The Moy has continued to produce salmon following the capture of the first fish on the East Mayo Anglers water on St. Patrick’s Day. The first one was a fine salmon of 9 lbs. and was caught by Phil Beirne, Castlebar, on a Blue Devon spinner. The same stretch produced another salmon the following day for Seamus Cummins, Bohola. His fish weighed about 7 lbs. and was caught on fly and released. The following day, the action got under way on the Ballina Salmon Anglers water with local angler, Martin Conroy, catching the first salmon of the season there, a 6 lbs. fish, taken on worm. On 21 March, a visiting French angler landed 9 lbs. salmon on a spinner on the East Mayo water. Elsewhere, salmon have been reported from the Ballyvary River, Lough Cullin and from Lough Conn bringing the total for the Moy system over the past week to fourteen salmon. With water levels dropping, angling should improve over the coming weeks unless there is a further deterioration in the weather.

Loughs Conn and Cullin

The Easter holiday period saw increased trout angling activity on Loughs Conn and Cullin with a number of trout reported from both lakes. The best fish were taken by

Neil Armstrong, a guest of Pontoon Bridge Hotel, while trolling on Lough Conn with well known ghillie, Vinnie O’Boyle. Neil landed a fine trout of 7 lbs. followed a short time later by one weighing almost 10 lbs. (I’m reliably informed that it was not the famous astronaut but that he was over the moon with his catch!). Some trout were also taken on fly on Cullin where duck fly hatches were reported. Duck fly imitations also worked on Conn where local anglers, Seamus Kelly and Gary Binley, had three trout for 5 lbs. with best weighing 2 lbs. Johnny Warren and Ian Wyse had 5 trout with the best at 2 lbs taken on buzzer. Joe Quinn and John Walsh had 5 trout including one of 4.5 lbs with the others around 1 lb. Padraic Traynor had one at 1.5 lbs on a buzzer. A total of 48 anglers reported 36 trout for 54 rod days from the two lakes.