River Moy

Water levels continued to drop on the Moy throughout the week and, with a total of forty salmon reported, the spring run appears to be well underway. Large numbers of returning kelts are still being reported in the river so anglers should use caution. Any kelts hooked should be quickly released.

Ballina Salmon Anglers reported four salmon for the week, with Donal McCurtain, Foxford, landing one salmon of 7lbs taken on the worm. The Scott-Knox-Gore water at Knockmore reported three salmon while the Attymass water yielded two salmon. Armstrong's Fishery reported two salmon with Gilles Bodinier, France, catching both fish, one at 6lbs which was released and a second at 10lbs, both caught on the spinner. Gannon's Fishery also reported two salmon, with Geordie McLucas, N.Ireland, catching one at 10lbs on the worm. At the Foxford Fishery, Granville Nesbitt had one salmon at 8lbs taken on a spinner. At Bakers New Fishery, The Foxford Rocks, two salmon were caught and the Foxford Salmon Anglers water at Rinanney also had two. On the NWRFB and Foxford Salmon Anglers water a total of five salmon were reported. A further two salmon were reported for Foxford Town while Beat 1 of the Cloongee Fishery produced two salmon. Beat 2 produced four salmon, with Jim Murray, Foxford, catching a fine fish of 13.5lbs on the spinner and Maurice Walters, England, catching a salmon of 10lbs also on the spinner. The East Mayo Anglers water continued to fish well with a total of eight salmon being reported. Lothar Waldeck, Germany, had success with two salmon taken on the fly, with his best at 9lbs. Tom Fennelly, Carlow, had one salmon of 6lbs and Enda Conroy, Knock, also had success on the spinner catching one salmon of 10lbs. Finally the Ballyvary/Clydagh Fishery reported one salmon for the week.

Lough Conn and Cullin

Lough Conn experienced a slow drop in water levels over the past week; however, with many days dominated by bright sunshine and cooling easterly winds anglers were slow to venture out on the lake. Fishing out of Pontoon on Lough Cullin, Neil Shevlin and Ian Daly, Louth, had five trout for a total weight of 5lbs, all taken on wet flies and released.

From Crossmolina, John Warren and Ian Wyse fishing Bog Bay had two trout each taken on buzzers. Angling in the Cloghans Bay area Martin Cawley and Padraig Kelly had two reasonable sized trout while releasing a further 10, all taken on Green Peters and Bibios. Seamus Kelly also had two trout for 2lbs taken on Bibios. John Quinn had three trout on one evening all taken on Golden Olive Dabblers. On the Brackwansha shoreline Brendan Bresslin and Mick McNeely had six trout all taken with the Connemara Black and Bibio. Francie White also had good fortune while trolling the Northern shores of Lough Conn, catching a 10lbs salmon on a Silver Spoon.

Sunday the 25th saw two trout angling competitions held on the Lough. Foxford Angling Club hosted the Devenny Cup Competition with twenty-five anglers participating and a total of seven fish being weighed in. In first place, winning the cup for the second time was John Burke of Toomore, Foxford, who had three trout for 3.04lbs all caught on a 'Just Add Water' fly. Second place went to Joe Quinn, Cloghans, who had two trout for 2.90lbs and third was Adrian Murphy, Cloghans, with one trout of 1.01lbs. Castlebar Angling Club also held a competition which was won, for the third time, by Joe Quinn, Cloghans, with two trout for a total of 2.9lbs.

Carrowmore Lake

Angling in Carrowmore has really taken off this week with large numbers of salmon being reported, particularly at the weekend. In total, Carowmore produced an astonishing 53 salmon for the week. Many local anglers and visitors had fish from the lake, ranging in size from 4lbs to 9lbs. David Malpass, England enjoyed good fishing with three salmon between 4lbs and 7lbs as did John Cosgrove, Bangor Erris, who also had three salmon with his best at 8lbs. Mark Mason, N.Ireland, also landed three weighing between 5lbs and 7lbs. Wayne Oldfield, South Africa, caught a salmon of 6lbs as did John Donnellon, Co. Clare, who caught his first ever salmon which weighed in at 6lbs weight. The most successful angler of the week however was Pat Foley, catching an impressive six salmon and safely releasing five. The flies which proved successful included Clan Chief, Green Peter and Claret Bumble, fished on intermediate or sink-tip lines. For further information on Carrowmore Lake please contact Seamus Henry of Bangor Angling Club, Bangor Erris, Co. Mayo on 097 83487 or see www.bangorerrisangling.com.

