Written By: Kevin Crowley
On Date: 30/7/2015
Lough Corrib Declan Gibbons reports from Lough Corrib:. Starting in the Oughterard area, Basil Shields of Ardnasillagh Lodge (091-552550) reports excellent trout fishing for his clients; especially on mayfly and sedge patterns. On Saturday, Basil and Mallow angler, Neil Glavin, had 13 trout to the boat on dry mayfly patterns with the best fish being 2 lbs. 11oz. Earlier on Friday, Jim Buchannan, Armagh, fished with Basil and enjoyed a super day on wet flies catching 14 fish, best at 5 lbs. 6 oz. and all sportingly released. Limerick Duo John Burton and Mike Murphy had excellent fishing boating ten trout on wets with John catching the best fish tipping the scales just shy of 6 lbs., with all ten fish sportingly released. Good fortune continues for Belfast angler Colin Wright who fished with Basil for three days. The pair landed 39 trout on a mixture of wet and dry flies with wets out-fishing the dries. Best fish was 4 lbs. 4 oz. On Wednesday and Thursday last, Northern Ireland anglers, Frankie Martyn and Victor McKrevitt Cumber, had 11 trout for their two days angling.
Tom Kelly reports that Carlow duo, Jimmy Carew and Niall Malone, had good sport on the dap in the Oughterard area catching 7 trout over two days for 12 lbs. During the week, the Commercial Boat Club Woodquay Galway hosted the Willie Lally Cup which was won by Richard King with a trout of 3 lbs. Kevin Molloy of Baurisheen Boat Hire (087-7573782) also had good trout fishing on wet flies in the Oughterard area catching 3 trout last Friday on mayfly patterns.
On Saturday last, former Irish Ladies International, Dorrie Gibbons, hosted a charity competition which saw the proceeds go towards a sensory garden for children with special needs who attend Cong NS. Basil Shields took top prize with 4 fish and a total weight of 9 lbs. 3oz. Eddie Gibbons was in second place with 3 fish weighing 5 lbs. 82oz. Third place went to Cornamona angler Tom Doc Sullivan with one fish at 3 lbs. 16oz; Tom was also Heaviest Fish winner. Fourth was Seamus Kelly with 2 trout weighing 2 lbs. 72 oz. Top Ladies rod on the day went to Kenmare woman Niamh Breen. In total, forty-three rods caught 22 trout with a weight of 37.75 lbs. The Competition was dapping and fly fishing and could be fished on both Lakes Corrib and Mask with 15 trout (27 lbs.) coming off Corrib and 7 trout (10.75 lbs) coming off Mask. The weigh-in took place at Lydon’s Lodge Cong (094-9546053) in which a great evening was had by all.
Larry McCarthy of Corrib View Lodge Glencorrib (087-9135222) reports of great fishing on Lough Corrib in the last week with both sedges and mayflies bringing trout to the surface. Pip Arnold from Belfast fishing with Larry over two days boated 24 trout between 1 lbs. and 3 lbs. with the majority around 1.5 lbs. All fish were caught on dry sedge patterns and yellow dry mayfly patterns and were all sportingly released. Two days with Frank Kelly and Tony Harten from Cavan produced 12 fish with the majority in the 2 lbs range and more risen and missed, while Steve Wilkinson, UK, also enjoyed a good day’s fishing on Corrib with 8 trout on wet may fly patterns. Hopefully a settled period of weather will arrive and we should see some more good fishing on the Corrib.
Lough Mask
Ronan Cusack reports that there were large numbers of anglers out on Lough Mask this past week, as the 2015 World Cup fast approaches. Unfortunately, angling has become a bit more challenging, possibly due to the unseasonal cool temperatures and high water levels caused by the constant rain we have had to endure over the past few weeks. Fly hatches this week have been good, with plenty of sedge and mayfly for trout to choose from on a daily basis. Ballinrobe & District Anglers held there annual club competition over the weekend. A total of 37 anglers took part, weighing in 29 fish. In first place was Kevin Sheridan, Ballinrobe, with 3 fish for 4.53 lbs. Second place went to Jonathan Craven from Roscommon with 2 fish for 3.53 lbs. and John Burke Foxford took third position with 2 fish for 3.00 lbs. Heaviest fish went to local angler, Sean Maloney, with a trout of 1.58 lbs.
Ennis Anglers also held a 2 day competition over the weekend, which was fished to a 14 inch limit. Thirty-four anglers competed, with only 11 trout making the cut off. The majority of boats fished across the deep in the middle of the lake but anglers struggled to get trout to measure. Reports were that trout in the deep were coming short and 13 inch fish were difficult to come across. Fortunately, the weather outlook for the weekend is for more rain and moderate winds. Ronan also guides on Mask and can be contacted at cusackronan@gmail.com Costello & Fermoyle
Terry Gallagher reports from Costello & Fermoyle:
The salmon fishing at Costello and Fermoyle continues to be very productive with 64 salmon recorded, 42 of which were caught this month. There is concern regarding the scarcity of sea trout this year with only 117 landed to date. The good news is the sea trout rod catch has dramatically improved recently with 44 recorded in the last few days, most of which were fresh.
The highlights since the 13th July include the 4 salmon and 23 sea trout Denis and Donie landed on Fermoyle and Clogher loughs, which was a fair achievement considering the difficult conditions they encountered over the few days they fished. Neil Spellacy was not disappointed with the 2 fresh salmon he landed during his day on River Beat 1, fish of 6lbs 8ozs & 3lbs. Local angler, Myles Costello, also landed a bar of silver (7 lbs.) during his evening on RB1. Newcomer to salmon angling, Udo Nitschke, certainly earned his stripes on RB1 after he caught fish of 6 lbs. 8oz. & 4 lbs. 8oz.
Regular visitor from Edinburgh, Pete Wes****er, had 2 productive days on Glenicmurrin & Fermoyle Loughs, landing a respectable 23 sea trout. Eamon O Brien fished Glenicmurrin over 2 days and was rewarded with 21 sea trout and a grilse. Finally, Geoffrey Fitzjohn and Neil Spellacy had an excellent morning on River Beats 3 & 4, both landing 2 salmon each, 3 of which were 7 lbs. and the remaining a fish of 5 lbs. 8oz. Before the sun came out they estimated that they must have encountered at least a dozen fish. Well worth the walk!
Fresh fish are still appearing on the tides and with 1.5 inches of rain last night there's plenty of water to entice them in. For information and bookings, please contact Terry Gallagher at +353 (0)91 572 196 or email terrygal7@gmail.com
Erriff Fishery
Osgur Grieve reports from the Erriff Fishery: With water levels remaining favorable, the Erriff Fishery produced a total of 32 salmon over the last week. Reinhard Stopper from Germany had a 6 lbs. grilse on a Cascade as well as losing a fine salmon estimated at 9 lbs. after a 10 minute struggle. Neil Spellacy caught a fish of 9 lbs. which he sportingly released, while Colin Trohear landed 2 grilse weighing 4.25 lbs. and 5.5 lbs. releasing 1 of these. Gerard Garnier returned to Aasleagh Lodge having a red-letter day catching 10 grilse in one day most of them released. Other successful anglers included local man, James O'Neil, who had 2 grilse for an evening weighing 2.25 lbs. and 4.75 lbs. and John Casey who also got a nice brace of salmon weighing 5 lbs. and 12 lbs. respectively both of which he sportingly released. To book fishing or accommodation on the Erriff, contact Aasleagh Lodge at 095 42382 or check out www.aasleaghlodge.ie
Western angling report Ireland