Shane Gallagher from the Drowes Fishery reports that anglers are doing their part but despite good conditions the first salmon is yet to be caught…
Father and son in search of the first
One week into the 2017 salmon season and no fish have been reported caught and only the odd fresh fish seen. It has so far been a disappointing start to the new season given that there have been good numbers of rods out in good weather and water conditions. There seems to be a definite trend to later runs of both spring fish and grilse. What factors are influencing the timing of fish runs, whether ocean warming, climate change or other variables is a matter for debate. What is undeniable is that Atlantic salmon are a key indicator species and all the indications point to major changes at sea which are having a major impact on salmon behaviour and survival.
January 1997, a below average year that would be considered fantastic in 2017!
Looking at our catch register book over the last 40 years, a fish a day was about average for January. Twenty years ago, January 1997 was a below average month with just over 20 fish recorded.
It is a stark warning for the future of salmon angling in Ireland when what would be considered a poor run starts looking like the good old days in the space of just twenty years!
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
A new year and a new beginning as we welcome 2017. My father used to say “Girl you have a head…but so has an ass ! (Ego inflated and deflated in one sentence). Well anglers have good heads, they are one with nature. They use their eyes to see and they observe. There are no ‘sacred’ fish; salmon, trout, coarse, pike or sea – each have their place. Ireland has it all from Donegal to Cork. Pass on what you know to the next generation. This is your sport and it’s up to you to keep it alive.
One opportunity to give a helping hand is with The International Youth Team where the manager of the National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland, Jack Tisdal and assistant manager Shane Kavanagh would like to hear from interested parties who would like to provide their assistance working with the squad in their training for this year’s championships here in Ireland. The Youth team will be attending monthly practise on a selection of venues Sat 18th March, Sat 22nd April, Sat 27th May & Sat 17th Jun and will fish for a week on Inniscarra from 12th to 16th of July ahead of this year’s World Championships which is from 5th to 13th August.
The last casts of opening day at the Nursery on the Drowes
Up north the Lurgan Coarse angling club, which has just ended its 35th year in existence ran a couple of knock ups over the Christmas on the River Bann where some nice weights of roach were caught.
As I write, anglers are still waiting to catch the first salmon of the year. The Drowes was busy on opening day with over one hundred anglers wetting a line but the salmon played hard to get.
In all, 73 rivers will open for angling activity in 2017 and this will provide opportunities for all to share this important natural resource on a sustainable basis. 46 of these rivers will be fully open with a further 27 for angling on a “catch & release” basis
Keady and District Pike angling club holds its first event of 2017 and it takes place this Sunday 8th January. Meeting in the square at 9am with fishing 10am until 3.30pm.
18 boats turned out for the Lough Gowna and Lower Lough Erne competition at Christmas, first place went to Marty Cosworth, 2nd to Joe McDermott with a 19 lb 10 oz pike and 3rd to Terry Brennan. While over on Lough Muckno the best fish was 16.08lb for Harry Hoyle making him the winner of the iconic Laughran brothers cup. January 15th will see the Bernard O`Reilly Memorial boast competition held by the Lough Gowna and Upper Erne Club. Best of luck to all involved.
Killybegs Mariners – Michael McGettigan
The Christmas turkey provided energy for the Donegal anglers who fished the Cartys Land and Sea annual competition on Rossnowlagh beach. The winner was Cathal Donnelly with Owen Gilvary in 2nd position. The longest fish went to James Cummins with a nice 37cm flounder and the best Junior angler of on the day was Billy Gilvary. Michael McGettigan won at the Killybegs Mariners league outing on December 30th and also scooping the longest fish prize with a lovely 39cm flounder.
The National Shore Club Championships was won by Bannow Bay Anglers from Wexford and 2nd place went to Rinnashark SAC followed in 3rd place by Tralee Bay SAC
In other news the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (OPW) and Flood Relief, Seán Canney, T.D. has outlined a significant level of investment made by the OPW in addressing and alleviating flood risk in 2016.
The Minister said “2016 is a record year for the OPW with the full allocation of €52 million available to my Office for flood relief spent in protecting individuals, families, communities and businesses against the most serious risk and impact of flooding. The OPW has made significant progress during the year in advancing its flood risk capital programme and, at this time, there are an unprecedented 35 major flood relief schemes at various stages of advancement. 7 major schemes have commenced construction this year with a record 12 major schemes now at various stages of construction representing a three-fold increase on the position last year. Under the Minor Works Scheme, 400 projects have been completed by local authorities with funding provided by the OPW since 2009. In 2016 alone, 82 applications have been approved by my Office for funding with a combined value of €4.3 million”.
