Angling Reports
Markus Müller reports
Angling Report – w/e 28 June, 2009
River Moy
14 year old James Carroll with his two fly caught grilse from the Moy Fishery
The Moy system accounted for a reported catch of 192 salmon for the week. This brought the season total, to date, to 1,837 which is up on this time last year. Despite the bright sunshine and dropping water levels, salmon were caught right throughout the system from Ballina to the East Mayo water.
With water levels having dropped dramatically over the past week, fishing has improved somewhat on the Moy Fishery. Thirty-two salmon were recorded at the fishery with twelve coming off the Ridge Pool, four from the Weir Pool and fourteen from the Cathedral Beat. On the Ridge Pool, Jim Adamson Snr., Northern Ireland, had a grilse, while Jonathan Forrest, France, caught a 6.25 lbs. fish. The Weir Pool produced two grilse for 14 year old, James Carroll, Clonmel. Also on the Weir Pool, Roy Taylor, UK, caught two salmon with one of them released. On the Cathedral Beat, Graham Ouston, Wales, had a 7 pounder, while Peter Begley, Louth, was successful on the Spring Wells with one grilse. All fish came to the fly. Visiting Italian angler, Gino de Carlo, scored at the Point with a salmon weighing 7.7 lbs. on spinner. Gino was also successful on the Knockmore water where he had 4.5 lbs. salmon also on spinner. On Armstrong’s, the Michael Brunt party from Germany enjoyed good fishing for the second week, with a total of 5 salmon, while the Foxford Fishery produced 3 salmon for UK angler, Trevor Belton.
On Cloongee, Paul Gough & Bert Walsh, both UK, had 3 salmon each on worm, while Mark Sweeney, Louth, landed two fine salmon at 8.75 lbs. & 9 lbs. on spinner. Angling conditions also remained good on the East Mayo Anglers Association water. Successful anglers included: local angler, Paul McGrath with two grilse (both released) on fly, Vincent Prior, France, with one grilse also on fly and Frederick Poingnant, France, who landed 3 salmon fishing the worm. Also on East Mayo, local angling guide, Paddy McDonnell, caught & released two grilse on fly.
Moy Estuary
Fishing on the Moy Estuary was slow for the main part of the week but as the spring tides eased off, conditions improved. These high tides have particularly helped to improve the situation on the lower estuary and vast shoals of herring fry have arrived. As a result, good numbers of sea trout are now present. Judd Ruane reported good fly fishing for his clients. Ronnie Sands & friend, Northern Ireland, caught & released over 30 sea trout, while David Martin & two friends also enjoyed good fishing with sea trout up to 1.5 lbs.
Italian visitor, Gino de Carlo, with his salmon caught at the Point, Ballina
Lough Conn & Lough Cullin
Due to the very warm and sunny weather, fishing was again fairly quiet on Conn. As a consequence, only a handful of anglers ventured out with most trout caught on dry fly.
At Pontoon Bridge Hotel, Jean Pierre Rouiard, France, had one trout for 1.75 lbs. Fishing out of Healy’s Hotel, Pat Gorman, Galway, caught a fine 3 lbs. brownie along the Pullawokhouse Shore on a Bibio. Eoin Cox and Adrian Gilmartin, Longford, had 3 trout between them fishing from Gortnorabbey. All trout were caught on dry flies, best at 2 lbs.
Elsewhere, the Castlebar Anglers Association held their Annual Douglas Hyde Memorial Cup and Conn & Cullin Cup Competition on Sunday, 28 June. Brian Connolly won the event with 3 trout for 4.48 lbs. and second place went to Kevin Finnerty with 1 fish for 4.06 lbs.
Carrowmore Lake
The sea trout fishing picked up on Carrowmore Lake during the week with good numbers of trout caught by anglers. Some anglers were also rewarded with some fine salmon. The best fish for the week was caught by regular Swiss visitor, Daniel Baggenstoss, and weighed in at 10 lbs. Other successful anglers were Ronnie Mayock, Dublin, with a six pounder and Mervin Corway who caught and released a 5 lbs. grilse. With the peak of the sea trout run to come, prospects for the coming weeks are good.
