistics for 2017 also reveal that it carried out 26,726 environmental inspections and 35,630 inspections of recreational anglers last year, putting 187,426 person hours into protecting Ireland’s fishing resource.
“Fisheries contributes €836 million to the Irish economy every year and supports over 11,000 jobs, many of which are in rural and peripheral communities which benefit from tourism opportunities related to recreational angling, so I want to commend Inland Fisheries Ireland for the vital work they do, often in challenging geographical locations and during unsocial hours,” said Sean Kyne TD, Minister with responsibility for Inland Fisheries.
“The quality of our natural environment and aquatic habitat is inextricably linked to the appeal of Ireland as an angling and holiday destination, so the fisheries protection, public information campaigns and strategic development of the sector conducted by IFI are all crucial in that regard.”
It would take nearly 2.5 hours to walk the length of illegal netting confiscated in 2017
Inland Fisheries Ireland staff patrol 74,000 kilometres of rivers and streams, 128,000 hectares of lakes and 5,500 kilometres of coastline in their attempts to protect the resource and apprehend those responsible for illegal fishing and environmental offences.
“Protecting the fisheries resource is just one key element of our work,” says Dr Ciaran Byrne, CEO of Inland Fisheries Ireland. “Protection gives us a platform to develop the sector. Ireland holds a very special place in Europe in terms of ecology and climate and, as a consequence, has extremely important fish stocks unique from neighbouring countries. Salmon and trout stocks are indicative of good water quality and the preservation of these key species in addition to our significant populations of coarse fish is a vital part of the role of Inland Fisheries Ireland in protecting this important resource.”
Some key findings from the Fisheries Protection statistics for 2017 include:
82 prosecution cases initiated for breaches of fisheries and environmental legislation, regarded as one of the most important tools in the prevention of illegal fishing activities in the long term.
647 items of illegal fishing equipment seized, including 301 illegal fishing nets which measured 14,055 metres (8.6 miles) in total, or nearly a 2 hours and 21 minutes’ walk at a moderate pace.
26,726 environmental inspections across a variety of sites including farms, industrial premises, wastewater plants, forestry sites, wind farms as well general inspections for pollutants in the natural habitat. Inspections were carried out by environmental officers with a view to mitigating potential environmental incidents which could have a detrimental impact on fish populations and fish habitats.
35,630 inspections of recreational anglers carried out nationwide to ensure anglers were compliant with the fisheries acts, which aim to protect fish populations.
31,000 patrols, comprising planned day and night patrols, covert patrols and intelligence-led surveillance operations and specifically targeted around the fish species most at risk during particular seasons, with local staff on 24/7, 365 availability.
One of the seizures from 2017
Inland Fisheries Ireland is also inviting the public to help protect and conserve the fisheries resource during the year by reporting incidents of illegal fishing, water pollution and invasive species to its confidential hotline number telephone 0818 34 74 24 or 0818 FISH 24.
The principle methods used for patrols were boats (873 patrols), kayaks (190 patrols) and personal water crafts (30 patrols) while land-based patrols were carried out using quad bikes (18 patrols), bicycles (489 patrols) and by vehicles and foot (29, 899 patrols). In addition to the use of traditional methods, fisheries officers used advanced surveillance equipment including night vision scopes, thermal imaging scopes and enhanced optical surveillance scopes to help them in their work.
Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) is responsible for ensuring the protection and conservation of Ireland’s fisheries resource, the fish and their habitats in both inland waterways and out to a twelve mile limit off the coast from baselines. The species protected comprise all freshwater fish species including migratory species such as salmon, sea trout, eel as well as lamprey. IFI is also responsible for protecting certain molluscs including oysters and through a Memorandum of Understanding with the Sea Fisheries Protection Agency enforces bass fisheries legislation.
In addition to enforcing the provisions of the Fisheries Acts 1959 to 2010, IFI is empowered to enforce the Water Pollution Acts 1977 & 1990 when discharges to fisheries sensitive locations impacts on water leading to deterioration in water quality and on occasion fish kills.
The incredible summer weather has broken at last, but at least the temperatures remain warm. The rain is badly needed at most fisheries and even a number of lakes have started to drop following the long dry spell. The strong winds that accompanied Storm Hector remind us all as anglers that safe fishing begins with our actions. Being aware of weather forecasts, tides and other conditions is vitally important but all anglers afloat, waders and those fishing the rocky shores should wear a life jacket or PFD.
Low water levels and bright sun make salmon fishing tough, but the bit of water saw fortunes change at a number of fisheries. The Moy, Drowes, Munster Blackwater and Galway Fishery all had decent fishing recently and even the Laune reported some good sport despite the prevailing conditions. We also have updates from Lough Currane and the Owenmore in Kerry, River Lee and Bandon in Cork, Delphi, the Erriff, the Owenea and the River Nore.
