Atlantic Salmon Access Point

Irish Angling Update July 23

bob — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 11:36:03 +0000

From the Central & Regional Fisheries Boards
23 July 2008
Editor: Paul Bourke, Angling Information Officer
E-mail: paul.bourke@cfb.ie
Website: www.cfb.ie
Webmaster: Myles Kelly

Salmon, Sea Trout and Brown Trout Angling

• 113 Salmon for the month of July at the Blackwater Lodge on the Munster Blackwater.

• Sea Trout to 9 lbs. reported from Lough Currane in Co. Kerry.

• Good Salmon and Sea Trout fishing reported from many fisheries in the North Western Regional Fisheries Board.

• Good Grilse fishing reported from the River Drowes in Co. Donegal.

Coarse Angling

• Very good coarse fishing reported from many lakes in the Cavan - Leitrim areas.

Sea Angling

• Big Thornback Ray to 15.5 lbs. taken on small boat fishing off the coast in north Co. Dublin.

• Some fine Bass fishing reported from the Wexford area.

• Two massive skate for Ballyclare angler weighing 398 lbs. at Red Bay including a best fish of 213 lbs. which is our Catch of the Week at www.cfb.ie

Please see important notices at the end of this update on the Central and Regional Fisheries Boards Catch & Release Incentive Scheme and some new Important new bye laws for the Western Regional Fisheries Board Trout Waters

GAME ANGLING

Southern Region: E-mail: enquiries@srfb.ie
Website: www.srfb.ie

Ian Powell reports from the BLACKWATER LODGE fishery on the Munster Blackwater in Co. Cork.
E-mail: info@ireland-salmon-fishing.net
Website: www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net
Tel: 00 353 58 60235 From UK: 0871 474 0135 (10p/min any time!)
Fax: 00 353 58 60162 From UK: 0871 474 0136 (10p/min any time!)
Mobile: 00 353 87 235 21 20

Blackwater Lodge Newsletter - July 31, 2008

Another Good Flood hits the River!

After 2 inches of rain in 36 hours, the river rose rapidly yesterday (30th.) and peaked at 1.50m. It is already back down to 0.75m at 10.00 this morning & the word from upriver is that it is in good order and almost worth a cast with the fly already. This flood will get a lot more fish running into the river & should move on the fish which ran on the last flood - most of which seem to have held up the slower deeper reaches of the river between Fermoy & Clondulane weirs. The catch for July is a respectable 113 fish to 14.7 lbs. for 216 rod days, of which 58 have been released. The total for the Season to date is 178, of which 89 have been released. 12 anglers have caught their first salmon with us so far this year.

Superb Prospects for the next couple of weeks

With this latest flood, the prospects for sport in the coming days are superb.
Watch the daily updated Fishing Report page for details - ask me for a password if you don’t have one. Availability of accommodation & fishing at the Lodge is OK in the near future, though September is almost fully booked.

Improved access at Kents completed.

With the new vehicle access to Kents (Beat 4) now operational, we have now installed a gate to replace the electric wires halfway down the track, and completed a parking space at the hut for several vehicles with a post & rail fence & gate. There’ll be a couple of pictures up on the news page in the next day or so.

Where to meet us - a date not to be missed!

Glenda is demonstrating fly casting at the superb Irish Game & Country Fair at Birr Castle, Co. Offaly on August 30 & 31. We will have a stand at the Fair & Glenda will be offering free tuition throughout both days.

South Western Region: Web: http://www.swrfb.com
E Mail: swrfb@swrfb.ie

From Eureka Lodge, Caherdaniel, angling guide Vincent Appleby reports on the past week’s fishing trends on the LOUGH CURRANE system:

Email: salmonandseatrout@eircom.net
Website: http://www.salmonandseatrout.com/
21/7/08 There were a few nice sea Trout caught and I will leave the best to last, first in my striking zone was Mr Dorman who caught Two Sea Trout in the 3 lbs. class, next in the striking zone was Mr Mahoney of Cork who caught a fine 5 lbs. Sea Trout, but catch of the day goes to a guest, who caught a 9 lbs. sea Trout with his gillie Mr Roger Baker and of www.cloghvoola.com Wind WSW light and overcast with light drizzle, amount of rain fall 0.1mm, max air temperature 17.5C/63.5F.
22/7/08 a guest fishing with Mr Mike O’Dwyer caught four Sea Trout on the troll and Bob Priestley caught one to his boat. Wind light SSW and overcast with light drizzle, amount of rainfall 0.7mm, max air temperature 18.2C/64.76F.
23/7/08 With very slack ESE wind and very bright sunshine, fishing was slow in the fly department and my noble Troller didn’t fair much better. Max air temperature 22.3C/72.14F.
24/7/08 There is only one angler that hit’s the head lines and that is Master Adam O’Dwyer of Waterville who caught a fine 4 lbs. Grilse on the Commeragh and on the big Lake/Lough Currane all Anglers failed in there duties and if they did procure A sea Trout or my noble Gentlemen, they still failed because they didn’t register their catch? Wind ESE fresh to strong and overcast and very humid, max air temperature 24.6C/76.28F, amount of rain fall 0.1mm.
25/7/08 our manger Mr john Murphy Esq. and of www.loughcurrane.com reported to me, in the last few evenings there has been some nice catches, and they are as follows, Mr Brendan Spillane caught a nice basket of Sea trout of which the biggest weighed in at 7.5 lbs., John was also telling me there has been a fair few juniors being taken in the evening, so to all you high stool Anglers take note. On the Salmon front today, Mr Anthony Buckley caught a fine 6 lbs. Grilse on the fly in the Mouth of the Commeragh, with his Gillie Mr Tom O’Shea and of www.oshealoughcurrane.com Wind SW light, bright and sunny, amount of rainfall in the last 24 hours 0.2mm, max air temperature 18.3C/64.94F.
26/7/08 there were just a few Sea Trout caught all in the junior class. Max air temperature 21.8C/71.24F.
27/7/08 It’s that poaching time again, I was reading on www.loughcurrane.com there have been a good few juniors caught in the evening and the odd Sea Trout in the 4 lbs. class. Wind SSE light and bright and sunny throughout the day. Max air temperature 19,7C/76.46F. That is all the news from your Gillie and Waterville Fishery. No Spin No Fly’s just Facts.

