Ronan Cusack reports that Lough Mask was in good form over the past few days despite the recent return to cold and unsettled weather. Water levels remain high and painfully slow to subside as the rainfall continues. Reasonable hatches of sedge have been complemented by the odd olive and Campto buzzer in recent days, keeping trout interested and on the move.
Hall’s Angling Centre (http://www.lakeshoreholidays.com)had a busy week with anglers this week, reporting some good catches. Owen Shanley from Dublin fished out of Hall’s on Saturday and Sunday of last weekend and he had 14 keepers for the two days. Alan Morgan from the UK, also fishing from Hall’s on Saturday had 8 trout (best fish 2.5lbs). Local angler Frank Doyle had a red letter day on Sunday, boating 10 trout over the legal size limit. Frank was also fishing out from Hall’s.
Father and son Frank and Oisin Reilly from Lough Corrib had a very productive day on Mask on Saturday last. Frank reported boating in excess of 30 trout on wet-flies, with approximately 10 weighing between 1lb and 2.5lbs.
Mask regulars Tom Sweeney and Mick Hegarty from Cork fished on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week and they had 11 good fish pulling wets. The lads also reported meeting numerous undersize trout over the couple of days. Dennis Waters fished out from Kilbride on Sunday last in wintry conditions. Dennis boated 6 keepers and several undersize pulling wet-flies. Tourmakeady angler Liam Conroy had 4 on Tuesday, again on wet-flies (best fish 1.5lbs).
Donegal angler Shane Gallagher fished out of Dringeen Bay and had 13 good fish between 1-3lbs for his day on Sunday, all fish coming to a size 12 Pearly Green Dabbler fished on the point.
The outlook for the next week is for more broken weather with low temperatures.
Glenda Powell reports on some recent catches from her beats on the Munster Blackwater…
20 April: Pete Davis, Limerick, had a lovely fish on the fly which he released. Pete got his fish on Upper Kilmurry in the hut pool .
21 April: Peter Wadding, Wexford, caught a salmon on our upper beat Woodstream this morning. The fish took a small tube of his own tying.
Peters fly
23 April: Another fine fish caught and released today by Livio and Mario, Father and son team from Italy. River dropping nicely and clarity is good.
Livio and Mario with their salmon #CPRsavesfish
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
Richie Ryan of Eire Bass sent us a quick report about red letter bass day on Cork Harbour…
Sometimes a fishing plan just works so well you have to pinch yourself to make sure you’re not dreaming. You see my son John is home from Canada with his wife Gemma and our only grandchild. John and 6 year old Seán had so looked forward to fishing on my boat that I felt huge pressure to give them a memorable experience. Seán is just fishing mad you see.
A nice calm day beckoned but with rain of course! I thought about bass but felt it might just be a little bit too early. On the other hand the water temperature was creeping up nicely and I knew from my acoustic tagging data that some of the tagged bass returned to Cork Harbour as early March. In the end all kind of rods were loaded on to “Sea Hawk“ just in case. Seán had to catch a fish !
A bass mark which produced small bass at the end of last season beckoned. The water clarity was good for a change. I casted a few times not expecting much. On the 4th cast I felt a definite pluck on the lure, time to hand the rod to Seán. I could see the tip of the rod registering another few takes as my grandson worked the lure adeptly. Bang! Fish on! If this was a bass then it would be the first of the year from Cork Harbour and probably the first to a boat in the whole of Ireland! What a joy to see a flash of silver under the boat, Sean’s first bass. The beaming smile said it all.
Sean Ryan’s first bass!
Time to take out the fly rod as my son John had also landed a small bass. A few plucks to the first cast, they were definitely interested. Then a strip strike and the first bass on the fly this year in the harbour I reckon. The fish was landed, ably assisted by Seán of course! A total of 12 bass came aboard using various methods. I came ashore buzzing, a successful day and Seán Ryan had his first ever bass.
They ended up getting 12 bass – a great start to the season. This one was taken on fly.
Make a booking…
Why not try fishing from the first licensed saltwater fly-fishing boat in Ireland in the second largest natural harbour in the world? Your guide, Commander Richie Ryan, Retd, has built up a huge knowledge of bass fishing, over the last 30 years. With a purpose built boat for this sport he is insured to carry up to 3 anglers, ideal for small parties therefore and cheaper than the larger boats to charter. Bass and pollack are the main target species on the fly. Young and old are welcome and if you have no knowledge of fly-fishing, other methods for a variety of species can be organised. All equipment will be supplied if required.
