The winning fish of 10lb 15oz was returned to Lough Erne
A TOTAL of 28 anglers, including three juniors, took part in the annual on Sunday August 17 at lower Lough Erne, reports Maurice Neill. The winner was Ross McClelland of Kesh with a fish of 10lb 15oz which was returned. This fine trout wins Catch of the Week.
Ross McClelland with Paul Riley, chair of Kesh and District Angling Club
The junior prize was won by Katie Holden, aged 4, of Irvinestown with a fish of 1lb 7oz. Joint runners up in the junior section were Ellie Hart-McDonnell, aged 9, of Trillick and Billy Catterson, aged 9, of Kesh.
Katie Holden, aged 4
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Billy Catterson Paul Riley, chair of Kesh and District Angling Club
Ellie Hart-McDonnell with Paul Riley, chair of Kesh and District Angling Club
Katie Holden, aged 4
Ross McClelland with Paul Riley, chair of Kesh and District Angling Club
The winning fish of 10lb 15oz was returned to Lough Erne
Simon McLarnon reports on the John Logue Memorial Angling Competition fished on Mulroy Bay, Co. Donegal on Saturday…
The John Logue Memorial Sea Angling Competition was held at Kerrykeel on Saturday 16th August with 7 boats and around 40 anglers taking part. Competitors headed off from Kerrykeel pier into the sheltered waters of Mulroy Bay in near perfect conditions, with beautiful blue skies overhead and a light cooling breeze to keep us comfortable.
This is a species hunting competition with points awarded for the greatest number of species caught. I was part of the crew of Miss Daisy, skippered by Chris Wilson who was also competing in the competition.
Close up of a ray
There were plenty of gurnard and rays taking our baits but other species were few and far between. The Broad Water at Kerrykeel is renowned for its ray fishing, and they did not disappoint us. Our crew managed 21 rays to 8lb, but fierce competition developed between Chris Wilson and Cahill McGinley, with the lead for top rod switching from one to the other in the last hour of the competition.
As the competition ended Chris had just pipped Cahill to the post with 6 thornbacks to Cahill’s 5, with both men also landing small spotted cat sharks/dogfish and grey gurnards.
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Charlie Doherty with one of the many thornbacks we landed
Another Ray
Cahill McGinley with another thornback
Lots of grey gurnard about
Chris Wilson with a Small Spotted Catshark
A brittle star….unusual species to catch on rod and line!
Chris Wilson also went on to win the competition overall as best male angler, which was some achievement given he was also skipper and looking after the younger members of our crew!
Best Lady Angler was won by Aine MC Ateer, and best Junior Angler was won by Lucas Logue.
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A mention should go Seamus Martin for catching a specimen weight mackerel that tipped the scales at just under 3lb. This huge chunky mackerel fought and looked a bit like a miniature tuna, and these are a feature of Mulroy Bay. Mackerel are not regular far down in the bay, but those that are there become ‘locked’ in the bay as they can’t find their way out through the narrow inlet back to the open sea. They feed on sprat and bait fish that inhabit this unique ecosystem and with the lack of large predators they can reach impressive sizes. They are few and far between, but all the mackerel we caught were over 2lb in weight.
Mackerel are normally only about 12 inches long and weigh less than a pound. This monster weighed about 2lb 10oz and is probably a couple of feet long
Great event with proceeds raised going to the RNLI.
Summer 2025 has given us another spell of hot weather this week, with temperatures hitting 28C in some areas over the past few days, and warm dry weather set to continue for a few days yet. The plume of warm air which brought record-breaking temperatures and wildfires to France, Spain and Portugal has spread northwards and given us a very warm week. While the settled weather has been widely welcomed by many, it is not good news for freshwater anglers, with temperatures soaring in many fisheries. The River Corrib rose from 16.9C to 22.3C in the last 4 days, and consequently the Galway Fishery has had to close for the fourth time this year. Also closed from last night are the Moy Fishery and Erriff Fishery. And with the warm weather came the terrible news of a large fish kill on the Munster Blackwater, where it appears a fungal outbreak has killed a large number of salmonids and other fish. The results of pathology tests are awaited to ascertain the exact cause, but certainly the high temperatures will not have helped fish already under stress. Nor will the nutrient enrichment apparent in photos from the affected stretch.
