River Moy

Angling effort was down considerably once again on the River Moy in comparison to previous weeks, with very few anglers fishing over the Bank Holiday weekend. Despite this, the Moy reported 741 salmon, with the Moy Fishery accounting for 104. A total of 54 were caught at the Ridge Pool, where George Heuston, Donegal had two to the fly, his best 4.5lbs while Edward Kelly, Cavan, had one of 4lbs on the fly. Trevor Wylie, N.Ireland had success on both the Ridge Pool and Cathedral Beat, catching one of 6.6lbs with a spinner on the Ridge, beating this with a nice salmon of 8.6lbs from the Cathedral. Father and son Shane and Jan Jenkins, Wexford, both had success while fishing the Cathedral Beat, with Jan catching two, his best 4.5lbs and Shane catching and releasing one of 3lbs.

At the Ash Tree Pool, George Heuston again had good fortune, landing two with the fly while Seamus McEleney, Donegal, also had two. The Freshwater Beat also produced a few fish, where Bernard Mannion banked two with the spinner, his best 5lbs.

Upstream, Ballina Salmon Anglers water continued to fish well, and Mount Falcon had a very successful week, where the Miller/Perks party of four from the UK had great sport, catching a total of 69 salmon for the week, 26 of those on the fly, and releasing 39 of these. The Knockmore and Attymass waters continued to fish well, as did Coolcronan, where the Jenkins pair from Wexford again had success.

Byrne's, Armstrong's and Gannon's also produced their share for the week, as did the Foxford Fishery, where Brian Fozard, UK, had three while Dermot Lavery, Monaghan had two. Rinanney again had a bumper week, while Foxford Salmon Anglers water and the Foxford town water enjoyed good fishing. At Cloongee, father and son Hans Jürgen and Oliver Vollbrecht, Germany, had two apiece, with Michael Conway also catching one. The East Mayo Anglers' water also fished well, where Dermot Drain, N.Ireland caught two, James Bonner, UK, also had two while Achim Roos, Germany had one on the fly.

Lough Conn and Cullin

The Loughs fished well over the week, including some interesting results during recent ladies and juvenile angling competitions. Fishing out of Gortnorabbey, Ian Wise had one trout just under 2lbs taken on a dry fly, while Padraig Traynor had two trout totaling 3lbs. Fishing out of Kelly's of Cloghans, Peter Rooney and daughter, had four trout over two days, their best 1.5lbs, while Gerry Fox, Sligo had two trout for 3lbs, while Lawson Clements, also Sligo had two trout for 4lbs. From Pontoon Bridge Hotel, regular visitors from Cavan, Neil Shevlin and Ian Daly enjoyed success catching five trout over two days on Conn and Cullin, all to dry flies, with their best weighing 1.5lbs.

Both a junior and ladies angling competition were held on Lough Conn recently, in conjunction with Crossmolina Annual Festival. In the junior competition, 45 competitors took part, fishing from 22 boats. A total of 32 fish were caught and weighed, ranging from perch to pike and trout. The winner of the competition was David Crean, Cloghans, with a pike of 8.5lbs, second place went to Luke Browne, Brackwansha with a pike of 7.4lbs while third was won by Lorcan Loftus, Crossmolina with a pike of 7.1lbs. In the ladies competition, Merel Taal (originally of Holland) took first with a pike of 6.6lbs, second went to Mary Mulligan, Crossmolina while third went to Caoimhe Loftus also of Crossmolina.

Ballisodare Fishery

The Ballisodare River continued to fish very well with 189 salmon caught for the week and 114 of these fish released. Dermot Glennon landed the heaviest salmon of the week weighing 10lbs, caught on a Willie Gun. Fly fishing was once again popular in Ballisodare with John Scanlon and Niall Corrigan both successfully landing salmon of 7lbs on the fly. Visiting anglers Clive O'Neill and John Fahey caught and released 2 salmon each while father and son, Denis and Gary Barrett enjoyed their day's fishing at Ballisodare catching and releasing three salmon apiece.

