Western Lakes

It was that time of the year again, as the World Cup made its familiar return to the shores of Lough Mask. Several hundred anglers entered, with heats being fished from Thursday to Sunday, and the final held on Bank Holiday Monday. Fishing was mixed, with some days fishing very well, and requiring good catches to qualify, while other days the conditions made fishing difficult. Monday was truly awful trout fishing weather, very warm and humid all day, and the lake was mirror calm. Most anglers barely saw a fish, let alone met any, but Aidan Hodgins from Loughrea managed 2 fine trout for 4.99lbs to take top honours. Aidan won a 19ft lake boat and trailer sponsored by Burke Boats of Ballinrobe, along with a Honda engine sponsored by Duffy's of Headford.

In second place was local angler and World Cup boatman's organizer Ronan Cusack, with 2 trout for 2.21lbs, while third place went to Freddie Steele, from Co. Down, with 2 trout for 2.06lbs. The heaviest fish prize over the competition was won by Aidan Heffernan, with a fine trout of 4.84lbs.

Very few rods were out on Lough Corrib last week, but trout angling is producing well for those anglers prepared to go out. Mayfly are still coming off at times, with sedge hatches going well also. In the Cornamona-Greenfields area, 15 angers reported 27 trout in 18 rod-days, mostly to wetfly, with mayfly patterns doing well, and dapped crickets also producing some fish.

Mick Killeen from Ennis and Ernie Cullen from Belfast fished wetfly on Sunday and landed 5 trout for 9lbs. Jimmy Purcell took 2 trout for 3.5lbs on the dap, while Charlie Lawlor took a trout of 1.5lbs on the dap. Mick Killeen fished again on Monday and landed 4 trout for 7.5lbs. Elsewhere, 2 English anglers reported 11 trout for approx. 18lbs over 3 days fishing wet and dry fly, best fish was 2.75lbs and all were sportingly released.

Galway Fishery

Water levels were perfect for flyfishing this week, but the weather has been very warm and humid, making for difficult angling. In spite of this, 58 salmon were landed for the week. Young Amy Quinn from Loughrea landed her first ever salmon, a fine grilse of 5lbs caught on fly. Thomas Cleere also landed his first salmon, a nice 4.5lbs fish, also on fly. Ted Walsh landed 2 grilse on fly, while Michael Rogers had 3 grilse on fly and shrimp, and Jim Barry took 3 grilse to 7lbs on fly.

Kevin Clancy landed 2 grilse on fly, as did Bob Lawlor and Leo Casey, while Eddie Corry had 3 grilse on fly, as did John Keogh. John Reidy took a nice 8.5lbs fish, also on fly.

Fresh fish are still coming in on every tide, and with water levels so good, fishing prospects remain very good here.

Connemara

Water levels are now very low in the Connemara rivers, and most fisheries could do with a good deluge of rain to get things moving again.

Erriff

Fishery manager Jim Stafford reports from the River Erriff that water levels continued to fall from 0.7 meters to 0.6 meters for the week, and the river was baked in bright sunshine for most of the period. Water temperatures were recorded between 18 and 20 degrees C. There were less rods out on the river and catches were down on the previous week. Mr. Robert and Annie Rusby, U.K. caught a fish each in the Sea Pool and Garden Pool on Beat 9. Mr. Jean Boidron and Mr. Gerard Garnier France had one each from the Sea Pool on Cascades. Fresh fish continued to show in the estuary on every tide, but with the high water temperatures fewer fresh fish entered the river. There seems to be a good head of fish waiting to run the river, so as soon as we get some rain fishing should pick up again here.

To book fishing or accommodation, contact Jim at Aasleagh Lodge on 095 42252, or email erriff.fish@iol.ie

Inagh

Fishery manager Colin Folan reports from Lough Inagh on fishing for the month of July: The month started off with great promise of good fishing as we had flood after flood. Plenty of fish entered the lake and anglers enjoyed good fishing, however the last 2 weeks have been frustrating with little or no water and wind. The temperature of the surface water is now 18 degrees C. This has driven the sea trout into the deeper water of the lake and the fish are lying about 12 feet below the surface and in 90 feet of water. There are lots of fresh grilse at The Derryclare Butts waiting to run but they have no water to do so. The large brown trout are starting to show in the last few days and many anglers have had whoppers including Anke Kondla from Germany with her capture of a fish estimated at 11lbs. Richard and Hugh Maguire from Dublin had numerous trout yesterday (July 31) including 2 browns of 4 and 6lbs.

Catch totals for the month;

Salmon - 28. Best fish weighed 7.75lbs and was caught by Ronan Power from Galway on a Red Harry on Lough Inagh

Sea Trout - 69. Best fish weighed 3lbs and was caught by Sean McCloskey from Northern Ireland on a Green Octopus on Lough Inagh.

We are in great need of rain to bring new fish in and to rinse the lake to drop the temperature and I am hopeful that Wednesday will see the start of a change in conditions
To book fishing or accommodation, call Lough Inagh Lodge Hotel at 095 34706 or check their website at www.loughinaghlodgehotel.ie

Sea Angling

The 4th leg of the West Coast Shore League took place on Saturday the 30th, in warm, humid conditions. Competitors were pegged on one of two islands out in Clew Bay, fishing into the channels for mainly dogfish, thornback ray and bull huss. This competition was hosted by Newport SAC, and is part of the Newport Sea Angling Festival.

For the second year running, the competition was won by Michael Flannery, with a fine total of 17 fish for 833 points. Michael was pegged in Zone A, which fished better on the day. Next in Zone A was Yanto Jones from Galway Bay SAC, with 15 fish for 831 points, followed by Sean Ivory from Western Vikings with 16 fish for 719 points.

Zone B was won by Mike Curtin from Fanore/Lisdoonvarna, with 9 fish for 461 points. Second was Kevin Crowley (GBSAC) with 7 fish for 372 points, and third was James Devers (Killala) with 7 fish for 353 points.

The result leaves Sean Ivory at the top of the league standings on 392, followed by Mike Curtin on 386 and Yanto Jones and Kevin Crowley on 382. Next leg of the league takes place on August 27th, hosted by Corrane SAC.