Marty Smith and his pal Trevor Higginbotham from Washington had a few tough days out fishing with Mick Flanagan last week.
A good one from early in the week
The plucky guide managed to get his anglers some good pike but for the most part it was jacks they were catching. The weather played a part in the proceedings and they fished in brilliant sunshine, blustery winds, rain and savage hailstone showers. The best fish was a belter of 20lbs 4oz.
Trevor Higginbotham with his “20” caught on Thursday 25th April
Make a booking
Midlands Angling provide a top class Guiding service covering many of the top coarse and game waters across the Midlands. Visiting fly anglers have landed some fine trout while out with Midland Angling Guides, pike anglers also recorded some net bursting catches including many pike over 20lbs. Top waters include Lough Ree, Ennell, Owel, Lene, Mount Dalton, and Glore Lake just to mention a few. Michael Flanagan Midland Angling
Pike and Trout angling guide.
Stefan Martin from Killybegs Mariners SAC reports on the May Bank Holiday weekend’s fishing on Donegal Bay…
Turbot
Bank holiday fever gripped the bay as camper vans filled the roads and barbecue aromas filled the air and small boats dotted the sparkling bay under clear blue sky’s and it was time to grab a few hours on the shore.
Flounder
Loads of pollack and coleys chasing fry and taking baits out on sand intended for flatties. Some nice fish hit the soft plastic lures worked around the edges and turbots and dabs beat an odd pelagic fish to the meal, great to get out and get some fish and feel the warmth of the sun once again.
Go fishing…
Join the club
Killybegs Mariners sea angling club, Co Donegal runs a shore league, boat competitions and angling trips around Ireland doing the sport we love.
Adrian Nowotynski reports on a day out after Skate from Union Hall…
27 April: What a day out. The Wildlife was out in force with Dolphins, minke whales & and basking sharks in their dozens and a humpback whale feeding around the boat while we hauled at Skate. This 115lb male was first for Matt.
Matt’s first skate
I hooked up soon after but lost it after 30 minutes. We had an earlier hook up which was Porbeagle like. Fast and unstoppable.
Minke whale
Apart from the fishing, there were hundreds of dolphins, easily 20-30 basking sharks, more Minke whales than I have ever seen. Every time we glanced at the water 1 or 2 would surface in any direction and a humpback feeding around us throughout the day.
A few anglers and guides fishing inside Cork Harbour are making contact with the returning bass…
A couple of weeks ago Pat O’Shea had his first Harbour bass of the season (on his first go in the Harbour for them). It was a soft plastic sandeel that did the damage.
Decky and Josh Collins were out last week and managed 3 bass over 4 short sessions, small boat fishing, on a variety of soft plastics and buck tails.
Angling guide Richie Ryan had 2 bass from last night in Cork Harbour, 6lb and 4lb. As he said – Happy man.
It’s been a while since we heard from Carrigaholt skipper Luke Aston. He’s back on the water now, and he’s already tangling with the big stuff…
Pollack
28 April: Back at the whitefish today. Fast drift but plenty fish about.
Ben’s sixgill shark was estimated at 900lb and wins him Catch of the Week
02 May: Well the season has started today with a bang! Second day at the sixgill sharks and we get our first one to the boat. It was a massive 900 lbs plus shark for Ben Carter. He’s having a good month!
03 May: No mr SixGill today but a fine day on the water and we did have this 15lb Bullhuss.
15lb bullhuss
Go fishing…
Clare Dragoon
Clare Dragoon is a LOCHIN 366 powered by 650HP engine, skippered by Luke Aston and operating out of Carrigaholt Co. Clare…
I have some offers up on my web site www.fishandstay.com and if anybody is interested in putting a trip together please do get in touch. Also I Twitter from the boat on @fishandstay and try to update my face book page www.facebook.com/CarrigaholtSeaAngling fairly often!To experience some of the best deep sea fishing available in Ireland contact Luke. Telephone: +353 65 9058209 or +353 87 6367544 Email:[email protected]Web:www.fishandstay.com
The 29th National Pike Championships Final was held on 22nd April on a 10 mile stretch of river in County Roscommon.
As usual one of the first things to be done was Pat Sheenan checking all the scales to make sure that all were weighing correctly. We then proceeded to the main hall where stewards cards and anglers weigh cards were distributed along with maps of the long stretch of river that were were to fish. Anglers could fish anywhere on this stretch but had to make sure that there was somebody from another club nearby to weigh and record their catch. Fishing was from 10-30 to 5.