Ballin Lough
The Ballin Lough Fishery continued to fish very well. Thirty-six rods fished the lake during the week catching a total of 70 rainbow trout (32 released).
Ken McCarthy & Enda Young, Dublin, had 15 rainbows (10 released), best at 3.5 lbs., Joe Kenna & Andy Boyle caught 5 fish, best at 3 lbs. and Joe Gibbons, Westport, landed 8 trout (6 released), best also at 3 lbs. Best flies for the week included: Booby, Minkie, Green Peter and various nymph patterns.
Ballin Lough is a fly only fishery and fishing is from boats only. For permits and boat hire anglers should contact Mrs. Gill, beside the lake, on 098-26128.
Ballysadare River
The Ballysadare Fishery produced a total of 53 salmon (18 released) for the week. The best fish for the week fell to John Gogan weighing in at 8.5 lbs., while Tom Gogan caught an 8 lbs. fish on the same day. There is a good grilse run in the system and therefore fishing conditions should remain good.
Loughs Bilberry & Lannagh
The 15th McConville Cup will be fished on Loughs Bilberry & Lannagh, Islandeady, Co. Mayo from Thursday, 9 July until Saturday, 11 July. Bilberry-Lannagh Angling Club invites angles to take part in this prestigious event. Closing date for entries is Friday, 3 July. Contact: Matt Fahy, Green Hill, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, Tel: 087 2982717.
Week ended 21 June, 2009
River Moy
The Moy had its best week of the season, so far, with a recorded catch of 324 salmon bringing the total for the season, so far, to 1,645. A break in weather midweek resulted in the best of the fishing towards the weekend. As a consequence, there was good fishing throughout the entire system, with a good number of double figure salmon caught.
The Moy Fishery enjoyed its best week of the 2009 season, so far. On the Weir Pool, fly anglers, Ivor Trimble and John Savage, both Northern Ireland, had a salmon each, while Roy Taylor, UK, landed a 6.19 lbs. fish on worm. On the Ridge Pool, Joe Martin caught an 8.25 salmon on fly and Gordon Sweetman, Carrickmacross, had a grilse also on fly. The Cathedral Beat also enjoyed good fishing during the week. Amongst the successful anglers was Brendan McLoughlin, Northern Ireland, with 2 salmon on spinner and worm. Also on the Cathedral Beat, Declan Foley, Kiltimagh, landed a salmon on fly weighing 7.5 lbs.
Mount Falcon produced her first ever salmon for lady angler, Maeve Farrell, Dublin, while Estate Manager, Jim Wilson, scored with a 9.5 lbs. fish on worm. On the Armstrong Fishery, Michael Brunt, Germany and party of five, had 15 salmon for the week on worm & prawn. The Foxford Fishery had a very good week and produced some nice salmon including 7 fish for Tom & Jonathan Carthew, UK, best at 13 lbs. Horst & Jürgen Babel, Germany, were successful on the Foxford Anglers’ Rinnaney stretch, with 4 fine salmon weighing between 9.75 lbs. & 12 lbs. All four fish came to the worm. Above Foxford, Robert Smith, John Owen & Rob Dembenski, all UK, had a salmon each, best at 11.5 lbs.
On Cloongee, Paul Wymes, Dublin, caught & released 2 salmon while spinning and visiting German angler, Fritz Edlar, landed 3 salmon, best at 12.75 lbs. The East Mayo Anglers Association water also produced some good catches during the week. Amongst the lucky captors were: Remy & Frederick Poignant, France, with a total of 8 salmon ranging between 5 lbs. & 7 lbs., Frank Papon, Switzerland, with 2 salmon at 7 lbs. each and Billy McGhee, Ballyvary, who landed a fine 9 lbs. salmon on fly. Also on the fly, Fred Thompson, Dublin, caught 2 salmon at 7 lbs. & 10 lbs. On Ballintemple, French couple, Dominique & Dominique Lemoine had a grilse each.
