River Moy

Dropping water levels on the river coupled with an increased angling effort, particularly over the Bank Holiday weekend allowed for a total of 111 salmon to be caught throughout the Moy system for the week. The Ridge Pool had its first salmon for the year, caught by none other than Ridge Pool Ghillie John Howley who had a fine 9.75lbs spring salmon, taken on a size 8 Ally's Cascade fished with an intermediate line.
Chrispin Rodwell, N.Ireland, also had a fish o 7.94lbs off the Ridge Pool and on the Weir Pool, Gareth Byrne, Offaly, also had a salmon on the fly. The Cathedral Beat also had its first fish for the year, caught by Robert Babington, Co.Louth, with the fish weighing 6.57lbs and taken on the spinner.

Ghillie John Howley with the first salmon of the season from the Moy Fisheries Ridge Pool.

The Ballina Salmon Anglers water reported 11 salmon for the week, with Noel Slowey, Steve Rushworth, Brendan McNamee and Val Mitchell all reporting catches.
Further upstream, the Attymass Fishery reported three salmon, while at Armstrong's five fish were caught including a fine 12lbs salmon. The lucky captor was fifteen year old Rory Hoy, N.Ireland, who took his salmon on a spinner. Other successful anglers included Anthony Murphy, Dublin with two salmon of 11lbs and 12lbs and Michael Murphy, Dublin who landed an 8lbs fish. Gannon's Fishery fished well with a total of ten salmon reported for the week, with James Cornally, Offaly, catching one at 12lbs. Barry Leach, Westmeath, had an 11lbs salmon from the Foxford Fishery, while Bakers New Fishery accounted for two salmon.

Around the Foxford Town area good angling was enjoyed with well over twenty salmon being reported for the week including two for Alain Ramerez, France who had success on the spinner and also Michael Tiernan who landed a fine fish of 9.5lbs on the fly. The Cloongee Fishery produced a total of 15 salmon with many visiting anglers having success. Barry and Graham Rogerson, England both had a salmon each as did Jez Leech, England, who had a fish of 10.5lbs. Bernard Merzic, France had one salmon of 6.5lbs as did Ray Hynes, Offaly who landed a fish of 10lbs.

The East Mayo Anglers waters continued to fish well throughout the week with a reported catch of 16 salmon, including a few salmon at 11lbs weight and probably the best fish of the week for the Moy system, caught by John Buckley, Athlone, who had a great catch of 14.5lbs caught on the fly.

Michael Tiernan with his 9.5lbs salmon caught on the fly near Foxford Town

Lough Conn and Cullin

Angling on Lough's Conn and Cullin is improving steadily, but perhaps the best news of the week is that Mayfly have started to appear with fish being tempted by Mayfly patterns! On Lough Cullin some good catches have been reported, including David Mangan and son Jonathan, Galway who had three trout for 3lbs on Olives while John Harrison, Dublin and Brian Fox, Athy had a total of six trout for 8lbs. Michael and Maggie Woods, Westmeath, had three trout for 3lbs on Sooty Olives and Bibios, while Dominic Concannon and son had two trout for 2lbs on Olives.

On Lough Conn visiting anglers James White and Stephen Coffey, Liverpool fishing out of Pontoon Bridge Hotel had two trout for 3lbs taken on Green Peters, while Hartley Smyth, N.Ireland, fishing out of Murphy's of Massbrook had three trout to Bumbles weighing in at 4lbs total. Darragh McDermott, Athlone, Ronnie Mayock, Foxford, Mike Sweeney, Loughrea and Liam McHugh, Edenderry all had success on Lough Conn catching trout. In the Enniscoe area, Crossmolina, Gary Crossley had trout in the evenings in Bog Bay while Ronnie Chambers had five trout for 6lbs all taken on Mayflies.

Fishing the Cloghans area local angler, Padraig Kelly and Bill Collohan, Claremorris had four trout over two evenings taken on Green Peters and Silver Invictas. Gareth Byrne, Edenderry, had four trout for 4lbs while Stephen Brown, Cloghans had two trout on Olives for a total weight of 3lbs.