Lough Arrow

The hatches of sedges on Lough appear to be fading, with trout now feeding on perch-fry, despite this some good angling was had on Arrow. Peter Dunn had four trout, between 2lbs and 3.5lbs. Dave Cadnam had a good week, catching six in total, his best weighing 4lbs. David Gray again had good sport, catching four up to 3.5lbs. Thomas Walsh had two trout for the week while the best trout caught was a fine 5lbs trout for Francie White.

Lough na Leibe

Fishing improved slightly last week, where large numbers of damsels and olives continued to hatch. Early morning and late in the evening had fish up feeding in the surface. The damsel nymph fished well in the shallows, with a number of large rainbow trout coming to the net. For trout feeding in the surface a size 14 Olive Shuttlecock Buzzer and a size 14 Olive Shipman's Buzzer produced good results. A total of 22 trout were caught for the week with 17 trout being returned. The 6th leg of the Lough na Leibe fly fishing competition will be held on Sunday 22nd August at 12.30pm, where all members of the Ballymote and District Angling Club are welcome to take part.

Owenmore River

Frequent showers in the Bangor Erris area have kept the Owenmore topped up throughout the week, leaving it in great condition for migrating salmon, and in an almost ideal condition for fly fishing. Among those to catch salmon this week were David Solomon, U.K. who landed a fine fresh run 7lbs salmon, and pictured below, Markus Müller, Bangor, who landed a magnificent
11lbs fish.

Markus Müller, with his magnificent 11lbs salmon from the Owenmore.

Newport River

Water conditions on the Newport River have been described as ‘ideal' over the week, despite this, few anglers took to the water. However, those who did fish enjoyed good fishing, with Dr Noel Cahill catching two grilse of 3lbs and 3.5lbs. Kit Westropp had three sea trout weighing between 1lbs and 2.75lbs, while Barry Kenny had a good week, catching three grilse at 3lbs, 3.5lbs and 5.5lbs.

Burrishoole Fishery

Plenty of salmon were observed in Lough Furnace over the week, however only four were caught for the week. Dermott Seymour, Galway caught two at 4lbs and 4.5lbs, while Bill Bullick also had one of 4.5lbs.

Ballin Lough

Ballin Lough fished well over the week, with 36 anglers averaging two trout each on their excursions. A total of 72 trout were caught, with 37 of these released. Jimmy Gibbons caught and released six trout in total, the best of these weighing 4lbs. Mattie Fahy and friend, Roscommon had a total of nine trout, with their best 3.5lbs. Gordon Mc Nicolas and Timmy Deasy had eight trout, releasing six and their best was also 3.5lbs. Nymphs, Muddlers and Daddys again have proved the most successful flies.

Sea Angling - Belmullet Area

Michael John Nallen of the Belmullet Sea Angling Club has provided a round-up of sea angling in the Belmullet area over the past few weeks. A group of local juvenile anglers enjoyed a great day on Broad Haven Bay under the guidance of Pat Ruddy and Kevin Walsh, boating a total of seven species for the day. Recently the club hosted its second ladies outing of the summer again all anglers had a great day, with six species caught, including some very good sized pollack, and ling up to 12lbs.

The Belmullet Sea Angling Club also held its fourth men's boat angling competition of the summer, aboard the Gearóidín in Broad Haven Bay. Winning the day was James Mangan with ten varieties, and second was Anthony Matterson with nine varieties. Species caught on the day were red, grey and tub gurnard, pollack, ling, wrasse, whiting, pouting, coalfish, dogfish, flounder and dab.

The 15th-22nd of August will see the Belmullet Sea Angling Club host its annual angling festival, with a full calendar of events throughout the week. On the 15th the shore angling competition will be held, while the 21st and 22nd will see the 39th Annual Sea Angling Festival, Two Day International Boat Competition take place. For entry or further information on the week's events, contact M.J. Nallen on 097 82093 or Tony Lally on 097 81778.