Lough Conn & Lough Cullin
It has been a quiet week on Lough Conn and the strong and gusty winds midweek also impacted in the fishing.
From Pontoon Bridge Hotel, Stan Jacobson, Canada, had 3 trout over 3 days to the Claret Bumble, best at 2 lbs., while Brendan O’Kelly, Dublin & Kieran Connolly, Pontoon, caught 2 trout each, best at 2 lbs. on Bibio and Stimulator. Michael Johnson, UK, boated 2 brown trout and a sea trout, best at 2.75 lbs. and James McWalter had 6 trout (4 released). Near Six Arch Bay, Phil Cobhan, UK, landed a brown tout for 1 lb. and a grilse on the Clan Chief. From Healy’s Hotel, visiting anglers, Joachim Bauer & Hans Buhler, had 4 trout on Cullin to wet mayfly patterns, best fish at 1.5 lbs. In Crossmolina, M. J. Cawley had 2 trout for an evening’s fishing, while John Warren had some good sport around Errew Head with 3 trout (all released) for 4 lbs. to mayfly patterns. Fishing out of Kelly’s Boat Hire, Cloghans, Gerry Fox, Sligo, had 8 trout (all released), best at 2 lbs., while Paul Smyth, UK, caught 6 fish for 7 lbs. on Bibios and Green Peter. The best fish of the week, however, was caught by Peter Roche, Cloghans, in Castlehill Bay. Peter’s fine brown trout weighed in at 5.02 lbs.
Congratulations to the local women from the Irish Ladies Fly Fishing Association who won the International on Lough Lean, Killarney, last week. Carmel Kelly, Mary Kelly Dunne and Orla Walsh, all from Cloghans, contributed to the Irish win. Well done!
Ballin Lough
Again, a good week for the Ballin Lough Fishery with 24 rods catching a total of 110 rainbow trout (81 released).
Amongst the successful anglers were Ronnie Child, UK with 23 fish (all released), best a fine 6 lbs. rainbow, Michael Sazbat & friend, also UK, with 21 trout (16 released), best at 4 lbs. and Ed Cornally, Offaly, with 13 rainbows (10 returned), best at 3.5 lbs.
Best flies for the week were Zulu, Damsels and various nymph patterns. To book a boat on Ballin Lough, anglers should contact Mrs. Gill, beside the lake, on 098-26128.
Pike Fishing
A group of visiting French anglers enjoyed some good pike fishing on Levally Lake, near Pontoon and Carrowkeribly Lake, Attymass, during the week. The group caught and released a total of m17 pike, best at 91cm.
Week ended 14 June, 2009
River Moy
The dry and sunny weather conditions impacted on the fishing over the past week, with most salmon caught during morning hours or in the evening. However, 191 salmon were reported for the week which brings the total catch for the year to date to 1,321.
On the Moy Fishery, Ivor and Paul Bexton, UK, enjoyed good sport fishing the Ridge Pool. Paul landed a small grilse on spinner, while Ivor caught a fine 12.5 lbs. salmon on fly. Ivor also scored on the Cathedral Beat with 2 grilse averaging 4 lbs. Also on the Cathedral Beat, William Roberts, UK, had a 7.5 lbs. fish to the fly, while Bill Clearly, Dublin, banked a 9.5 salmon also on fly. The best fish for the week, however, was caught by Paul McGrory, Louth. Paul’s fish weighed in at 14 lbs. and took a Cascade size 10.
On the Foxford Fishery, Donald McCurtan had 4 fish for the week, best at 8.5 lbs. and Barry Leech, Kildare, caught two salmon at 7 lbs. & 12.75 lbs. All fish came to the worm. On the Foxford Anglers Rinanney stretch, 12 year old Dylan Ennis did well with an 8.5 lbs. salmon on spinner, while visiting German angler, Gunther Geib, had one at 10 lbs. on prawn. Upstream of Foxford, Kenneth Nyizsnyansky, Denmark, landed a 5 pounder on worm.