Two competitions were held on the lakes over the weekend by Lough Conn and Cullin Anglers Association; the first on Saturday being Dublin Anglers vs. Lough Conn and Cullin Anglers a competition now in its 37th year. A total of forty anglers took part with twelve fish being weighed in. Winning was Padraig Traynor, Crossmolina with two trout for 1.3kgs, in second was John Warren, Crossmolina, with two trout for 1.24kgs and third was Joe Quinn, Cloghans with two trout for 0.98kgs.

On Sunday, forty anglers fished for the Pratt Cup with a total of 17 trout being weighed in. In first place was Seamus Kelly, Cloghans, with two trout for 1.12 kg, second was Ian Rowland, Dublin with two trout for 1.09 kg and third was Stephen Brown, Cloghans with two trout for 1.07kgs.

Finally, from Lough Conn Pat Dunning, Athlone, had two salmon while trolling Massbrook Bay.

Carrowmore Lake

Angling effort was slow on Lake Carrowmore until the weekend when once again some anglers had great success catching up to four salmon each! Stephen Corr, Belfast, had one salmon of 7.5lbs as did Alan Watson, N.Ireland who had one at 7lbs. Eamon Giblin, Co.Clare had two fish at 5lbs and 6lbs, Mike Egan had one of 7lbs while Mark Corps of the CFB had four salmon in total, with his best weighing at 7lbs.

Lough Beltra

Conditions on Lough Beltra continued to be suitable for angling. Despite this only one salmon was reported for the week. The 7lbs fish was caught and returned by Martin Hughes near the ‘Red Shed' on the Glenisland Co-op/Beltra East waters. Other fish were sighted and lost around the Morrison's area. For further information on fishing Lough Beltra, please contact Glenisland Anglers' Co-operative on (094) 9021302.

Ballin Lough

Ballin Lough continued to fish very well for rainbow trout, with a total of 118 trout being caught for the week with 28 anglers fishing. Muddler Minnow patterns, Whiskey Fly, Green Sedge and Olives are flies which have proved successful recently.

Ivan Pollard and friend, Co. Offaly had a total of 10 trout, with their best weighing in at 2.5lbs. Paul Caslin, Castlebar, and friend had a total of 13 trout, releasing 9 with their best at 2.5lbs and finally Tommy Brennan had a total of 14 Rainbow trout releasing 10 and again his best was 2.5lbs.

Ballisodare Fishery

Ballisodare Fishery reported good numbers of fish running through the system, with water levels still good for angling and assisting fish movement upstream. A total of fifty-four fish were caught for the week, with twenty four of these being released. Among those to catch salmon on the Ballisodare water were J.P. Chanaux, Switzerland, who had a 9lbs salmon on the fly. Noel Barbour also had a 9lbs fish on a Willy Gunn, as did Dermot Glennon and Seanie Maye (both fish at 9lbs). Thomas O'Donovan Jr. had a 7lbs salmon taken on the fly while Anthony McCann, Sligo, caught a 10lb salmon on the worm. Finally, fly anger Gerry McHugh had a 12lbs salmon taken on a Gary Dog.

Lough Gill

Only two salmon were reported for Lough Gill for the week, the first fell to Noel Dingo Cawley who had a salmon of 8lbs from Racecourse Bay while the second was caught by Paul Mulligan and weighed 9lbs. Both fish were caught while trolling.

Lough Arrow

The Duckfly fishing on Lough Arrow appears to be tailing off, with more fish now being reported to the wet fly and buzzers in the late evenings. Of those who had success on Arrow were Gerard Martin who had one fine trout of 4.5lbs and Francie White, who had two trout averaging 2lbs each.

Lough Na Leibe

High northerly winds and cool evening temperatures disrupted angling on Lough na Leibe somewhat earlier this week; however some good fishing was enjoyed by those fishing Buzzer Emerger patterns in the evenings. Throughout the weekend however good fishing has been reported with the first hatches of Olives observed, promising better angling to come as temperatures rise. Fly patterns which proved successful on the Lough included Emerging Buzzers, Pheasant Tail nymphs, Shipman's Buzzer, Mallard and Claret and Olive patterns.

Lough Doon

Only two boats fished Lough Doon for the week; however those who did fish were well rewarded for their efforts. Conor Walsh, Mayo, caught and released nine trout in total, with his best at .75lbs all taken on the Duckfly Emerger. Joe Elliott, Sligo, had ten trout in total, releasing eight with his best at 1lbs caught on the Olive Quill and Duckfly.