Angling News
NW Angling News - 15 June 2008
By Rory Sheehan
20, Jun 2008 - 08:31

Skipper Mary Gavin Hughes and angler John Costigan with his fantastic 200lbs Clew Bay skate.

River Moy.
The River Moy continued to produce some very good salmon angling over the week, with a large average size of fish reported, despite the dry weather. The reported catch was 125 salmon, bringing the total for the year to 1078.

The Ridge Pool produced a fine salmon of 12.29 lbs for visiting Welsh angler Mark Roberts, while Jeffrey Hatt from Sligo landed an11.55 lbs fish. Local angler, Declan Hennigan, had a 9.59 lbs salmon while Sean Maye from Sligo caught and released a 5.5 lbs fish. On the Weir pool, Northern Irish angler, Alan Dunlop, caught 2 salmon, for 3.34 & 3.36 lbs, while fellow Northern Irish angler, Ivor Trimble, caught a 5.54 lbs salmon. The Cathedral Beat fished well during the week with UK angler, Paul Ashworth, landing two fish one for 10.5lbs and the other which he released for 12 lbs approx.

Up river at Armstrong’s, Welsh angler, Gareth Jones, banked a 6 lbs fish. The Foxford Fishery produced 3 salmon for Seamus Darby and friend from Co. Meath, fishing worm. Two of their fish weighed for 8 lbs each with one at 6 lbs. French angler, Stephane Beuoel, landed a 9 lbs salmon while fishing at Foxford Salmon Anglers water, Rinanney. Monaghan angler, Brendan Doyle, caught a 3 lbs salmon while Thomas McKeown and friend had two salmon of 4.5 and 4.75 lbs on the Cloongee fishery.         

Lough Conn.
Angling on Lough Conn was a little slower then previous weeks but is expected to pick up with the arrival of some more unsettled weather. Sixty anglers reported a catch of 60 trout for 120 rod days with an average size of .9 lbs.

Pat Forde and Jason McCormick from Limerick each had 2 trout each. Lawrence Mc Fadden and Gerard Cottle had 5 trout for 8 lbs, the best a 2 lbs fish. Mary Branson and Alan McIntee took 3 trout for an evenings fishing. Pieter Haraldson and his Swedish friend caught 3 trout.

The most productive fly patterns for the week were Wulffs, Green Peters, Watson’s Fancy, Fan-winged May Fly and Claret Bumble.  

Lough Furnace.
Lough Furnace opened to angling on the 12th of June. Two salmon (both wild) were caught and returned by the Fishery manager Pat Hughes. The Lake is showing very good numbers of salmon building up at the salmon leap.
To arrange angling on Lough Furnace, contact, Pat Hughes, Fishery Manger, Tel: (098) 42300

Lough Arrow.
Angling has picked up again on Lough Arrow after the May Fly and is expected to improve further when the Green Peter fishing starts. It produced a very good size of fish over the week to anglers willing to fish the Murrough late in the evening. Michael Gunning caught 2 fish of 3.5 & 2.75 lbs. Sean Kelly had a lovely trout of 4 lbs and a 1.5 lbs fish.

Moy Estuary.
The Moy Estuary continues to fish extremely well. Good catches of Sea trout were reported over the week with fish up to 3.5 lbs taken and anglers catching large numbers of fish in general. Andy Banks from Scotland caught over 20 trout on mackerel strip, and returned most of the fish. 

Ballin Lough. 
Angling on Ballin Lough was very good over the week. The stocking of 250  Rainbow Trout in to the lake the preceding week lead to very positive reports from anglers about the size, quality and quantity of fish. Thirty six anglers fished for the week catching 52 trout, the best 5lbs. Jim Muldoon and boat partner had 5 fish with 5 lbs the biggest. Ronan Greane from the USA and Anna Mabrey from Ireland also had 5 trout with the best a 5lbs fish.  Pat and Denis Murphy, Castlebar, boated 5 fish. Popular flies over the week: were Grey Ghost, Damsel patterns, Nymphs and Buzzers. To book fishing on this popular and productive Rainbow Trout fishery, anglers should contact Mrs. Gill on 098-26128.

Sea Angling.
The angling off the coast of the North West is picking up with the rise in water temperatures. Good species fishing was reported over the week. John Costigan, from Tipperary, was rewarded with the fish of a life time, a 200lbs skate from Clew Bay. (See picture) John is a regular visitor to the Clew Bay area and was angling aboard Mary Gavin Hughes’s boat, Shamrock 1, when he hooked the fish. The skate had previously been tagged under the Marine sport fish program.    

Coarse Angling.
Twelve year old angler, Brendan Muldoon, caught two nice tench while fish with his father at Finn Lough. The fish were 4.5 and 5.5lbs in weight and were taken on the waggler. Angling on Ballinascarrow Lake was reported to be good during the week with good bags reported.