River Moy

The long awaited for rain arrived eventually but did not last long enough to have a significant effect on the river. Some fish moved upstream and for two days there was good fishing between Foxford and Ballina. The water levels are low again and the fish are hard to catch. Some 178 salmon were reported. Heaviest fish weighing 14.5lbs caught by Dr. Strong. Paul McGrory Louth had a good fish weighing 8.25lbs. Phil Briscoe with the Maver party of 9 anglers caught 57 salmon for the week. Keith Wignall England had 4 fish best 6lbs. Stephen Wilson Co. Down had 3 fish best 4.5lbs one fish released. Declan Foley Kiltimagh had 3 fish best 4lbs. T. Duffy Derry had 2 fish best 6.9lbs. John Cooke Norwich had his first salmon on the fly whilst fishing on the Cathedral Beat and this memorable fish weighed 5.5lbs

Vincent Roche and John Burke with Gwen O'Kelly and Julie Gerry both of whom made a fine catch on the River Moy

As part of its strategy to encourage more ladies to take up salmon angling, The North Western Regional Fisheries Board held a special Ladies Day on the Cathedral Beat of the famous Moy Fishery in Ballina on Friday, 12 September. Following a highly successful children’s day on the beat, earlier in the season, this time it was the turn of members of the National Ladies Fly-Fishing Association and a most enjoyable day was had by all. Even though many of the ladies had not fished for salmon before, a high standard of angling skill was demonstrated and all members fished enthusiastically for the entire day.

Almost every angler made contact with at least one salmon with a number of fish hooked and lost and a final catch of three salmon recorded. Gwen O’ Kelly from Grange, Co. Sligo kicked off the action when she hooked her first ever salmon on a silver stoat’s tail. Unfortunately, this salmon was lost at the net but it wasn’t long before Gwen was into her second fish, a grilse of just under 3 lbs, which she successfully landed. Shortly afterwards, Julie Gerry from Maynooth, Co. Kildare also hooked and landed her first ever salmon, another grilse, of 4 ½ lbs After a number of plucks, pulls and lost fish throughout the day, it was Julie Gerry again who was to round off the action when she hooked and landed a superb salmon of 7.96 lbs which gave an extremely good account of itself on Julie’s single handed trout rod. The other participants were; Julie Mc Geever, Foxford & Dublin; Madaline Kelly, Belfast; Mary Mc Kee, Derry; Rosemary King, Derry; and Myra Cosgrove, Ennis Co. Clare

The day concluded with some hard earned liquid refreshments in the Ridge Pool Hotel, Ballina, courtesy of the Board. On Sunday, the ladies went on to enjoy another day’s fishing on Ballin Lough, near Westport, a lively rainbow trout fishery which is also managed by the North Western Board. Despite poor fishing conditions, they managed to land a number of trout to round off a good weekend in Mayo

Low water for most of the week and the fishing was slow. Roy Dodds Lisburn had 5 fish best 4.5lbs

Lough Conn

The fishing was slow all week and few anglers were on the water, however on Saturday and Sunday there was a change in the weather and some fish were caught. There is very little fly life now and the fish are feeding solely on roach fry. Steve Watts and Dave Doyle fishing with Jack Mellet had good fishing with trout up to 3lbs Martin Foley Dublin also had fish up to 3lbs Andrew Crawshaw London had 4 fish best 2.5lbs Dave Livesey England had 2 fish best 2lbs Charles Butler also had 2 fish.

The fishing was slow all week and not many anglers ventured out. Oliver Hargadon had 3 fish best 2.5lbs Pete Marshall and Noel Wynee Sligo had 4 fish.

John Burke

Angling Officer