Angling News
NW Angling Report - to 3 August 2008
By Rory Sheehan
7, Aug 2008 - 08:20

River Moy

There was a marked improvement in the angling on the River Moy with a reported 1,050 salmon caught for the week. Torrential rains on Thursday brought a significant rise in the water levels and encouraged many fish to run that had been holding in the Estuary.

The Moy Fishery experienced some fantastic angling with 115 salmon caught from the Ridge Pool.  Northern Irish Angler Terry McDermott had two fish, one on fly and one on spinner. Niall Tonge, Meath, banked 3 salmon on spinner, while John Chambers from the North of Ireland caught 4 fish. The good angling continued on the Cathedral Beat with Kevin Tonge, Dublin, catching 3 fish and Welsh angler Kelvin Thomas, 2 fish on the fly. On the Polnamonagh Beat Colin Nesbitt had 4 fish while on the Spring Wells Beat Patsy Smith of Cavin, banked 3 salmon.

A Juvenile angling competition was held on the Cathedral Beat. It was organised by the North Western regional Fisheries Board. Prizes and baits for the day were supplied by Ridge Pool Tackle with prizes were also sponsored by the Ballina Angling Centre. Thirty five boys and girls took part in what was a very enjoyable days fishing. First prize went to Ben McKalvey with Patrick Armstrong in second place while Cian Dolan was third with Mathew McKalvey in fourth place.

Good catches were reported from the Ballina salmon anglers water while Mount Falcon also reported a good week. Brian McGuinness, Newcastlewest, took 3 salmon while spinning on the Gannon’s Fishery. The Foxford Fishery proved lucky for first time angler Simon Ravanscroft from the UK who caught 4 salmon. On the Cloongee Fishery, Paul Wymes, from Dublin, caught, and released, 3 grilse using bubble and fly, Eddie McCall, Northern Ireland, had 3 grilse on spinner and David Crawford, also from Northern Ireland, had 3 salmon. On the East Mayo Anglers Waters, UK angler Michael Fernandes had a grilse of 7 lbs.

The sea trout angling remains steady on the River Moy Estuary. Decent numbers of fish were caught around the Black Banks, Ice House and the Quay.

The North Western Regional Fisheries Board would like to offer its congratulations to the Irish Youth International Fly Angling teem who won the Youth International Fly Fishing Competition held on Lough Conn on 30 July in difficult fishing conditions. The win for Ireland was all the sweeter as the team was captained by local youngster, Michael Tiernan, Foxford.

Angling activity on Lough Conn increased significantly over the week. This was partly due to Youth International competition, which attracted an increased number of anglers, as well as a general improvement in angling.

Popular fly patterns used on the lake during the course of the week were Bibio, Wulff’s, Green Peter and Claret Dabbler.

Walter and Susan Byrne caught 5 trout fishing wet flies, the best a fish of 2.5 lbs while 8 year old Conor Dunne from Cloghans, had 3 trout all over 1 lb. Michael Finnerty from Laois, and boat partner, caught and released 6 fine trout for 8 lbs while Meath angler, Margaret Boylan, caught 2 trout for 1.5 and 1.75 lbs fishing the Golden Olive Bumble.

During the early part of the week water levels on the Owenmore River were low and not ideal for angling. As a result, only 2 salmon were caught for this period. Rory Murray and Declan Dooley, Jnr, both had fish of 6 lbs. Rain towards the end of the week brought an improvement in angling and a further 8 salmon were reported caught.

The light westerly wind on Lough Furnace made for excellent fishing for the week. Good numbers of ranched grilse were caught along with 3 wild fish. Ally’s Cascade, Kingsmill, Dyson, Jungle Bunny and Green Peter were favoured by anglers on the Lake.

John Maguire, of Trim, boated 4 grilse for an evening fishing with one of these, a wild fish, released, in accordance with fishery rules. The fish were 5 lbs, 6 lbs, 5.5 lbs and 6.5 lbs while Liam O’Connor, Dublin, caught his first salmon, a fine grilse of 6 lbs and then went on to catch a further two grilse 5.5 lbs and 5 lbs on the same day.

The Green Peter fishing remained steady on Lough Arrow. David Cadman caught two fine trout for 4 and 2.5 lbs while Leo Conlon had a 3.5 lbs fish.

The run of salmon in to the Ballisodare River remains good but the angling catches over the week did not reflect this. This was due to low water levels and high temperatures. Most of the angling was concentrated below the falls in the "Butt". Local anglers mainly fished the river this weekend with Vincent Henry returning a 5lb salmon which was taken on the prawn and Gerry McHugh released a 6lb fish which fell to the fly.

Good numbers of small sea trout are still being reported in the lower reaches of the river and some salmon were also reported caught.

Nineteen anglers ventured out on to Ballin Lough for the week. The fantastic quality of the trout present in the lake was demonstrated in the catches with a good number of 3 and 4 lbs fish landed. Muddlers, Buzzers, Ace of Spades and Orange Fritz were the flies of choice for the week. Jimmy Gibson, Scotland and Westport, had the best of the fishing with 8 trout, a fine 4 lbs fish included in the catch. Denis Murphy, Castlebar, had 2 trout with the best fish at 3 lbs while Ronan Garrett and friend also had 2 trout with the best at 3 lbs.