Western Lakes

Tom Kelly reports that fishing on Corrib was very good last week, with plenty of trout coming to the fly when conditions were right. A lot of these fish were over 2lbs too, so the quality of fish is very high at the moment. Martin Coughlan from Offaly had 5 trout for approx. 7.5lbs on Friday, while two American anglers, Dwayne and Don Miller had 15 trout over 4 days up to 3lbs on wet and dry fly. Glen O’Donnell from Shannon had 3 fish for a day, best 3lbs, and Donie O’Loughlin and John Fitzgerald landed 4 trout for their day. The Commercial club in Galway held a mixed grill competition on Sunday, which was won by Patsy and Peggy Griffin, with 2 trout for 6.5lbs, including a fine trout of 4.5lbs.

Connemara

This is proving to be a fantastic season for salmon in Connemara, with several fisheries reporting record catches, and fresh fish continuing to run most rivers on every tide.

Erriff

Fishery manager Jim Stafford reports from the River Erriff on fishing up to Saturday last: The week started off with levels at 1.1m on the Aasleagh Gauge. Levels dropped slowly until very heavy rains resulted in the river rising rapidly to 2.0m on the evening of the 23rd. Levels were recorded at 1.6m the following morning and the river was somewhat coloured for most of the first half of the day but started to clear in the afternoon. The rise in water levels brought more fresh fish into the river and it was spectacular to see so many salmon trying to jump Aasleagh Falls. Most anglers fishing the river during the week caught fish.

Patrick Kenny, Enfield caught 2 on a Shrimp fly in the Garden Pool & Sea Pool. Nicholas Nicholson, Co. Clare had 5 salmon for the week from the Washing Pool on Beat 4, Humps & Hollows, Black Banks on Beat 6 and the Middle & Lower Garden Pool on Beat 9 - all fish were taken on a fly named Flame, one of his own patterns. Brothers Jean & Jacques Calver from France, on a return visit to the Erriff, had a good week catching 10 salmon and 6 sea trout - all fish with the exception of one which was retained for smoking were sportingly released – best fish was estimated at 8-9lbs. Arthur Muckian, Dundalk had two fresh-run fish taken in the Gauge Pool and Sea Pool on Beat 9. Christopher Thornton, U.K. caught and released a fish of 6lbs taken on a Connemara Black in the Broken Bridge Pool on Beat 5. Young Christopher Forde, Oughterard very sportingly released his first salmon of the season - a fresh grilse of 5lbs taken in the Middle Garden Pool on a Cascade.

A Black Shrimp was successful for Niall Wickham, Drogheda who released a fish taken at the Twin Rocks on Beat 7. Donavin Brinklow returned a sea trout of 1.5lbs taken on a Black Shrimp fly in Black Banks on Beat 6. Nicholas Fenton, N.I. caught 2 fish on a Cascade. John McCullough retained one of 6lbs and released another 2 in addition to 7 sea trout. Aidan Crean landed 4 sea trout and 1 grilse taken in the Sea Pool on Beat 9. Gerry Dooley released one of 7-8lbs taken on a Shrimp Fly and lost another 3 at the Twin Rocks on Beat 7. Mary Harkin, daughter of Rory Harkin of Rory’s Fishing Tackle Shop in Temple Bar Dublin, fishing the Erriff for the first time caught 3 of which 2 were released.

Total catch for the week was 37 salmon and 22 Sea Trout, which keeps the season catch well above 2010, which was a good year too. With fresh fish continuing to run, September looks like it could be a good month again for salmon on the Erriff.

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

Ballynahinch Castle Fishery

Fishery manager Simon Ashe reports that Ballynahinch is on track for a record year: The fishing at Ballynahinch over the past few weeks has been fantastic with above average numbers of fish being taken throughout the Castle Stretch. If we have a good September with favourable fishing conditions, there is no reason why we will not have our best season in over 20 years. Along with Lough Inagh Fishery, due to have its best season for salmon ever, there is no question that the drift net ban some 4 years ago is having a positive impact on the stocks at Ballynahinch. This bodes very well for future years.

There has been consistent high water for the past few weeks which has helped to ensure that fish are spread throughout the river. Sna Beg is fishing fabulously this year, particularly above the footbridge, as well as Beats 1, 4 and 6. The seal barriers, attached to the old eel traps on Beat 7 have ensured that there is no seal predation on the lower beats this year. There is no question that our ‘marine friends’ had an impact last season by ‘chasing’ resident fish from Beats 4-6, during their nocturnal visits!

Gianni Gamondi, after a two year absence in the fishing book, had a great week fishing at the hotel taking 2 fish up to 10.5lbs as well as losing a fresh fish of 15lbs from Beat 1, which incidentally jumped back off the grass as Gianni tried to ‘tail’ it! All his success was on a hitched Green Butt skating across the faster water. Daniel Berman had a fabulous day taking his first 3 salmon ever from Sna Beg and Beat 1.

Regulars Stephen Cullinane and Ann Corcoran have done well in the past couple of weeks, taking 4 and 2 salmon respectively. Toby Strauss also managed to break his ‘salmon drought’ last Tuesday as he released a fine 4lbs grilse from Beat 4. Henrietta Knight landed her first Ballynahinch salmon on Lower Sna Beg on a Stoat’s Tail, ably assisted by Cyril, whilst Conor Killeen and Malachy O’Callaghan also took fish from Beat 4.