Substantial progress has also been made in advancing the Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management (CFRAM) Programme*. The Minister said “The CFRAM Programme is the largest flood risk management planning programme ever undertaken by the State. Under this Programme 29 draft Flood Risk Management Plans have been published by the OPW for public consultation since July this year with feasible flood relief measures identified to provide protection to at risk properties in 300 at risk assessed areas. The publication of these draft Plans is another significant milestone in the advancement of the flood risk management agenda by the OPW in 2016. The Draft Plans under the Programme will be finalised in Spring next year when the submissions from the statutory public consultation process have been fully considered”.
To find out more about the Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management Programme – see www.cfram.ie. Inland Fisheries Ireland is part of the Shannon Flood Risk State Agency Co-ordination Working Group which aims to identify, coordinate and monitor respective work programmes with a view to managing the flood risk on the Shannon catchment.
Minister Naughton also announced recently the The Digital Skills for Citizens Scheme which is a key part of the Government’s National Digital Strategy which recognises the importance of enabling all citizens to realise the full social and economic potential of the digital world. Digital skills can empower and enrich the lives of people, giving them better access to information, culture, entertainment, social networking, eGovernment services, as well as online goods and services.
Training in basic internet skills will be delivered free of charge to more than 26,000 people during 2017. A full geographic spread of classes, engaging deeply with communities across every county, will be ensured and monitored under the Scheme. See full details at The Digital Skills for Citizens Scheme
As my old IFI colleague Paul Bourke who used to write this angling update would say “wrap up well and safe fishing” I bid you all adieu.
On December 31st Lurgan Coarse Angling Club marked the end of the club’s 35th Anniversary Year since they formed back in 1981. Well done to the Club.
Over the Christmas period the club ran a couple of small knock ups on the River Bann at Shillingtons in Portadown. The fishing has been very good with some mega weights of roach being caught on the pole to hand.
Last week the top 3 weights were as follows:
1st Johnny Mckinley 29.900kg
2nd John Walker 26.560kg
3rd Colin Wike 20.410kg
January 2nd saw their 2nd match take place,
the top 3 weights were as follows:
1st Stevie Wright 35.050kg
2nd Shaun Keenan 28.275kg
3rd Nigel Mckinney 25.800kg
Go Fishing…
Lurgan Coarse Angling Club
The club is one of the most successful in Ireland, having won all of the main team based match fishing competitions, in some cases several times, over the last decade. The club has also a long list of International Honours earned by its members.
The club is the current Drennan Superleague title holder, having won the last event in 2007.
Our objective is to promote coarse angling in the greater Lurgan and Craigavon area.
Gareth Mc Ateer in action on the Mill Pool on New Years Day 2017
Fishery manager Shane Gallagher reports from the Drowes as we start a new season:
The first days of the 2017 salmon season has ended without any fish being reported. Over one hundred anglers wetted a line on the first day of the season in near perfect conditions but apart from reports of a couple of fish lost, none were landed on the first day of the season.
Gareth Mc Ateer in action on the Mill Pool on New Years Day 2017The last casts of opening day at the Nursery
Despite heavy rain yesterday, water levels barely rose to just 0.606 metres on the gauge this evening. The day was mainly dry and sunny in a northerly breeze, turning bitterly cold this evening.
The forecast is for further bright, dry conditions for tomorrow, remaining cold with top temperatures of 3 to 5 degrees. The weather will turn milder and cloudier from Tuesday in westerly winds, remaining dry with temperatures of 7 to 8 degrees.
Low water meant good fly fishing conditions for opening day. 2017
Thanks to all the anglers who made the trip to the river on the first day. In current conditions I cant imagine the wait for the first silver of 2017 will last much longer.
The Mill Pool, an ever popular spot on opening day and scene of a lost fish early on in the day – Jan 1st 2017
The Drowes Fishery is one of Ireland’s premier spring salmon and grilse fisheries. The Drowes is among the earliest opening salmon fisheries in the country and regularly claims the honour of producing Ireland’s first salmon of the season on opening day, January 1st. 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 or Tel: 071 9841055 (8am to 12 noon).