We start this week with sea angling, and the warm dry spell has been welcomed by charter skippers around the coast. August is a great month for shark fishing, and Dve Edwards, skipper of the Silver Dawn in west Cork, reports on a 24-hour marathon trip that saw 61 blue shark and 2 porbeagles brought to the boat!
There were shark reported from Clare also, where guests of Luke Aston on the Clare Dragoon had blue shark, porbeagle, tope and spurdog – plenty of shark variety! Sean Maguire on the Isle Of Aran also put his guests over some nice sharks, as well as some cracking ling.
August is also a good month for species hunters, with sea temperatures peaking soon and plenty of warmer water species available to target that simply aren’t there later in the year. The Killybegs Mariners have been enjoying some species hunting, with club record conger, short-spined sea scorpion, goby and pouting among some of their catches. Meanwhile, down south, the Ringsend Irishtown Angling Club had their annual visit to County Kerry recently, an the fishing was so good we can’t even count the species they caught.
Short spined sea scorpion
With the weather so food and forecast to last another few days at least, we expect to see plenty of good sea angling reports from the country next week.
To freshwater angling, now, and as mentioned above, salmon fisheries on the Moy, Erriff, and Galway are now closed due to the high water temperatures. The Moy saw lower than usual angling activity last week, given the water conditions, but there were fish reported from most of the fisheries along the river.
David McEvoy reports there were 54 salmon landed at Delphi for July, with more since, but the real good news was the good sea trout fishing with 175 fish to 4.5lbs landed, from right throughout the system. Good water levels and a relatively wet month helped spread the fish up to the top lakes. Nearby, there was consistent fishing on the Erriff over the past few weeks, with salmon and sea trout caught almost every day. The Laune reported just a couple of fish caught, with low water levels prevailing, and a similar story on the Blackwater, where any grilse caught were on the small side.
Trout angling has been fairly quiet this week, although were some trout caught on Lough Conn in difficult conditions, where two competitions were held. Johannes Bulfin recently launched a guiding service in the Midlands – Watershed Fly Fishing – and has been busy guiding clients almost every day. He told us of his personal best Croneen trout from the Brosna, a cracking 58cm fish in a river where a 10-inch fish is a more normal catch.
We also feature Senan Stanley’s latest video, where he shows us ultra-light fishing technique for trout in rivers – Bait Finnesse System (BFS fishing) using ultra-light rods and lures for brown trout. Check out a great watch here.
Coarse fishing is a bit quieter this week, but we still have some good reports. The canal at Edenderry is fishing well for local club members, with tench and roach making up good bags. Tommy Burke took the win in a club match with a nice bag of 10lbs 9oz.
On the international stage, the Irish under 15 and under 20 teams were in action at the World Championships in Spain, with u-20s finishing a very credible 8th place in very unfamiliar surroundings.
To pike fishing, and although the hot weatyher is not conducive to fishing for pike, before the heatwave arrived there was some good fishing reported. Jacek Gorny guides on Lough Ree and other lakes, and reported some good fishing for his clients, with some lovely fish to the boat.
Finally, Sandrine Guillois was visiting the River Shannon from France last week, and and landed a fantastic 108cm pike in shallow water on a top water lure- our Catch of the Week!
Sandrine with her fine 108cm Shannon pike
And now the weather
Today (Friday) will be very warm and sunny, with temperatures of 20-26C in light NE breezes. Saturday morning will be dry with sunny spells. During the afternoon and evening, some showers are likely to move up over Munster and into Connacht, possibly heavy or thundery. Highest temperatures of 21 to 27 degrees with moderate east to southeast winds.