Fishing was pretty patchy with some usual “hotspots” not producing much. That said, some anglers caught steadily throughout the day. No monster pike were caught the best being Frank Leonard`s 15-09.
Frank Leonard`s 15lb 09oz pike was the biggest on the day
Back at Gleesons anglers weigh cards and stewards cards were handed in. Pat O`Grady, Ibar Condron, Jody Kiernan and John Chambers then began the hard task of totting up catches and verifying catches against stewards cards. With the 55 anglers catching some 380 pike this took some time.
The winner will captain the top 10 anglers who will be the Irish team who will fish against their British opposite numbers in England over a 2 day match next October.
After enjoying our excellent presentation dinner Federation of Irish Pike Angling Clubs Chairman John Chambers made a short speech thanking all involved in the organisation of the event and announced that GO HIRE Limited will be sponsoring the event for the next couple of years. Presentations were then made. Lovely glass trophies were presented to each of the 8 heat winners – Tucker McCabe, David Murphy, Sean Dimbylow, Sean Markey, Kevin McPartland, Fergal Bell, Anthony McCabe and Paul McCarthy. Then €100 was presented to Kevin McPartland for catching the biggest pike in the qualifying heats 14-05. Frank Leonard then got €100 for the best pike in the Final 15-09. Outgoing Champion Kevin Foley was presented with a replica. We then got down to the main business of announcing the top 10 who will make up the team to fish against Great Britain.
Tommy Coffey – National Pike Champion 2017
1st Tommy Coffee 15 pike 62-14 (incl pike of 14-08 and 10-06)
2nd Jody Kiernan 27 pike 54-14
3rd Paul Reynolds 21 pike 50-03
4th Rodney Gaynor 15 pike 45-04
5th Willie Heasley 12 pike 44-12
6th Mark Kiernan 18 pike 44-03
7th Pat Gorman 11 pike 42-09
8th Tucker McCabe 12 pike 41-05
9th Sean Dimbylow 14 pike 37-01
10th Ronan Murray 10 pike 33-02
Reserve Fran Crosbie 9 pike 31-10.
You will note from the above that the vast majority of pike caught were pretty small. Special mention must be made of veteran angler Willie Heasley who finished 5th. Willie has been on the Irish team many times before and at the ripe age of 79 can still show they younger anglers how its done (going to be in trouble now for revealing his age ).
Once again we would like Eamon, Cait , Pauline and all at Gleesons
IFPAC
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.
30 April: Incredible fishing at the Garden Centre stretch this week for the Dave Bacon Memorial match. The mini festival produced full nets of roach and hybrids to double figures and provided for some great feeder fishing sport!
Trev Platt
Congratulations to local angler Trev Platt for his winning 56.340kg over the three days, beating off visiting anglers Mick Fordham in 2nd 46kg and Kevin Gray 3rd 34.220kg.
02 May: The great fishing continued for the new 3-day O’Callaghans Feeder Festival last week.
Mick Fordham
Congratulations to Mick Fordham who secured the top spot with a total weight of 50.160kg ahead of FeederTeam Ireland Manager Brenton Sweeney in second place with 45.320kg. The ever reliable Trev Platt of Trevs Tackle Ireland came in 3rd with 41.300kg.
Go fishing…
The next round of festivals starts here on 21st of May with the O’Callaghans Bar & Guest House Open followed by the extended Hackett Cup Festival which for 2017 will be five days from the 22nd to 26th followed another open and 2 x 3day festivals providing a solid 13 days of match fishing here on Inniscarra! Details here http://bit.ly/2pBZhr5
This years championships took place on the Grand Canal at Prosperous on 29th & 30th April 2017. A hidden gem of the Leinster Canals the venue produced many roach over a pound with Fint netting one close to 2lbs and tench up to 4lbs for the competitors.
Fint Brennan – Canal Champion
The fishing was patchy in places but the weekend was filled with the usual craic on the bank with fine hospitality from Dowlings Prosperous.
Congratulations to the winners;
1st Fint Brennan 19lbs 8oz
2nd Jimmy Kelly 17lbs 5oz
3rd Robert Buick 16lbs 13oz
Thanks to all who attended – numbers were down with just 23 fishing this year perhaps due to the number of events on the calendar these days? NCFFI thanked Waterways Ireland for their continued support.
