Angling News
Angling News from the West - 27 May 2015
By Kevin Crowley
29, May 2015 - 15:55

IFI Galway Angling Report 27 May 2015

Lough Corrib

Declan Gibbons provided this week's round up of Corrib action. Miko Keane reports that the Cornamona area produced quite good angling for the week, with mixed weather conditions and mixed hatches. The Cornamona Club held their annual May Fly Competition on Sunday, with visiting angler Keith Curtis taking top prize with of 3 trout for 8.07lbs. In second place was Gerry McDonnell with 4 trout for 7.64 lbs, and in the same boat Gerry's son Caolan was third, with 4 trout for 7.01lbs. In fourth place was top lady angler on the day Mary Somerville, with 3 trout for 6.22lbs. 39 anglers participated catching 56 trout with an average weight of 1.5lbs. The top four spots were all taken by anglers dapping.

Staying in the same area Richard Molloy (Ballard Shore Boat Hire, 087-2879339087-2879339) reports good fishing for anglers, with Enda Browne catching 4 lovely trout dapping on Sunday. Richard also hosted a group from Offaly who enjoyed excellent dapping and wet fly fishing with hatches to match it.

Mary and Paul Miller (www.loughcorribflyfishing.com) sent in a great photo of guest Jim Longmore who is a regular visitor to Corrib. Jim boated over 40 trout for his week this year (all sportingly released) including a fabulous 70cm trout that was his personal best, taken on buzzer.

Jim Longmore, a lontime visitor to Lough Corrib, with a fantastic 70cm trout taken on buzzer recently.

Mallow anglers Billy Kavanagh and Tom Whelan enjoyed good fishing on Friday with 5 trout to the boat in the Kenny's Bay/Annaghkeen area on mayfly. Ennis anglers Sean Dixon and Michael Killeen enjoyed good fishing in the Greenfields and Inchagoill areas on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, boating 12 trout over 13 inches and numerous more small trout. Ennis anglers Brian McInerney and Lal Gilligan on Sunday boated 5 trout over the 14 inch mark on wet may fly patterns in the Greenfields area. Staying in the same area Ennis anglers Gerry Kenny and Tony O'Donoghue landed 9 trout on Wednesday, the best being 1.75lbs, and on Thursday Gerry fished with Cork angler Joe Finn and enjoyed great sport in the same area. Mattie Hughes, father of well-known coarse angler Cathal, his brother Vincent and friend Pat Cooke enjoyed excellent mayfly fishing for 5 days, boating 29 trout over the 13 inch limit in the Greenfields-Inchiquinn area. In the Oughterard area Kevin Molloy (Baurisheen Boat Hire and Guiding, 087-9604170087-9604170) reported good fishing in the area. Dublin duo Peter O'Neill and Eugene Cassidy had 8 trout on wet mayflies on Saturday. Mark Curtis, Cork and friend had 6 trout for 2 days fishing wet fly. Kevin himself had 7 trout on buzzer, 5 sportingly released - best fish 3.5lbs. Also in Oughterard Basil Shields of Ardnasillagh Lodge (091-552550091-552550) reports great fishing with the Dargle Anglers group from Dublin, catching 11 fish for 2 days on a Catch and Release basis (best fish 42cms) on wet fly, dry fly and dapping. Northern Ireland angler Mark Patterson had 6 fish for 3 days and John Malcom had 12 fish for 3 days (best fish 5.25lbs), all caught on buzzer and sportingly released.
Deirdre Forde from Camillaun Lodge, Angling Centre and Boat Hire - (091 552678091 552678, www.camillaun.com) reports that over the past week the mayfly fishing continued well despite some difficult fishing conditions on Monday and Tuesday. David Wathan, Andrew Priestly, Geoff Sissons and Harry Vernon had in their own words "mixed weather but a brilliant week as always" landing 18 trout - best 3lbs. David Drury and Matt McInerney had some superb fish with 9 landed over 2 days including 3 fish over 2.5lbs, all on dry flies. Bernard Buisine from France had a good day's sport finally conquering the Corrib mayfly fishing and caught 4 fish, the best nearly 2 lbs. The Jones' brothers from Dublin and London had good sport catching fish on wetflies and dapping - with 6 fish, best 2.5 lbs. Ronan Joyce and friends had 4 fish and really enjoyed their introduction to Lough Corrib. Another fist time group were Arnaud Malaconi and friends from Dublin and France catching 2 trout of 1.5 and 2.5 lbs - a great result for beginners. In all another good week on the mayfly - the hatches continue but the bookings are slow for the coming week - it's strange a few years ago you would not get a boat this week in the Mayfly. There is still great fishing in the Oughterard area.
Ted Wherry was in touch to report that he and his wife enjoyed a tremendous week fishing with boatman Denis O'Keeffe, with 23 fish over 2lbs boated, all on dry mayfly.

