Billy Thornton reports from Ballina on fishing on the Moy System to 6th May 2018…
With the season rolling on the Moy catch continues to improve with 122 salmon reported caught last week. While conditions are good at the moment with very fishable water on all fisheries three quarters of last week’s catch was taken upstream of Foxford.
The Ridge Pool is producing some fish
On the Moy Fisheries’ Ridge Pool Ghillie John Howley landed the second fish of the season on the fly a 4.5 lb blackback.
Des Boyd
On the Cloongee FisheryDublin angler Bill O’Regan had a 7.5 lb & 12 lb fish on worm, UK. Anglers Neil Kennedy 10lb on worm & 11lb on bubble & fly and Des Boyd 8 lbs on worm.
On East Mayo Anglers water Pascal Nicolas France had 4 salmon on fly & 1 salmon on spinner, 3 of which he released, his best fish was 10 lbs. Gerard Portes also from France had 5 salmon on fly, 3 of which he released and his best fish was 11 lbs.
With water levels continuing to drop and the weather starting to warm up we should see more anglers on the bank this week. In Ballina fish are starting to show on both the Ridge Pool and Cathedral beat.
How’s the river doing? Check the Ridge Pool Webcam
Billy Thornton reports on the first few weeks of the Moy estuary sea trout season…
While the Sea trout season on the Moy Estuary opened on the 17th April conditions were not very favourable until last week with Judd Ruane on Pegasus reporting some very good catches. Neil Barnett & 3 friend from Scotland had 11 sea trout, Bernard Pelle & 3 friends from France had 12 sea trout, Andre de Luca & 2 friends from Brazil had 16 over two days and Jon McDonagh-Dumler from the USA had 3 sea trout.
Pegasus
Go fishing…
To book a day’s sea trout fishing with Judd Ruane visit www.fishingireland.ie or contact Judd on +353 (0)87 6736969.
08 May: The fishing over the week end just didn’t happen even though cloud in the south west was forecast we had bright sunshine and temperatures of up to 20 degrees. There are gales forecast for this evening and then broken weather right through until Saturday so with rising water levels we will be back in action again.
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.
The Munster Blackwater has a name for big May fish and it looks like there are a few in the river…
03 May: Doreen Page caught her first Atlantic salmon today fishing with Glenda Powell on the Blackwater Salmon Fishery. After a quick photo she sportingly released this special fish. A great result for a determined angler who worked hard over the last few days. Meanwhile at Ballyduff Bridge Salmon Fishery, one fish of around 5lb was reported from Ballincurrig Beat.
Doreen with her long awaited first salmon. #CPRsavesfish
04 May: Glenda Powell of Blackwater Salmon Fishery reports that they had a 9 lb fish yesterday and today the little 6 year old girl from their family group hooked a large fish on spinner which ran down the opposite side of the island from the Jole on Lower Kilmurry. The drag was tight but there was no stopping this fish. What a wonderful experience for all the family to watch as the salmon showed her power.
A family fished with Glenda Powell
05 May: Brendan Doheny had a salmon of around 6lbs in the Ballyduff Bridge Salmon Fishery Ballygarret beat and lost another 2.
06 May: Matthew Fagan caught and released a fish of around 15lb this evening at the Ballyduff Bridge Salmon Fishery. Matthew was using a brand new rod purchased from the fishery shop!
Glen Harmon with a super May fish caught and released on fly on our Upper Kilmurry beat. #CPRsavesfish
08 May: Glen Harmon fishing Upper Kilmurry beat of Blackwater Salmon Fishery had a super May spring fish on fly which he released.
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
Stefan Martin from Killybegs Mariners SAC reports on the fishing around Donegal Bay…
Pollack
01 May: Back on the shore weekdays the great thing about living on the coast is grab the small ugly stik rod and a back pack of lures and your fishing within 10 minutes, some nice pollack yesterday evening on sundown giving a good account and gently slide them back as there is nothing like walking the shore in the evening sun.
