Angling continued to improve on the Moy system with a reported catch of 125 salmon for the week, bringing the total for the year so far to 391. The spell of settled and dry weather during the week has meant water levels have continued to drop leaving excellent angling conditions on a number of the fisheries.

Ideal water conditions on the Moy Fishery during the week saw the first fish being landed from the Ridge Pool. The fish came to John Howley a Ridge Pool ghillie fishing worm, and was 6.5 lbs, followed by two more fish later that day. Tony Flanagan from Navan landed and released a fish of 11 lbs to the fly and Rocky Moran from Castlebar also caught and released a salmon on the fly at 11.5 lbs, also on the Weir pool John McKinley Athlone landed a fine fish of 10.67 lbs on the fly.

Tom Hunt from Northern Ireland had two fish from the Ballina Salmon Anglers stretch, 6 lbs and 9 lbs, both to a spinner. Kevin Dolan, Co Offaly had a 5 lbs fish on prawn and Jim Gallogley also from Co. Offaly had a 14 lb salmon while fishing at Armstrong’s. Graham Hey from the UK had 3 fish one of which he released from the Foxford Fishery while Ivan Tucker from Carlow had an 11.5 lbs salmon also from the Foxford Fishery. On the Rinanney Fishery, Northern Ireland angler Martin King had a 12 lb salmon on prawn. Last week, Austrian visitor, Jürgen Deikel had his first ever salmon, a nice 8.5 lbs fish, on the Foxford Anglers water.

The Cloongee Fishery had excellent fishing during the week with Turi Hilbert from Switzerland landing two lovely fish of 15.5 and 14 lbs. Two French anglers also enjoyed good angling, Luc Maumet landing a 9 lb salmon on a spinner and Luc Harne banking an 8.5 lb fish. East Mayo Anglers Waters proved lucky for UK angler Dave Batchelor. He landed three fish, two to the fly of 7 lbs and 8 lbs and one of 3 lbs on worm.

Carrowmore Lake

Despite the poor angling conditions over the week with bright sunshine, Carrowmore Lough produced some good fishing with 10 salmon caught. A good size of fish was the norm with almost all fish caught, being over the 7 lb mark. Kenneth Cosgrove from Bangor Erris had a fish of 7 lbs, Mark Rogers Snr. and his son had 2 fish of 7 and 6 lbs while Jim Collins from the UK had a 7 lb salmon. Local man Franz Kaiser had a good week with two salmon of 7 and 8lbs and his boat partner taking a fish of 7 lbs. Locals, Michael Noone and Gerry Coyle, boated two fish of 7 lbs each. Dr. Flynn fishing along with a South African Visitor took a salmon of 8 lbs.

Fishing on this prolific spring salmon fishery can be arranged by contacting Bangor Sporting Club at www.bangorerrisangling.com.

Ballisodare River

Good angling was to be had during the week on the fishery with 30 salmon landed and 24 of these fish being released. The fly proved successful during the week with club secretary Dermot Glennon landing 3 salmon, the best an 8 lb fish, on the fly and he released all of the fish. Anglers were rewarded with fish up to 11 lbs and a good number of 8 – 10 lb fish for the week.

Ballin Lough

Ballin Lough fished well during the week despite the strong sunshine, with 101 trout caught for 39 rods. Kevin and Michael Quinn from Galway had some fine angling with 18 fish for a day, returning 12, the best a lovely rainbow of 5 lbs. Jimmy Gibbons of Westport also had a good day boating 9 trout and returning 7. Young Robert Roche, Dublin, had his first trout on the fly when he landed a nice fish of 2 lbs., on Bank Holiday Monday, in bright sunshine. Buzzers and Olives proved the patterns of choice with Muddlers also providing good fishing. To book fishing on Ballin Lough, contact Mrs. Gibbons.

A warm and sunny week saw south easterly winds over both Loughs. The may fly hatches were slower than expected during the week. The most productive fly patterns were a wet Sooty Olive, the Bibio and wet may flies. Dry may patterns also proved successful during the week.

The week saw approximately 180 anglers land 250 trout for 230 rod days with an average fish weight of .91 lbs.

The Pontoon Bridge Hotel reported 5 trout for 5.5 lbs and one salmon of 10 lbs. Chris Carter of London released a trout of 1.5 lbs, Brian Hall of Hampshire, had a trout of 1 lb and also a salmon of 10 lbs while his boat partner Alan Benson had 3 trout for 3 lbs.

Albert Berry and a large party of anglers from Cavan & Monaghan enjoyed good angling with 62 trout for 2 days, fishing from Murphy’s boat hire, Massbrook. Pat Foley and Gerry Hughes had the biggest bag with 13 trout (over the two days), the best being 2.25 lbs. The heaviest fish of 2.3 lbs was landed by Michael Walsh.

Fishing out of Gortnorabbey, Michael J Cawley from Crossmolina, had 3 trout for 5.5 lbs, the best being 3 lbs. Ronnie Cox and P J Hallinan had 4 fish, all on wet may fly patterns, the best being 2 lbs.

The Lough Conn & Cullin Anglers hosted the I.T.F.F.A sponsored Connaught Cup. This was fished on Lough Conn at Gortnorabbey on Sunday the 11^th of May. Fifty-seven anglers competed, with the top 3 places going to:

• 1^st Gary Binnley, Foxford, 3 trout for 6.04 lbs.
• 2^nd Padraig Traynor, Crossmolina, 4 trout fro 4.75 lbs.
• 3^rd Robert Reilly, Loughrea, 3 trout for 3.89 lbs.

As well as finishing first Gary Binnley also landed the heaviest fish, a nice trout of 3.5 lbs.

Lough Arrow

Good hatches of may fly were reported from the lake last week but the warm weather and light winds did not help the fishing. Two fish were reported from the lake, both falling to a dapped may fly. Michael Gunning and Noel Clinton caught the 2 fish of 2.5 lbs each.

Pike

With the warm weather over the week pike angling was on the up, with pike being hungry and recovering after spawning. Bodo Funke of Angling Services Ireland reported his clients having good sport catching pike on the fly from float tubes.