Galway Fishery

Water levels have fallen this week, with just one gate now open, perfect conditions for flyfishing. With the improvement in conditions has come a marked improvement in numbers of salmon, with a lot more fish entering the river over the last couple of days. There were 67 salmon landed this week, with a good many more hooked and lost.

Werner Meckle and Rolf Fuhri from Germany both recorded grilse on shimp, Dave Gibson from Galway had a nice 6lbs fish on shrimp, while Bob Lawlor had a 4 lbs fish on fly. Eoin Warner from Dublin had 2 grilse on shrimp, as did Brian O'Rourke from Galway, including a fine grilse of 7lbs. Eamon Power from Waterford landed 2 grilse on fly, and Aidan Brophy took a 6lbs fish on shrimp. Shane and Paul McNamee had a good visit, landing 5 grilse between them on fly and shrimp, while Gary Rogers from Dublin landed a cracking salmon of 11lbs on a spinner.

Young Joseph O'Toole from Galway landed a nice grilse on shrimp, and Stephen Buchanan from Dublin had 2 grilse on fly. Brian O'Donoghue took a nice 5.5lbs grilse on fly, his first Galway fish, and Brian Howard from Dublin landed a nice 6-pounder on fly. Dave O'Reilly took 2 grilse on fly and shrimp, while James McEvoy from Cork landed 2 grilse on fly. Local angler Michael Szabat landed a grilse on fly, while Andrew Lynas from Northern Ireland showed his dad Dexter how to fish, landing 2 grilse on fly.

With conditions so good and the main grilse run hopefully underway, prospects here for the next couple of weeks are very good indeed.

Western Lakes

Tom Kelly reports from Oughterard that there are very few anglers fishing Lough Corrib at the moment, but those who do go out are having good sport, with big numbers of smaller trout coming to wetfly and dap, as well as some bigger fish. The numbers of small trout has been a feature of fishing this year, and bodes well for fishing in the next few years as these fish mature.

Kevin O'Toole and son Harold from Galway had a good day, with 5 trout for 10lbs, best fish 4.5lbs, on wetfly and dap. The Williams party from England landed 9 trout over 3 days to dap and trolling.

I had the pleasure of fishing with 2 Dutch angling journalists on Tuesday, as well as a colleague, Mike Hennessy from Cork. Guided by Tomi and Jack from the Corrib Predator Team, who worked tirelessly to put us over fish, we landed 2 good trout of 7.5lbs and 9lbs trolling roach deadbaits. Conditions on the day were awful, with high winds and frequent showers, but the fish turned up and will surely feature in a Dutch angling magazine shortly.

We also went after ferox on Lough Mask with guides Ronan Cusack and Padraic Kerrigan, on a much softer day on Wednesday, and Mike Hennessy landed the specimen trout he was after, a fine fish of 12.5lbs. This was Mike's 20th species to bag a specimen so he was very happy heading home that evening. Two more fish were landed, both around 9lbs, with a couple more hookups and dropped fish.

Fly anglers on Mask are enjoying good sport at the moment, with everyone reporting fish any time they go out. As with Corrib, however, very few anglers are out, and I was surprised just how quiet the lake was. With such good fishing available at the moment, the Western Lakes would be a good bet for trout anglers looking for summer sport.

Connemara

Water levels were very low this week in Connemara, with runs of fish affected, but at the time of writing it has been raining heavily for a good 12 hours or so, and I have reports of floods already from several rivers. Salmon and sea trout should be running hard in the high water, and I expect fishing to really pick up here over the next few days.

Colin Folan reports from Lough Inagh that 13 salmon and 40 sea trout were landed last week up to Sunday.
Derek Woods and Steven Tory (UK) fished the Derryclare Butts for a few mornings and had 3 grilse to 6lbs on Cascades. Michael Heery (Dublin) and Denis Murphy (Dublin) fished Lough Inagh for 2 days and landed 4 grilse to 6lbs and 7 sea trout to 2.5lbs. Most of the fish took a Silver Daddy. Kevin Kelly and Padraic McTavish (Galway) fished Inagh and landed 2 grilse to 4.5lbs on a Silver Doctor. Robert Moulton landed his first salmon on the fly and his 2nd salmon in 20 years on Greenpoint beat. The long awaited fish took a Cascade and weighed 4.5lbs.

Padraic McTavish and Kevin Kelly

Michael Heery Colin Folan and Denis Murphy.

Anglers this week have commented on the wildlife they have seen, a Golden Eagle has returned to the lake, kingfishers and otters have also been witnessed.

To book fishing or accommodation, call Lough Inagh Lodge Hotel at 095 34706 or check their website at www.loughinaghlodgehotel.ie