Water levels were nice all week with the gauge averaging around 0.52m. The gauge read 0.51m at the start and the end of the week but Saturday saw the river rise slightly to 0.55. We had some lovely sunny and dry days but air temperatures were very low.
Johnny Ciconte had an 11lb salmon from Money Hole
Despite the cold there was definitely a touch of Spring in the air. The fish seemed to respond and there was a decent run of Spring Salmon into the fishery over the week with good numbers of double figure salmon in this run. The fishing picked up spectacularly this week with over 20 salmon to 14lb! Given here are some of the catches.
On Thursday, Joe Broderick caught and released a salmon from the Perch Pool and Johnny Ciconte recorded an 11lb salmon caught from Money Hole.
Stephen Smyth had a 10lb salmon from Lennox’s
On Friday, Stephen Smyth reported a 10lb salmon caught from Lennox’s.
On Saturday, Michael Joyce recorded a 6lb fish caught from Briney’s.
Michael Joyce with a 6lb fish caught from Briney’s
On Sunday, Davy Gray reported 2 salmon weighing 14lb and 8lb caught on prawn from Money Hole with the smaller of these being released again and Patrick O’Leary caught and released 2 salmon caught on a fly from the Mill Pool.
Water levels remain nice and the prospects for the coming week look very good
Make a booking
River Drowes
The Drowes Fishery is one of Ireland’s premier spring salmon and grilse fisheries. The river is some 5 miles in length, with over 70 named pools, flowing from Lough Melvin at Lareen Bay and entering the sea at Tullaghan, just outside Bundoran. The Drowes has a wide variety of water suitable for all fishing methods, including several miles of good fly water and deeper slower moving pools suitable for spinning and bait fishing.
For information and bookings on the Drowes Fishery & Lough Melvin see http://www.drowessalmonfishery.com Tel: 071 9841055 (8am to 12 noon). Mob: +353 (0) 87 8050806
David McEvoy reports from the Delphi Fishery where fishing really improved for the week leading up to St Patrick’s Day …
17 March: Well, its hard to believe that it St. Patrick’s Day already. It was often the case in the old days that fishing really kicked off around this time and it appears this year is no different as we have landed nine fish in the last seven days.
Yvonne and Werner were first off the mark on the 10th with a fish each. Water levels were perfect at 35. Yvonne landed a lovely fish in the Whin Pool of 9lbs3ozs on a Delphi Collie. Werner followed this up with one of approx. 8.5lbs in Morrisons, taken on a Night Star.
Sunday was a beautiful day, with broken sunshine and temperatures well up. One would say that there was a little bit of nature and softness in the day. With water levels at 30 the day produced three fish. Paul Smyth had a nice fish of approx. 9lbs off Fin on a Shrimp Fly tied by himself. Donald Cottle who was one of a group of five from Somerset managed to land his first ever salmon. It weighed in at 7lbs7ozs, was taken on a Park Shrimp Conehead and not surprisingly from the Rock Pool. Craig Newsome had a fish of 7lbs10ozs from the Waterfall on a Gold Shrimp in the afternoon.
There were fish seen on Monday, water levels were 20 but they were not in the mood. Tuesday was a washout and we ended up with 50mms of rain in the 24hour period. The river rose to 80. Conditions were perfect the next morning with the river running at 50. Luke Drea had a nice fish of 7lbs10ozs from the Whin Pool on a Cascade Tube at the start of play. It looked like we were in for another good day even though there was some rain forecast. But as in often the case in Delphi we got more than expected and the afternoon was extremely wet, with 15mms falling in four hours and the river rose again to 60.
Conditions, yesterday were perfect, with the river at 50 and we also had a crack team of anglers out. Paul Wymes as is often the case got his year off to a flying start with two fish from the Rock Pool in the space of twenty minutes. Both were taken on a Willie Gunn Copper Tube, fished on a fast sinking line. The first weighed in at 9lbs4ozs and the second approx. 8.5lbs. Teddy Coulter followed this up in the afternoon with another good fish of 9lbs from the New Island on a Tosh Potbelly Pig. There were also a couple lost and a few handshakes too. In the afternoon I actually saw four fresh fish at the bottom of the river, so we should see some action over the next few days. Our team of experienced Swedish anglers will hopefully bag a few and I will update you all in due course.
