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The Western Regional Fisheries Board

Western Region Angling Report May 29th. 2001
by Danny Goldrick

Lough Corrib
While water levels were down to mid-summer average, the weather conditions for most of the week fell short of being ideal for good trout fishing. Light winds and brilliant sunshine for several days reduced the catches on the previous week's al-time records. However, there were several days when fishing was excellent and large catches of quality trout were made by the hundreds of anglers fishing the lough, anglers coming from every corner of the land and many from overseas. Guesthouses and hotels never had it so good with a huge demand for accommodation, boats and boatmen. Dapping the natural mayfly was excellent when conditions suited but anglers say that wet fly was equally successful. There were others who fished the dry fly on the "blind" and to rising trout, and these anglers report top quality sport. One such angler, Jock Millington from Spiddal had a 5.5 lb trout to a dry Murrough. Mayfly hatches were petering out in recent days but there were large hatches of chironomids, particularly in late evenings and trout were rising freely to them in many areas.

There are many reports of hundreds of undersized trout being returned again to the water as well as many large trout by visiting anglers. George Hall and a friend caught and released 18 large trout and many others that were undersize in 3 days fishing from Salthouse Bay. It is recommended that anglers should keep a fresh container of water in the boat to immerse the fish being unhooked, allowing time for the trout to recover before release.

423 anglers fished in the area between Greenfields and Cornamona and they accounted for 1220 trout for 1644 lb in 1063 angling days. It would appear that the better fishing was in the Cornamona area where a competition with 79 anglers last Sunday yielded 163 trout for 221.98 lb, the winner, Keith Curtis from England having 8 for 10.82 lb. Gerry Dixon from Oughterard had 7 for 10.5 lb for second place and third was local angler John Walshe with 8 for 8.71 lb. In the same area Patsy Summerville and John Roycroft had 35 for 40 lb in 6 days, and the Ron Sparling party of 3 rods landed 21 for 34 lb in 3 days. John White and Dave Talmage from Purley in England took 71 for an average of 1.14 lb in 12 days. Martin Munroe had 15 for 21 lb in 4 days, and Henry Schneider from Germany took 5 for 10 lb in I day.

Anglers fishing from Mike Holian's Bayview Angling Centre at Cross, reported some good catches in the past two weeks including 9 averaging around 2 lb by Philip Bowman and Andrew Kennedy from Belfast (all released); 25 to David O'Neill, Ger Roche and Charlie Moore in two days; 16 to Fintan Malsh from Cross; 12 to Andy Connor and Jimmy Hession from Cross, and 8 to John Purtell from Tipperary.

The calm and sunny weather in the Oughterard area brought about less fishing and lower catches but as the conditions improved, so did the quality of angling, particularly to the dapped mayfly. There were widespread reports of big rises of undersize fish to various flies. Over the week, 400 anglers landed 680 trout for 865 lb in around 400 angling days. Notable catches included 9 trout for a day for 13.5 lb to Paddy Hickey from Cork; 21 for 28.5 lb to C. Heaton and J. Nelson in two days; 22 to Kevin Grimes for a day, releasing all but 8, and 15 for 23.5 lb in two days to the Wilson party from England.

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Lough Mask
The big hatches of Olives and fairly good hatches of Mayfly brought a lot of trout to the surface over the week, and when conditions were suitable excellent fishing was recorded with 79 anglers taking 293 trout for 369 lb in 238 angling days, best 5.75 lb to Paul McHugh from Ballinrobe. There is nothing but good reports from anglers about the quality of trout fishing on the lough so far this season, and many say the trout are in superb condition too. Wet fly is the method most practiced on the lough with very few anglers ever bothering to use the dapped mayfly. Returns over the week included 24 for 32 lb to Northern Ireland anglers S. Moylan and T. Swift; 9 for 12.5 lb in 2 days to Mr. McGivern and Mr. Wallace; 14 for 19 lb in 4 days to F. Meares and S. Beacher from Northern Ireland; 6 for 9 lb for a day to David Hall's party, best 3.5 lb; 36 for 36 lb in 6 days to Dr. Erwin and party. Mayfly and Olive patterns were best wet flies and buzzer patterns also worked well in late evenings.