18/4/18 Another Wild day on Lough Currane with a strong SE wind blowing with heavy showers, but this didn’t deter Kenmare Angler Mr. Dick Elder, catching a fine 9 lbs. Salmon on the fly and his gillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy of www.fishingwithdom.com was telling that it was especially made by Dick. Just for the record because of the wild conditions there were only one or two boats out manipulating. Wind as already stated, amount of rainfall 5.1mm. Maximum air temperature 12.8c
19/4/18 All quiet on the SW front in all departments. Wind SW light to fresh with reasonable cloud cover. Maximum air temperature 14.8c.
20/4/18Lough Currane was all quiet on the SW front and to be fair to the Currane Anglers, Lough Currane is still on the rise and talking of the big flood, Local Gillie Mr. Terence Wharton Jnr. was telling me while holding the boat for his client in the Mouth of Commeragh yesterday, you could see current going all the way up to the Grey Rock and with 42.2mm of rainfall that’s not surprising. As there was no artistry in the angling department today, we will head for a bit of superb artistry with Vincent Donnelly and his brush and you can decide.
Wind West light to fresh and bright sunshine with cloud cover at times. Rainfall 0.1. Maximum air temperature 13.3c.
21/4/18 Yesterday it was the artistry of the brush, well today Dublin Angler Mr. Leslie Sheil fishing out of www.butlerarms.com showed his fishing artistry in the trolling department today by catching a cracker of a 10 lbs. Salmon while fishing with his Gillie/Guide Mr. Tom O’Shea of www.flyfishingatloughcurrane.com Wind South moderate and very sunny. Rainfall 10.7mm. Maximum air temperature 12.9.
22/4/18 There was some good fly action today, so straigt to the fly department, a Guest fishing with his Gillie Mr. Terence Wharton Jnr, caught a fine 10 lbs. Salmon on the fly. On that note we will head for catch of the day and that goes to Co. Clare angler Mr. Declan Macniery, while fly fishing with his Gillie Mr. Dominic McGillicuddy of www.fishingwithdom.com caught a fine 14 lbs. Salmon on the fly. Dominic was telling me that it took 1 hour and 20 minutes to dispatch their fine Wild Atlantic Salmon. In the trolling department it was all quiet on the SW front. Wind SW fresh with reasonable cloud cover with showers. Rainfall 0.6mm. Maximum air temperature 12.1c.
Arthur with his salmon
23/4/18 All the fly action comes from the Bungalow, Mr. Arthur MisKelly of Armagh, fishing out of www.curranelodge.ie caught a fine 8 lbs. Salmon on the fly. While fishing with his gillie Mr. Tom O’Shea of www.flyfishingatloughcurrane.com and sadly I have noting to report in the trolling department. Wind SW fresh to strong and veered in the afternoon NW moderate. Rainfall 5.8mm.Maximum air temperature 12.7c
24/4/18 Mr. Anulak Hitmiangsong or Tham as he is known locally was the talk of the Currane anglers today and for good reason, Tham caught a fine 9 lbs, Salmon on the troll and for the rest of the angling community it was all quiet in all departments, so one can say without any fear of contradiction that Tham was the only angler on song today! Wind calm this morning and come afternoon there was a nice moderate breeze from the NW, with showers.
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.
An angler fishes the fly in the lovely Butler Pool in Waterville. Seconds before this photo was taken a very large salmon, in the mid teens of pounds, jumped in front of the angler!
Salmon now being caught on the fly on Lough Currane!
Despite the extreme variation in weather conditions this last week, anglers are reporting that fresh two sea winter salmon have been caught on Lough Currane. Three were caught on the fly by anglers fishing the main lies with their ghillies and three more were caught on the troll. A big improvement over the previous week.
Erasmus Students
Over the last three weeks the Waterville Lakes and Rivers Trust have co-hosted, with Sea Synergy in Waterville, a group of Erasmus students from France to work with the Trust on our conservation work. The work they did for the Trust involved helping with the conservation Hatchery at Derriana and studying invertebrate distribution in a number of streams throughout the Currane catchment. They had an opportunity to compare samples from the small streams running into the lakes with those from similar small coastal streams which discharge straight to salt water in Ballinskelligs Bay. It is not generally appreciated that these latter streams form important nurseries for sea trout and it is equally important that the Trust is able to monitor the health of the habitat in these coastal streams, particularly in view of the current threat to Waterville’s sea trout stocks. Many thanks to these guys for their hard work over the last 3 weeks!!
