Angling News
NW Angling News 19 Sep 2010
By Bryan Ward
22, Sep 2010 - 07:52

River Moy
Persistent rain over the past week has continued to keep water levels on the Moy high, with fly anglers only having a few chances to fish upstream of Foxford. As a whole, the river has been fluctuating throughout the week, making angling difficult. However, some beats have fished very well, especially for the time of year, with the worm and spinner being the most productive methods.

The Cathedral Beat remained unfishable for the week, with very few anglers having a go on the Ridge Pool. Neill McCooey, N.Ireland had a nice sea trout of 2.5lbs while spinning the Ridge Pool. The Point continued to produce a few fish, and on the Freshwater beat, Jim McCooey was the only angler to have success, landing a salmon of 5lbs.

The Ballina Salmon Anglers' water fished very well, with the high water suiting worm and spinner fishing. Mount Falcon Fishery also enjoyed a successful week, with large numbers caught and returned, due to the fact that many ‘colored' fish are now present in the Moy. Fishing for the week, U.K. angler David Jones, accompanied by his father, enjoyed a very successful trip, catching a total of 26 salmon, with 24 of these released. Their best fish was 10lbs.

Upstream, Knockmore, Attymass and Coolcronan all experienced good fishing. At Coolcronan, Keith Wright and Mike Gilbert both had success, catching two salmon apiece. Byrne's fishery, Armstrong's and Gannon's also produced good numbers, as did the Foxford Fishery.

Rinanney enjoyed good sport also, as did the Foxford town fisheries. At Cloongee, over 20 salmon were caught, including one 7.5lbs salmon for Bill O'Regan, Dublin. Angling on the East Mayo Anglers water has been very productive, with water levels dropping sufficiently to suit fly anglers for a time. Among those to have success with the fly were Pascal Dubich, France, who also had numerous fish to the spinner, with Rob van Alen and friend, Germany, also catching fish on the fly. Petit Ives, France, also enjoyed good sport catching two with the fly on the East Mayo water. Austrian pair Burkhard Weidenbayer and Gunter Profanter, both landed salmon, as did Michael Pallister, Knock, who had one of 10lbs. At Ballintemple fishery Frank Sommer had a fine sea trout of 2lbs on the fly.

Mount Falcon Rainbow Trout Fishery
Mount Falcon hosted the annual Angling Media Fishing Competition on Saturday 18th September, supported by IFI-Ballina and Bord Failte. In total 17 anglers participated, and with only four hours angling time, an impressive 158 rainbow trout were caught. Winning the competition was John Buckley, Co. Kerry who caught a total of 28 trout. John only just beat Denis Goulding, Co. Dublin to first place, who also caught 28, however John won on total length. Catching the biggest fish of the day was David Dinsmore of the Irish Angler Magazine, with a fish of 53cm.

Ballisodare Fishery
Flood water seriously impacted on angling at Ballisodare for the early part of the week. However,
towards the end of the week dropping levels allowed for some good angling to be had. A total of six anglers fished at Ballisodare, accounting for 8 salmon between them. The heaviest salmon of the week was taken by local angler Paul Collreavy, who landed one of 9lbs on a Willie Gunn.

Burrishoole Fishery
Burrishoole fished reasonably well for the week with some anglers enjoying success. James Ryan, Wicklow caught a grilse of 5.5lbs, while brothers Malcolm and Derek Killian, Dublin had success boating five grilse between 4 and 5.5lbs, all of which were returned.

Newport River
Good angling was had on the Newport River for the week, with water conditions being reported as ideal. James O'Hora, Glenhest enjoyed good sport catching a fine grilse of 6.5lbs and two sea trout, with all fish being safely returned. David Eddis, Glenhest and England also had success with a grilse and sea trout. Newport anglers Dr. Brian Lennon and Frank Chambers had a grilse each while Sean Dolan, Dublin landed a grilse and two sea trout.

Lough Beltra
Angling on Beltra was difficult throughout the week, with only two anglers reporting success. Jackie Diffley, Beltra caught a grilse of 4lbs and a 2lbs sea trout, while Pat Burns had four sea trout and a grilse to the boat.