Ted Wherry's dry mayfly pattern that accounted for a lot of trout on Corrib on his recent visit..

Another beautiful Corrib trout for the Wherrys, who enjoyed a great week's sport with boatman Denis O'Keeffe.

Larry McCarthy of Corrib View Lodge, Glencorrib (087-9135222087-9135222, www.corribangling.com) says visiting anglers enjoyed excellent fishing for the week, with Owein Meeling from Wales and a group of friends catching over 30 fish, predominantly on mayfly with some notable bigger fish taken on buzzer in the Greenfields and Ballynalty areas - all sportingly released. Tim Rowley and Terry Lusby, fishing with Larry, had 42 fish for 6 days including a personal best for Terry catching a trout of 4.5lbs, with Tim and Terry having several fish over the 3lbs mark and all sportingly released. Frank Reilly, boating for Corrib View Lodge, also reported excellent fishing in the Greenfields and Inchagoill areas of the lake, having boated 50 trout for the week on a mix of dry may fly and deep buzzer. Headford and Corrib Anglers held their Mayfly Pairs Competition in which Loughrea father and son duo Robert and Ciaran Reilly took top honours with 6 fish for 14.57lbs. In second place were Jimmy Acton and Bill Tully of Tuam with 5 fish for 11.35lbs. In third place was Martin Murphy of Greenfields and London, along with Ann Murphy of Greenfields, with 6 nice trout for 9.01lbs. 20 anglers fished the competition weighing in 32 trout, with all 10 boats weighing in trout.

A happy angler - Dan O'Donovan with a nice Corrib trout caught recently.

Larry McCarthy of Corrib View Lodge, Glencorrib (087-9135222087-9135222, www.corribangling.com) says visiting anglers enjoyed excellent fishing for the week, with Owein Meeling from Wales and a group of friends catching over 30 fish, predominantly on mayfly with some notable bigger fish taken on buzzer in the Greenfields and Ballynalty areas - all sportingly released. Tim Rowley and Terry Lusby, fishing with Larry, had 42 fish for 6 days including a personal best for Terry catching a trout of 4.5lbs, with Tim and Terry having several fish over the 3lbs mark and all sportingly released. Frank Reilly, boating for Corrib View Lodge, also reported excellent fishing in the Greenfields and Inchagoill areas of the lake, having boated 50 trout for the week on a mix of dry may fly and deep buzzer. Headford and Corrib Anglers held their Mayfly Pairs Competition in which Loughrea father and son duo Robert and Ciaran Reilly took top honours with 6 fish for 14.57lbs. In second place were Jimmy Acton and Bill Tully of Tuam with 5 fish for 11.35lbs. In third place was Martin Murphy of Greenfields and London, along with Ann Murphy of Greenfields, with 6 nice trout for 9.01lbs. 20 anglers fished the competition weighing in 32 trout, with all 10 boats weighing in trout.