Mob: +353 (0) 87 8050806
Milltown Lake in Co. Monaghan held its Christmas pike competition on December 27th. They report on the day:
Fishing took place today on the beautiful Lough Muckno for the iconic Laughran brothers cup which is always held on the 27th December since 1987. Conditions were good but fishing started out slow, but with an hour to go the fishermen started to step up to the mark! First place went to Harry Hoyle with a stunning fish of 16.08lb 2nd went to Kaspars Berzins with a fish of 13.09lb and 3rd was another fine fish of 11.12lb to Sean Traynor. Thanks to every one who took part and supported the club through 2016 and tight lines for 2017.
Go fishing…
Milltown Lough is located just north of Castleblayney, County Monaghan. It is heavily stocked with brown trout averaging 1lb. Trout season runs from 1 March to 30 September. Pike season opens on 01 October.
Bannow Bay Anglers. 2016 National Shore Club Champions
The Wexford raiders made the short hop accross the river to Woodstown beach along with another 20 teams, 84 anglers took part in total. The fishing was good in zone A with less fish in zones B, C and D. Catches were mostly whiting with flounder a close 2nd. A 54 cm bass took the round fish pool and a 34 cm flounder took the flat pool. Well done all. Many thanks to John O Brien and his team and the great refreshments at check in Waterford Angling & Outdoor Centre and also to the Saratoga Bar for the awards.
Tralee Bay Sea Angling Club 3rd, 2016 National Shore Club championships
Stefan Martin from Killybegs Mariners SAC gives an account of how things went on their Mariners League outing on Friday 30th December. The fishing was from 12pm – 16.00pm on Narin Beach far side of the island:
Michael McGettigan won at the Mariners league outing and also scooping the longest fish prize with a lovely 39cm flounder. Michael is the 7th different winner from the 9 outings so far.
Mariners League winner Michael McGettigan
On December 27th, Mariners angler John Cunningham won the Land and sea sports league after the 5 outings with the last outing taking place on Dec 27th on Rossnowlagh beach.
Sean Carty reports:
Great day out on rossnowlagh beach today , fishing was fairly poor but it was a pleasure to be out. The winner of our annual Christmas competition was Cathal Donnelly with Owen Gilvary in 2nd position. The longest fish went to James Cummins with a nice 37cm flounder. The best Junior angler of on the day was Billy Gilvary. Dec 27th was also the final leg of Cartys winter shore league. The overall winner of the league after some fantastic fishing was John Cunningham and in 2nd position after a good consistent performance was Kieran McGowan. All together 29 anglers took part in this year’s winter league from Mayo, sligo Donegal and Derry. Without this support this event couldn’t be such a success. Nearly €1800 in prizes were handed out over the 5 legs of the comp. In the near future Cartys plan to have another few comps including a local Bass hunt and a one day big open comp.
A fisherman with 50 years of experience under his belt and his 12 year-old son recently spotted two salmon at the rear of Bealick Mill in Macroom.
Why is this so unusual? Well, according to fisherman Tom Sweeney, before the local dams were built salmon were a common feature on that stretch of water but since then, salmon haven’t been spotted for over five decades….
Ageing fishing platforms in Rosslare Harbour are to get a modest revamp after the village’s lagoon development was awarded a grant of almost €5,000.
The project is one of 50 angling development projects across the country which will receive support from Inland Fisheries Ireland to the value of €500,000 in total as part of its Capital Works Fund….
Latest reports from Birchwood Fishery, Drumquin, show that an incredible 550 trout were caught and unusually for this time of year, many of them were tempted to dry fly patterns.
Among the top rods were Alban Norrby, with 27 fish; Keith Kilburn and Jason MacLean with 26; Johnny McGrory, 23, and Colin McNiffe who grassed 18 including a beauty at 10lbs. Sean Wallace bagged 17; Paddy ÓDonnghaile had 16 while Pat McDevitt and Karl McMonagle both bagged 15….
Minister Naughton also announced recently the The Digital Skills for Citizens Scheme which is a key part of the Government’s National Digital Strategy which recognises the importance of enabling all citizens to realise the full social and economic potential of the digital world. Digital skills can empower and enrich the lives of people, giving them better access to information, culture, entertainment, social networking, eGovernment services, as well as online goods and services.