Erasmus students from France working with the Waterville Lakes & Rivers Trust in the conservation hatchery……and investigating invertebrates in a mountain stream.
If you’d like to know how you can help out with our work email [email protected]
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
Billy Thornton reports from Ballina on fishing on the Moy to 22 April…
Last week got off to a bad start with heavy rain on Monday which resulted in a brown flood for most of the week. However as levels dropped and the water started to clear towards the end of the week angling effort improved and 31 salmon were reported caught throughout the system.
Upstream of Foxford on the Cloongee Fishery Bill O’Regan, Dublin had a 8.5 lb fish and Gerry Guilfoyle, Meath had a 10 lbs fish on worm.
On East Mayo Anglers water David Conaty, Castlebar for the second week running had a 12 lb fish on the fly.
Water levels are continuing to drop and fishing will improve further in the coming days.
Water levels have already dropped back so the week ahead is looking good.
How’s the river doing? Check the Ridge Pool Webcam
19 April: Finally, the temperatures have started to creep up and with a little bit of Spring in the air nature is at last starting to burst into life. New born lambs have once again started to become a hazard on our roads in the Delphi Valley.
Fishing has been progressing nicely since my last update, with 14 fish landed in ten days. The first of these was landed by David Allcutt on the 9th, a nice fish of approx. 10lbs on Doolough on a Black and Yellow Tube. Shortly afterwards, Mikhail Berezin from Russia, fishing with his wife and grandson caught his first ever salmon, a fish of 6lbs14ozs from Fisherman’s Rock on Doolough on a Blue and Silver Toby.
David with his fish
The following day Alan Dunlop had a fish of 7lbs14ozs off Finlough on a Collie Dog. Michael McClintock also had a fish, off Morrisons of approx. 7lbs on a Delphi Collie, after which great celebrations ensued. This was also the case the next day when Tom Gumbrielle had a fish of 8lbs3ozs in the Meadow Pool which was graciously landed by his fishing partner David Allcutt. Willie Gunn was the successful pattern on this occasion. The following day Jim Jackson had a nice fish off Finlough of 6lbs10ozs on a Cascade. On Friday, David Allcutt, then finished his week in fine style with a lovely fish of 10lbs15ozs from Salmon City on Finlough on a Willie Gunn.
There were three landed on the 14th. Bob Hadden got his week off to a great start with a fish of 9lbs11ozs from the Whin Pool on a Cascade Conehead. Barbara Ceillier had a good fish of approx. 10lbs from Weedy Point on Finlough on a Sunrae Shadow. Finally Robert Gillespie had a fish of 8lbs from the Bridge Pool on a Sunrae Shadow.
The river was now down to 20 but this did not deter Martin Ceillier, who landed a fish of 9lbs2ozs from the Meadow Pool on a Collie Dog. Monday and Tuesday were basically written off, with rain 56mms(over 2”) and gales on Monday and then gales on Tuesday, with even Finlough unfishable.
A wild salmon ready for releasing at Delphi
Conditions were nice yesterday morning with the river at 55 and a strong but steady wind. Alan Dunlop landed a fish of 8lbs10ozs from the Stream on Finlough on a Collie Dog. The afternoon became very difficult with the wind rising again. This deterred many but not Rocky and Eddie Gibbons, who had a fish each off Finlough of 6lbs7ozs and 7lbs1oz, later in the evening, both taken on Cascades.
After heavy rain yesterday evening the river is now at 60 and I’m expecting fish to be caught. There is some availability on Finlough next week and a rod or two on the river towards the end of the week and with Spring on the way I would expect fish to be a bit more active. If anyone is interested, please give us a call.
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.
New for 2018/2019
We are delighted to announce an opportunity to purchase prime Irish Salmon Fishing with accommodation in a country cottage. Each new member will have the option of a one week stay, a four day stay or a three day stay fixed for five years. For more information see https://delphilodge.ie/2018/04/10/the-new-delphi-salmon-club-and-syndicate-connemara/
There is perfect water in the river at the moment for fishing. The wind is from the south west and rain and showers forecast for the rest of the week will keep the water levels just right.
The sea trout are moving up. We had three great fighting trout yesterday fresh from the sea with lice on them.
There is a little drop in the temperature but that should not affect the run of the fish this time of Year.
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.
