Castlebar - County Mayo - NW Angling

River Moy

The dry and sunny weather conditions impacted on the fishing over the past week, with most salmon caught during morning hours or in the evening. However, 191 salmon were reported for the week which brings the total catch for the year to date to 1,321.

On the Moy Fishery, Ivor and Paul Bexton, UK, enjoyed good sport fishing the Ridge Pool. Paul landed a small grilse on spinner, while Ivor caught a fine 12.5 lbs. salmon on fly. Ivor also scored on the Cathedral Beat with 2 grilse averaging 4 lbs. Also on the Cathedral Beat, William Roberts, UK, had a 7.5 lbs. fish to the fly, while Bill Clearly, Dublin, banked a 9.5 salmon also on fly. The best fish for the week, however, was caught by Paul McGrory, Louth. Paul’s fish weighed in at 14 lbs. and took a Cascade size 10.

On the Foxford Fishery, Donald McCurtan had 4 fish for the week, best at 8.5 lbs. and Barry Leech, Kildare, caught two salmon at 7 lbs. & 12.75 lbs. All fish came to the worm. On the Foxford Anglers Rinanney stretch, 12 year old Dylan Ennis did well with an 8.5 lbs. salmon on spinner, while visiting German angler, Gunther Geib, had one at 10 lbs. on prawn. Upstream of Foxford, Kenneth Nyizsnyansky, Denmark, landed a 5 pounder on worm.

The Cloongee Fishery continued to fish well this week with 26 salmon reported. Amongst the successful anglers on Beat 1 were: Michael O’Halloran, Tipperary, with a 10 pounder on worm, Patrick Nolan, also Tipperary, with a 12 lbs. salmon and visiting French angler, Eric Weisser, with a total of 3 salmon (4, 8 & 12 lbs.) all on spinner. On Beat 2, Sean Moore, Laoise, had 2 salmon on worm. On the East Mayo Anglers Association water, a French angler did particularly well landing 5 salmon for the week. Also on East Mayo, Piermin Buicher, Switzerland, had 2 salmon (8 lbs. each) on spinner, while Belgian angler, Marc Tromme, caught a 7 lbs. fish on worm

Moy Estuary

The mixed weather conditions and northerly winds impacted on the angling during the week. However, Judd Ruane reported some fine catches for his clients. Peter & Caroline Connelly, UK, had 4 sea trout on mackerel strip, while Tobias Hoffmann & Conny Hammerbacher, Germany landed 11 sea trout also on mackerel strip. Other successful anglers included Stefan Schneider with 4 trout on and Edward & Paul Dunn, Dublin, with a total of 9 trout.

Paul McGrory & friend with his fine 14 pounder from the Moy Fishery’s Cathedral Beat.

Lough Conn

Now that the mayfly time is over, fewer anglers are fishing Lough Conn. Additionally, the unsettled weather impacted on the fishing during the week. However, the few anglers who ventured out were rewarded with some fine catches.

From Pontoon Bridge Hotel, Ionita Homoijdian and Dimitri Ledoux, Romania, had some good sport with 4 trout over 4 days, best at 2lbs. Jon Penet and Andre Courard, Belgium, enjoyed good fishing around Glass Island, with 6 fish over 5 days, best at 3 lbs. All their fish came to wet mayfly patterns. Jack Mellet, Castlebar & Pontoon had 4 trout for two evenings, best at 2 lbs. to the Grey Wulff and Extractor. From Murphy’s Boat Hire, Massbrook, Jack Lynch, Northern Ireland and Peter Lynch, Donegal, had 4 trout, best at 2 lbs. Fishing from Gortnorabbey, Ian Wise and John Warren had some good fishing around the Islands in North Conn, returning 6 trout over two days, best at 2 lbs. At Kelly’s Boat Hire, Cloghans, Dr. Bill O’Connell, Arklow, had 35 trout over 5 days, with best at 2 lbs. all to mayfly patterns, while Aidan Heffernan, Dublin, boated 3 trout, best at 3 lbs. all in Cloghans Bay to Olives. In Brackwansha, Stephen Brown and Paddy Breslin had 4 trout for 6 lbs. on an evenings fishing. Paddy McDonnell reported 5 trout (4 released) for his clients, Jacqui & Pat Gorman, Northern Ireland, best at 3 lbs., while Mel McDonald and friend, Scotland, also enjoyed good fishing with 8 trout for 2 days. Mel and his friend were guided by Ken Hall. Best flies for the week included Grey Wulffs, CDC Mayflies, Sedge and Spent Mayfly patterns.