Eileen Carroll reports:
ANGLING DATA:

FOR WEEKENDING SUNDAY 27TH OF JULY 2008

RIVER LEE
There is very little angling activity on the River Lee.

RIVER LEE (ESB FISHERY)
Tuesday 22nd 1 fish caught by Michael O’Donoghue, Cork, weighing 4 lbs.

RIVER BANDON
5 fish caught on the Bandon River for the week.

RIVER ILEN
Water levels very low with no reports of any fish being caught.

RIVER LAUNE BEATS 1 AND 2
3 salmon landed on worms by local anglers on Beat 2, one weighing 9 lbs. and the other two weighed in at 7 lbs. each.

KILLARNEY LAKES AND LOUGH LEANE
4 salmon landed trolling on the lakes by visiting anglers.

LAUNE ANGLERS WATERS AND BEAT 3 (REPORT OF BILLY DOWNES, CLUB SECRETARY)
A good fishing effort early in the week but it diminished with the fall in water level. Most anglers are surprised with how fast the water level fell from the floods of two weeks ago. There were 2 grilse reported from Laune Anglers Waters and there was one grilse of 4 lbs. caught on Beat 3. Most anglers are waiting for better water.

RIVER BLACKWATER (KENMARE)
No data to report.

Western Region: Web: http://www.wrfb.ie/
E-Mail: kcrowley@wrfb.ie

See back of this update for important new byelaws pertaining to many Trout Waters in this area.

North Western Region: E Mail: info@nwrfb.com
Web: www.northwestfisheries.ie
Rory Sheehan reports:

River Moy

Low water levels throughout the River Moy system during the week impacted on angling.

The low water levels benefited the Moy Fishery with good numbers of fish holding in its waters. On the Ridge Pool, German angler, Markus Elsenberger, caught 4 fish on the fly, 3 of which he released, Bill Campbell, Scotland had 3 fish while Ray Sheehan, Westport caught a salmon along with Alun Thomas, Wales. On the Cathedral Beat, 3 salmon fell to English angler, Ian Adamson, while John Chambers, Northern Ireland, caught 2 fish. Fintan Keenan, Dublin had 3 salmon while fishing the fly on the Spring Wells Beat.

Young Stephen Ho had a successful fishing session on the Mount Falcon Fishery, catching his first salmon fishing a spinner. Elsewhere on the river, Norman Marshall and a party of 7 UK anglers enjoyed some good angling on the Foxford Fishery, catching 25 salmon. On the East Mayo Anglers’ water, Garry Claydon, UK enjoyed some first-class angling with 5 salmon for 3 days fishing.

Anthony Murphy sent me this story this week on capturing his first Salmon
Hi Paul,
I am sending you photos of my first salmon, I have been travelling to the Moy on and off since March 08, I learned a lot from other anglers about shrimp and worm methods, and I finally hooked and landed my first salmon. I caught him on Armstrong’s fishery in Foxford on the 17th July 08, after only my second cast using shrimp, he was 9.5 lbs. and took of like a march hare my heart was racing thinking I might lose him, but after about 8 mins he got tired and I landed him.
I brought back the salmon to Pat in Gannon’s B & B where I was staying, and he weighed the fish for me and also took the photos. Pat told me the salmon had sea lice with long tails on them so it was a fresh fish in about 24 hrs. I am still in awe of these lovely fish and I will release any future salmon I am lucky enough to catch.
Cheers
Anthony
See photo of Anthony with his first ever Salmon at http://www.cfb.ie/fishing_in_ireland/update/game_angling.htm
Moy Estuary

Sea trout angling on the Moy Estuary continued to be good over the week. Clients of angling guide, Judd Ruane, experienced some fine sport with Northern Irish angler, Tom Johnson, catching 15 trout and Paul and Tim Jerram from the USA, boating 10 trout.

