More gales on Currane, little fishing possible
Lough Currane and River Inny updates from Vincent Appleby and the Waterville Lakes and Trust…
The Appleby reports
11/4/18 All quiet on the SW front in all departments and sadly no reports of any rod benders. In defence of anglers, especially the fly men and women, there was little to no wind, even though I’m sure there were a few casts presented to the Wild Atlantic Salmon and the world famous Lough Currane specimen Sea Trout. Wind NE light and variable with good cloud cover. Weather; rainfall 0.1mm, Maximum air temperature 11.1C.
12/4/18 Lough Currane is back to normality, so lets go straight to the action. Just for the record it’s all in the trolling department. We start at the West end of the Lake. Mr. David Meigan, fishing from http://thecrescentwaterville.ie/ and fishing with his Gillie, caught a fine 11 lbs. Salmon on the troll. Now we head up the North Shore to the Bungalow, our next Salmon port of action. Mr. Paul Sanders, while fishing with his Gillie Mr. Neil O’Shea of www.oshealoughcurrane.com caught a 8 lbs. Salmon on the troll. Wind ESE fresh but come afternoon it went light to calm, rainfall 2.2mm. Maximum air temperature 14.1c.
13/4/18 After the excitement yesterday the Lough Currane Wild Atlantic Salmon were in a lethargic mood today, but at least a bit of history was made today. It’s the first time this season that My Noble Anglers have miserably in their duties in all departments. Wind W fresh with reasonable cloud cover, rainfall 2.0mm. Maximum air temperature 12.5c
14/4/18 Lough Currane was all quiet on all fronts and that’s not surprising with a Southerly gale blowing across Lough Currane and if the odd boat did get out, their lines were slack. Now for the rest of today’s forecast, over cast and signs that there’s more heavy rain on the way? In the end rainfall 7.5mm. Maximum air temperature 13.0c.
15/4/18 This week’s angling ends on a stormy note with a strong wind from the SW. So as you can imagine the majority of anglers called it a day, even though the day hadn’t even started. But as I say that, the Lough Currane detective agency did report one boat did head out down the South side but to no avail. Wind SW strong with heavy rain at times, totaling 7.9mm. Maximum air temperature 11.8c.
16/4/18 All Wild Atlantic Salmon stations on Lough Currane were at a standstill as the weather takes hold. Anglers could only watch the wild SSW wind blowing across Lough Currane and that sums up today’s manipulations or lack of, I should say. Wind SSW strong with violent gusts plus heavy rain all day. Lots of rain – 42.2mm. Maximum air temperature11.0c
17/4/18 Another Wild day on Lough Currane with strong SSW blowing, which kept the North Shore Anglers in dry dock, so on that note we head over to the South side and for good reason, Dutch Angler. Mr. Tim Van Der Laan was in flying form, while trolling with his Gillie Mr. Terence Wharton, caught a cracker of a 10 lbs. Salmon and considering the wild conditions and mighty big flood last night they did well. Wind as already stated with heavy 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.
Vincent Appleby
www.salmonandseatrout.com
The Trust report – It’s Smolt time!
Another week of shocking weather, with storm force winds and heavy rain, created massive flooding throughout our twin catchments and in the Iveragh Peninsula generally. The Valentia Weather Station has just reported that over 2 inches of rain has fallen in the last twenty four hours, so it’s not at all surprising that the anglers are reporting that only two spring salmon were caught during this last week on Lough Currane! The weather forecast for this coming weekend looks to be more benign and if the water level of the lakes falls angling conditions should markedly improve with the possibility of more fresh fish entering the systems following the floods.
We are now entering the time of year when both salmon and sea trout smolts start dropping down the system and into the lower lakes in preparation for their very different marine feeding journeys. The recent film shown on RTÉ, ‘Atlantic Salmon – Lost at Sea’ produced in association with the Atlantic Salmon Trust, has to be essential viewing for all of us who are concerned by the decline in the stocks of Atlantic Salmon. ( The DVD of the film is now available on Amazon). It indicated just how important it is to protect our smolts in freshwater, so that as many go to sea as possible.
In view of the current crisis with the desperate decline in the Lough Currane sea trout stocks, the Trust is organizing a sea trout smolt recording effort during the coming weeks, when these little fish are on the move. From now until the end of May we are asking that Anglers record the number of sea trout smolts they catch and if possible record the length. In addition, those anglers fishing the Upper Lakes over this period can pick up scale sampling envelopes when they collect their tickets, take some scales as directed on the envelope and drop them back into the Mace Store at the end of their day. We have asked the Professional Ghillies on Lough Currane if they would do the same. Please do handle these precious fish carefully.
Waterville sea trout smolts are normally very much bigger than elsewhere in Ireland, often in the past being mistaken for finnock! The Trust is particularly anxious to monitor the pre – smolt freshwater growth rate, which we can assess from the scale samples, and this will give us a better picture of the survival rate of our famous sea trout. The Trust would, of course, have preferred to be able to trap the sea going smolts, which would have given us a much bigger sample, but our limited resources could not fund it. Maybe we could put this as a priority for 2019?
This spring has seen one of the poorest agricultural growing seasons for some years, with the media reporting on farmers having to import their fodder. In the early 80’s, Dr Ed Fahy, the well known fishery scientist, noted that the length of agricultural growing seasons was one of the most important environmental factors in the production of trout in our streams. The excerpt from his paper is reproduced here!
‘A number of environmental factors, natural and man made, acting independently or in combination, are potential influences on each trout production. Of these the agricultural growing season has been identified as the most important in Ireland (Fahy, 1980a; Fahy & Rudd, 1983). A long growing period, it has been proposed, increases the amount of freshwater growth made by trout which accordingly reach migratory dimensions in and occupy nursery areas for a relatively short time. The shorter sojourn means that a larger number migrates, mortality in a cohort being time-dependent. A succession of mild springs would be accompanied by a build-up of stocks.’
The Currane, Co. Kerry, Sea Trout Fishery, 1980-1986
Edward Fahy and Ruary Rudd
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Rod Robinson
Waterville Lakes & Rivers Trust
Go fishing…
Vincent Appleby
Eureka Lodge, Caherdaniel West, Co. Kerry.
Telephone: +353 (0)66 9475248
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.salmonandseatrout.com
Waterville Lakes and Rivers Trust
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.
Find out more and how you can contribute at
Find out more about Lough Currane…
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