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.
Give fly fishing a try… Two day event for women interested in fly fishing
It looked like spring had sprung, but it will be put firmly back in its box this weekend! There were some good reports from a number of salmon fisheries around Ireland in the last seven days, and charter boats made a return to the sea. Coarse anglers had some great fishing on Lough Erne but trout and pike anglers were a little quiet in the last week…
There was another springer landed on the Munster Blackwater this week, but serious rain saw the levels jump by almost 3m on Wednesday night. It has since dropped by about 1.5m but the river is still high. Anglers on the Bandon enjoyed good conditions for the most part, but no fish were reported. Salmon were seen running the Laune all last week and one fish was caught and released and another lost after the angler was taken down to the backing. There were a few salmon landed on Lough Currane but conditions deteriorated over the weekend and there has been nothing to report since. James Allman took the honours of catching the first salmon of the year on the Feale on March 5th. A few more salmon were caught over the weekend including one smashing fish of 16lb. Fishery manager Nigel Rush was in touch to report on the Kylemore Abbey Fishery’s first salmon of 2018. The fish came off the Dawros River, and was landed by regular angler Geoffrey Fitzjohn from Tullywee Bridge Pool on a size 10 Black Shrimp, and weighed 8.25lbs. Carrowmore Lake was another fishery that saw its first fish of the season and the Clongee Fishery on the Moy also had its first of the this year. The Drowes was a river that enjoyed good conditions last week and 6 fish were met, 3 landed and 3 lost.
Trout reports are thin on the ground. Conditions have not been ideal for lake fishing and many rivers are yet to open. St Patrick’s Day should see a number of anglers make their way to the river bank, but given the forecast many might not fish!
There was a decent hybrid caught at O’Briensbridge in the Team of Four League at the weekend, but in general fishing was tough with gin clear water. Alberts Lock had catches to over 20lb a little over a week ago, but catches on Wednesday fell to half that. Local feeling is that the bigger fish are moving off to their spawning grounds. At Carysbridge on Lough Erne the local winter league saw some incredible fishing with catches to 27.250kg recorded as the feeder worked well for skimmers, roach and hybrids.
This huge trout took a pike lure on Blessington to win Frank Turner Catch of the Week
Some parts of the country enjoyed milder conditions over the weekend so it’s a surprise there are not more pike reports. The only news we have was from a cold looking Butlersbridge where fishing was described as tough at an IFPAC Stewards Qualifier as mostly jacks were caught. There was a super trout caught by a pike angler on Blessington. Frank Turner had the fish on a favourite plug and his fish wins Catch of the Week.
Charter boats in Wicklow, Clare and Galway all made it out on the water in the last week. It was all pollack and coalfish for the west coast boats but on the east coast spurdogs and rays were the target.
In other news the Irish Ladies Fly-Fishing Association is offering a two day taster event for women interested in learning how to fly-fish. The event will be held on the 24th and 25th March at the Oaks Fishery, 14 Judges Road, Enagh, Derry/Londonderry. This will be followed in a month’s time by their first trial of the year at Tildarg Fishery, near Ballyclare, Co Antrim on Sunday 22 April.
Weather warning
Status Yellow: Advance warning for cold weather this weekend with low-temperatures, snow-showers, snow-accumulation mainly Saturday night and Sunday.
Met Eireann tell us that St. Patrick’s Day will be a cold and windy day that will continue to get colder through the day as scattered showers progressively turn more wintry. Highs of only 1 to 3C in the eastern half of the country, 4 to 6C in the west. Blustery easterly winds will add a significant wind chill. If that wasn’t enough it’s going to get very cold on Saturday night, down to -4C with a sharp frost. It will be very cold on Sunday with scattered wintry showers becoming more widespread for a time before dying out later. Northeast to east winds will continue fresh to strong adding a wind chill to the afternoon temperatures of just 1 to 4C. Sunday night will see temperatures fall again -4C and Monday will be cold but mostly dry with just the odd wintry flurry. Remaining very cold for the week with scattered wintry showers becoming isolated and then mostly dry as high pressure builds over Ireland. It’s not what you wanted to hear but you have to roll with it sometimes, pull on the layers and just get out to the water’s edge…
The Lough Corrib Angling Federation unveiled their impressive new website on Wednesday evening at a launch held at the Commercial Boat Club, Galway.