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Lough Carra
Only a small number of anglers went onto the lough last week where fishing was regarded as reasonable when conditions suited wet and dry fly methods. Good numbers of trout were observed rising at times, a lot of which were smallish. R.Moorlan and T. Sadliers took heaviest trout of 2.75 lb from the UK who had 14 for 18.5 lb for the week. Small hatches of mayfly occurred in some areas but good hatches of olives and chironomids took place most days. Philip Cresham from Castlebar reports 4 trout to wet fly recently for 7.25 lb.

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Galway Salmon Weir Fishery
Only 13 salmon for 65.5 lb were taken for the week, most of the grilse going through to Lough Corrib where quite a few were caught by fishermen trolling. We have a report that a 20 lb salmon was caught by a local at the mouth of the Cong River. Most of the salmon were taken on fly at the Galway Weir and the Silver Stoat was the most successful pattern. Presently there is an excellent run of grilse at the fishery, the bigger runs coming in recent days.

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Bunowen And Carrowniskey
No report from this fishery yet

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Moher Lake
Ever since the opening day on the lake there has been excellent trout fishing with most anglers landing their bag limit of 4 trout. Brendan Ryan and his friend from Castlebar had 7 in recent days and Brendan has been very successful on each of his many visits so far this season. Boats and permits from: Margaret McDonnell, Liscarney, Westport, telephone: 098 21638.

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Lough Inagh Fishery
No report from this fishery yet

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Kinlooey Lake, Aughergower, Westport
This lough has recently been restocked and permits and boat hire can be obtained through John Scott's Shop, Aughergower, telephone: 098 25119

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Kylemore Fishery
No report from this fishery yet

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Erriff Fishery:
No report from this fishery yet

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Coarse Angling
The reports from the Moycullen lakes indicate excellent fishing for both roach and bream. Anglers staying at Cloonabinna House Hotel (091 555555) are averaging about 60 lb of roach a day with some nice bream beginning to come this week. Dave Coster from England and 12 in his party all report excellent fishing. Two German anglers staying at the above hotel landed 178 pike in 10 days, all taken between Ross and Ballyquirke Lake. The fish averaged around 12 lb. Two anglers from the same hotel fished the Corrib on Sunday and landed 19 trout, best 3 lb.

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Sea Angling

Reporting from Clifden John and Sue Brittain, Tel. 00353 (095) 21073, says: Fishing here is rather slow at the moment. The weather is too good, fine sunshine and little wind although it is changing this morning but we are very busy nonetheless. There are some bursts of activity and we are getting some good Cod and Pollock.

This story of the "one that got away story" happened recently: One of the anglers who was fishing a sandeel on a rental rod150 meters of 100lbs mono. He struck into a fish in 150feet of water. The fish moved away at an astonishing speed. 50m of line was not enough so the engine was started and the boat followed the "fish."

The other 11 guys all had their lines in the water and the tangle that resulted was a masterpiece! At this stage the fish was moving so fast that the line was slicing through the water. After about 5 minutes of this the fish had not tired in any way despite a very tight drag setting and the speed it was travelling at. We were quite close to some rocks, the tops of which were visible on the surface but surrounded by deep water and a big swell crashing over them. When we were about 300 meters from the rocks the fish suddenly turned and headed in amongst them, I followed as close as I dared but the inevitable happened and the line went slack.

I thought it was a seal but after a couple of minutes I was convinced it was a fish as it was not in the least like a Seal. It was much too fast and we never saw it. Remy Whelan was helping me out for the day and he was of the same opinion. I reckon it must have been a Porbeagle and a big on at that. We put a lot of pressure on it for the 10 minutes or so that we were in contact and any fish under 100lbs would have slowed down a bit but we will never really know. The unlucky angler is Barry McLoughlin from Limerick.

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Castlebar Main Index

Lake Reports:

Lough Corrib

Lough Mask

Lough Carra

Galway Weir

Bunowen And Carrowniskey

Moher Lake

Lough Inagh Fishery

Kylemore Fishery

Erriff Fishery

Coarse Fishing

Sea Angling

The Western Regional Fisheries Board

Western Region Angling Report May 29th. 2001by Danny Goldrick

Western Region Angling Report May 29th. 2001
by Danny Goldrick