The rare megrim, which wins our Catch of the Week
04 May: A great evening targeting species with the competition tomorrow and some nice pollack and grey gurnards and Megrim over 40cm happy days.
Cod fillets for tea!
05 May: There were some nice cod for Gerry in the species competition today.
Flounder
06 May: A friendly match get together in the bank holiday sunshine for €10 entry longest fish takes the pot produced some lovely Turbots to 33cm and the winning fish a flounder of 37cm for Darren Rawdon winning the pot very nice indeed well done.
Next outing
Next Mariners summer league outing taking place this Friday evening on Rossnowlagh 19.30pm – 23.30pm
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
Delan Cooke from our Ballina office reports that trout fishing on Conn still a little patchy. Rod effort is probably down on previous years due to late spring and scarcity of hatches…
Angling Report for L. Conn W/E 6 May 2018
Lough Conn has been subject to the same vagaries of weather as all of our great trout lakes this season. The unusually wet winter followed by the strange and cold spring have left angling and the usual fly hatches lagging well behind in terms of their usual chronology.
Last week saw a mixture of duck-fly and olives struggling to catch up, with sporadic hatches of both species in Cloghan’s bay, Flannery’s and Pratt’s bay. There were some good catches recorded by anglers who were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. John Walsh had three good trout and a few smaller ones in Cloghan’s. Most fish were on wet duchfly patterns.
James Fergus, from Lahardaun, had a few decent trout in Castlehill bay, including this lovely 3 pounder, which fell to a dry olive.On Saturday Colm McAndrew from the Ballina area had this 2½ pound fish in Ned’s bay, also on a dry (cdc) olive.
The weekend’s competition with the Dublin Trout Anglers was disappointing overall with 49 trout (over the 12” limit) for 40 Anglers over 2 days. However, as the spring progresses and the milder weather continues, we are hopeful that catches (and hatches) will continue to improve.
2/5/18 Good news to report on the Sea Trout front and congratulations to Waterville House and at www.watervillegolflinks.ie because on the 25th of April a guest fishing out of Waterville House and fishing with his Gillie Mr. Terence Wharton Snr. Caught and released a fine 2 ½ lbs. Sea Trout while trolling and as we all know, local angler Mr. Kevin O’Shea caught the first Salmon for 2018 on the world famous Butler pool so again congratulations to Waterville House on getting the double grand slam. Now back to the present day and sadly all fly reels and trolling reels were all quiet on the SW front. Wind NW fresh with Showers. Maximum air temperature 11.6c. Today’s weather, Wind W then veered NW and light misty rain throughout the day.
3/5/18 The Currane anglers are still waiting for the first May action of a wild Atlantic Salmon and certainly waiting patiently for a historic Lough Currane specimen Sea Trout. But to be fair to the Currane anglers, in the last few days we have had another reasonable flood, so one should give the lake a chance to settle down. Just for the record there has been 18.1mm of rainfall so far this May and that doesn’t include today’s rainfall, 2.3mm. Maximum air temperature 12.8c.
Phil Staniforth’s salmon about to be released. #CPRsavesfish
4/5/18 Straight to the Lough Currane action and it all comes from the North Shore. I will leave the best to last and its all in the trolling department. Local angler Mr. Jim Sayers, fishing out of www.flyfishingatloughcurrane.com caught a fine 9 lbs. Salmon on the troll, now we head down to Vincent’s harbour, UK angler Mr. Phil Staniforth caught a fine 9 lbs. Salmon on the troll while fishing with his Gillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy of www.fishingwithdom.com and not satisfied with their fine performance, they put out their trolling rods again, low and behold they were into another fine 9 lbs. Salmon which they sportingly put back and hopefully will spawn this coming December or early January. Local Gillie Mr. Michael O’Sullivan of Waterville Boats and at [email protected] reported that in his hired out boat department, Northern Ireland angler Mr. Andrew Wishart caught a fine Salmon. On a personal note its great to get photos of Salmon being released so keep catching and releasing and remember to send your photos in, as Neil and Dominic have done so far this season. Wind W light and overcast. Rainfall 1.2mm. Maximum air temperature 13.7c.