Wind, rain, cold temperatures and in between times the sun shined. When (and where) it did, it was glorious, but over all things are still behind despite nature doing its best to keep on track. The wind was probably the biggest problem for anglers in the last week with many lakes becoming unfishable and charter boat reports drying up. As always though, for those who could get out when the weather suited there was good fishing to be had, and we have some great reports from around the country this week…
Salmon anglers had to choose carefully in the last week as floods hit many rivers and the wind made lake fishing impossible in some cases. The winds were so bitter on the Moy that few anglers ventured out so despite perfect water levels just 35 salmon were reported. The Drowes was a bit low, if anything, and though there were not many anglers on the water decent numbers of fish were caught. The river should fish well this weekend following the heavy rain earlier this week. Loughs Beltra and Carrowmore saw some fine springers caught, 15 fish from Carrowmore alone. The Galway Weir finally had its first fish of the year – a 4.72 kg salmon caught on Flying C by Fergal Cormican. Moving south there was good fishing on the Feale and after the big flood there this week there is great water for all types of fishing. Lough Currane went from becalmed to wild and so passed another uneventful week at the lake. There were a few salmon caught, but many days were lost to poor weather. In county Cork there was just one salmon reported from the Bandon last week and 5 from the River Lee.
Mark Loughnane on the Felae
Trout fishing seems to have been hardest hit by the weather and we have just one report in – from Lough Mask. Water levels there are finally returning to normal and anglers are getting good numbers of small fish as Duck Fly hatch in bays here and there.
Ben Moloney with his PB – a 22lb Pike and Catch of the Week
There was a lot more action from pike anglers this week. Ben Moloney and Ian O’Keefe were on the River Inny last week and they had good fish to 22lb. Meanwhile on Lough Ree, Belgian anglers had pike to 103cm ahead of the International Pike Festival being fished this week. Bluebell Community Angling Club fished their last match of their Winter League and had good canal pike to 14lb. There was good enough fishing in Monaghan over the weekend. The big fish were not feeding well, but there were plenty of jacks and the odd good double, and it looks like fishing at Cavan venues was much the same.
Well done to Team Ireland for winning the International Feeder Friendly Challenge for the 3rd year in a row. The event was fished at venues in Cavan and bags to almost 9kg were weighed in. There was also some good club fishing in Cavan with weights to 7.46kg recorded by CM Lakelands. At the other end of the country, Gareth Anderson had over 100lbs of carp at Oaklands to win the Open there. Great fishing given the blustery conditions.
There were no charter reports in this week, but we had plenty to report on the shore angling scene. Matches fished around the coast at the weekend saw good fishing in the south east at Ballyhack, some decent catches at Woodstown in the south and great flounders at the Cashen in the south west. Fishing at Lettergesh in Galway was not so good due to weed and not many fish were caught. A little further north along the Erris coastline the Killybegs Anglers had some excellent fishing and what looks like the best of the weather on offer. The club travels to this part of Ireland once or twice a year and the venues never let them down.
And now the weather..
Met Eireann tell us it will be very mild for the next couple of days. Before that though, it will be quite cold Friday night, with grass frost under clear and calm conditions. Lowest temperatures 2 to 5C. And then we get the heatwave – Saturday will see temperatures reach 15 to 18 or 19C, in light breezes. It will be cooler along the east coast where temperatures with temperatures about 9 or 10C. Some showery bursts of rain gradually moving up from the southeast, more widespread into the afternoon and evening. Further showery spells of rain overnight with lowest temperatures of 6 to 9C. On Sunday temperatures will be lower with sunny spells and scattered, blustery showers. Highest temperatures of 10 to 13C, this time the better values further east. The outlook for the early days of next week is for cool, fresh westerly breezes with sunny spells and scattered passing showers, some of which will turn heavier into Tuesday. Heatwave, shmeatwave – if you’re going fishing bring layers and raingear!
We had another few fish reported for the Feale in the past week. After the huge flood we had on Tuesday we had a lot of anglers out after it dropped. There is great fishing water at the moment for all types of fishing.
Some of the lucky Anglers for week are Mike Shanahan for Abbeyfeale who had a great fish of 14lbs while fly fishing on a very windy day in the dropping flood waters and took a long time to land as he had the river to himself.
Mark Loughnane
Mark Loughnane of Listowel had another good fish of 11lbs caught on the spinner as did Diarmuid Broderick he had a fish of 12 lbs as well on the spinner.