Sunday will start out dry and mostly sunny. Scattered showers will move in from the southwest by around noon and will mainly affect Munster and Connacht through the afternoon and evening, some heavy or possibly thundery. Highest temperatures of 19 to 25 degrees in mostly moderate southeast winds. Monday will bring a mix of warm sunny spells and scattered showers and top temperatures of 25C. The outlook remains fairly dry, possibly cooling down slightly by Wednesday, but with light winds still a very nice week ahead.
On Sunday 10th August eighteen anglers across nine boats fished for the Paddy Mc Donald Cup out from Gortnor Abbey on Lough Conn. In far from perfect fishing conditions, the competition returned six trout to the measure.
1st place – Oliver Dillon, Ballisodare with two trout weighing 1.35 kg
2nd place – Padraic Traynor, Crossmolina with one trout weighing 0.59 kg
3rd place – Eamon Kelly with one trout weighing 0.49 kg
A special mention to John Walsh from Cloghans who had two trout weighing approximately 2.5 kgs and very sportingly released both back to the water.
Also, on Lough Conn on Sunday 10th August Foxford Angling Club hosted the John Gallagher Memorial Cup. Twelve anglers from the Westport Anglers and twelve from Foxford Angling Club competed. A good number of small trout caught and seven over the thirteen-inch limit were landed. The winning team was Foxford Anglers Club with five of the seven.
The best overall angler was Joe Ferguson, and the best Westport angler was James Napthine with Foxford captained by Martin Kenny.
A selection of prizes for the John Gallagher Memorial Cup hosted by Foxford Angling Club
Still lower than usual angling activity reported on a lot of fisheries in the Moy system. Water levels at Ballylahan fluctuated again this week from 0.3 m on Sunday 3rd August rising briefly to 0.76 m before receding back down to 0.28 m by Sunday 10th August. The past week started out with a yellow wind and rain warning across many counties and following that was much drier than normal.
Heading into the weekend ending 17th August air temperatures in excess of 25 degrees are forecast and if these conditions continue for three consecutive days, we will be in heatwave territory.
Already, as a result of elevated water temperatures, Cloongee Fishery closed for angling from midnight 13th August with the Moy Fishery and Ballyvary Fishery closing for angling from midnight 14th August. Further updates can be gotten by calling the Moy Fishery office in Ballina on +353 (0)96 21332.
Ballina Salmon Anglers
Peter reports ten salmon caught for the week, on the worm, spinning and fly with weights from 4 lbs to 6 lbs.
Mount Falcon Estate
Mike reports of thirteen salmon caught for the week, on the fly and prawn with weights up to 6 lbs.
Knockmore Salmon Anglers
Kenneth reports of eight salmon caught for the week, on the prawn and fly with weights from 3 lbs to 10 lbs.
Attymass Angling Club
Kevin reports of one salmon caught for the week, on the prawn.
Coolcronan Fishery
Nick reports of five salmon caught using all methods with the best weighing 7 lbs on the bubble and fly.
Byrnes Fishery
Roy reports of four salmon caught for the week, all on the prawn with the best weighing 3 lbs.
Gannon’s Fishery
Pat reports of two salmon caught for the week on the prawn with a heaviest weight of 5 lbs.
The Foxford Fishery
Granville reports of three salmon caught for the week, on the bubble and fly with the average weight being 4 lbs.
Foxford Salmon Anglers
Harry reports of four salmon caught for the week using all methods with two of these coming off Rinnaney and the remaining two coming off Foxford Salmon Anglers water.
East Mayo Anglers Association
Kathleen reports of sixteen salmon caught for the week of which seven were released mainly on the fly with best weighing in at 8 lbs.
