Angling News
Angling News - WRBD 26 August 2012
By Bryan Ward
30, Aug 2012 - 07:25

River Moy
As August, the traditional lean month for salmon anglers, draws to a close, there are hopes of an improvement in fortunes in the coming weeks. It has been a relatively quiet period on the Moy, both in terms of angling effort and catch reports, yet the system recorded a catch of 157 for the week, bringing the annual reported catch total to 7,877 salmon.

Just one fish was taken on the Moy Fishery, a fly caught grilse for Michael Keenan, N.Ireland, on the Ridge Pool. The lower and mid Moy fisheries fished reasonably well for the time of year, with all recording some catches. Among those to have success in this area were Stefan and Debbie Spiess, Switzerland, who had one grilse each on worm at Coolcronan, while John Logan, Co. Dublin, landed an 8lbs fish at the Foxford Fishery.

The upstream fisheries also had a relatively slow week, with Cloongee recording 7 fish and the East Mayo Anglers' water yielding 10. At Cloongee, Martin Laverty, N.Ireland, had one of 5lbs while spinning and at East Mayo, Reggie Bishop, U.K. had two grilse at 4lbs, one spinning and the other taken on the worm. Michael Marco, Luxembourg, also had success at East Mayo, with a grilse while fishing the worm.

Anglers are reminded that from the 1st September, the daily bag limit drops to one salmon or sea trout over 40cm. The River Deel will also close to anglers from the 1st September.

Newport River and Lough Beltra
Angling effort has been relatively low on the Newport River and, as such, there are just a few catches to report this week. John and Bert Carlisle caught and released three sea trout on the river, while Tony Gibbons had two grilse of 3lbs and 6.5lbs, taken on a Flamethrower. Finally, Barry Kenny released nine sea trout and landed two grilse, releasing one of those.

Ballisodare Fishery
High water towards the end of the week disrupted fishing at Ballisodare, despite this the fishery recorded 39 salmon for the week, 25 of which were released. Early in the week, N.Ireland angler Dennis Barrett released two grilse of 3lbs and 4lbs while A. McNeelan landed two to the worm of 7.5lbs and 5lbs. Pat Hogan had success with the prawn with one of 6lbs and Paul Culreavy landed one grilse to the fly. The fly was also successful for Tony McKeown who had a 5lbs fish, with Clive O'Neill releasing two grilse.

Lough Conn
Traditionally, the latter part of August and September can produce good angling on Lough Conn, this was indeed the case for Michael Tiernan Jr. of Foxford. While fishing with Thomas Foley and former ITFFA Youth International teammate Shane Bird, Michael hooked, boated and successfully released a magnificent brown trout, estimated at over 10lbs weight. The fish took a size 14 Pearly Dabbler, fished on the top dropper in the Massbrooke area.

Elsewhere on the lough, fishing out of Pontoon Bridge Hotel, Philip O'Rourke had three trout while boat partner Seamus Parke, London, had one. Vincent O'Boyle and Steven Lusty boated five trout between them, all taken on Dabblers. Visiting anglers to Pontoon Bridge, Andre Saller and Uve Dobele, Germany, had three trout from Conn, and accounted for three salmon while fishing the River Moy during their stay.

Fishing out of Cloghans, Brendan Breslin had two to a Claret Stimulator, his best was 2.5lbs. Joe Ferguson boated three trout, his best 2lbs, while Joe Quinn and John Walsh had five to the boat, all taken on Dabblers.

Erriff
Fishery Manager Jim Stafford reports on the past two weeks on the Erriff. Water levels were recorded at 1.2m on the Aasleagh Guage on Sunday 14th, with further spates of 1.5m on the 17th and 2.0m on Saturday 18th. Dirk Odemann, Germany, landed two, with one from the Upper Garden Pool on Beat 9 and the other from the Cottage Pool on Beat 4, both fish taken on an Ally's Shrimp. Enda O'Connell, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and son Hugh, had two salmon and two sea trout, their best was a 5lbs fish taken on a Cascade in the Falls Pool. Jeremie Abgrall, Brittany, France landed a grilse in the Coronation Pool on Beat 8 on a Black Tube fly. Albert Caffrey, Athy, Co. Kildare caught one of 6.5lbs on a Willie Gunn in the Falls Pool on Beat 9. Arthur Muckian, Dundalk, and son James, landed one each in the Falls Pool and Garden Pool on Cascades. Martin Davison, N. Ireland, had one in Joyce's Sand Hill on Beat 5 on a Munroe.

