Sea Angling

The first leg of the Grauvell West Coast Shore League 2012 was held on Saturday last at the stony beach in Renvyle, Co. Galway. 20 senior anglers made their way on to the beach for the 6pm start, with 5 juniors from around the province also competing. Fishing was excellent for the time of year, with 157 fish recorded, not including undersize fish. 7 species were landed, including thornback ray, dogfish, coalfish, 3 and 5-bearded rockling, flounder and pollack.
The winner on the night was well-known international angler Mike Curtin (Lisdoonvarna Fanore SAC), who had 11 fish for 574 points. Zone A was won by Kevin Crowley (Galway Bay SAC), with 9 fish for 511 points. Sean Ivory (Western Vikings) was 2nd, with 7 fish for 342 points, and Chris Feeney (Galway Bay) was 3rd, with 7 fish for 315 points. Shane Gilvarry (Newport) was the winner of Zone B, with 14 fish for 524 points. Ed Kilroy (Newport) was 2nd, with 12 fish for 476 points, and Yanto Jones (Galway Bay) was 3rd, with 9 fish for 349 points.

Once again the senior anglers were glad not to be competing with the juniors, who recorded some fantastic scores. Winner of the junior section was Mark Hughes (Newport) who landed 14 fish for 533 points. Second place went to Kaylem Feeney (Galway Bay), with 12 fish for 522 points, and third was Conor McDermott (Galway Bay) with 6 fish for 320 points.
The league is off to a great start, and as competitors are allowed to drop 2 scores from 8, there is still time to enter. The next competition is on May 19th, hosted by the Killala club. Details from www.galwaybaysac.com

Lough Mask Continues to Fish Well

Ronan Cusack reports that Mask remained in top form again this week with some excellent bags reported. Water levels and weather conditions were very unsettled mid-week, with huge downpours at night and high winds during daylight hours. Local Tourmakeady anglers Liam Conroy and Peter Gossan fished on Wednesday last and they had 3 fish for their day (best fish 1.5lbs). Liam fished again on Thursday with boat partner Michael Shovlin and they had another 8 trout (best fish 2lbs and all returned). Liam described the fishing as extremely lively for this time of year with plenty of well-conditioned small trout freely taking the fly. Brian Hall from Hall's Angling Centre had 5 fish in Cahir Bay on Thursday last (best fish 2lbs, again all returned). John Brennan and friend from Longford fished on Sunday last and they had 8 fish for their day (best fish 1.75lbs). John also reported returning numerous undersize fish throughout the day. Adrian Armitage and partner from Westmeath had 7 fish to wet flies on Sunday (best fish 2lbs). Adrian was very impressed with their days sport and hoped it was an indication of what was in store for the season ahead.
Overall Mask is fishing extremely well and definitely worth a trip.

Lough Corrib

No reports from Corrib this week, but Frank Butler sent in some results from the Langan Cup competition held by Collinamuck Angling Club on Sunday of last week. 16 anglers took part, and in first place were John and Frank Butler with a fine trout weighing 13lbs 7oz. In second place were Daragh Noone and Sergei Davoren with 2 trout for 4.3lbs, and the third placed team was Gerry Reilly, Mike Keady and Tommy Mason with 1 trout of 4lbs.

Anglers are advised that Inland Fisheries Ireland will be commencing a fish stock survey on Lough Corrib on Monday 27th February. This is the first major survey of trout stocks in the lake since 1996, and involves the use of gillnets to capture fish. Trout that are still alive will be measured, recorded and released alive again, while some fish will be killed and full details recorded, including stomach analysis. The survey will give a good overview of the health of fish stocks in the lake, and will further increase our knowledge of the genetic pool of trout in the lake. This helps identify which are the most important spawning tributaries, and improves our understanding of the ecology of the lake.
All nets will be clearly marked with brightly coloured buoys with IFI SURVEY printed on them. While all nets are set on the bottom and only fish the lowest 2 metres of the water column, those set in shallow areas may be close to the surface. Anglers and other lake users are asked to keep an eye out for marked nets and to avoid them if possible.