Angling News
NW Angling - 31 May 2009
By Markus Müller
4, Jun 2009 - 08:25

River Moy 

There was a notable increase in the number of anglers fishing the Moy system over the past week, with 243 salmon reported which brings the total catch for the year to date to 958. 

On the Ballina Salmon Anglers water, Patrick Flattery had two salmon at 4 lbs. & 6 lbs. on the worm. Dublin angler, Mitch Tunikowski, caught a 9 pounder on the Mount Falcon water fishing a spinner, while visiting Swiss angler, Tirmen Bouchard landed a fine 14.5 lbs. salmon on Gannon’s. The Foxford Fishery produced salmon for Roy Howell, England, (9.25 lbs.) and David Bradley Northern Ireland, (11 lbs.) On The Foxford Salmon Anglers Rinanny stretch, Uwe Kreichauk, Germany had a nice fish of 14.5 lbs. on worm.  

Upstream of Foxford on The Cloongee Fishery, Eamon Donnelly, Northern Ireland, caught a 9 lbs. fish on worm and John Hasson, also Northern Ireland, landed a 10 pounder. Harald Neumüller, Germany, scored again catching 4 salmon weighing between 6 lbs. & 10 lbs. Other anglers who had salmon on Cloongee during the week included Andre Rolland, France, (11 lbs. bubble & fly), Francis Higginbottom, Northern Ireland, (9 lbs. & 12 lbs. worm), Raymon Hynes, Offaly, (9.25 lbs. worm) and Declan Byrne, also Offaly (8 lbs. worm). 

Anglers also enjoyed good fishing on the East Mayo Association water. Amongst the successful anglers were Mark Fix, UK, with a 12 lbs. salmon (worm), Rene Koenig, Germany, who caught a 9 lbs. salmon on fly and Reto Courtalldes, Switzerland, with a 10 pounder also on fly.

Moy Estuary 

Dropping water levels and the fine warm weather brought a lot of anglers out during the week with large numbers of small sea trout caught and released on fly. However, some bigger fish between 1 lbs. and 2 lbs. were taken on sand eel & mackerel strips. With the fine dry weather continuing, prospects for the coming week are good.  
 

Lough Conn  & Lough Cullin 

This week saw a considerable rise in temperatures from 14 to 20 degrees Celsius, with some mayfly hatches in sheltered bays. 

From Pontoon Bridge Hotel, all anglers reported good fishing, releasing most of the trout. Lynn Knight, Bohola, who visited the fishing school, had one trout for just over 1 lbs. to a mayfly. Geoff Cooke, UK, caught 5 trout over 3 days, best at 2 lbs., while Swedish angler, Her Hechford, had 10 trout for his week, all to mayfly patterns. Tim Deacy, Castlebar, had a total of 12 trout over a few days to the Drake, Murragh and Green Mayfly, best just over 2 lbs. Udo Diesburg, Germany, boated 4 trout during his stay, while Patrick Timoney, had 2 fish for 2 lbs. to an Octopus. 

Fishing from Healy’s Hotel was also good during the week, with good numbers of trout reported, most of which were released.  

Maurice Cahill & David Bourke and a party from Co. Cork had over 30 trout (all released) over 5 days to wet flies. The Wicklow Anglers held their annual competition during the week, with 20 anglers catching 16 trout averaging 1 lb. Results were as follows: 1^st Billy Hannon, 2 trout for 0.93 kg, 2^nd Kevin Rooney, 2 trout for 0.76 kg, 3^rd Mark Garassa 1 trout for 0.65 kg. The previous week, the Castlebar Anglers Association hosted the “Frank Quinn Memorial Cup”. The competition was won by Joe Ferguson with 3 trout for 4.06 kg. Runner up was Jim Ruane with 3 fish for 3.03 kg and third place went to Peter D. Roche who finished with 2 trout for 2.92 kg. 

From Murphy’s Boat Hire, Massbrook, Stephen Jones and Brothers Nigel & David, Wales, had 4 trout over 3 days to dry flies, averaging 1 lbs, while releasing a number of smaller trout. Regular visitor to the area, Ronnie Chambers, Northern Ireland, boated 10 trout for the week, all between 1 lbs. and 2 lbs. Ben Danaher, Cork, fishing with his brother had 4 trout, best at 3 lbs., while Paddy Connolly, UK, got 4 fish, averaging 1 lbs. Also from Murphy’s Boat Hire, a group of French anglers headed by Francois Sorissi had 10 trout over a few days. Graham Williams caught 3 trout while fishing with a visiting Belgian angler who also caught 3 trout. 

