River Moy

The Moy system had its best week for the season and produced a reported catch of 861 salmon for the week bringing the total for the season, so far, to 3,482. A big flood at the beginning of the week resulted in a good run of fish upstream. However, as a consequence, most of the river was un-fishable for a couple of days during the flood. Again, the middle and upper reaches of the river saw the best of the fishing while conditions on the lower beats remained poor due to the high water levels.

The Moy Fishery accounted for a total of 24 salmon for the week, with the bulk of the catch taken on the Ridge Pool. David Hunt, UK, caught one salmon on spinner and Paul Maloney, Portlaoise, had 2 fish to the worm. On the Freshwater Beat, Gerry Hartigan, Limerick, landed a 7 pounder on the worm, while his brother and manager of the Galway Weir Fishery, Seamus Hartigan, caught 2 fish (1 released).    

The Mount Falcon Fishery had its best week of the season, so far, and yielded a total of 52 salmon. Jim Wilshire and party of 3 anglers from the UK did particularly well catching 20 salmon for 3 days with best fish at 7.5 lbs. On Coolcroonan, Chris Atkinson & party of 3 anglers, UK, had 12 salmon mostly to the worm, while on Armstrong’s, German visitor, W. Gostrik had 3 fish and David Robinson, Northern Ireland, landed 2 salmon. The Foxford Fishery accounted for 35 salmon (7 released) for the week, all of which were caught by the Paul Tibbits party from the UK. The best fish of the week however, was caught on the Rinanney water by French angler, John Claude Cousquer. John Claude’s fish weighed in at 14 lbs. and was caught on the worm.

Cloongee produced 29 fish for the week including 2 salmon for Stephen Neil, Northern Ireland, 3 for Edward Neil, also Northern Ireland, one salmon for Michael Pfitzing, Germany, and 2 fish for lady angler Sabine Tamcke, also Germany. Angling was also excellent on the East Mayo Association Water where Jack Charlton landed a 4 lbs. grilse on the fly.
 

Lough Conn

The weather continued unsettled during the week, with strong north-westerly to north-easterly winds dominating and, as a consequence, the Lough was quiet for most of the week. However, 40 anglers reported 57 trout over 70 rod days. Hughie McCarroll, Tuam, fishing with Kelly’s Boat Hire, Cloghans, had 3 trout on the Mayfly and Olive Bumble, with best at 1.5 lbs. Michael Brosnan and Shane Flynn, from Limerick, each had 2 trout on Green Peter and Royal Wulffe, while Keith Johnston and his party of 4 anglers from the UK caught 9 trout (all around the 1 lbs. mark) over 2 days on Dry Buzzers. Leo Martins fishing together with his friend Pieter Hanneman from Belgium took 5 trout over 2 days, with best at 2.25 lbs. Elsewhere, professional angling guide, Ken Hall (www.mayoangling.com), fishing with his guest, Ian Wise, reported good hatches of mayflies along the Massbrook shore where they caught and released 2 nice trout averaging 1.5 lbs.

Loughs Bilberry & Lannagh

The prestigious McConville Cup was fished on Loughs Bilberry & Lannagh during the week. The three-day event (July 12th – 14th) attracted 149 anglers and a total of 154 trout was caught (Thursday 12th: 63 trout, Friday 13th: 66 trout & Saturday 14th: 25 trout). The overall winner of the trout angling competition which was promoted by Bilberry-Lannagh Angling Club, Islandeady, was Jim Acton, Tuam, with 2 fish weighing in at 2.4 lbs. Runner up was Jackie Coyne, Renvyle, and Kevin Molloy, Oughterard, came in 3rd.

Easkey River

The Easkey Fortland Fishery reported 7 salmon for the week. Nick Pirchard, UK, had 3 fish with best at 10 lbs. and John Lee, also UK, caught and released 2 fish. The best fish for the week however, was a fine 14.75 lbs. salmon taken on the fly. Due to the recent spell of wet weather water levels on this attractive spate river will remain ideal for the coming days.

Owenmore River & Carrowmore Lake

The heavy rain earlier in the week resulted in rising water levels on the Owenmore River during the latter half of the week. Eight salmon were reported from the Bangor Erris Club water. Local anglers John Reynolds, Liam Keenaghan, Ivor Curtis, Eamon Dean and Desmond O’Rourke all had a small grilse each, while Stephen Parker, Co. Roscommon, landed a fish weighing 5 lbs. Richard Burgess, Dublin, also did well and caught a fine 9.5 lbs. salmon.

While anglers on the Owenmore River benefited from the wet and windy weather, fishing conditions on Carrowmore Lake were difficult for most of the week. However, reasonable numbers of sea trout and 5 salmon were caught, including a 4 lbs. grilse for Kieran Smyth from Co. Cavan. A group of anglers from the Dargle Anglers, Co. Wicklow, also visited the lake during the week and caught 2 salmon, one of which was released. 

Newport River & Lough Beltra

There was reasonable sea trout fishing on the Newport River and Lough Beltra during the week with trout up to 1.5 lbs. reported. Ian Holman had 2 sea trout at 1 lbs. & 1.5 lbs from Lough Beltra, while visiting angler, Mr. Hompesch, caught 3 fish weighing 0.75 lbs., 1 lbs. & 1.5 lbs. on the Newport River. All fish were, of course, safely returned to the water as the Newport River/Lough Beltra system is open on a Catch & Release basis only.

Burrishoole Fishery

Again, this “fly only” fishery did very well for the week with a total of 30 salmon (5 wild) reported for 60 rod days. The best fish of the week, a fine 10 lbs. salmon, was caught and released by Sean Smith from the UK. Other notable catches include 8 fish for Tim Aldis, UK, for his week in Burrishoole, also 8 fish for Michael & Sean Smith, 4 fish for Michael & Mathew Solon, Co. Clare for 2 day’s fishing and 2 fish for Isle of Man angler, Danny Neill. Most successful flies for the week were Ally’s Cascade and Green Peter.

Ballin Lough

This Board managed fishery fished very well for the past week with 25 rods catching a total of 69 rainbow trout (28 released).

Amongst the successful anglers were: Jim Muldoon, Co. Kildare, with 5 trout (3 released), best at 4 lbs., Joe gibbons, Kilmeena, with 9 trout (7 released, best at 3.5 lbs. and Tommy Carroll, Islandeady, fishing with a friend who accounted for 7 trout (5 released) with best at 4.5 lbs. Most successful flies included Peter Ross, Mayfly Nymphs, Olives, and Montana patterns.

Ballisodare River

The water levels at the Ballisodare Fishery remained high for the week. In spite of this, fishing was still excellent, with good numbers of salmon showing and 101 fish (72 released) caught for the week. M. Graham, fishing an Ally’s Shrimp caught and released 3 grilse, best at 5 lbs. and visiting angler, J.J. Sullivan, had 2 fish, which he also released.

Drumcliffe River & Glencar Lake

Tony Gorman had two fish from the Drumcliffe River. The fish weighed 9 lbs. and 10 lbs. and both were caught on a “Flying C”. Noel McGowan landed a fine 9 lbs. salmon on the worm on the upper section of the river, while Ollie Dillon had one at 8 lbs. on Glencar Lake.
 

Lough Arrow

Angling was reasonably good on Lough Arrow for the week, with the northern end of the Lough fishing best. Most fish were taken on the Green Peter late in the evening. Noel Fairbanks had 4 fish averaging 2.5 lbs., Peter Dunne, landed two trout averaging 2 lbs., Michael Gunning caught one fish at 2.5 lbs. and John Hargadon took two trout at 3 lbs. and 3.5 lbs.