Angling News
NW Angling News - 23 May 2010
By Bryan Ward
25, May 2010 - 21:57

River Moy
The continuous dry spell experienced over the past week has not seriously impacted upon angling on the River Moy, where the Moy Fishery continued to produce good numbers of salmon. The Point returned four salmon for the week while the Cathedral Beat had nine. The Ridge Pool yielded six to fly anglers including one for Gerard Coyle and a fine fish of 11.63lbs for Robert Logue, N.Ireland. The low water conditions appear to be helping efforts on the Weir Pool, where eight were caught over the week, with John McKinley, Athlone, catching a total of three salmon and visiting angler Kluas Wolf-Friebertshauser, Germany, had one of 8.34lbs. Armstrong's and Gannon's Fisheries continued to fish well with notable catches for James Francis, Athlone, who had an 8lb salmon on the worm and Alex Schmidt, Germany, also having success on the worm. At Gannon's Gerrard Bonnett, France had an 11lbs fish on the prawn. The Foxford fishery also fished well over the week as did Rinanney. At the Cloongee Fishery Thierry Colm, France, had a very successful week catching one salmon of 11.5lbs with a bubble and fly and one great fish of 13.5lbs on a spinner. Fellow French angler Patrice Boisadan also had success at Cloongee as did Thomas Steinger, Austria. East Mayo Anglers' water proved successful for Belgian pair Sergo Pedezani and Claude Grosjean, who both caught two salmon each.

Lough Conn and Cullin
Some good catches have been reported from these loughs over the past week, however with very bright conditions and low water levels, angling has been difficult. There have however been good hatches of mayfly, with many trout being taken on dry mayflies.
Fishing out of Pontoon Bridge Hotel, Martin Heath, Cork, had two trout for 2.5 lbs to Mayflies while Stuart Lyons, Scotland, had two for 2 lbs. Fishing from Murphy Boat Hire, Massbrook, Denis Gallagher, Donegal, also had success on the mayfly catching two trout for 3 lbs, while Seamus Corrigan, Mullingar, had four trout totaling 4lbs over two evenings to wet Mayflies. Anglers fishing out of Clonamoyne Fishery, Enniscoe, Crossmolina also had some success. Gary Crossley had two trout for 2 lbs to Sooty Olives while the Flynn family, Meath, had two trout for 1.5lbs and 1.75lbs taken at Woodford on black Pennels. Angling in the Cloghans area out of Kelly's Boat Hire, Martin Connor, Meath, had six trout with his best 2lbs while and John Mc Donnell, Kildare, had four trout taken on Olives. Bert Carlyle and party of six from N.Ireland boated twelve keepers, sportingly releasing all.
Angling on Lough Cullin, Stephen Neylon and Gavin Manix had success fishing the Grey Wulff, boating a total of ten trout with the heaviest two fish weighing in at 2lbs each. These anglers reported good hatches of Mayfly off the Dance Hall shore.
Foxford Angling Club hosted the Foxford Lodge Cup competition on Sunday the 23rd. Twenty-seven anglers took part and first place went to Padraig Traynor, Crossmolina with one fine trout of 4.01lbs, Billy McGee, Foxford took second place with a trout of 3.56lbs, third was Stephen Brown, Cloghans with three trout totaling 3.46lbs and in fourth place was John O'Carroll, Pontoon, with a trout of 1.01lbs.

Carrowmore Lake
Despite the bright conditions, angling remained good on Carrowmore, and with some rainfall last week, a slight rise in the system encouraged some fresh fish to run. A total of twenty-one salmon were caught on the Lake, with Tosh Kellet, Meath catching two as did Vincent Rigney, Westport. Gerry Deane, Castlebar also had success on the lake catching two salmon averaging 5.5lbs.

Ballin Lough

Ballinlough, as always continued to produce good bags of fish for those who ventured out, with a total of twenty-six anglers catching sixty-six rainbow trout. Brendan Ryan, Castlebar and boat partner had a total of twelve trout, while UK anglers John Hown and partner had ten trout. Les Ever, UK and friend also had success catching a total of five trout. The best fish of the week weighed in at 3lbs and successful flies included Buzzers and Muddlers.

Lough Arrow
Lough Arrow continued to experience great hatches of Mayfly, and falls of spent-Gnat. However the bright conditions made angling difficult. Despite the tough conditions, many anglers enjoyed successful fishing, especially in the late evening. Buzzer fishing also proved successful for some, with David Gray catching and releasing seven trout to the buzzer, ranging from 2lbs to 4.25lbs. Nick Lovegrove, Switzerland, had two trout of 2.5lbs and 3lbs on the Mayfly while Shane Kelly, Clare, also had two trout. Brian Kelly, Boyle also had a nice fish of 2.5lbs while Ken Murray had an excellent catch of 5.25lbs taken on the spent-Gnat.

Ballisodare Fishery

Conall O'Dwyer and his first ever salmon, caught during Fisheries Awareness Week at the Ballisodare Fishery Open Day with Mr Dermot Glennon.

Despite very low water levels at the Ballisodare fishery, angling remained productive over the past week where over 40 salmon were caught. Fishing the fly proved successful for James Cuff who landed a fine fish at 14lbs on a Willie Gunn while N.B. O'Sullivan also had a fish of 10lbs on the fly. Visiting angler Tom Grylls, UK, had two fish over the week, one of 8lbs and a second of 9lbs both taken on the worm. The prawn also proved successful for some with Anthony McCann and J.Wilson both banking salmon. Taking part in the Fisheries Awareness Week Open Day at the Fishery, juvenile angler Conall O'Dwyer was delighted to catch his first ever salmon.

The 3rd leg of the Lough na Leibe rainbow trout fly fishing competition was held on Sunday 23rd May. Flies that proved successful during the competition were Olive dry flies, sizes 12 & 14, Olive wet size 12, green & black lures, F- fly in brown & olive size 14. The successful anglers on the day were Tommy Lynch with seven fish, John Presley six fish, Francis Brady two fish, Bernard Mc Dermott with two and Alan Spencer with one.

Sea Angling
The Sea Angling Liaison Committee (S.A.L.C) held the Home International Boat Competition on the 21st and 22nd of May on Broadhaven Bay. The event was hosted by the Belmullet Sea Angling Club in conjunction with the Broadhaven Bay Hotel, a great honour for the club as Connaught only plays host to the competition every sixteen years! The Irish team comprised of Captain Shane Gilvarry, Josie Barrett representing Connaught, Liam Longmoore, Ulster, Liam O'Callaghan, Leinster and Henry Ross, Munster. A total of fifteen fish species were caught with 843 fish being caught on the Friday and 689 on the Saturday, an astounding number considering only fifteen anglers took part! The Irish team excelled in their home waters winning first place, England taking second with Wales third.