With the salmon angling season closed since the 30th September, Inland Fisheries Ireland - Ballina would like to remind all anglers that Angling Licences, completed Log Books and all unused tags should be returned to Ardnaree House, Abbey Street, Ballina by no later than the 19th of October.

River Moy

The 2010 season on the River Moy will be remembered as a bumper year for salmon anglers. With a reported catch of over 12,000 salmon, now confirmed, this year is almost on par with 1996 when the reported catch exceeded 12,500. Angling effort on the river at certain times was extreme resulting in unprecedented weekly catches. Despite this, even when angling effort was low, many anglers enjoyed great sport, with weekly angling returns often exceeding expectations. Some private fisheries on the system have also reported a growing trend towards catch and release, with some stating that this year's release rate was very close to 50%.

The final few days of the season were extremely quiet on the Moy Fishery, with only a few fish reported. However, the fisheries upstream of the weirs, enjoyed great angling during the closing sessions. Ballina Salmon Angers water enjoyed a great close to the season, with an excess of 100 salmon reported, 44% of those being released, while the Mount Falcon Fishery also fished extremely well, with 85% of their catch being returned for the remaining days.

Knockmore also closed the season on a high with good catches reported, with Attymass and Coolcronan also enjoying a successful end to the season. At Coolcronan, James Goose, U.K. had two salmon for the closing days, while John Brookebank caught a total of four over the final four days.

Byrne's Fishery had several salmon, with Armstrong's and Gannon's fishing well, including a fine fish of 13.5lbs for Jurg Gasser of Switzerland caught at Gannon's. The Foxford Fishery reported relatively good angling for the time of year, and at Rinanney great sport was had by anglers. The Foxford town fisheries finished the season well as did Cloongee, where William Klaesla, Germany, caught one of 11lbs on the spinner and Tietze Bendix also having success catching one of over 7lbs. The East Mayo Angler's water fished well for the final days, with their daily average catch exceeding 10 per day. Roy Wilson, N.Ireland, had two on the fly at East Mayo, while Lother Deeg, Germany, caught three. Ballintemple Fishery reported two for the closing days, with Michael Burgert accounting for both.

Lough Conn

Heavy rain, strong winds and high water levels on Lough Conn stopped most anglers from venturing out for the final few days of the season. However, a few determined anglers did fish the final days. Angling out of Pontoon Bridge Hotel, Tom Jordan, Galway, fishing with Jack Mellet and the Pontoon Bridge fishing school had some success, catching one trout each, with their best weighing 1.5lbs, taken on the Green Peter. Liz Burke, Dublin also had one trout weighing just over 1lbs on a Bibio while Peter Costello, Crossmolina had two fish, his best weighing 2lbs, taken on a Stimulator.

Fishing out of Murphy's of Massbrook, anglers reported good fishing on the western and southern shores of the lough. David O'Connor, Galway, had three trout over two days, all taken on Hoppers, while Peter Corcoran, Galway, had two with his best trout at 2lbs.
Scottish angler, Ian Bertie enjoyed good sport catching a total of five trout, with his best fish 3lbs, all taken on Hoppers. Nick Christie, Kilkenny also had success on the lough, averaging five trout per day over three days, with his best weighing 2lbs and all fish being taken on wetflies.

Angling from Kelly's of Cloghans, Karl Henry, N.Ireland had three trout averaging over 1lbs to Hoppers, while Stephen Brown and Sean Creane of Cloghans also boated three, with their best weighing 1.5lbs, taken on Bibio's and Claret Hoppers.

Owenmore River

Water levels on the Owenmore were very low, and dropping during the closing days of the season, with the final four days producing 10 salmon. Among those to catch fish were visiting journalists Rudy van Duijnhoven and Jos van der Wouw of the Netherlands, with Rudy landing one of 6lbs and Jos, a salmon of 8lbs. Larry Mitchell, Belmullet also had success catching a salmon as did Vincent Roche, Ballina.

Newport River

Water conditions on the Newport River were close to ideal for the closing days of the season, with good sport being enjoyed by angler's, including a few fresh run salmon being caught. In total 14 salmon were reported, with Eamonn Kennedy, Newport accounting for one. Mr. P Farrell also had success, landing a fresh run salmon.

Ballin Lough

Angling on Ballin Lough has been relatively slow for the week, with only ten anglers venturing out. In total, six rainbow trout were reported, with some of these in excess of 3lbs. Among those to have success were Joe Gibbons, Westport, who caught two trout, his best weighing 3lbs, while Pat and Dennis Murphy, Castlebar, also boated two, with their best weighing 2lbs. The most successful fly was the Muddler. Ballin Lough will remain open until the end of October with permits available from Mrs. Gill, Tel: 098 26128.

Pike Angling

Angling guide Kenny Sloan with a fine pike taken in the Pontoon area.

Lough Gill was the venue on Sunday the 3rd October for a pike angling competition, held to determine the winner of the Joe McCafferty Cup. The overall winner of the competition was Pete Trotter, Sligo, who took the cup with a pike of 14.5lbs.

Angling guide, Kenny Sloan reported good pike fishing in Derryhick and Levally lake recently, with clients boating pike up to 18lbs. The lakes are slightly higher than normal, however pike are still being taken on lures, dead baits and the fly. Kenny has boats for hire on the local lakes and can be contacted on 087 9670310.

The Castlebar area lakes also provided good sport for visiting angling journalists Rudy van Duijnhoven and Jos van der Wouw of the Netherlands. Fishing with pike angling guide, Bodo Funke, they had 20 pike for a days fishing, all to the fly, with the pike averaging around 9lbs. They also reported losing several, much larger pike. Bodo provides a pike angling guiding service and can be contacted on 086 6011878.

Jos van der Wouw playing a lively pike.

Sea Angling

Belmullet Sea Angling Club recently held an open team shore angling competition on the shores of Broad Haven Bay. Winning the day was the team comprised of Tony Lally, Adrian Lally and Michael Dunleavey, who landed an impressive total of 11 species throughout the day, including pollack, coalfish, dogfish, wrasse, rockling and flounder. In second place were Kevin Walsh, Pat Ruddy and Sylvy Sweeney who landed 7 species. Michael Barley, Ballinrobe won the individual heaviest fish competition, with a dogfish of 2.5lbs.