Ferdi Rodregas about to release a salmon on the Ballyduff Bridge Fishery, Munster Blackwater – #CPRsavesfish – wins Catch of the Week
Daytime trout fishing was almost impossible with the never ending sunshine, but the early mornings and evenings provided good fishing on Corrib as Caenis and Sedge hatches got the fish feeding. Mask was fairly quiet but some anglers have enjoyed a bit of success. The midlands lakes like Ennell, Owel and Lene have entertained trout anglers and even in the brightest conditions produced some decent fishing. River reports were thin on the ground but rivers like the Nore will continue to produce a few fish on nymph and dry.
Reports in from Cavan tell us that Nicky Harrison came first in the Arvagh Festival with a total weight of 27.00kg. The Derek Pratt Memorial was held on Sunday and fishing improved greatly with the winning peg on Kevin’s Shore at just over 42kg, with some bream up to 5lb. Not bad fishing to say the least!
Sea anglers have been getting some great shore angling and we have a couple of great reports in from Donegal Bay. Charter boat fishing is also busy, despite the level of reporting. Sometimes the skippers are too busy unhooking fish to let us know what is happening! Anyway, we have reports from Wicklow and Galway this week and expect to have more to report next week.
Angling Tourism Marketing Strategy
IFI is working with key government agencies and partners, as well as tourism angling stakeholders, trade and businesses to deliver a shared Angling Tourism Marketing Strategy that is consumer focused, with a vision, ambition and proposition to secure the future development of the sector to 2023.
Ethna Murphy Consulting has been appointed to help deliver this plan and by completing this online submission form https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/AnglingTourismSubmissions you are invited to share your insights and views on what you consider to be the critical factors in attracting international and domestic anglers and share what is important in delivering great experiences that will encourage them to visit, recommend and return.
And now the weather…
Friday will be a cloudier day with scattered outbreaks of rain. The south and east will stay mainly dry. In the evening the rain will turn more persistent in the west and north. Highest temperatures of 13 to 17 degrees with moderate southwest breezes increasing fresh to strong and gusty along Atlantic coasts by evening time. It looks like it’s going to be a wet and windy weekend. Widespread rain on Saturday with a dry start to Sunday followed by scattered showers. Highest temperatures of 15 to 19 degrees with moderate to fresh southerly winds, later becoming southwesterly. The warm, wet and wind weather will hold Wednesday at least. Not a bad fishing forecast…
Stefan Martin from Killybegs Mariners SAC reports on the fishing around Donegal Bay…
10 June: Walking among fields of cotton in high summer armed with the light lure rod and a selection of plastics knowing the shore is teeming with sandeels and needle eye being chased about the pollack and wrasse and mackerel shoals bubbling the surface of a deserted shoreline. Old ruins of buildings and almost hidden scars on the soil of crop trenches from the 1800s the only sign of any civilisation on the remote Donegal shore. I often wonder what would those hardships folk think of lure angling and throwing all the fish back alive.
The slow waving kelps are now teeming with wrasse, using polarised glasses it amazing watching them bolt out of their hiding spot and nail the lure while dashing straight back for the kelp in a violent dash as the rod arches over fish on… beautiful colours and each different to the last. Some fine pollack also in chasing the fry and happened to nail the ammonite shads when the opportunity arises… All released back after a heavenly few hours over high water.. bliss
13 June: The good weather and a nice session on the Turbot bank rock mark. The shoaling turbots hopped into the first rod and a nice double and slipped into the recovery rock pool for release when the 2nd rod went and another double. Nice to watch them and their behaviour up close as they use the pecotral like a rudder on a ship to steer and then “shiver” themselves to bury into the sand and camoflauge hiding from prey and awaiting the chance to pounce on unsuspecting small fish. A lovely species
Mariners sea angling club Killybegs Co Donegal. The club runs a shore league and boat comps and angling trips around Ireland doing the sport we love. Get in touch at www.facebook.com/mariner.sac
Recent rains made a bit of dirty flood on the Munster Blackwater but as visibility improved salmon started to be caught again…
09 June: Ger Fogerty had a lovely fish from Kents on the Blackwater Salmon Fisheryyesterday and Pete had another this morning. Glenda Powell reports that there are a lot of great fish about at the moment.
First salmon for Erica Gerber
12 June: Erica Gerber from Switzerland who is 77 years young landed her first ever salmon off the Fortwilliam Fishery Glenmore beat this morning. Gary O’Shea fishing fishing the Blackwater Salmon Fishery had a good salmon off Kents today and another was lost for Geoff Mead on Kilmurry. The water is clearing nicely now and anglers are seeing fish jumping.
Ferdi Rodregas – #CPRsavesfish -wins Catch of the Week
13 June: Fishing on Mr Ferdi Rodregas met two fish and landing this Beautiful long tailed sea liced fish estimated 9/10lbs at Cable Island beat. The fish was returned to carry on his journey. Conditions on the Munster Blackwater are described as ideal on the Fortwilliam Fishery. Yesterday’s catches included Tim Luddy 7lb fish and Claude Penning 12lb fish on fly guided by Chris Coady. They also met their first grilse , a 3lb fish for Alwyn Moss off the Ellis Beat safely released. Pete Davis was back in action on the Blackwater Salmon Fisheryand had another fine fish this evening. There was one lost also on Kents.
