Weekly overview of Game, Coarse and Sea Fishing Reports from around Ireland

Although the last few days have been very summery in some parts of Ireland in much of the southern half it has remained wintry enough. For most anglers the weather in the last week has made angling very difficult as gales and heavy rain combined to bring floods to some venues and convince sea anglers to leave their boats tied up at others. As ever during these periods of unsettled weather there were a few windows of opportunity and those able to make the most of them enjoyed some lovely fishing and you can read all about it in this week’s Irish Angling Update.

Angling and Fishing Highlights

• Heavy weather for coarse fishing around Longford, but prebaiting pays off
• Tony Kersley wins Carrick-on-Shannon Angling Festival
• Excellent coarse fishing around Portumna recently
• Plenty of Pike recorded to over 20 lb. in the Annual European Pike Challenge
• 21 pound pike caught in Shepperton lake in West Cork
• Pike angling in Mullingar casts a spell on The Caravan People
• Spinning in higher water levels produces 389 salmon from the River Moy
• Specimen sea trout of 10 lb 3 oz for american visitor to Lough Currane and the story of the biggest salmon ever recorded on Lough Currane.
• Unsettled water conditions, yet 24 salmon reported from the Club water on the Owenmore
• Some nice salmon fishing reported from the Rivers Roughty, Coomhola and Ilen.
• A nice specimen 22 lb. salmon reported from the River Laune.
• Pobeagle season comes to an end at Red Bay
• Cracking fly fishing on Ennel as trout to 5lb oblige
• Lough Sheelin a challenge for some, olives and sedges fish best
• Reminder – introductory ladies fly fishing day 22 October

The salmon season is almost over for another year as the 30th of September looms. The season produced a bumper catch particularly in the west. Water levels remained high for much of the week on the Moy and once again it was the mid and upper fisheries which reported better catch returns, with the weekly total for the system at 389 salmon. Probably the biggest fish of the week was reported from Lough Currane. Bruce Penwarden, a regular visitor to the lake caught a massive cock fish on a trout fly. It measured 42 inches long with a girth of 20 inches. It was then returned carefully and swam strongly away. This salmon would have weighed about 30lb. Anyone looking for a bit of really late season fishing could try their luck on the River Fane which stays open until the 12th of October and has been fishing well. Another fishery which might be worth considering is the sea trout anglers favourite Lough Currane. The lake will be open for sea trout fishing until the 12th of October, though salmon fishing there will be finished. Elsewhere in salmon news the return of the king of fish to the River Tolka in Dublin was covered by the international media and on RTE news.

Tony Kersley stamped his name well and truly on the Carrick-on-Shannon Angling Festival honours list by scoring his fourth win on the River Shannon and lakes of County Leitrim. On the last day when some pegs did not produce a fish in the difficult conditions that prevailed, Tony took 7th place but this did not matter as he had already won the competition with his scores on the four previous days. English anglers fishing in Longford endured high winds, heavy rain and rising water levels, but despite the bad weather they still managed to catch some good bream, hybrids, roach and perch. Prebaiting and fishing only two venues using feeder tactics paid off for them in the end. Flooding on the Suck and other parts of the upper Shannon made many venues inaccessible. Some fishing was possible on the River Shannon at Lanesborough where catches to10lb were made by the few anglers who visited.

While the east coast enjoyed settled weather and low winds charter boat fishing in the west was severely curtailed but there were a few outings and porbeagle sharks were reported off the Clare coast and at Red Bay in Co. Antrim. Blue sharks also made an appearance off the Clare coast but deep sea anglers there were mostly confined to the estuary and other sheltered marks. The Cork Small Boats Festival finishes on the 30th of September and has been fished in very challenging conditions with fog, rain and wind working against the anglers. On day 3 of the competition Screeming Reels was leading with 24 species with O2b@C close behind with 22 species. We’ll have a full report next week.

Allister Johnson was hoping for a double, this 25lb pike wins him Catch of the Week.

Pike anglers relish the early onset of winter and they have not been disappointed this year. Over 80 anglers fished the annual European Pike Challenge held over 3 days on Lough Derg last week. Anglers from Ireland, England, Wales, Poland, Germany, and Belgium took part in this popular pike competition which has being running now for over 20 years. The winner for the second year in a row was local angler, Dermot Hickey with 8 Pike for 28.53 Kilos. Johnny Mowat caught the heaviest fish of 9.454 kilos during the competition. Some good pike were also reported from Shepperton in West Cork and from the mid lands where Allister Johnson, who was hoping for a double, ended up with a 25lb pike which wins him Catch of the Week.

Trout anglers are also looking at the end of another season. In the last week fly fishing at Loughs Owel, Ennel and Sheelin has been fairly productive. On Ennel trout to over 5 lb were landed and on Sheelin one angler had as many as 11 trout on drys and Stimulators, with 9 of these between 1.5 and 2.5 lb.

On Saturday the 22nd October Inland Fisheries Ireland will again be holding an introductory ladies fly fishing day in aid of Action Breast Cancer at Annamoe Trout Fishery near Glendalough in Co. Wicklow. These events are free, open to any lady and run from 10.30 to 16.00. Reminder – introductory ladies fly fishing day 22 October.

Tight lines – especially in Ireland,

Paul Bourke,
Angling Information Officer.
Catch, Photo, Release