Galway Fishery
A further welcome drop in water levels saw another sluice gate closed on Monday this week, and conditions are now perfect for fly anglers, with one gate open. There were 22 salmon landed this week, mostly grilse, with good numbers of fish running on every tide. Jean Le Moal from France had a 6lbs grilse on fly, while German visitors Rene Gehringer, Frank Linke and Klaus Wolfrieberst landed 4 grilse between them, all on shrimp. Dublin angler Michael Rogers took a 5.5lbs grilse on spinner, and Pappy Cotter landed a fish of the same size on shrimp. Northern Ireland angler Terry McDermott took a grilse on fly, while local angler Simon Lenihan had 2 grilse on shrimp, and his namesake Dave Lenihan landed 3 grilse to 6lbs on fly and shrimp. Regular visitor Davy Hoy landed a 6lbs fish on fly, while fellow visitor Jim Adamson landed 2 fish to 6lbs on shrimp, and James McEvoy had 2 fish on fly, including a fine 12lbs salmon.

Lough Corrib
Eamon Walsh reports that it seems that the best of the fishing has come and gone without any real explosion of activity. Many anglers are having to try different methods of fishing to find the most productive. This too varies depending on the area of the lake being fished. The numbers of boats seen dapping has dropped off dramatically in the past week; this has as much to do with the lack of wind as it has with the availability of mayfly. The week began with some good hatches but died away as the temperature rose and the winds fell over the weekend, with little or no mayfly hatching on Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday.

The early days of the week proved to be the best in the Cornamona area. Regular visiting angler Keith Curtis from the UK, fishing out of Dooras with boatman Pat Egan, had his best results of the week between Monday and Thursday taking several fish up to 3lbs on the dap, while also having a fine 4lbs trout on Tuesday. Keith estimates that he returned over 15 sizeable trout for the week along with countless undersize fish. Michael and Eugene Casey from Clifden had some good fishing in Inis Dooras accounting for 5 trout between 1.5 and 3lbs on Friday. James McDonagh from Cashel had 4 decent fish up to 2.5lbs on Monday to the dap in Cornamona Bay.

Cornamona Anglers ran a heaviest fish competition on Bank Holiday Monday in which local angler Peter Curran kept up his winning run with a fine trout of 7.25lbs.

The story is much the same in other area of the lake. Declan Gibbons informs us that it was once again the opening day of the week which proved most fruitful. On Monday, Harold O'Toole and Stephen Greaney had 9 fish to buzzer in the Greenfields area; Harold also managed a further 9 on Thursday between Ballycurran, Greenfields and Kenny's Bay. Garry O'Brien and Kenny O'Toole had excellent fishing midweek, catching 10 fish on Wednesday and a further 13 on Thursday, switching between dry fly and buzzer. Also on Thursday, Robert Reilly, his son Ciaran and nephew Oisin had 4 trout between them all on dry mayfly.

A party of 4 fishing out of Corrib View lodge in Glencorrib had a good weeks fishing in the lower lake. Capturing up to 35 fish of varying sizes to dry olive and buzzer patterns. Some of the party even managed personal bests; Vaughan Rutley must have been delighted with his beauty of 6.7lbs. Richard Haskin and Bill Browne also broke personal records with trout of 4.2 and 4.4lbs respectively. US anglers Pattie and Terry Donaghue had 8 fish to dry olives on Sunday and a further 2 on Monday, also to olive patterns. Damien O'Leary and his father Mick boated 7 good fish, including a fine trout of 4lbs for Damien on a dry olive pattern. To book fishing or accommodation at Corrib View Lodge contact the lodge on 093 31718, or check www.corribangling.com

Damien O'Leary with a fine 4lbs trout taken on a dry olive from Lough Corrib, June 2013

Ballindiff Angling Club ran a competition on Sunday, where 19 anglers returned 4 trout over the limit. Joe Trill came out on top with a fine trout of 3.5 lbs.

Cong Anglers also ran their annual Whit weekend competition on Sunday in which families featured heavily. In the senior category, Gerry McDonald came out on top with 4 fish for 7lbs 3oz. In second place was John Fahy with a fine trout of 5lbs. Gerry's son Caolan won the juniors with 3 fish for 5lbs, and John's daughter Sarah came second with 2 fish of 3lbs 7oz, while her mother Niamh won the ladies competition with 1 fish of 1.5lbs.

In the Oughterard area, Tommy Kelly reports that there are still some good hatches of mayfly, but the clam weather has seen them leaving the water very quickly. Michael Harrington and partner had 5 fish on one outing, the best being 4lbs on wet and dry mayfly patterns. David Walsh from Portacarron had 3 fish on the dap with one beautiful trout of 7lbs. Donal O'Brien and 2 friends had 16 trout for about 25lbs over 3 days. Donal also managed to have 5 trout for 8lbs on another occasion. Another group of English anglers had 40 trout for a week's fishing, with fish up to 4lbs. I have reports of good fishing to spent gnat over the last few evenings in the warmer weather also, and the current hot spell should see good hatches of Campto buzzer in the late evening and into darkness in many bays.

Mary and Paul Miller were also in touch to advertise a great offer for beginners to flyfishing. Paul, who is a registered casting instructor with GAIA, offers casting and flyfishing instruction for total beginners, or for anglers who wish to improve their skill level. In an effort to encourage more youngsters into the sport, Paul is offering that adults booking a half day course for the great price of €50 can bring along a child (between 10 and 16 years old) for free instruction. All equipment is provided as part of the course. For more details check their website at www.loughcorribflyfishing.com. 

Vaughan Ruckly with a personal best trout of 6lbs 7oz from Lough Corrib, taken while fishing from Corrib View Lodge, 1 June 2013.