Lough Beltra

Only two salmon were reported for the week on Lough Beltra, those coming from the Glenisland Co Op waters, Beltra East. Those who had success were Jackie Diffley, Glenisland, with a salmon of 8lbs and Eamon Kennedy who caught one at 7lbs.

Ballin Lough

Ballin Lough again fished well for the week, with a total of 21 rods fishing and landing 104 rainbow trout, eighty of these were released safely. Ronan Gibbons and friends, Galway, had a total of 22 rainbows, releasing 21 of these with their best fist at 3lbs. Jimmy Gibson, Westport, had 11 trout with his best at 2.5lbs while Tommy Carroll and friend, Islandeady, had 13 trout, releasing 12 and their best being 1.5lbs. Best flies for the week included Cat's Whiskers, Black Dabblers, Buzzers and various nymph patterns.

Bilberry Lake/Lough Lannagh

The first competition of the season was held by Bilberry and Lannagh Angling Club on Sunday April 25th. Winning first prize was Andy Walsh with a total of five trout for 6.4lbs, second was Liam Walsh with five trout for 6lbs and third place went to Peter Byrne with four trout for 5.4lbs. The best junior angler prize went to Dean Carney, Islandeady, with a trout weighing 1.5lbs.

Ballisodare Fishery

Chris Kitchen with his 7lb Salmon and Frank Adams with his 12.75lbs Salmon, both caught at the Ballisodare Fishery with the worm.

The Ballisodare Fishery continued to yield consistent numbers of good sized spring salmon, with a total of 20 salmon being reported for the week, 16 of those being safely released. Among those to have success were visiting anglers Frank Allen and Chris Kitchen, N.Ireland who both caught salmon, Frank's weighing in at an impressive 12.75lbs while Chris caught one at 7lbs with both taken on the worm. Also tempting the salmon was Sean Maye, who caught and released a 9lbs fish which took a Willie Gunn fly.

Lough Gill

Lough Gill produced a further five spring salmon with Wayne Conway catching two for the week. Wednesday 21st saw Wayne landing a gleaming silver fish of 12.5lbs while trolling and, again on Friday, Wayne had success with a second salmon. Thomas O'Donovan and Brendan Gordon also landed a salmon each on the 23rd and on the 25th Tony McLoughlin had an 8lbs salmon.

Lough Arrow

Lough Arrow is now producing some good fishing for those who venture out. Peter Dunne reported fourteen trout over the past two weeks, averaging in size at 2lbs, with the best weighing in at 2.5lbs. Gerard Martin also reported trout of 1.5lbs while Noel Clinton had two trout at 1.5lbs. The late evening duckfly fishing produced the majority of catches to date on Lough Arrow.

Lough Na Leibe

Lough na Leibe hosted the second leg of its fly fishing competition on Sunday the 18th April. Several anglers took part with a total of 15 rainbow trout being caught. First place went to Tommy Lynch who landed a total of 6 fish (Tommy is also the 2008 and 2009 Lough na Leibe fly fishing champion), Francis Brady landed three as did Alan Spencer, Bernard Mc Dermott had two fish and Colm Walsh had one. There will also be a litter clean up on the shores of Lough na Leibe on Sunday the 2nd May from 2.00pm-3.00pm and all members are encouraged to participate.

Pike Angling

Pike angling guide Kenny Sloan and guest with a 20lbs pike taken on the fly.

Reports of great pike angling in the Castlebar area continue to come in, with the Manulla and Castlebar lakes providing some great sport. Local pike angling guide Kenny Sloan reported great angling for pike with the fly while guiding two Co.Wexford natives, David Anchell and Jim Hendrick. Over twenty pike came to their boat over two days angling with the biggest weighing in at just over 20lbs. The Castlebar Lakes are "fly only" waters. Kenny Sloan can be contacted on 094 9256501.