Buck and Noel Kelly hope a bit of luck rubs off on them…
Still waiting for their first fish of the year was Buck Loughnane and Noel Kelly who posed for a pic with 2 of the recently caught fish today with the hopes that it might bring them a bit of luck.
Water levels at the moment continue to drop slowly and we should have good fly water for the weekend if it stays dry.
Go fishing…
More about the Feale
The River Feale is among the outstanding salmon and sea trout rivers of Ireland. The River rises in the mountain district of North Co Cork and flows westerly for 75 km (46 miles) through the county towns of Abbeyfeale and Listowel and enters the sea south of Ballybunion. For the final 10 kms (6 miles) of its course, it is known as the Cashen River. Throughout its meandering journey to the sea it flows through a picturesque landscape of heather bog land, fertile valleys and rolling hills. Its main tributaries, flowing from both North and South, combine to add in excess of 160 kms (100 miles) of fishable waters.
About 50% of the main River Feale and the Smearlagh River is controlled by 5 angling clubs. These clubs are some of the best angling waters and each club offers day tickets for visiting anglers.
North Kerry Anglers Association issues daily & weekly permits for fishing on 9 miles of the Feale & Smearlagh rivers. Web: www.northkerryanglers.com
Killocrim/Finuge Angling Club
Killocrim/Finuge Angling Club control approximately 6.5 kms (4 miles) of water downstream of Listowel. Web:killocrimfinugefishingclub.com
Brosna / Mountcollins Angling Club
Brosna / Mountcollins Angling Club control about 13 kms (8 miles) of double bank fishing from below the Owveg River confluence, up past Mountcollins, to within a short distance of Ahuan Bridge.
Permits are available from Brendan Danagher on +353 (0)64 663 6267
For any angling query please contact the Limerick office at [email protected] or by phone 061-300238.
Brown tags
Brown tag fishery: Under the salmon tagging regulations, this year the River Feale is designated as a brown tag fishery.Anglers must affix a brown tag along with a blue tag to any salmon which is retained. This means that salmon retained on the River Feale will have two tags attached. All brown tags (including 1st tag) will be issued from IFI officers ONLY . Please ring 087-7639236 to arrange to receive your first brown tag prior to commencing fishing
Additional brown tags will only be issued by IFI staff, they may be contacted at 087-7639236 and they will arrange to meet and issue an additional tag upon verification that the previous brown tag has been used, i.e. a fish has been caught and recorded in the logbook.
1 brown tag will be issued at a time to each angler.
If you acquired a 1 day or 21 day licence which has expired, or you have finished fishing for the season, and you have not used the brown tag then this must be surrendered to an IFI officer prior to departure by phoning 087-7639236. IFI would like to thank you for your co-operation with this.
If an angler has used his brown tag or doesn’t have a brown tag in his possession to use then he must fish catch and release methods, i.e.single barbless hook and no worms.
Brown tags will continue to be issued until the angling quota is reached.
To report a suspected pollution or poaching activity please contact the 24 hour hotline on 0818 34 74 24
The ten man team event saw the four nations battle it out on County Cavan venues of Lough Sillan, Lough Namachree and Annaghierin Lake all in a relaxed atmosphere for this friendly challenge.
Team Ireland – 3 in a Row
Team Ireland win for the 3rd year running with 14 points and 8 section wins. In second place Team Lithuania with 22 points, 3rd Team Poland with 28 points and 4th Team Romania with 36 points.
Individual winner was Mark Leonard with an impressive 8.940kg, 2nd Johnny McKinley with 5.320kg and 3rd Lithuania’s Donatas Nekrasius with 4.900kg.
All the top weights came from Lough Namachree.
Feeder Team Manager Brenton Sweeney says:- Whilst Ireland are victors once again, it can be difficult fishing to International rule and I am encouraged by the quality feeder angling evident across all the nations. Thanks to everyone who took part.
National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland
The National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland, NCFFI is the governing body for coarse fishing in Ireland, North and South representing coarse and predator anglers whether as a member club or individual angler.
The Federation is responsible for a wide range of angling matters relating to coarse fishing in Ireland with particular focus on introducing the young and old alike to coarse angling, improving coarse angling facilities, coaching & development, protecting our fish stocks and management of international and European teams representing Ireland overseas; we involve everyone regardless of background, gender, religion, age or angling ability.
The NCFFI is a member of the Angling Council of Ireland, Sports Ireland, Sport Northern Ireland, Federation of Irish Sports, the International Angling Confederation CIPS and the Fresh Water Sport Fishing Federation FIPS-ed.