The catch of the period certainly went to local guide, Jonathan Broderick, who took a fabulous 11lbs fresh salmon from the neck of Beat 6 last Thursday on a Holo Cascade. This was Jonathan’s largest salmon in his short angling career to date.

With unsettled weather due to return on Thursday, the great year at Ballynahinch looks set to continue throughout the month of September.

To book fishing or accommodation at Ballynahinch, contact the castle at 095 31006, or check www.ballynahinch-castle.com

Inagh

Fishery manager Colin Folan reports from Lough Inagh on fishing up to Sunday: Heavy rain again last week brought the falling levels up to flood level once more. We are experiencing our best catch of salmon on record for Inagh, with plenty of fresh fish still entering. There are some very big fish about and they are estimated at 25 - 30lbs. September on Inagh should be magic.

11 Salmon were landed for the week. Tom O Brien and Andy Walsh (Galway) fished 2 days on Lough Inagh and landed 5 grilse ranging from 4.5lbs to 5.5lbs. Top fly was a Green Peter. Ian Garratt (UK) had the best fish of the week weighing 6.5lbs, caught on Lough Inagh on a Daddy. There were also first ever salmon for hotel guests Randy Smith (USA) - 3lbs, Kevin Lorenz (USA) - 5lbs and Silvio Morano (Italy) - 5lbs

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

Kylemore Abbey

Nigel Rush reports that salmon fishing really picked up last week with the fresh water, despite low numbers of anglers. The catch for the week was 13 salmon and 37 sea trout for just 25.5 rod-days, a great catch per unit effort indeed. Among those to land fish were Geoffrey Fitzjohn, Seamus O’Neill and John Curran, as well as fishery guide John Irwin. Kylemore is a beautiful fishery, combining a delightfully intimate river with a myriad of holding pools, and 3 lakes which produce fantastic sport for both salmon and sea trout in the right conditions. This fishery tends to fish very well in August and September, and is well worth a throw from now on. To book a rod, contact Nigel Rush at 095 41178 (fishery office) or 095 41161(home), and for regular fishing update check the website at www.kylemoreabbeyfishery.net

Sea Angling

I had the opportunity to fish with two of the region's best charter skippers last week, getting out on John Brittain's Bluewater on Thursday, and having another day out on Kevin MacGabhann's Maighdean Mara on Friday. On Thursday, we fished out of Cleggan with John, his son Peter and a small crew, stopping off around the islands to enjoy some good pollack fishing before heading west of Slyne Head to try for blue shark. Conditions were pretty good, and soon we had a good drift going and a nice ruby-dubby trail set to bring in a few sharks. It wasn't long before we had some action, with one dropped run before a small blue took a mackerel bait, and I was lucky enough to get my first blue shark, a beautiful electric-blue fish of about 25lbs, small but still a hard fighter. Unfortunately it went quiet after that, but all aboard had a fantastic day out thanks to John's hard work and detailed knowledge of the area.
Over the following days, John has had excellent cod fishing, with some over 10lbs, ling to over 10lbs, bull huss, whiting, gurnard, blonde ray and spotted ray.
Anyone looking for a day afloat with an excellent skipper should contact John at 095 21073, or check www.bluewaterfishing.com . John also has regular updates on his Facebook page, just search for Bluewater Charter Fishing.

On Friday I fished with Kevin MacGabhann and a select crew out of Spiddal, steaming straight out past Aran on a beautiful sunny day. While Kevin and his deckhand Cian set up the rubby-dubby trail, the rest of us set about picking up different species on the bottom, including plenty of haddock, coalfish, pollack, gurnard, cod, ling, and cuckoo wrasse, with plenty of action from the start.
With a good scent trail out, it was only a matter of minutes before we had the first run from a big porbeagle shark, which gave angling journalist Mike Thrussell a good scrap before they parted ways without having seen each other! Shortly afterwards a blue shark took one of the other baits, but this time tangled the trace from the second shark rod, and in the confusion the shark got off. That was the end of the action, but that's shark fishing, and on another day we could have had both those fish and more aboard. On the way back in, we stopped off at a mark Kevin knows well and fished with ultra-light spinning gear using light shads for pollack, and had cracking sport, landing many fish to 8-9lbs on the light rods. All aboard had a super day out thanks to Kevin.
To book fishing with Kevin or fellow skipper Max, call him at 086 8547890, or check www.galwaybayfishing.com

The fifth leg of the West Coast Shore League took place on Achill last Saturday, with two venues being used, Keel and Dugort. While Keel proved tough, with mainly undersize fish, Dugort fished very well, providing plenty of good size flounder and making for exciting fishing.
Zone A (Keel) was won by Shane Gilvarry (Newport SAC) with 11 fish for 140 points. Peter Atkins (Galway Bay SAC) was second, with 10 fish for 100 points, and Tony Chambers (Newport) was third, with 2 fish for 70 points.
Zone B (Dugort) was won by Mike Curtin (Lisdoonvarna Fanore SAC) with a massive 22 fish for 522 points. Frank Rixon (Newport) was second, with 13 fish for 409 points, and Yanto Jones (GBSAC) was 3rd, with 8 fish for 205 points.
The junior prize was won by Conor McDermot (Galway Bay) with 5 fish for 134 points, with Joe Chamber second and Leo McKenna third.
With just 3 league competitions to go, Mike Curtin now leads the standings on 486 points, followed by Yanto Jones and Peter Atkins on 478. Things could all change, however, as 2 scores out of 8 can be dropped when it comes to the final competition, so all still to play for in this competitive league.