From Cloonamoyne Fishery, Enniscoe, Crossmolina, Gary Crossley had one nice trout at 2.5 lbs. on a dry spent in Flannery’s Bay. Dermot McEleese and partner, Dublin, had 5 trout for 3 days to mayfly patterns, best at 2 lbs, while David Jackson & partner, UK, caught 20 trout for their week, all between 1 lbs. and 1.5 lbs. Canon John Flynn, Knockmore, boated 10 brown trout over 5 days, heaviest at 2 lbs., with the rest averaging 1.5 lbs. He also had a sea trout for just over 1 lbs. to a dry Olive.    

Fishing out of Kelly’s Boat Hire, Cloghans, anglers also enjoyed good sport. Amongst other anglers to report good fishing during the week were Walter and Susan Byrne, Offaly & Cloghans, with 10 trout over a few evenings, best at 2 lbs., Gerry Sheehan & party of 6, Cork, with 40 trout, best at 3.5 lbs. and Daniel Edwards & partner, Wales, who finished with 8 trout. 

From Brackwansha, Michael McNeely, Brackwansha & Mullingar, reported good fishing during the week with plenty trout caught, best at 2 lbs. Also from Brackwansha, Michael McCabe & Liam Gilsenan had 12 trout over 3 days, best at 3 lbs. Elsewhere, John Warren and Ian Wise reported 8 trout between them, best at 2 lbs. 

The Lough Conn & Cullin Anglers held their annual Whit Weekend Competition, with 110 anglers taking part in the event and 74 trout recorded averaging 1.56 lbs. The competition was won by Martin McCorian, Dublin, with 4 trout for 3.5 kg. Second place went to Colin Wilson, Northern Ireland, with 3 trout for 3.265 kg and Paul Campbell, Dundalk, came 3^rd with 2 trout for 3.16 kg. Paul Campbell also had the heaviest fish, a cracking 6.5 lbs. brownie caught at Glass Island on a dry mayfly.

Carrowmore Lake 

The lake continued to fish very well over the week with 13 salmon caught. Declan Dooley, Dublin, did particularly well with 5 salmon, 4 of which he released. Other anglers who enjoyed good fishing on Carrowmore Lake this past week included Rory Harkin, John Donohue, John Long, Matt Shanley, Vincent Lynam all from Dublin, Albert Rogers, Northern Ireland and local anglers Franz Kaiser & Michael Noone. 

Lough Beltra & Newport River

Ballin Lough 

Ballin Lough continued to fish well, with all anglers enjoying good catches. Twenty-three anglers fished during the week, catching a total of 70 rainbow trout, 63 of which were released.  

Brent Vinall and Andy Birkett, UK, had 10 rainbows (4 returned), best at 2.5 lbs., while Christy Cox and boat partner caught 6 fish (4 released), heaviest at 3.5 lbs. A fine 4 lbs. rainbow was caught by A. Garvey, Dublin. 

Best flies for the week were Dabblers, Damsel, Daiwl Bach and Gold Fritz. 

Ballisodare River

Nigel Wilson had the best fish for the week, a fine 10 lbs. salmon to the prawn, while Bob Romer caught an 8 lbs. salmon on fly. Also on the fly, Garreth Ruigank caught and released two salmon which were estimated at 8 lbs. & 6 lbs.
 
 

Lough Arrow 

Fishing on Lough Arrow has been pretty good for the past week with most of the action taking place in the evenings. Anglers reported a good fall of spent and the buzzer fishing was also productive. 

Noel Fairbanks had 5 trout (3 at 3lbs. & 2 at 2.5 lbs.) on the spent and on buzzers. Visiting French angler, Vincent Brault, landed a fine 4.75 lbs. trout also on buzzer, while David Gray got two fish at 2 lbs. Kenneth Murray also had a very good week, with a total of 14 trout (7 released), best at 4.5 lbs.