Pat Gorman with a 3lb brown trout caught on Lough Conn.

Carrowmore Lake

Despite the difficult conditions, five grilse were reported from Carrowmore Lake for the week. Rory Murray, Cork, and his son Damian did particularly well with 3 fine grilse averaging 4.5 lbs. Elsewhere, Franz Kaiser, Bangor & Germany, had a 5 pounder, while Ronny Mayock boated a nice grilse at 4.5 lbs. There were also good signs of sea trout in the lake with 31 fish caught for the week.

Lough Beltra

On Lough Beltra West, Lord Belmore, Northern Ireland, had two salmon at 5 lbs. and 8 lbs. on a Cascade, while Tom Vesey, Dublin caught and released tow salmon (6 lbs. & 7 lbs.) fishing the Glenisland CoOp, Beltra East water.

Ballin Lough

Despite the bright and sunny conditions, angling on Ballin Lough was good, with 18 anglers reporting a total of 67 rainbow trout (33 released).

Denise & Pat Murphy and friend had 14 rainbows (3 returned), best at 4 lbs. Seamus O’Malley and his son, Joe landed 12 trout (4 returned), best also at 4 lbs. and Andy Young, Dublin, boated a total of 14 fish (2 released). Best flies for the week included Daddy Longlegs, Green Peter and Zulu.

Ballysadare River, Lough Arrow and other Sligo & Leitrim Fisheries

The Ballysadare Fishery reported a total of 38 salmon for the week, 24 of which were released. Dermot Glennon caught and released a fine 10 lbs. salmon taken on a Prawn, while Vincent Henry also landed a 10 pounder. Vincent’s fish took an Ally’s Shrimp.

Some good salmon fishing was reported from the Garavogue River, with fish up to 8 lbs. caught by anglers.

Again, there was very little angling activity on Lough Arrow over the week due to the sunny conditions. However, local angler, Peter Dunne, had 5 trout between 2 lbs. and 4.5 lbs. Elsewhere, Noel Fairbanks had 2 fish at 3.14 lbs. and 4.2 lbs, while Josie Gray had one brownie at 2.5 lbs. Most of the trout were caught on dry flies with Murroughs working best.

Anglers have reported some good fishing on Lough Doon where Paul Flanagan landed 4 trout (3 released) for his day’s fishing. Duck fly patterns proved to be most successful.

Bilberry Lough & Lough Lannagh

Bilberry & Lannagh Angling Club held their first junior competition on Sunday, 14 June. A total of 28 anglers took part in the event which was followed by a bbq at the lake in the evening.

The under 10 years section was won by Jack Carney with 6 fish, weighing 5.37 lbs., second place went to Colleen King with one fish at 1.18 lbs and third place went to Aoife Gray with one fish at 0.95 lbs. In the over 10 years section, first place went to Naill Byrne with 3 fish weighing 3.29 lbs, runner up was Edward Moran with three fish at 2.71 lbs and third place went to Michael Hewer with 2 fish for 2.23 lbs. The prize for heaviest fish was won by Robert Cranley. The under18 caster section was won by Kevin Joyce with 3 fish for 3.27 lbs. Runner up was Stephen Joyce with two fish for 2.28 lbs.