Salmon Angling

River Moy
Again, the River Moy fished very well during the week with over 600 salmon reported. Despite fluctuating water levels fishing conditions remained good and salmon were caught right throughout the system. The Moy Fishery accounted for 22 salmon. Most of the fish were taken on the Ridge Pool, where James Burns, NI, had three grilse on the fly.

On Mount Falcon, Stewart Miles, UK, landed 6 salmon and Peter Miles, also UK, had 5 on spinner and worm. On Armstrong's, junior angler, Shana Kenny, Co. Galway, caught two, while on the Foxford Fishery, Stuart Sumnall, UK, landed a nice 8 lbs. salmon on spinner.

UK angler, S. Fisher, landed 4 salmon on Cloongee, all on spinner, while Malcolm Bell, also UK, had two. The excellent fly fishing conditions continued on the East Mayo Anglers' water where Stephen Challinor, UK, had 5 salmon on the fly, best at 11 lbs.

Owenmore River
A mid-week spate resulted in excellent fishing on the Owenmore River and despite dropping water levels towards the end of the week anglers enjoyed fantastic sport with some fine double figure fish being caught.

Anthony J. Barrett, Bangor Erris with his Record Salmon of 17.13 lbs. from the Owenmore River.

On the Bangor Angling Club stretch of the Owenmore River, local angler, Anthony J. Barrett, landed a cracking multi-sea winter salmon on a size 8 Cascade using a sink tip line. Anthony's fish weighed in at 17.13 lbs. and is according to Fishery Manager, Seamus Henry, the biggest salmon recorded in the past 20 years on the Bangor Erris club water. This is already Anthony's second salmon over the 15 pound mark this season as he had one of 16.5 lbs. earlier in the year.

Other successful anglers included Jeff Downings, UK, with 3 grilse, best at 6.5 lbs., Larry McAlinden, NI, with a 10 pounder and local anglers Mick Noone, Jim Mills and Mervin Conway who all had fish between 8 lbs. and 10 lbs. Best flies for the week were Cascade patterns and Flamethrowers.

Newport River

The Newport River experienced a rather quiet week with only three grilse reported. The successful anglers were Frank O'Dea with one grilse and Martin McCoy with two. Martin also caught two sea trout which were safely returned to the water.

Ballisodare Fishery
With perfect water levels and plenty grilse still running the system, the Ballisodare Fishery accounted for a total of 111 salmon for the week of which 57 were released. The best fish of the week weighing 7 lbs. fell to Co. Louth fly angler, Sean Kelly, while Peter Connolly, UK had a 6 pounder also on fly.

Trout Angling

Lough Conn
Fishing was quite slow on Lough Conn as trout are still feeding on roach and perch fry. However, a few fish were reported by anglers.

At Pontoon Bridge Hotel, Jon Penet and Andre Courrard, both Belgium, had 5 trout over 2 days, best at 2 lbs. Fishing out of Cloghans, local anglers Stephen Browne and John Finnerty had 3 trout, best also at 2 lbs. Elsewhere, Donald Carisness, UK, boated 3 trout for just over 3 lbs. Best flies included Dabbler patterns and the Green Peter.

Lough Arrow
On the warmer evenings, Peter fishing continued to be productive on Lough Arrow. Local angler, Peter Dunne had three trout, best at 5.5 lbs., while Maurice Whiteman caught 4 fish ranging between 2 and 3.5 lbs. Other successful anglers included Michael gunning with 2 trout to 2.5 lbs. and John Hargadon with 3 trout averaging 2.5 lbs.