Lough Mask
Ronan Cusack reports that the good fishing experienced over the past number of weeks has begun to slow a little, mainly due to more challenging weather conditions. The bright sunny days over the weekend kept the bigger fish well hidden under boulders, yet large numbers of small trout are still willing to come out and play. Water levels continue to drop and hatches of mayfly have been described as reasonable. Towards the end of last week there were excellent hatches of fly in the Bay of Islands, in the north western corner of the lake. Local Ballinrobe anglers Michael Vahey and Kevin Egan spent a day pulling wet flies in among the islands and they had 8 fish for their day (best fish 1.75lbs, all returned). Conor O'Mahony and Ian Keating, Partry, also spent a day in the same area and they also had 8 trout on wet mayfly (best fish 2lbs). Father and son Val and Dave Egan from Ennis had a good day in Rosshill on Friday with 7 fish, mainly on buzzer (best fish 2lbs, all returned). Mark Rogan and Ronan Cusack had good fishing on Saturday with 7 good fish again mainly on buzzer (best fish 3lbs, all returned). Sean McAvoy from Ballinrobe had 7 nice fish in Cahir Bay on dry mayfly patterns on Sunday last (best fish 2.25lbs). UK anglers Phil Brooks and Pete Dighton enjoyed what they described as their best Mask fishing for years, with fish of 2lbs each day and countless undersize fish. Mark Surtees and his son Nicholas (England) stayed at Hall's Angling Centre over the past week. The father and son team had 28 keepers for their week (best fish 2.25lbs, most returned) Young Nicholas (aged 11 and fishing Mask for his first time) had 5 fish on wet flies (best fish 1.5lbs).

Neil Spellacy from Moycullen fished with Brendan Burke and another friend, and they recorded over 40 trout for their day, with the vast majority being undersize fish.

Bill Scorer (Dublin), a life-long Mask visitor, described his mayfly fishing on Mask this year as the best he has ever had. Bill and his fishing partner had 32 fish over the week (best fish 4lbs). Dave Hall and angling partner Frank Doyle spent the day on Mask on Sunday and they had 7 fish for the day (best fish 1.75lbs). Northern Ireland angler Dennis Hill spent his usual week at Hall's with 5 fishing buddies and they had 35 fish for the week (best fish 2.5lbs). To book fishing or accommodation at Hall's, contact David or Helen on 094 9541389 or check www.lakeshoreholidays.com

Ronan also guides on Mask and can be contacted on at 087 2869487 or by email at cusackronan@gmail.com

Margaret Gorman reports that fishing out of Dringeen Bay remained challenging at times, despite the improvement in conditions. Some good fish were had, however the trend continued with all anglers reporting huge numbers of small fish and bigger fish being hard to find. Most fish were taken on a mix of olive and mayfly patterns. Some good trout were also caught on dry fly.

Isham guest Gerry Glover, from Northern Ireland, caught his first fish ever on Lough Mask fly fishing. His companion at the house, Alan Murphy from Belfast had a very enjoyable week on Lough Mask retaining just 3 trout and returning numerous small fish on both wet and dry patterns. Alan was joined during the week by a friend from the UK and he had some success on the dap.

Stephen Neylon and Aidan Kelly fished for a day and caught 2 nice trout and returned 10 fish. Maurice Dallaghan, Dublin fished for a day and caught 5 trout, all returned. UK anglers Mark, Alec, Ronnie, Duncan, Paul and Roger, staying at Fairhill House Hotel, Clonbur fished from ‘Isham' Angling Centre, Dringeen Bay and they had a very enjoyable day. Their best fish was 2.25lbs and they returned a large number of small fish. Best fly for the group was a dry Muddler pattern.

Kevin Synott and Gareth O'Hare from Dublin fished from Dringeen Bay and Gareth had 1 fish 1.5lb and returned a lot of small fish. Richard Donnelly and his wife Joan had a nice evening reporting lots of activity to dry fly. Pat and Adrian Gorman fished during the week and had some nice trout. Their best fish was 2.5lbs and all fish were returned. For Aaccommodation, boat hire and angling information available on site see www.congselfcatering.com or phone 087 7908107, or email isham@eircom.net

Inland Fisheries Ireland would like to take this opportunity once again to remind anglers that fisheries officers are continually carrying out checks and patrols around Corrib, Mask and Carra lakes to ensure that local bye-laws and regulations are being adhered to.

Anglers should be mindful that since 2008 it is illegal to be in possession of any trout under 33cm (13 inches) and that there is a daily bag limit of 4 brown trout per angler per day.

Erriff
Fishery manager Jim Stafford reported on fishing for the last 10 days of May. Water levels on the river were recorded at 0.7 metres on the Aasleagh Gauge on the 20th of the month. Jeremy Graham caught a fish of 9lbs on a Wee Marie hair wing on the 21st in the Coronation Pool on Beat 8. With heavy rain, levels increased to 1.5 metres on the 23rd and 24th. It was success for Eddie Lee and Chris Pearson, both from the UK, and fishing the Erriff for the first time. Fishing a Stoat's Tail in the Coronation Pool on Beat 8, Eddie caught and released a grilse estimated at 5.5lbs. Chris Pearson caught a fish of 8lbs on a General Practitioner in Altamont's Dam on Beat 6. Niall Wickham, Drogheda ,Co. Louth caught one of 10lbs on a Gold Munro in the White Rock Run on Beat 7. The last fish of the month, a 10-pounder, was caught by the Fishery Manager in the Falls Pool on a Gold Cascade on the 28th. At the time of writing the report water levels have fallen with fresh fish showing on the high tides waiting for rain to run the river.