The Cloongee Fishery continued to fish well this week with 26 salmon reported. Amongst the successful anglers on Beat 1 were: Michael O’Halloran, Tipperary, with a 10 pounder on worm, Patrick Nolan, also Tipperary, with a 12 lbs. salmon and visiting French angler, Eric Weisser, with a total of 3 salmon (4, 8 & 12 lbs.) all on spinner. On Beat 2, Sean Moore, Laoise, had 2 salmon on worm. On the East Mayo Anglers Association water, a French angler did particularly well landing 5 salmon for the week. Also on East Mayo, Piermin Buicher, Switzerland, had 2 salmon (8 lbs. each) on spinner, while Belgian angler, Marc Tromme, caught a 7 lbs. fish on worm
Moy Estuary
The mixed weather conditions and northerly winds impacted on the angling during the week. However, Judd Ruane reported some fine catches for his clients. Peter & Caroline Connelly, UK, had 4 sea trout on mackerel strip, while Tobias Hoffmann & Conny Hammerbacher, Germany landed 11 sea trout also on mackerel strip. Other successful anglers included Stefan Schneider with 4 trout on and Edward & Paul Dunn, Dublin, with a total of 9 trout.
Paul McGrory & friend with his fine 14 pounder from
the Moy Fishery’s Cathedral Beat
Lough Conn
Now that the mayfly time is over, fewer anglers are fishing Lough Conn. Additionally, the unsettled weather impacted on the fishing during the week. However, the few anglers who ventured out were rewarded with some fine catches.
From Pontoon Bridge Hotel, Ionita Homoijdian and Dimitri Ledoux, Romania, had some good sport with 4 trout over 4 days, best at 2lbs. Jon Penet and Andre Courard, Belgium, enjoyed good fishing around Glass Island, with 6 fish over 5 days, best at 3 lbs. All their fish came to wet mayfly patterns. Jack Mellet, Castlebar & Pontoon had 4 trout for two evenings, best at 2 lbs. to the Grey Wulff and Extractor. From Murphy’s Boat Hire, Massbrook, Jack Lynch, Northern Ireland and Peter Lynch, Donegal, had 4 trout, best at 2 lbs. Fishing from Gortnorabbey, Ian Wise and John Warren had some good fishing around the Islands in North Conn, returning 6 trout over two days, best at 2 lbs. At Kelly’s Boat Hire, Cloghans, Dr. Bill O’Connell, Arklow, had 35 trout over 5 days, with best at 2 lbs. all to mayfly patterns, while Aidan Heffernan, Dublin, boated 3 trout, best at 3 lbs. all in Cloghans Bay to Olives. In Brackwansha, Stephen Brown and Paddy Breslin had 4 trout for 6 lbs. on an evenings fishing. Paddy McDonnell reported 5 trout (4 released) for his clients, Jacqui & Pat Gorman, Northern Ireland, best at 3 lbs., while Mel McDonald and friend, Scotland, also enjoyed good fishing with 8 trout for 2 days. Mel and his friend were guided by Ken Hall. Best flies for the week included Grey Wulffs, CDC Mayflies, Sedge and Spent Mayfly patterns.
Pat Gorman, with his 3 lbs. Lough Conn brown trout
Carrowmore Lake
Despite the difficult conditions, five grilse were reported from Carrowmore Lake for the week. Rory Murray, Cork, and his son Damian did particularly well with 3 fine grilse averaging 4.5 lbs. Elsewhere, Franz Kaiser, Bangor & Germany, had a 5 pounder, while Ronny Mayock boated a nice grilse at 4.5 lbs. There were also good signs of sea trout in the lake with 31 fish caught for the week.