5/4/18 Catch of the day goes to Mr. Noel Clancy of Co. Kildare and Waterville, while trolling caught a cracker of a 10 lbs. Salmon and for the rest of the Currane anglers it was all quiet on the SW front. Wind SW. with good cloud cover. Rainfall 1.0mm. Maximum air temperature 14.3c.
A calm day on Lough Currane
6/5/18 Fish of the day goes to Dutch Angler Mr. Niels Woermeijer, caught a fine 9 lbs. Salmon on the troll while fishing with his Gillie Mr. Neil O’Shea of www.oshealoughcurrane.com and Neil also reported that he did see another angler catching salmon and for the rest of the Currane anglers it was all quiet on the SW front. Wind SW light to calm with reasonable cloud cover. Maximum air temperature 13.3c.
7/5/18 The Lough Currane Anglers reels were all quiet on the SW front on this misty Bank holiday Monday, on the weather front there was a light misty rain at times with a light breeze from the SW. As the Lough Currane anglers flies were on the slack side, we will head over to the Artist Mr. Vincent Donnelly and his fly tying:
Rainfall 2.0 mm. Maximum air temperature 12.5 c.
8/5/18 I start today’s notes in the complaints department and for good reason and its to you anglers who fish the upper Lakes could you please leave the rain cover cups on the petrol tanks all the time and at the end of your day always put the Tank on the stern seat and just for the record those cups stop the rain going into the tank. Now Straight to today’s Grand slam angler and that goes to UK angler, Mr. Phil Staniforth and for good reason, for starters its Phil’s Birthday and he celebrated in style by catching a fine 8 lbs. Salmon on the fly, while fishing with his Gillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy of www.fishingwithdom.com Now Fish of the day and Text of the day and it reads as follows, Hi Vincent, just in case the other anglers failed miserably in their duties today, am glad to report that myself (Barry Martin) and the man from Cork sporting the finest hat in all the world saved the day – fresh 8 lb salmon on the troll at the grassy at 7 pm. All I can say is Some Salmon some hat and some Text, brilliant in all departments. Wind fresh with reasonable cloud cover.
That is your ration from the last week on Lough Currane, from your Gillie and the Waterville Fishery, no spin no fly’s just facts.
First Conservation Hatchery salmon caught on Currane
The last week has seen several more 2 sea winter salmon caught in the Currane system but no further sea trout have been reported. The good news is that the first ‘fin clipped’ salmon have now been reported! All in the 7 – 10lb range and reportedly, all in excellent condition. This is good news for our conservation hatchery, as the feedback, from the scale reading of these fish, will greatly contribute to our better understanding of the salmon stock dynamic in the Currane System.
Typical Scale from a ‘Fin Clipped’ salmon – Note that the conservation Hatchery fish are tending to smolt after just one year.
More serious news is that a very worrying situation is developing with regard to the famous Currane sea trout stocks. This is the third year running that the runs, of what the anglers call their ‘bread and butter’ 2 – 4lb fish, have failed to arrive in significant numbers. This decline is significant as, although there has been a year on year decline in our sea trout stocks generally since the excellent runs of the early nineties, this latest set back has developed extremely rapidly.
In 2014 Inland Fisheries Ireland carried out a survey of juvenile sea trout and salmon stocks in the Currane system following similar surveys in 1986, 1994 and 2004, to enable a comparison with those years. That survey showed that the streams held very healthy stocks of both sea trout and salmon fry, what the scientists call 1+ class. It would have been reasonable to suppose that these healthy stocks would have translated into healthy runs of sea trout in particular. Initially these would have been runs of post smolts, locally known as ‘Juniors’, followed a year later by the larger 2-4lb fish. Unfortunately this scenario has not materialized. So what is going wrong?
