River Moy

Fishing on the River Moy picked up only slightly during the past week. Water levels dropped with angling conditions improving further but angling effort was still low.

On the Ridge Pool, flyangler William Appleby, UK, caught his first Irish salmon ever, a nice 9 lbs. fish!

William Appleby, UK, with his first ever Irish salmon.

Paul Whelan, Co. Kildare, had one at 6 lbs. on bubble & fly on Gannon's, while David McIvor, Northern Ireland, caught a grilse on the Foxford Fishery. David's fish took a worm. A cracking thirteen pounder was caught by Luxemburg angler, Jacques Montaldo, on the Cloongee Fishery while spinning.

Further upriver, on East Mayo, regular visitor, Stuart Longhurst, Germany, proved that flyfishing can be very productive. Stuart had a total of three grilse averaging 4.5 lbs.

Pike Angling

Regular visitor to the Foxford area, Bert Müllrick from Germany, had an excellent day's pike fishing with guide Kenny Sloan. Fishing Lough Conn & Cullin, Bert had a one meter plus pike on the troll.

Bert Müllrick, Germany, with a fine Lough Conn Esox.

He also caught a number of nice pike on the fly, all in the double figures. These were Bert's first fly caught fish ever! While playing another large pike Bert's line unfortunately snapped as it frayed across rocks. However, Bert enjoyed some great pike action and is already planning another visit to Mayo in the new year to try for more fly-caught pike.

Great action on the fly rod - wild Irish pike!

To book a day's guiding or boat hire contact Kenny Sloan on +353 (0)949256501 or +353 (0)87 9670310.

Erriff Fishery
Fishery manager Osgur Grieve reports on fishing from the 2nd - 9th September. The fishing has been slow with the lack of rain all week. However the arrival of Jean Jacques Calvar and Jean Francoise Calvar from France heralded a change. On the 6th Jean Francoise had 2 fairly fresh grilse of 3lbs and 2.5lbs on a small black fly which he returned, and lost 2 others, while Jean Jacques caught a 2.5lbs grilse which he returned also on a small black fly.

With rain forecast we hope to have more to report next week as we still have a few fresh fish entering the system. At the moment we have beats available during September, if you would like to book some fishing please call 095 42208 or check out www.aasleaghlodge.ie

Lough Corrib
Late hatches of olives and sedges have been providing anglers with good sport over the last week, although few anglers were out to take advantage. Frank Reilly fished out of Greenfields with Larry McCarthy on Sunday, and the fishing was so good that they called home to get the match recorded rather than come in off the lake early! They boated 5 good trout between 2.5 to 4.5lbs, all taken on dry olives, and had plenty of sport with other fish coming to the fly. Frank described it as one of the most enjoyable day's fishing he's experienced for many years. All fish were released again to go and enjoy their time on the spawning beds.

I met another angler who had a similar day on Monday, fishing from Birchall, who had 5 good trout to the boat to 3.5lbs, all on dry sedge patterns, and all released. Well done Greg!

Frank Butler was in touch with a great report on the recent Galway Wind Park Cup competition:

14 boats with 35 anglers hit the water from Collinamuck Pier on Sunday 30th August for the Inaugural running of the SSE Airtricity Galway Wind Park Cup. Conditions were far from ideal with the lake practically flat calm. 12 boats pulled in to Rabbit Island for the lunch and a chance to exchange reports on the fishing from the various locations visited, at this stage there were no keep-able fish in any of the 12 boats. Freshly cooked steaks, spuds and sausages were consumed with vigour and the odd chilled liquid refreshment was taken on board, and plenty of laughter was had. The wind was picking up as the anglers went back on the water again with full bellies and renewed hope for a 'bit of a take'.

At 6pm all boats were back to Collinamuck Pier for the weigh-in. In total 8 trout had been landed for a total of 16lbs 14oz. Two teams of anglers had the same number of fish with the exact same weight and after some brief negotiations between committee and the 2 teams a very cordial agreement to share first place was agreed. The cup was shared by the teams of David Connolly and Dermot Walsh, with 2 fish for 4lbs 8oz, and the team of Frank Rigney, John Crowley and Michael Burke, also with 2 fish for 4lbs 8oz. In second position was the team of Pat McDonagh, Nathan McDonagh and Michael Hamilton with 2 fish for 3lbs 2oz. In third position was the team of Paddy O' Farrell and John Howley with 1 fish for 2lbs 7oz. The Ladies prize went to Carmel McDonagh while the junior prize went to Ava McCarthy.

Celebrations went on until the late hours in Pegs with lashings of hearty stew going down as well as the pints, while local DJ Peter O 'Halloran played tunes old and new to keep the place hopping ‘til late.

The Committee of the Collinamuck & District Angling Club would like to take this opportunity to thank SSE Airticity for their support and assistance with the funding and running of this competition. It can be difficult to get new competitions off the ground but the process was made very straightforward and hassle free by the professionalism and help shown to us by SSE Airtricity Personnel Dave O'Malley and John O'Sullivan. We look forward to working again with them in the coming years. We would also like to thank the members of staff from SSE Airtricity that made the effort to come and fish with us for the day, it was great to welcome new faces to Collinamuck and it added greatly to the fishing, the lunch on Rabbit Island and the celebrations in Pegs. We look forward to doing it all again next year and on.

Joint first prize winners in the SSE Airtricity Galway Wind Park Cup competition receiving their shared trophy from Dave O'Malley of SSE Airtricity (second right).

The second-placed team of Michael Hamilton, Nathan McDonagh and Pat McDonagh with Dave O'Malley from SSE Airtricity.