Angling News
Angling News - Mayo/Sligo - 17 May 2012
By Bryan Ward
19, May 2012 - 00:27

Salmon Angling

River Moy
The lower Moy fisheries did not produce many fish over the past week; Ballina Salmon Anglers' water yielded seven while the Moy Fishery reported no catch for the week. The mid Moy fisheries produced a few fish, and at Coolcronan, Sandra Fleming, N.Ireland, was the first angler to catch a salmon off that fishery, winning her the Coolcronan Cup. Sandra caught a fine 7lbs salmon on a spinner. This was shortly followed by Tommy Whiteside, who took the second of the season, a fish of 8lbs on worm.

Proprietor of the Bulg Bui, Liam Naughton, presents John Wilson with the Bulg Bui Perpetual Cup and the Ridge Pool Shield, for being the first Moy Fishery client to catch a salmon this season on the Ridge Pool.

Armstrong's and Gannon's both produced a few salmon with Jonny Clarke, Navan, landing one of 7lbs at Armstrong's. The Foxford Fishery produced six in total, with two for Denis Hanna of 6lbs and 8.5lbs. Barry Leech, Co. Meath, also had success here, with a 10.5lbs salmon on the worm. Rinanney and the Foxford town fisheries also had their share of captures. However, it was the Cloongee Fishery and East Mayo waters which once again produced the best of the fishing on the Moy System.

At Cloongee, 29 salmon were recorded with Michael Monaghan and Brendan Doyle both landing two each. Garry McNamara and Terry Nolan, both Co. Offaly, had one each while Nick Slader had one of 12.2lbs. The East Mayo water yielded a staggering 45 salmon, including a fine fish of 17lbs for Declan McNulty, Swinford, a salmon of 13lbs for visiting Italian angler Alberto Rombi, a 9lbs fish for Marcel Jacquiem, Belgium, and two for Vincent Prior, France, including a 11lbs fish on spinner.

Sandra Fleming, N. Ireland, was presented with the Coolcronan Cup for catching the first salmon of the year on the fishery, a fresh run fish of 7lbs.

Ballisodare Fishery
The Ballisodare Fishery enjoyed yet another excellent week of angling, with a total of 103 salmon, fifty of these were released. It was the weekend that saw the heaviest angling effort, and as a result, the greatest catches, with 31 salmon caught on Saturday and 23 caught on Sunday. There were many good fish hooked throughout the week, on fly, prawn and worm. Visiting Swiss angler Jean Philippe had a nice 10lbs salmon to a Cascade, while local angler Eddie Harte caught a fine 13lbs salmon on a Willie Gunn.

Johny McCorkell, Newtoncunningham, Co. Donegal, with his 6lbs Ballisodare salmon taken on a Green-Butt Cascade.

Carrowmore Lake
Angling on Carrowmore has been hampered severely of late with the unseasonal weather and strong winds. As a result, angling was possible only in the early part of last week. However, many anglers enjoyed good sport during the early calm period, with Mal Parrot, U.K., retaining a salmon of 7lbs and releasing a second. Ronan Murphy also returned one of 7lbs, while Toby Gibbons had one of 8lbs. Conn Cleary, Co. Limerick, had one of 8lbs as did Pat Doherty and John Cosgrove, who also released a second. Rory Harkin boated one of 6lbs with Tom Walsh landing one of 6.5lbs, Martin McDonnell and Martin Reuland also had one each.

Flies which proved successful over the past week included the Black Dabbler, Clan Chief, Green Peter, Hairy Mary and various Cascade patterns.


Trout Angling

Loughs Conn and Cullin
The poor weather conditions, including strong north-westerly and even easterly winds, coupled with rain and hail did not help anglers this week. Mayfly hatches were extremely patchy with the best observed in the sheltered bays. Most successful flies included Wulff and Olive patterns.

Angling out of Gortnorabby pier, Crossmolina, John Griffin & Pat McNulty averaged seven trout over a few days with their best weighing 2lbs. John Warren and M.J. Cawley had five trout for a day, their best was 2lbs. Padraic Trainor & Damien O' Hora had five trout all in Flannery's Bay area, with the best at 1.5 lbs while Fred Finlay had two trout to mayfly patterns.

Fishing from the Cloghans area, Gary Binley, Foxford, and Bryan Clayton, Massbrook, had six trout for a day's fishing. Gary's biggest was a fine 4.5 lbs fish, with the smallest 2lbs, all caught on a ‘Ginger Wulff'. Gary also had three keepers the following day and returned a few more, all from Castlehill Bay. David McCabe, Co.Offaly, boated four, his best was 2 lbs, all to mayfly patterns. Stephen Browne and Brendan Breslin had six trout, all over the 13 inch size limit off Errew Point, again all on Mayfly, with their best at 2.5 lbs.

From Pontoon Bridge Hotel, Geoffrey Cooke, Scotland, had seven trout over two days while Vinny O' Boyle had a fish of 2lbs. Niall O' Sullivan and Ruth O'Shaughnessy, Co. Dublin, had four each; all of approximately 1lbs.


Lough Arrow
Lough Arrow Fish Preservation Association & District Anglers held their annual mayfly competition on Sunday 13th, with 56 anglers participating. The juvenile section was won by Killian Walsh. The heaviest bag of the competition was taken by Hilary Mitchell, with two trout for a combined total of 4.8lbs. However, the price for the heaviest fish went to Peter Roche, with his fine trout of 7.71lbs. Dave Cadman took second with a fish of 3.66lbs while Hilary Mitchell came 3rd.

Ballinlough
Seven rods fished Ballina Lough for the week, boating a total of nine trout (eight released). Pat Moran, Newport, who was fishing with his son boated a rainbow of 2lbs. John Freestone had two rainbows and one brown while Anthony Cafferty and two boat partners also had two rainbows and one brown trout. Successful fly patterns this week included dry Mayflies and Buzzers.

Pike Angling

Foxford Area
During their stay in Foxford, the Monier Family, France, enjoyed a great day's pike fishing with guide Kenny Sloan. Cedric had the best fish of the day (pictured below) which has been his best sized pike to date. Trolling proved to be the best method on the day. For guided fishing or boat rental contact Kenny on Tel: +353 (0)949256501 or Mob: +353 (0)879670310.

The Monier Family, France, enjoyed their visit to the Foxford area pike angling.

Sea Angling

Killala Bay
Skipper of the Leah, Donal Kennedy reported on a party of anglers who set out from Killala Harbour for a day's fishing on Saturday 12th May 2012. It was the first outing for a number of days as the bay was hit by fresh to strong north to north easterly winds. A window emerged on Saturday and it took a while for the fish to start feeding. However, the angling party was not disappointed when some nice coalfish were caught. Additionally, the group had approximately 15 pollack with the best weighing close to 8lbs, two nice cod, a few cuckoo wrasse, pouting, and mackerel.