The IFI 2014 survey showed the abundance of salmon and sea trout fry in the Currane catchment
Volunteers, now working with the Trust, have been concentrating on in-stream habitat, clearance of blockages and generally maintaining the principal spawning streams in the catchment for the last several years and that had undoubtedly contributed to the healthy results produced by the 2014 survey. That work not only continues, but this year is to be extended to take in more streams in the catchment as well a greater concentration on habitat improvement where this has been damaged by flooding, siltation etc. The Trustees are determined to do what they can to help what few sea trout do manage a spawning run, have the best spawning habitat possible.
Most anglers and fishery scientists know that the real problem lies out at sea with the multiple stresses that the sea trout suffer in their marine habitat.
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.
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
Fishery manager Colin Folan reports on Lough Inagh Lodge Hotel‘s first salmon of the season…
Andrew Crouchman (UK), landed the first Salmon of 2018 on Tuesday May 8. The fish was caught at The Derryclare Butts on a Collie Dog and tipped the scales at 12.5lbs. This is right on cue as the first fish is usually landed in early May. Andrew Crouchman, with his 12.5lbs salmon, the first this year from Lough Inagh
Water levels are rising and hopefully a few more fish will appear.
Info and bookings to hotel reception 095 34706 [email protected] Colin Folan Lough Inagh Lodge
Go fishing…
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. Lough Inagh Lodge
Recess, Connemara, Co. Galway, Ireland Tel: +353 095 34706
Web: www.loughinaghlodgehotel.ie
Fishery manager Brian Curran reports that local rod Geoffrey Fitzjohn had a 6lbs salmon on Friday evening, 4th May. There were some sea lice on the fish showing that it was a fresh fish in on the tide. The fish took a Black Shrimp fly, size 10.
Conditions are good at the moment with very fishable water and some rain expected later in the week. We have good availability at the moment.
Geoffrey Fitzjohn with his 6lbs salmon
Go fishing…
Costello & Fermoyle Fishery
Costello & Fermoyle is a jewel in Connemara’s crown, with a short, productive river draining a chain of lakes, all providing quality salmon and sea trout fishing. Salmon run the system from April, with the grilse run peaking in June, while sea trout start in May, with the most prolific runs in June and July. Fishing can be excellent right through September.
The NCFFI report on the All Ireland Feeder Club Championships fished on Lough Garadice at the weekend…
DAY ONE RESULTS
05 May: Tough fishing all round met the eleven teams competing for the Feeder Club Champions of 2018 on Lough Garadice in Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim. today. Well done to the Sensas team who placed first with clear lead of 7 points.
Just Loughside Angling Club and Belturbet Angling & Conservation Club are fishing for a place at the World Championships next year.
Day 2 and final results
May 6: The two-day championships concluded today with the Sensas Ireland/Dennetts club win the All-Ireland Feeder Club title of 2018. Consisting of a number of Feeder #TeamIreland members the team saw Michael Buchwalder take two section wins and the overall individual angler of the match! 2nd was another member of the team James O’Doherty and in 3rd place Lurgan Coarse Angling Club‘s David Herron.
L-R Michael Buchwalder, Philip Jackson, Cathal Hughes, Julian Kendrick, James O’Doherty
Recent cold rainfall followed by bright sunshine meant conditions were not ideal on Lough Garadice with Haughton’s shore fishing particularly hard perhaps due to the absence of roach away spawning. Fishing to international rule is not the norm for most but its a good learning experience and fishing in teams is very rewarding. The NCFFI would like to thank all the clubs who took part, to our International Feeder Manager Brenton Sweeney for the organisaton, Lakelands Angling Ballinamore for their assistance on the ground and to the local landowners.
The National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland
The National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland are the National Governing Body for coarse and predator angling. www.ncffi.ie