Lough Beltra
On Lough Beltra West, Lord Belmore, Northern Ireland, had two salmon at 5 lbs. and 8 lbs. on a Cascade, while Tom Vesey, Dublin caught and released tow salmon (6 lbs. & 7 lbs.) fishing the Glenisland CoOp, Beltra East water.
Ballin Lough
Despite the bright and sunny conditions, angling on Ballin Lough was good, with 18 anglers reporting a total of 67 rainbow trout (33 released).
Denise & Pat Murphy and friend had 14 rainbows (3 returned), best at 4 lbs. Seamus O’Malley and his son, Joe landed 12 trout (4 returned), best also at 4 lbs. and Andy Young, Dublin, boated a total of 14 fish (2 released). Best flies for the week included Daddy Longlegs, Green Peter and Zulu.
Ballysadare River, Lough Arrow and other Sligo & Leitrim Fisheries
The Ballysadare Fishery reported a total of 38 salmon for the week, 24 of which were released. Dermot Glennon caught and released a fine 10 lbs. salmon taken on a Prawn, while Vincent Henry also landed a 10 pounder. Vincent’s fish took an Ally’s Shrimp.
Some good salmon fishing was reported from the Garavogue River, with fish up to 8 lbs. caught by anglers.
Again, there was very little angling activity on Lough Arrow over the week due to the sunny conditions. However, local angler, Peter Dunne, had 5 trout between 2 lbs. and 4.5 lbs. Elsewhere, Noel Fairbanks had 2 fish at 3.14 lbs. and 4.2 lbs, while Josie Gray had one brownie at 2.5 lbs. Most of the trout were caught on dry flies with Murroughs working best.
Anglers have reported some good fishing on Lough Doon where Paul Flanagan landed 4 trout (3 released) for his day’s fishing. Duck fly patterns proved to be most successful.
Bilberry Lough & Lough Lannagh
Bilberry & Lannagh Angling Club held their first junior competition on Sunday, 14 June. A total of 28 anglers took part in the event which was followed by a bbq at the lake in the evening.
The under 10 years section was won by Jack Carney with 6 fish, weighing 5.37 lbs., second place went to Colleen King with one fish at 1.18 lbs and third place went to Aoife Gray with one fish at 0.95 lbs. In the over 10 years section, first place went to Naill Byrne with 3 fish weighing 3.29 lbs, runner up was Edward Moran with three fish at 2.71 lbs and third place went to Michael Hewer with 2 fish for 2.23 lbs. The prize for heaviest fish was won by Robert Cranley. The under18 caster section was won by Kevin Joyce with 3 fish for 3.27 lbs. Runner up was Stephen Joyce with two fish for 2.28 lbs.
Week ended 7 June, 2009
River Moy
The Moy continued to fish well this week with the arrival of fresh grilse adding to the good stock of spring salmon already in the system. Despite the bright, sunny conditions which prevailed for much of the week, a total of 172 salmon were reported bringing to season total, so far, to 1,130. Salmon were reported from most fisheries throughout the river from the Cathedral Beat, in Ballina, to the Ballintemple Fishery, just downstream of Cloongullaun Bridge. The best fish of the week, weighing 16 lbs. was taken on prawn on Armstrong’s water.
On the Ridge Pool, Klaus Friebertshauser, Germany, had a fine salmon of 11.35 lbs. on fly, while John Seery, Ballina, had two, at 3.77 lbs. and 3.84 lbs. on worm. On the Cathedral Beat, Joe Sammon, Co Cork, had a good fish of 11.5 lbs. on fly. Up river, Martin King, N. Ireland, had a salmon of 11.50 lbs., on prawn, while fishing the Foxford Salmon Anglers water at Rinnanney. On Cloongee, Mark Sweeney, Co. Louth, had a fine fish of 12.5 lbs. on worm and another, at 9 lbs., on a spinner. The East Mayo Anglers fishery produced a total of 39 salmon for the week. Roger Janneau, France, accounted for 5 for his 3 days on the fishery with 3 taken on spinner and 2 on worm and the best weighing 8 lbs. Hughie Gillespie had two on fly, one at 9 lbs. and one at 10 lbs., while Gunter Profanter, Austria, also had a 9 lbs. salmon on fly.