Chairman Denis Healy welcomed everyone to the launch, and spoke about the work the federation is carrying out on spawning and feeder streams, in association with Cairde na Coiribe, the Office of Public Works, and Inland Fisheries Ireland, much of which is featured on the new website. Lough Corrib is renowned worldwide as a jewel in the crown of Irish trout angling, and the need to look after the feeder streams is very much uppermost in the minds of the new committee of the federation. A facility to donate funds to Cairde na Coiribe, where every cent donated is match funded to boost the impact, and every cent raised is spent on stream enhancement will be available on the website also.
The website itself looks very good, with fantastic photography provided by local photographer and keen angler Conor Ledwith. Easy to navigate, work is progressing on developing more information for the site, and anyone interested is invited to submit photos, stories, etc for inclusion. An events page will also enable anglers to keep up to date with upcoming events, such as fishing competitions, flytying demos, youth days, stream clean-ups and much more.
Check out the site for yourself at www.loughcorribanglingfederation.ie
The first salmon of the season has been reported from Kylemore Abbey.
Fishery manager Nigel Rush was in touch to report on their first salmon of 2018. The fish came off the Dawros River, and was landed by regular angler Geoffrey Fitzjohn from Tullywee Bridge Pool on a size 10 Black Shrimp, and weighed 8.25lbs. We have a suspicion that Geoffrey’s fly box contains nothing but this famous Black Shrimp, which we would dearly like to get a look at! Lightning strikes twice
Incredibly, the fish was landed from the same pool, on the same fly, at the same time of day, on the same day as the first salmon last year, caught by the same angler, and weighed exactly the same as the first fish in 2017!
Well done Geoffrey, and hopefully this is the start of another good season at Kylemore Abbey Fishery. Geoffrey Fitzjohn with the first Kylemore salmon of 2018
Go fishing…
For fishing on Kylemore Abbey Fishery, which comprises river and lake fishing for salmon and sea trout, contact Nigel Rush on +353 (0)87 9580702, or email [email protected]
Eileen Carroll Murphy reports that there was no salmon reported for the week despite good conditions.
Go Fishing…
Bandon Angling Association have set up a guiding service in conjunction with Jason Nash, Peter Aspinwall and Phil Dewey. Details of the guiding service are provided on the website and they are looking forward to making memories and enhancing people’s fishing experiences on the river Bandon. Day tickets and club membership are also available. Web: https://bandonangling.com/
Kilcoleman Fishery, Enniskeane, is renowned for its hospitality. The owners David and Patricia Lamb make a particular effort to make their guests feel at home. Past visitors have described the atmosphere as ‘laid back’ and the accommodations as ‘cosy’. Kilcoleman is “fly only” throughout the entire season. However, in certain water conditions, spinning is permitted for salmon. Trout angling is “fly only” at all times. web:http://flyfishing-ireland.com
John Chambers reports on the latest Stewards Qualifier fished near Butlersbridge at the weekend…
11 March: 20 stewards turned up today and half of them caught pike. We fished the Finn and it was hard going.The 5 who qualified to fish in the Final were:
IFPAC try to keep an updated list of all their club’s event and competitions online but can only do this with your help. Please advise them of your upcoming competitions, AGMs, etc. Post their Facebook Page or email IFPAC at [email protected]
Go fishing…
Irish Federation of Pike Angling Clubs
The Irish Federation of Pike Angling Clubs (IFPAC) is a body representing pike anglers in Ireland, North and South.The IFPAC was founded on 17th January 1988 at a meeting held at the Ardboyne Hotel, Navan. The membership for that year stood at fifteen clubs representing six hundred anglers, today membership of IFPAC is approaching 100 affiliated clubs representing in excess of seven thousand anglers from all walks of life.Set featured image
Gus Greaves reports on the final round of the Erne Anglers Winter League took place on Sunday 11th March. Another outstanding turnout of 27 anglers fished on a perfect spring day…
Two new sections were introduced by Tony Green, both at Carrybridge. Many of the front runners “fell at the final fence”, making it a perfect match to finish the league.