Stephen Lydon of Lydons Lodge Cong (094-9546053094-9546053 www.lydonslodge.com) reports good fishing with Micheal O'Keeffe and Dave Sutton fishing on Friday and Saturday landing 7 trout, all taken on wet fly in the Castletown area and all sportingly released. Ciaran O Donnell and John, Peter, Chris and Conor Moran enjoyed excellent fishing on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, boating 20 trout (all sportingly released) over the 13 inch limit and numerous more smaller fish which made for excellent sport.

Keith McGovern was in touch to report good fishing in the Moycullen area, landing 3 fish to 7lbs, including 2 on a yellow fanwing mayfly and 1 on his own green mayfly tying.

Broken weather conditions yet again this week are set to prolong the mayfly hatch, with good hatches still being reported on most days. Conditions have not been right for a fall of spent, but anglers are enjoying great sport on the dap and to wet and dry fly. It is not unknown for the hatch to continue into June, which may well be the case this year.

Lough Mask
Ronan Cusack reports that Lough Mask has been a hive of activity over the past week, with dozens of happy anglers enjoying what Mask has to offer. Mayfly hatches could only be described as medium to fair, yet the trout fishing continues to be spectacular. Olive and buzzer hatches were a bit more predictable, with lots of good trout taken on nymph and buzzer patterns throughout the week.
Annual visitors to Lough Mask, Howard Smith and angling partner Mike, from the UK, fished with Ronan Cusack for two days this week and they had approximately 30 trout exceeding the limit on a combination of wets and buzzer (best fish 5lbs, all returned). John Webb and Mike Donaghy from Scotland also fished with Ronan for 4 days recently and they had something between 50 and 70 trout for their stay (best fish 3lbs, all returned).

Howard Smith with a lovely 5lbs trout from Lough Mask.

David Hall of Hall's Angling Centre (www.lakeshoreholidays.com) had nothing but good news again this week. English visitors Bob Forshaw, Paul Davis, Paul Hallmark and Keith Portis had a few days at Hall's and reported 119 fish for 6 days (best fish 3.9lbs, all returned). The lads also reported many more trout over 2lbs.
Regular visitors to Mask Denis Hill, Steve Ellis, Billy Graham and Larry Gibb from Northern Ireland had a week to remember on Mask this week, boating 120 trout during their 6 day stay (best fish 4lbs). German angler Bendiks Paul fished Mask for the first time ever this week and landed himself a lovely 5lbs trout pulling wets. Ballinrobe angler Kevin Egan had 6 good fish for a few hours on Monday (best fish 2.5lbs, all returned). Local angler Tim Hannon also fished for a few hours on Monday morning and he had 4 trout (best fish 2lbs, all returned). Ulster anglers Ivor Hazlett and angling partner Gareth Luve had a day to remember on Saturday when they boated over 20 trout exceeding the legal limit on a combination of wets and dapping. The weather looks to be quite unsettled for the next few days, so hopefully the good fishing will continue.

Margaret Gorman also reports the excellent fishing continued throughout the week for anglers fishing from Dringeen Bay. 20 trout to the boat for the day were common reports from anglers that fished from here. Huge numbers of small fish continued to be reported. While hatches of mayfly were inconsistent, trout were being caught on artifical mayfly patterns, both on wet fly and dapping. By the weekend, even though conditions were good, trout became more difficult to catch in big numbers.
Digby Lewis, UK, had a nice trout over 2lbs along with his friend Chris Huxley. Shane Ganley, Castlebar and his friend Michael had a lot of sport on their day out. Jim Dix, Cork and his friend Jack Mitchell had good success on the lake. 'Isham' guest, Alan Watts, Belfast and his family and friends have had some very enjoyable days fishing on Lough Mask this past week. Boats are available for Hire - With or Without Out-Board Motors. For further information on accommodation and angling advice, contact Margaret Gorman at 094 9546582094 9546582 or check www.congselfcatering.com

Product placement! John Webb takes a well earned break from fishing on Lough Mask to enjoy a bag of Tayto. A day on the lough at mayfly time wouldn't be complete without lunch on an island for most anglers.

A day on the lough at mayfly time wouldn't be complete without lunch on an island for most anglers.