River Moy
The Moy had a total of 33 salmon reported for the week.
On Gannons, John Marshall, Northern Ireland, caught a salmon at 8 lbs. on prawn. Granville Nesbitt reports 2 fish from the Foxford Fishery: Dermot O?Hanlon, Northern Ireland, and Dr. Graham Hey, UK, both had one salmon weighing 8 lbs. each. On Clongee, Paul Wymes, Meath, had a fish at 10 lbs. on spinner, which he released. Also on Cloongee, Austrian angler, Martin Guttman, landed a salmon at 5.5 lbs. and Gary Mulhall, Wicklow, had a fine 13 lbs. salmon on worm. There was also good fishing on the East Mayo Anglers stretch and it was here that visiting angler, Hans-Joachim Roth, Germany, caught and released a 5 lbs. salmon. Mr. Roth was fishing the fly. Also on the fly, Mick Maye, Galway, landed a fine fish weighing 9 lbs. One salmon was caught on the Ballintemple Beat and 2 more salmon are reported caught trolling on Lough Conn.
Moy Estuary
This is the second week of good sea trout catches in the Moy Estuary. Three local boats had been out during the week and report good sport on the fly. The trout weight between 1 lbs. and 1.5 lbs. and were all released.
Carrowmore Lake
The windy weather and heavy rain early in the week resulted in a slight discolouration of the lake with fishing conditions deteriorating for a few days. However, with water clarity back to normal, 5 salmon were reported for the weekend. English angler, Barry Lowrie, and friends caught 3 salmon weighing between 7.7 lbs. and 8.5 lbs. Pat Kelly, Co Kildare, will definitely remember Carrowmore Lake as he caught his first ever salmon on Saturday, 28 April, weighing 7.5 lbs. ? and this after 10 years of fishing!
Lough Beltra & Newport River
There was good angling this week on Lough Beltra. Ian Holman had a fish at 6 lbs. and James O?Hora caught one weighing 10 lbs. On the Glenisland Co-Op side, Kevin Byrne had 2 fine salmon at 9 lbs. and 10 lbs. and Rory Murray, Portlaoise, caught a fish at 7 lbs.
The first salmon of the season was caught on the Newport River by visiting angler William Moberg. The fine fish weighed 11 lbs. and was, of course, also released as the Newport River/Lough Beltra system is open on a Catch & Release basis only.
Clogher Lough (Westport)
Moy Fishery Manager, Declan Cooke, caught 6 nice trout (all returned) and Arnold Whymm, Glenisland, and friend reported 30 trout, all of which were also released. Permits and boat hire for Clogher Lough can be arranged through Mrs. Gibbons on 098-25061.
Lough Conn
Despite the warm weather and sunny conditions anglers were rewarded with some nice catches over the last week. Forty-six anglers reporting 60 trout, weighing 55 lbs. in 50 rod days.
Robert Sinclair, Scotland, a guest of Healy?s Hotel, Pontoon, took a beautiful 6 lbs. trout while trolling. He also caught a further 6 trout averaging 1.5 lbs., all of which were released. Tim Deasy, Castlebar, who was fishing with Ghilli Jack Mellet, had 9 trout over 2 days, best at 2.1 lbs. Dermot Dunn, Offaly, had 7 trout over two days, averaging 0.75 lbs., best at 2.25 lbs. and Bernie Scott, Moate, fishing with Denis Michael, Ballina, landed 4 trout for 6 lbs., best also at 2.25 lbs.
Most successful flies for the week were Bibio, Sooty Olive and Dabbler patterns.
Lough Arrow
A small number of trout were reported for Lough Arrow for the week, all caught on the troll. David Frazer had 1 fish at 1.5 lbs (returned), Thomas Walsh had 3 trout at 1.75 lbs., 2 lbs & 2.25 lbs. and Mark McConnon landed 2 trout weighing 1.75 lbs. and 2 lbs. With the first mayflies hatching, the coming weeks look more promising for good sport on the fly.
Pike Angling
Pike guide, Bodo Funke, reports lively pike action this week in the North Western Region. While guiding two Italian anglers, Bodo managed to hook a very nice pike, which topped the scales at exactly 20 lbs. A few smaller pike were also caught and pike fishing is expected to stay lively for the next few weeks as then all pike should have finished spawning. Bodo can be contacted on www.anglingservicesireland.com