Go Fishing…
Blackwater Salmon Fishery
Blackwater Salmon Fishery has 3 beats downstream of the weir and 2 upstream of the weir. Blackwater Salmon Fishery offers fishing on approximately 5 miles of the river Blackwater. The fishing is spread throughout the middle section of the river to offer good sport throughout the fishing season. Due to the location of the beats, fishing can still usually be offered in low or high water. Contact Glenda Powell: Lismore, Co Waterford, Email:[email protected] Mobile: +353 (0) 872351260 Telephone: +353 (0) 5853929 Web: www.blackwatersalmonfishery.com
Ballyduff Bridge Salmon Fishery
Ballyduff Bridge fisheries control a number of beats of the Munster Blackwater. The Ballyduff Bridge beat is almost a mile long offering a huge variety of water and is particularly suited to fly fishing. Upstream near the village of Ballyhooley (a few miles outside the town of Fermoy, Cork) we have two beats. The Ballincurrig Beat is one of the most beautiful locations along the river and has an excellent piece of fly water flowing into a deep pool. Just downstream on the opposite bank we have a short but productive beat, called Magners. This beat fishes also well in high water.
Fortwilliam Fishery offers two miles of double bank salmon and trout fishing over five beats on the river Blackwater.
Our salmon include – Springers, May Salmon, Grilse, Back End Salmon, and in Summer sea trout.
Our beats provide a wide variety of water, suitable for both beginners and the more experienced fishermen.
Fortwilliam Fishery, Glencairn, Lismore, Co. Waterford, Ireland Web: www.fortwilliamfishing.ieEmail: [email protected] Tel: (00353) 87 8292077 or 058 75299
The annual Arva Seniors Classic 2018 took place last week. Fishing was difficult in the heat and bright sunshine and as a result weights were down on past year. Nicky Harrison came first with a total weight of 27.00kg and Kevin Johnson second with a total weight of 25.540kg.
Winners of the Arva Senior Classic 2018 with Eamonn Gray Breffni Arms
The Derek Pratt Memorial was held on Sunday and fishing improved greatly with the winning peg on Kevin’s Shore at just over 42kg, some Bream up to 5lb. Competitions continue this week with the Breffni Challenge and some of weights recorded on the first day include Paul Danby 22.650kg, Robert Nesbitt 29.50kg, Kevin Johnson 24.90kg, Declan Gumley 18.630kg.
Some anglers in the Ballinamore area fishing St Johns and Kiltybarden and it is reported to be quite good with 17/18kg mixed bags
The river Erne at Belturbet has been patchy but also improving with some nice bags. Killykeen also producing good mixed bags.
12 June: After a long dry spell there is now light at the end of the tunnel. Rain forecast for Wednesday evening and broken for the rest of the week. We will need a lot of rain because the river was down to a trickle and the ground is rock hard and you could even walk across the bogs in your shoes. We have been fishing the estuary for the last 10 to 12 days because it was the only fishing available to us.
There were some fine fish throwing themselves and seatrout started entering the river in numbers on Sunday. If we get all the rain that is forecast there should be a terrific run of fish. South westerly winds would be the icing on the cake and there should be great fishing. With a bit of luck this should be the end of the factor 50.
There are approximately five miles of fly fishing along the main part of the Owenmore River in Kerry, with 33 named pools and an additional 180 acres of lake fishing in this Kerry beauty spot. The salmon, grilse and sea trout begin to run in April. The runs continue through spring and summer into early October.
2 salmon landed for the week, all caught on shrimp on club waters, best was 7.5lbs
INNISCARRA FISHERY
No report of catches.
Go fishing…
The River Lee drains a catchment of 484 square miles of which much is taken up by two large reservoirs. Salmon Angling is confined to an 8 mile stretch from Inniscarra dam to Cork city.
Lee Salmon Anglers Club
The Lee Salmon Anglers club was established in 1967. It was formed by a group of anglers interested in protecting and promoting the sport of salmon and trout angling on the river Lee. Day tickets available: http://www.leesalmonanglers.ie/
Inniscarra Fishery
This salmon fishery is located between Cork City and the dam at Inniscarra (9 miles). The fishery is run by the ESB (Electricity Supply Board) and an ESB permit is required. There is a fair run of fish with a very good grilse run dependent on water. Permits can be purchased on site from Dan O’Riordan, ESB Inniscarra; 087-9983879.
Grey Duster Guiding
There was also great interest in the fly tying demonstration and tuition provided by club PRO Hubert Smyth. Also on hand to lend assistance with everything were club members Fred O’Hagan, Mike Woods, Gavin Hilliard, Mark Gallagher and Joe Macken. The event was hailed as a great success and everyone is looking forward to future events which will again be aimed at beginners and improvers. The club would like to express its sincere thanks to all who supported and sponsored the event.
It would take nearly 2.5 hours to walk the length of illegal netting confiscated in 2017