Some lovely tench featured in the catches
Watch out for the summer round of festivals on the canals this June details here http://bit.ly/2oU8Vse and the junior version of this event taking place on Saturday 20th May.
Report courtesy of National Coarse fishing Federation of Ireland www.ncffi.ie.
David Palmer with the 4th recorded six pounder of 2017
28 April: Pat Mulryan fished the bush for a few hours and had some success on a whip, puling out Hybrids to over a pound. Below the bridge, two Dublin anglers tried for Tench and caught three small ones. Just before dusk there were up to nine anglers all after the same species and by 01:00 if I’m reliably informed a total of eight were recorded, the best being a 6lb fish caught by Dave Palmer.
Noel Donahue had a successful session with this mixed net of 23lbs
29 April: The wind was the winner this afternoon, and it’s set to worsen over the next 36 hours. At least it is turning ESE which make it feel more comfortable for those on the disabled pegs and below. Larry moved up to the gusher and had 25 Bream, odd Hybrids and a couple of very large Rudd. The Bream may only have been babies at just over 2lb a piece, but these fish are the future breeding stock.
30 April: My morning walk saw seven anglers with varying levels of return. Robert Cilindz has had six Tench, mostly sub 2lbs but one very plump female probably nudging 5lbs. On the hot stretch, one angler just below the bush is doing very well with mongrels up to a pound. All other danglers are catching, but a wee bit slower.
Later in the day on the disabled pegs and below, at least four Tench were caught, with ‘man of the moment’, Aiden Dooney claiming three. There are now several overnight anglers along both the upper and lower sections, so let’s hope for some good news in the morning.
As we end my favourite month, on reflection it has not been too bad. My main concern is the lake temperature which is simply not rising quick enough. It currently stands at 10.8c and has remained around that figure for nearly three weeks. I can’t help but repeating myself, I can’t help but repeating myself, but I honestly believe we need 12.5c for at least 3 or 4 days to get the rest of the Lakes Tench population into the river, and the forecast for the coming week shows no signs of that likely to happen.
01 May: No overnight Tench action I’m afraid, despite many rods trying their best. A pair of visiting English anglers from the west midlands enjoyed good stick float fishing under the bridge this morning with some quality fish showing. They both experienced Pike trouble by what could have been the same predator as was seen last night. The bright sunlight and warm (18c) weather put paid to any serious angling into the early evening although there was a huge number of casual danglers out enjoying the sunshine. I took the boat where I’d previously not dared to before and disturbed a number of big fish. They were probably Tench although it is possible they were Pike. There were three of us fishing below the disabled swims this evening and between us failed to catch anything more substantial than a Rudd or an 8oz Bream.
02 May: Not the best of morning sessions. I failed to register a bite as did Tim Collyer until he hooked a solitary female Tench of 5lb 3.5oz. The sunlight was a major factor in the shallow water as to why I didn’t catch. May can be such a frustrating month at Lanesborough. Low, clear water, bright sunlight and excessive weed all contribute to indifferent fishing. There was a shoal of large fish under the bridge this morning, probably Hybrids, but maybe the odd Roach amongst them. Seeing is one thing, but catching is another as one angler found this morning. After just six fish, he moved upstream to the bush.
his little girls Daddy knows how to catch , who’s the Daddy?
I took young Dana out to experience the joy of fishing for small Roach. She was thoroughly entertained for an hour and a bit before deciding that all the maggots should be mixed with the ground bait to make a cake for Ralf. The smile on her face said it all.
03 May: Water temperature on the lake is now 14.29c No one fishing, nothing to report, until later in the day when I met Ross Macklin and Adam Connor, both aiming to catch a specimen Tench. Only one Tench was caught earlier by Robert Cilindz, but the best catch for a long time was had by Mullingar angler David Condron who caught the the biggest Rudd I’ve had the pleasure to weigh. At a hefty 2lbs 6oz it was a fantastic looking specimen. If only my solitary Rudd was half as big tonight.
Due to the biosecurity risks posed by the Asian Clam populations anglers can only use the specially provided keep-nets, available both sides of the bridge – from the Daybreak Filling Station, Ballyleague and Bridie Holmes Fishing Tackle Shop, Lanesborough.
Richard Robinson enjoyed some good fishing to wet and dry olive patterns during his visit with Ted Wherry, including this beautifully patterned trout.
Declan Gibbons reports that the rise in temperatures saw greater numbers of fish caught due to better hatches with fish being taken on buzzer, olives and mayfly. Mayfly hatches are getting going in most areas, as the whitethorn trees begin to blossom.