Water levels had fallen to 0.9m on the Aasleagh Guage by Tuesday the 21st. However, with a week of almost continuous heavy downpours the river level never really settled yet, surprisingly, the water remained remarkably clear. Spates were recorded at 1.3m on the 22nd, 1.7m on the 23rd and 1.5m on the 24th, falling to 1.25m by the 25th. Fishing a Pearly Dabbler in Yellow Banks, Patrick Norton, Co. Dublin, caught two salmon, his best 7lbs, and three sea trout which took a Silver Doctor in Jenkin's Pool on Beat 5. Local angler Stuart Fleming also caught a grilse in Jenkin's Pool on a Shrimp fly.

Stephen Jones, Co. Dublin, had a grilse in the Falls Pool on Beat 9 on an Ally Shrimp, while Martin Witort, Tourmakeady, caught a 6lbs fish in the Hawthorn Run on a Yellow Shrimp Fly. Samuel Wallace, N.Ireland, landed a 5lbs fish on Beat 4 to a Bann Special. Robin Adams, Co. Dublin, and Nick Fenton, N.Ireland, caught one each in Doyle's and Colonel's Run, Beat 6, on a Yellow and Orange Shrimp pattern. John McCullough, Co. Dublin, caught two on a Black Pennell and Cascade in Yellow Banks and Nees Run on Beats 5 and 6.

Junior angler Alex Dinn, France, fishing with Louis Bouillon's party, caught his first Erriff salmon on an Alexander in Joyce's Sand Hill on Beat 5 - the party also caught 9 sea trout on Beats 3 and 4 that day.

Fish of the week goes to John Curran, Co. Dublin, who landed a fresh run 8lbs fish in the Holly Pool, Beat 8, on a Cascade.

To book fishing on the Erriff or accommodation in Aasleagh Lodge, contact fishery manager Jim Stafford on 095 42252, or visit www.aasleaghlodge.ie for details. The lodge and fishery also have a Facebook page at www.facebook.com/AasleaghLodge.

Inagh
Fishery manager Colin Folan reported that high water and higher winds have helped freshen and cool down the fishery this week. Although there are not too many fresh fish entering, there is a feeling that something is about to happen. Angling effort has slowed down considerably, but with September only around the corner, it will improve. Last season the top month for all species was September.

Forty-two rods fished this week and recorded 8 salmon and 60 sea trout. Michael Heery from Dublin fished Inagh for two days and recorded three grilse of 4-6lbs, 11 sea trout to 1.5lbs, and a char. Top flies for Michael were his own version of a Green Dabbler, and his own creation the Snow White. The Barton party from Galway consisting of 8 rods fished Inagh for a day and recorded 16 sea trout to 2.5lbs and a 5lbs grilse, top flies for the group were the Silver Daddy and Green Sedgehog. Vincent Foley had two grilse this week for three short sessions on both the lake and river, best fish was 6lbs, and Colin Murphy, Co. Galway, also took a 6lbs grilse on a Silver Daddy from Inagh. Colin Folan also had 2 grilse this week, one monster of 3lbs from Corloo and a 6lbs fresh fish from Inagh, both returned.

Kylemore
Fishery manager Nigel Rush reports that yet another quiet week has passed, as thundery weather ensued. This resulted in just seven salmon for the week, bringing the total catch to date to 117. Sea trout fishing has improved somewhat and a few more anglers are starting to venture out. Seven rod days on the lake produced 42 sea trout over the past week, with fish up to 2lb reported. To book fishing at Kylemore Abbey, contact Nigel on 095 41178, or mobile 087 9580702, and for up to date news check the website at www.kylemorefishery.ie.

Lough Mask
Fishing on Mask over the past week has been challenging to say the least. The recent low pressure has pounded the lake with even more unseasonable wind and rain which resulted in many boats remaining on the shoreline.

Last weekend, however, saw the Partry Angling Club host their annual Pair's Development competition. Anglers in this event had the choice to fish either Lough Mask or Carra. This year a total of 168 anglers participated, to weigh in 95 trout.

First prize went to well known Lough Corrib anglers, Tom Doc Sullivan and Mike Keady. They weighed in seven trout totaling 8.04lbs. Longford anglers John Brennan and Kieran Newman took second place with seven trout for 7.30lbs while third place went to Stephen Browne and Brendan Bresnan with four trout weighing 7.20lbs.

Local Partry angler Tom Byrne and fishing partner Kevin Bradley weighed in the heaviest fish which was 2.10lbs (caught on Lough Carra).

Greg O'Donoghue, Ballinrobe, fished Mask on Monday and had three fish for the day (best was 1.5lbs, all released). Greg also fished Carra the previous Sunday and landed 5 trout for the day (best fish 1.5lbs all released). Angling guide Dennis O'Keefe fished with Ted and Sue Wherry from the U.K. for five days last week and had a total of nine trout (best fish 2lbs, all released). Finally, local Ballinrobe angler Brendan Costello landed a lovely trout of 3lbs while fishing dries in Lively Bay on Friday last.