Vincent Moreau from Le Kingfisher Pike Lodge sent in a short report of a fine 108cm pike from the River Shannon. Sandrine Guillois from France was the lucky angler who caught the fish in shallow water using a topwater lure. Sandrine was over the moon with her 1m plus Esox as the day had been pretty tough with only a few jack pike showing interest in her lures before the big fish put a decent bend in her rod. Well done Sandrine!
Some big fish for the Mariners out and about with new club record length fish coming in once again with a big shore conger eel of 153cm for Proinnsias, a short spined sea scorpion of 26cm for Chris who also had a 14cm Rock Goby, a 12cm leopard spotted goby for John H. and a joint record length boat Pouting of 40cm for Daragh. These record fish go along with Cormac’s 3 records in May of a 75cm undulate shore ray, a 17cm red mouth goby and a 24cm grey gurnard all shore.
153cm shore congerSpecimen three bearded rocklingNew club record short spined sea scorpion 26cmBlennyboat pouting
Getting harder to beat or equal every year so well done to all. Also well done to Chris on a 40cm three bearded rockling which is just under club record but is an eligible Irish specimen length fish.
Fishery manager David McEvoy reports from Delphi o a good month of July…
My last update included the start of week 28, with Kamal Scarpello’s fish being the last reported. Conditions for the month were good, with rainfall amounting to 174mms(6.85”) and the river never falling below 20, which is more than adequate for grilse to run.
There were 19 fish landed for the week, with 12 of them being caught on the 6th and the 7th. The first three of these were already reported, and of the remaining 9 the Drea party accounted for 6, with Danny Irvine landing 2, one off Kings and one, off Rock and Toby Gibbons having one from Boat Point. 8 of the 9 fish were taken on Delphi Collie’s, the 9th on a Nymph. There were three more on the 8th, Luke having 2, from the Meadow and the Rock, both on Delphi Collie’s and Denis Bonnet having one from the Turn on a Nymph. There were three more on the 10th, Denis having 1 from Fin Stream on a Cascade and James Hamilton Stubber and Luke Drea having one each from Heneghan’s on Sunrae and a Delphi Collie. Jack Rogers finished the week off with a fish from Poker Pot on a Silver Stoat.
Week 29 was quieter with 8 fish landed. Tim Springham had two, one on the 14th of approx. 3lbs from the Holly and the second from the Turn of approx. 6lbs, both on an Alistar. Father and son team, John and David Murphy had a fish each, one off Fin and one from the Quarry of 5 and 5.5 respectively, both on Willie Gunn’s. Finally on the 18th Paul Hollinger had a fish of approx. 4lbs on a Collie Dog and then Michael O’Sullivan landed his first ever salmon, a fish of 3lbs10ozs from Finlough on a Collie Dog. Tim Pendered finished off the week with a fish of approx. 5.5lbs from the Bridge Pool on a Willie Gunn.
Eleven fish were landed in week 30, Nico being first off the mark on the 21st, with a nice fish of 4lbs12ozs from the Meadow pool on a Willie Gunn and Colm Hackett had a fish of approx. 3lbs on a Black Shrimp from the Deadman’s. Three were landed on the 23rd, with Urs having the first of 5lbs3.5ozs from the Boat Point on a Willie Gunn. This, was followed up later that day with Robert Hardy of Trout and Salmon having a fish of 5lbs7ozs, also from Boat point on a Frances and Denis Quill had a fish of approx. 5.5lbs from the Quarry on a Silver Doctor. The 24th was a red letter day for Max Hanssier, from Germany, who landed his first ever salmon, a fish of approx. 5.5lbs in the Deadman’s on a Thunder and Lightening. He deserves a medal as the midges at the time were absolutely terrible. Later, Daniel Rosenbauer had a fish of approx. 4.5lbs from the Grilse Pool on a Silver Stoat. Urs was really getting into his stride with two fish from the Boat point, including the biggest of the year, 10lbs10ozs on a Delphi Collie and a second of 4lbs12ozs on a Frances. He also had one from the Stream on the 25th of approx. 4lbs on a Frances and another on the 26th from the Boat Point of 5lbs9.5ozs on a Delphi Collie. Brian Gray had a nice fish of approx. 5lbs from Boat Point on a Willie Gunn on the 27th. Urs had another from the Stream of 4lbs12ozs on the 28th on a Delphi Collie and Paul McCarthy finished off the month on the 31st with a fish of 4lbs from the Quarry flats of all places on a Black Shrimp. That brought our total for the month to 54.