Moy Estuary
The estuary produced a reported catch of just 15 sea trout for the week with northerly winds making fishing conditions difficult for much of the time and discouraging anglers taking to the water.
Lough Conn & Lough Cullin
The warm, sunny weather early in the week, and northerly winds towards the weekend, resulted in reduced angling activity on Conn and Cullin this week but those who did venture out were rewarded with some good fishing. From Kelly Boat Hire, Cloghans, Peter Roche had two trout for 2 lbs. for an evening and Ray Jones, Wales, also had two trout for 2 lbs. which came to mayfly. From Pontoon Bridge Hotel, John McKernan, Belfast, had two salmon, at 6 lbs. each, and one a trout at 2 lbs. all of which were taken on a dry Wulff pattern. Fishing from Gortnorabbey, Francie White, Sligo, had thee trout on wet flies while Ian Wyse, Crossmolina, had four all of which took Mayfly patterns. At Murphy Boat Hire, Massbrook, Ecky Muller, Austria, had two trout for 3 lbs. Meanwhile, Foxford Angling Club fished their annual Presidents Cup competition on Sunday, 7 September with 25 anglers catching ten trout, mostly to dry flies. The event was won by Gary Binley with two trout at 5.86 lbs. (2.66 kg) Stephen Browne was 2nd. with 3 trout weighing 4.76 lbs. (2.16 kg) while John O’Connell was 3rd. with three trout at 3.43 lbs. (1.56 kg).
Carrowmore Lake and Owenmore River
The bright, sunny weather this week had a particularly negative effect on this shallow lake and only one salmon, at 8 lbs., was reported. No fish were reported from the river due to low water conditions.
Lough Beltra & Newport River
No fish were reported from this system this week.
Ballin Lough
Unsuitable conditions also resulted in reduced activity on Ballin Lough this week. However, the lake produced 38 rainbow trout of which 17 were returned to the water. Six rods from Rosmuc Fishing Club caught 22 trout for their day of which they returned 10 to the water. Best flies for the week were Minkies and various Deer Hair patterns. For booking and boat hire, contact Mrs. Gill at the lake (098-26128).
Ballisodare River
The Ballisodare Fishery continued to fish well this week with a total of 25 salmon reported of which 14 were released. The catch of the week fell to Gerry McHugh who banked a fine salmon of 14.5 lbs. which he caught on an Ally’s Shrimp fly. John Walsh had a 10 lbs. salmon on worm and Trevor Goulding had one of 8 lbs. Some grilse have also started to appear in Ballisodare with a number of fish in the 4 lbs. to 5 lbs. bracket being caught this week.
River Bonet
The Bonet provided some lively fishing this week with two French visitors to Dromahair who fished the Dromahair Cottages beat upstream of the town. Jean Michael Zapata landed a 9 lbs. salmon on a Blue fox mepps spinner and Jean Marie Borreca landed an 8 lbs. fish which took a similar lure.
Lough Arrow
Fishing on Lough Arrow quietened down this week as the main mayfly season tapered off but some good catches were still recorded. John Hargadan had four fine trout over a few days of which two weighed 2 lbs. each, one tipped the scales at 3 lbs. 13 ozs. and his fourth weighed in at 4 lbs. 2 ozs. Michael Gunning had two trout at 2 lbs. and 3.5 lbs. while Peter Dunne had two at 2 lbs and 3.5 lbs. Ken Murray had three trout of which he returned two and retained one at 2 lbs. Most of the trout were caught on dry flies with Murroughs and Spent Gnat working well. It is most encouraging to see Arrow producing such quality fish again after a number of years of disappointing fishing. It is also good to see that many anglers are assisting conservation of stocks on Arrow by releasing some or all of their catch.