Some great weights were landed
Karl Woodhouse drew the bay at Carrybridge, and caught skimmers, hybrids and roach on the feeder for an outstanding 27.250kgs. Second also in the bay was Morris Lawson with 20.750kgs of hybrids, third on the day with 15kg was Wayne Fuller. Wayne drew the Lifeboat station and had a busy day with 200 fish on the pole. Final place on the day was local legend Phil McCaffrey, with 14.500kgs from the bay.
Other section winners were Kenny Seddon from the Viaduct, Lyndon Reid 11kgs from Dolans Ring. Rap O’Prey with 6kgs from the field at Carrybridge.
League winner was Gus Greaves after a tense final day. Second Lyndon Reid, who came close with a strong finish, third was Mark Harris, and forth was Tony Kersley who just pushed out Tony Green, both tied on points, with weight deciding the outcome.
The top 18 now look forward to a one day final with a 2,000 pound prize fund.
A great league with an outstanding head quarter’s, the Carrybridge Hotel on the banks of the Upper Erne.
Many thanks to Neil and Sandra Somerville. Gus Greaves
Erne Anglers Angling Clubare affiliated to the National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland and are members of the Angling Council the National Governing Body for coarse and predator angling. www.ncffi.ie
Gary Chandler reports on Sheemore Angling Association’s recent outings…
07 March: Well a good turn out for the Wednesday match today on alberts Lock. There were a good few larger fish showing for some but the small ones still prevailed in some swims. Still the weather was OK. We didn’t get too wet!
Here are the results…
Robert Howgate. 22.03lb
Stuart Lear. 20.12lb
Gary Chandler. 20.05lb
John McVey. 16.09lb
Francis McGoldrick. 12.10lb
Ray Carpenter. 9.05lb
Pat Tigwell. 7.08lb
Malcom Singleton. 6.05lb
Dave Oddy. 3.15lb
So not a bad day for most still need that milder weather mind
11 March: Well a bit of a mixed day today we decided to give Herons Shore a bash but as suspected it was a bit to early in the year yet so we all up sticks except Micheal Fitzpatrick who decided he didn’t want to and went to Albert lock but fished about half way up and as always things don’t always go to plan all tiny minnows and a few 2oz fish thrown in.
Here’re the results..
Robert Howgate. 3.08lb
Gary Chandler. 2.07lb
Malcom Singleton. 2.06lb
Andrew Riley. 1.05lb
Joe van der Spek. 0.11lb
Pat Tigwell. 0.10lb
Ray Carpenter. 0.04lb
Dave Oddy. DNW
So another day gone by but weather was good so party on.
14 March: Well a wet and windy Wednesday match at Albert Lock today seems like all the big fish from last week have moved of to their spawning grounds, but still a few small ones to go at.
Here are the results…
Gary Chandler. 11.03lb
Joe van der Spek. 6.05lb
John McVey. 6.05lb
Gavin Brown. 4.14lb
Robert Howgate. 4.09lb
Dave Oddy. 3.06lb
A tough day to be fishing the wind went from bad to worst near the end but we all survived the day.
Sheemore Angling Associationare affiliated to the National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland and are members of the Angling Council the National Governing Body for coarse and predator angling. www.ncffi.ie
Five Munster Clubs fished the Munster Council‘s Team of Four league at O’Briensbridge on Sunday… Peter Turner, Fermoy CAC, with a 1.880kg hybrid 12 March: The River Shannon at O’Brien’s Bridge on the rowing course section was the second match for Munster Teams league today. With a gin clear river it was home advantage to Munster CAC (A) teams who had a great win with 5 points. Peter Turner Fermoy CAC had a nice hybrid for 1.880kg (4lbs 2.32ozs) and this was also the best weight of the day. Just over 50% of the field caught fish which was very disappointing. Results table
The Munster Coarse Angling Council is a provincial council of the National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland, NCFFI – the NGB for coarse and predator angling in Ireland. www.ncffi.ie