Sea Trout were very encouraging in July with 175 landed, including a fine fish of approx. 4.5lbs landed by Norbert Bannon on Doolough. Hopefully there should be good numbers landed in August as historically it’s one of the better months for sea trout. There have been 4 salmon landed in August so far, with Daniel and Urs having one each from the Boat Point and the Stream of 4lbs 14ozs and 5lbs 1oz on a Frances and a Delphi Collie. Colin Lynam had a fish of approx. 4lbs from the Grilse Pool on a Mini Tube and Cormac Hartnett had one of approx. 4.5lbs from the Horseshoe on a Silver Stoat. There’s plenty of availability over the next few weeks for either salmon or sea trout fishing, so if interested just give us a shout. Tight Lines, D.McEvoy
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*Delphi is catch-and-release for wild salmon, only ranched salmon are kept.
Go fishing…
At Delphi Lodge, with many years of experience with the timing of the best runs of fish, we have in place a price system that offers both great value fishing and lets our anglers know when they have the best chance to catch a fresh run spring salmon or a summer grilse or Delphi sea trout.
David Edwards, skipper of the Silver Dawn at West Cork Charters, has a short report (he’s headed home for a well earned lie down) on a truly epic angling session…
Just back from an epic 24 hour shark marathon.
We totalled 61 Blues & 2 Porbeagles.
Add to that 13 species including Stone Bass, Megrim and a specimen Cookoo Wrasse!
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It’s fair to say that the lads were knackered… but happy knackered.
41′ Rodman 1250. Twin 430 HP Engines Skipper: David Edwards Licence: P5 Licence Base: Courtmacsherry Operational Area:60 miles to sea from ports from Kinsale to Portmagee
Authorised blue fin tuna boat 2025
Notes:The range of fishing found within close range of Courtmacsherry is superb, with trips producing anything between 6 and 15 different species as a norm and in excess of 20 is possible if anglers are prepared to change methods and use different baits and lures throughout their trip. As a rule mackerel, pollock, cod and ling are usually encountered but several species of wrasse along with whiting, pouting, coalfish, bull huss, conger and many more are often added to the catch.
If you do choose to head offshore to sample the superb shark fishing available within 10 miles of Courtmacsherry, there is a very strong chance of encountering blue sharks and an increasing chance of bringing a porbeagle shark to the boat.
Skipper Sean Maguire reports on some great fishing for his guests over the past few weeks. While the weather hasn’t always been favorable, there have been some great days on the water and plenty of fish to keep people happy.
Most days have seen very good reef fishing, with pollack, coalie, spurdog, wrasse, pouting and some cracking ling too.
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Shark fishing has also been excellent. A trip with the “Mighty Dubs” saw good action with a few blues in the region of 100lbs, and a big male porbeagle around 230lbs, also lots of spurdogs, and very nice whiting
Go Fishing
Isle of Aran
Fishing Adventures on Séan Maguire’s Isle of Aran, a Lochin 33 charter boat which operates 15 miles from Kilbaha, Carrigaholt, and Kilrush.
Whether you want to go to the Atlantic Ocean for a large selection of species, including different types of shark, or fish the estuary for ray conger tope etc., Fishing Adventures will cater for whatever fishing you desire. Telephone: +353 (0) 877508758 or +353 (0) 894431182 Email:fishadven@gmail.comWeb:www.fishingadventures.ie
Silver Dawn
