Salmon Angling

River Moy

Heavy rainfall in the area of late caused the Moy to rise and fall significantly over the past week. However, this led to a large run of grilse entering the system. Anglers reported over a 1000 salmon from the Moy last week with the best catches recorded from the middle sections of the river.

The Moy Fishery produced 93 salmon, with the Ridge Pool yielding 64. Young French angler, 9 year old Edward Damoiseau, caught his first ever salmon on the Ridge, a 4.4lbs grilse caught on a spinner. Peter Smith, N. Ireland, had four off the Ridge Pool on fly, his best weighing 6.1lbs. Gareth and Wayne Byrne also had success, catching three salmon each on worm. The Cathedral Beat had 18 for the week, with Noel Quigley, Co. Wicklow, landing one of 5.1lbs to the fly while James Ryan, Co. Tipperary, had two on fly, releasing one.

Ballina Salmon Anglers’ water fished very well, particularly in the periods following a rise in water levels. Amongst the successful anglers was Pat Twomey, Co. Kildare, who had a fine 8lbs salmon while spinning. The club also hosted their annual Juvenile Angling Competition on Saturday the 13^th, with 22 juveniles participating. Lee Devers, 13, won the competition by catching a salmon, and second place went to Sean Devers, 14, who had a trout.

Mount Falcon, Knockmore, Attymass and Coolcronan all enjoyed very good angling over the past week. At Coolcronan, Rodger Stevens, N. Ireland, had two, his best weighed 8.5lbs and was caught on the worm. Byrne’s Fishery also had a very good week, as did Armstrong’s, were George Armstrong described the past week as “One of best in years”. Shauna Kelly, Co. Galway, was among those to have success at Armstrong’s, landing a fine fish of 9lbs on the worm.

Gannon’s was on par with the other fisheries in the area, with good numbers reported, including one for David McKee, N.Ireland, who had one of 7.5lbs to a spinner. The Foxford Fishery once again enjoyed good angling, with Sean O’Brien and Eugene Ryan, Co. Wexford, landing 9 salmon between them, releasing 5 of those. The fisheries around Foxford all produced their share of catches, while Rinanney had an exceptionally good week. The Cloongee Fishery had 23 salmon, including a grilse for Christian Goetz, Germany, while fellow German Florian Haibach also had a grilse. East Mayo also had a relatively good week, despite being unfishable with the fly for periods. Italian anglers Michelle De Roberts and Gianluca De Roberts both had success at East Mayo, where Michelle had two grilse over two days and Gianluca had three over two days.

Ballisodare

The fishery continued to receive good numbers of grilse over the past week, with catches averaging 4-5lbs. Just over 100 salmon were caught, with 50% of those safely released. Fly anglers enjoyed success, with Sean Gallagher landing one of 6.5lbs. There has also been the occasional larger fish taken, with Ricky Ferbozzi and Paul O’Dowd both landing 9lbs salmon on the fly. Mike Mulanney had the best fish of the week from the fishery, a fine 12lbs salmon, which was also caught on the fly.

Burrishoole

Heavy rain in the middle of last week led to a rise in water levels, with many fish running up to Lough Feagh. Overall, angling was good, with 16 salmon caught (including 4 wild fish released) and 6 sea trout. Michael and Sean Smith, U.K. had a total of five salmon and one sea trout between them, while the best fish of the week was taken by Bernard Wojner, Co. Dublin, and weighed 6.9lbs. Joe Burgess, Co. Dublin caught his first salmon on fly, with D. Murray, D. Nevin, J. Loftus, G. Wright and M. McGuire each catching a salmon. The most successful flies on the fishery of late have been the Ally's Shrimp, the Cascade, Java Shrimp, Goat's toe, Green Peter and the Stoats Tail.

Newport River

The Newport River experienced a good run of grilse of late, with many anglers enjoying good sport. Eamon Kennedy had three, weighing 8lbs, 4.5lbs and 3lbs, while Pat Smith, Co. Dublin had two of 4.5lbs and 3.5lbs. David Nevin, Tony Murtagh, John Paul Hayes and Richard Cosgrove all had a grilse each, with Chris Dawson also landing three sea trout.

Trout Angling

Loughs Conn and Cullin

Foxford anglers recently held a new competition on Lough Conn, with 22 anglers competing for the Kilmurray Cup, which was won by Peter Roche.

Angling out of Massbrook Bay, Eddie and Jimmy Kelly, Co. Donegal, had four trout for an evening, fishing wet flies, with their best weighing 1.5lbs. Fishing from Kelly’s of Cloghans, Walter and Susan Byrne, Co. Offaly, enjoyed some excellent fishing of late, averaging 10 trout per day for their week. Also fishing from Cloghans Bay, Patsy Deerey and party of five from Co. Cavan, enjoyed good sport fishing sedge patterns and dry mayflies. They boated over 30 trout for three days, their best weighing 2.5lbs.

Moy Estuary – Sea Trout

Flood water entering the estuary throughout the week impacted on angling somewhat, despite this Judd Ruane reported relatively good angling with 31 sea trout caught. Brian Jones and friend had 6 trout to mackerel strips while Philip and Charlie Sodden, Co. Sligo, had 8 keepers also to mackerel strip. The Mc Allister family, Belfast, enjoyed their day on the estuary with Judd and caught 7 sea trout.

Sea Angling

Skipper of the Leah, Donal Kennedy reported good angling on Killala Bay of late. Saturday 13^th August saw a party of anglers from the Castlebar area, headed by Gerry Tolster, Castlebar; depart from Killala on a dull damp day, with fresh south-westerly winds. Mackerel were plentiful on this occasion, with six ling up to 6lbs also boated. A number of cuckoo wrasse, up to 1lbs were also caught, as well as a cod of almost 5lbs and plentiful pouting. Ten pollack were caught up to 5lbs, with Gerry landing the best pollack of the day, a fish of almost 12lbs, just short of the specimen weight.

Gerry Tolster, Castlebar, and his fine pollack, with skipper of the Leah, Donal Kennedy.

The Leah hosted a party of anglers from Tullaghmore on Sunday the 14^th, organised by John Cunningham, of Cunninghams Fishing Tackle. Weather was fine overhead, however, a fresh south-west to westerly wind coupled with a 2.4m swell made sea conditions somewhat choppy. A variety of species were taken, including red gurnard, poor cod, pouting, cuckoo wrasse, several ling up to 5lbs and around 10 pollack up to 8lbs. The highlight of the day in terms of species was a John Dory of approximately 2lbs caught by a member of the party, which was returned after a quick photograph.

A welcomed species in Killala Bay, this John Dorey was caught and released during a recent trip on board the Leah.