River Moy

The Moy system accounted for a total of 72 salmon for the week.

On the Ridge Pool, Bart Kavanagh, Dublin, had 2 salmon on the fly, with best at 7 lbs. Dutch angler, Peter Reintjens, who was fishing the Point Beat caught and released a fish at 5 lbs. on a spinner.

Anthony McHale had a salmon at 8 lbs. on the Ballina Salmon anglers stretch, Colin Todd, Northern Ireland, and Yan Bouchard, France, who were fishing Gannon?s caught fish at 11 lbs. and 8 lbs. on the prawn. On the Foxford Fishery, Granville Nesbitt landed a salmon at 7 lbs. and Cairan Sudyan, Dublin, took another one weighing 6.25 lbs.

Up river, the Cloongee Fishery produced 9 salmon for the week including an 11.5 lbs. fish (worm) for Jan Hoy, Denmark, a 6.5 lbs. salmon for Paul Wymes, Dublin, a fine 13 lbs. fish (worm) for Keith Mistilly, Northern Ireland and a salmon (spinner) weighing 6 lbs. for Jack Roy, France. There also was very good fishing on the East Mayo anglers water where fly anglers Wolf Belger and Thomas Carl, both from Germany, had fish at 11 lbs. and 3 lbs. Also on Cloongee, Kevin Pfattmeier (fly), Austria, and Kevin Agnew (worm), Northern Ireland, caught salmon weighing 10 lbs. and 11 lbs.  

Carrowmore Lake & Owenmore River

Conditions were less than favourable for angling on Carrowmore Lake this week. The lake was still discoloured for most of the week with the result that few anglers ventured out before the weekend when conditions improved. As a result, 3 salmon (all returned) were caught over the weekend: Frank Dooley had a fish at 12 lbs., John Reynolds, Belmullet, caught one at 7 lbs. and a visiting angler from the UK caught the third fish weighing 8 lbs.

The first fish of the season was caught on the Owenmore River this week. Raymond C. Bickley, UK, was the lucky angler and his salmon weighed in at 10 lbs. Water levels remained good for most of the time with a further 4 salmon reported for the week: John Reynolds, Belmullet, landed a fine fish weighing 12 lbs., Martin Reuland also Belmullet, caught one at 10 lbs., Dick Winship, UK, took one at 7 lbs. and NWRFB Angling Officer, Markus Muller, had a salmon at 11.5 lbs. on an Autumn Brahan.

A "bar of silver" from the Owenmore River

Lough Beltra

Lough Beltra, which is open on a Catch & Release basin only, produced two more springers this week. Kevin Byrne, Castlebar, had a salmon at 11 lbs. and Eamon Kennedy, Newport, caught one weighing 10 lbs. Both fish were, of course, released.

Ballin Lough

This lake fished very well for the week and all anglers reported excellent results. Thirty-two rods caught a total of 62 trout (27 released).

Amongst the successful anglers were Alan Daniels & David Quinn with 12 trout (8 released), best at 3 lbs., Michael Quinn, Galway, with 4 fish, best at 3.5 lbs. and Vincent Roche, CEO NWRFB, fishing together with Harry Lyo & Alan McGurdy with 9 trout (2 released). Vincent had the best fish for the week - a rainbow trout weighing 4 lbs. 12 ozs. Best flies were Zulu, Claret Bumble, Green Peter, Bibio and Goldheads.

Vincent Roche with his 4 lbs 12 oz Ballin Lough Rainbow

   
The newly formed Kiltimagh Angling Club hosted a competition on Ballin Lough on Saturday, 12 May. The event was a beginner?s competition and a total of 5 trout was caught by the keen novices.

Bilberry Lake & Lough Lannagh

The Irish Ladies Fly Fishing Association held their 2nd trial over the weekend. Fourteen lady anglers participated in the event and 56 trout were caught, measured and subsequently released. The trial was won by Madeleine Kelly, Belfast, Sorcha Weld, Kildare, was runner up and Muriel Scorer, Meath, came third.  

Lough Conn & Lough Cullin

Fishing on the both Loughs has been pretty good for the past week and about 180 anglers reporting 200 trout, weighing 190 lbs. in 230 rod days.

Padraig Traynor, Crossmolina, had 7 trout for one evening with best at 2.5 lbs. Padraig caught most of his fish on Green and Grey Wullfs. John Burke, Foxford, took 4 trout for 8 lbs. on Stimulators and Eugene Munnelly, Ballina, had 8 fish for 8 lbs. with best at 2 lbs. Colin Cahill and Paddy Ward, both from Mullingar, also landed 8 trout averaging 1 lbs. with best at 2.75 lbs. David McNee, Scotland, had 6 fish over 2 days for 5 lbs., best at 2 lbs. on dry Mayflies and UK angler, John Nickelson, took 4 trout for 5 lbs with best at 1.5 lbs.; Bibio & Octopus patterns worked best for John.

Elsewhere, Hans V. Otterloo and Wim Hanselaar, both from Holland, had good sport on Bibios and Olives catching 5 trout with an average weight of 0.75 lbs.

The Albert Berry party of 70 anglers from the Monaghan/Cavan area held their annual angling competition on Lough Cullin on Sunday, 13 May. A total of 45 trout were weighed in and Dan Gormley on the competition with the heaviest fish at 3.9 lbs. the heaviest bag went to Jack Spratt and Stan McCort.  

Ballisodare River

The Ballisodare Fishery had a reported catch of 38 salmon (17 released) for the week. The majority of the fish was caught on worm and fly. The best fish for the week weighed 10 lbs. and was caught by Anthony McCann on an Ally?s Shrimp

Lough Arrow 

Fishing picked up on Lough Arrow during the week with prolific mayfly hatches on most of the days. Thirty trout were reported by anglers for the week with Jonathan Frazer landing the best fish weighing 4 lbs.

The ?Mayfly Competition? was held on Sunday, 13 May. The competition was based on the heaviest fish and nearly all trout were taken on the dap. Results were as follows: 1st Philip Murray with a magnificent trout at 7.4 lbs., 2nd Brian Hargadon with a trout at 3.5 lbs, 3rd John Finegan with a trout at 2.7 lbs. and 4th John Hargadon who caught a trout weighing 2.25 lbs. The juvenile section of the competition was won by Garlath Dodd with a 2.1 lbs. trout and runner up was Darren Lavin with a fish at 1.2 lbs.