Larry McCarthy from Corrib View Lodge, Glencorrib (www.corribangling.com) reports a mixed week with Baltic conditions on Monday and Tuesday but good fishing for the remainder of the week. Tim Rowley and John Warmsly from the UK had 8 fish for 4 days on buzzer including 2 over 4lbs. Tom Chamberlain and Richard Watters, also from the UK had 17 trout for 4 days, all on deep nymphs – best fish over 4lbs, all returned. Owein Meeling and Nick Meesham had 5 fish for 3 days on buzzer, all returned. With better temperatures and light winds forecast for the week Larry is expecting an exciting week ahead at Corrib View Lodge.
John Warmsly, UK with a lovely Corrib brown trout caught during his visit
Ted Wherry from Mayfly Lodge Ballynalty (087-4305957) reports on 3 days fishing in the area which produced 10 fish while guiding Richard Robinson, best fish being 3lbs on dry and wet olives.
Mick Hill enjoyed a day’s fishing on the lower lake and land himself a cracking trout of 4.25lbs.
Richard Robinson enjoyed some good fishing to wet and dry olive patterns during his visit with Ted Wherry, including this beautifully patterned trout.
Basil Shields at Ardnasillagh Lodge ( 091-552550 ) in Oughterard reported a more productive week with most fish caught on buzzer and some on mayfly. Steve Sutton, Les Nicholson, Neville Thompson, Shane Cullen and Rob McCabe, visiting from Dublin, all had fish between 35 and 50cm on buzzer, all sportingly measured and released. Bill Church had 2 fish for his visit to Lough Corrib on buzzer – best fish 5.5lbs. Declan Murphy enjoyed 2 days fishing with Basil on Wednesday and Thursday last and had 6 fish for his 2 days, all on buzzer – best fish 2.25lbs. Colman Counihan had 2 fish on Friday last with the best being 3.25lbs, also on buzzer. Ulrich Cronin had an excellent day at the lodge, landing 6 fish, all on buzzer with the best fish 3.75lbs. Joe Barry had 3 fish for his visit to 3.5lbs. On Sunday last Bill Flynn had 6 fish on mayfly and Joe Barry had 3 fish, also on mayfly. Joe Finch had one fish on buzzer on Sunday for 3lbs.
Angling guide Larry McCarthy with a fine trout from Lough Corrib
Staying in the Oughterard area Kevin Molloy of Baurisheen Bay Boat Hire, Guiding & Self Catering ( 087-9604170) was out on Friday last and landed 5 trout – 2 on buzzer and 3 to wet fly, with the best fish being 3lbs, and on Sunday last Kevin and his brother Eamon landed 8 trout to 3.5lbs on a mixture of buzzer and wets.
In the Cornamona area the Cornamona & District Anglers hosted their Annual Catch & Release Charity Competition on Sunday, which saw the proceeds going to the Galway Hospice Foundation. 48 anglers participated in the competition with 121 fish recorded, all measured and released. The event, which was a team competition was won by Cong duo Barry Molloy and Mark Gibbons, with 11 fish. 2nd Place went to Gerry Dixon, Oughterard and TJ Carroll, Westport with 10 fish. 3rd place went to John Lydon, Cong & Robert Holian, Cross with 10 fish. The Longest Fish prize went to Jimmy Molloy, Cong with a fish of 52cm. It is worth noting that 75% of the fish recorded were over the 13 inch legal limit with the other 25% between 30 and 34 cm.
Barry Molloy and Mark Gibbons, winners of the Cornamona Anglers Hospice Competition, 2017
Staying in the Cornamona area Richard Molloy of Ballard Shore Boat Hire & Self Catering (087-2879339) says Tom Ormond and Mike Hegarty enjoyed a day’s fishing last Friday, with Tom landing one nice trout and Mike landing two on wet flies – best fish just over 2lbs. Also in the Cornamona area on Thursday last John Somerville and Stephen Lydon were out on Corrib and boated 3 fish to 3lbs on buzzer, and on Friday John was out for two hours and had two up to 2lbs, also on buzzer. John is available for guiding and can be contacted on 087-7509478.
On Saturday last TAFI hosted the Connacht Cup out of Greenfields, with Gerry Dixon being best Individual Rod on the day and the best team on the day went to the Westport team. Good fishing was reported for the competition that was run on a Catch & Release basis.