Loughs Conn & Cullin

Angler numbers on Lough Conn picked up over the week with improved catches reported. Seamus Kelly from Cloghans took 10 good trout for a few hours on Sunday, all fish coming to a dry May Fly pattern. Dublin anglers Joe Mc Bride and his wife boated 13 fish for 2 days on the lake. Most successful flies were Bibio, Spent Gnat and Octopus fly patterns.

The Lough Conn and Cullin Anglers’ Association hosted a junior angling competition on Lough Conn. Under 16 section: 1st Kian Gavan, 2nd Jamie Timlin. Under 14 section: 1st Lauren Gaughan, 2nd Sinead Timlin, 3rd Sean Cuffe. Under 12 section: 1st Nathan Gilroy, 2nd Adam Coulahan, 3rd David Creel.

Carrowmore Lake

Persistent low water levels slowed the run of fish somewhat and this lead to a quiet week on Carrowmore Lake. Pat Foley and English angler Tony Dighton caught grilse during the week, for 7 and 6 lbs respectively. French angling journalist, Hérle Hamon and boat partner enjoyed good sea trout fishing during the week with trout up to 1.5 lbs. Brothers Mark and Martin Wilson from the North of Ireland had 8 sea trout to 1.5 lbs, fishing at dusk, all in fantastic condition.

Lough Furnace

Fishing on Lough Furnace was slow for the week despite good numbers of salmon holding in the lake and showing well. The light westerly winds made for testing angling conditions. Mark O’Regan, Trim boated 2 grilse while Tim Aldiss, UK and Malachy Matthews from Belfast both caught grilse.

Lough Arrow

The “Peter Fishing” on Lough Arrow remained good over the week with good rises of fish reported. Angling was concentrated in the last hour before dark. David Gray had 2 fish for 2.5 and 3 lbs.

Ballisodare River

The good run of salmon in the Ballisodare River continued over the week with the best fish, a 9 lbs. salmon caught by Roy Sanders while Seanie Maye had 3 fish for a days fishing.

Drumcliff River

The Drumcliff River has been experiencing a good run of small sea trout over the last few weeks with good numbers of fish being caught in the Fly Pool’s.

Ballin Lough

Few anglers fished Ballin Lough during the week, which was a pity as there is a good head of fine quality rainbow trout in the lake which are providing some superb sport for anglers. James Quinn and son from Galway caught and released 8 trout, the best an excellent 4.5 lbs fish. Sean Kirwin and boat partner had 4 fish, with 3 returned. Ninety five year old Tom Ketrick, fishing with Peter Collins in bright and difficult angling conditions, boated a lovely 3 lbs trout. Tom also lost a fish estimated to be over 5 lbs! The Green Peter and the Silver Invicta were the most productive flies for the week.

Northern Region: Web: http://www.nrfb.ie
E-mail: info@nrfb.ie
Lynsey Clarke reports:

RIVER DROWES – Monday 21st to Sunday 27th July 2008.

With the onset of dry weather once again, the Drowes River gradually fell over the week and is now reading just over 4 on the gauge at the Four Masters Bridge. The river continues to produce good numbers of grilse with some 30 grilse to 5½ lbs. caught for the week. There were a fair number of rods fishing over the week with ea greater part of these being visiting rods staying for the week in the Fishery Cottages. The weekend was quiet however due to the bright, hot, sunny weather and easterly winds. Given here is a selection of the catches. On Wednesday, Columba Fitzpatrick recorded 2 grilse caught on worm. On Thursday, Bruno Vallelian accounted for 3 grilse caught weighing from 3 to 4½ lbs. caught on shrimp. Regular visitors, John Wilshaw (of ‘Trout & Salmon’ fame) and his party recorded 11 grilse caught for the week to 5½ lbs. on both fly & worm. The forecast for the coming week is for thundery showers so we may get a rise in water heights if the some of these fall within the catchment.

LOUGH MELVIN – Monday 21st to Sunday 27th July 2008.

Lough Melvin was quiet this week with few anglers fishing for trout. However, for some of those that did fish, there was some good sport to be had with the trout fishing picking up this week. There were good catches of sonaghan out over the deep water. One angler had 7 good sonaghan one day and reported that ‘the trout were going mad’. He was fishing over the deep water off Ross Point and said that there was a fair hatch of buzzers at the time.
There were also only a few anglers out after salmon over the week and I have not heard of any salmon caught. There was little fishing at the weekend, probably due to the very bright and hot conditions and winds coming from an easterly direction.

OWENEA FISHERY – Monday 21st to Sunday 27th July 2008.

With little rainfall of note, the Owenea ran at low summer levels for the whole week and the gauge average for the week read a low 0.12 metres. There were 15 visiting rods fishing for the week but with the river so low and conditions hot & sunny for the most part, fishing was difficult. I have not heard of any catches to date.

EANY FISHERY – Monday 21st to Sunday 27th July 2008.

The Eany received small floods on Monday & Tuesday (0.44 & 0.45 metres respectively) which, although not good floods, were sufficient for fish to ascend the river. With the onset of dry weather, the river then fell away to low summer levels once again reading only 0.16 metres by Sunday. The gauge average for the week read 0.29 metres. Despite some reasonable conditions at the start of the week, there were few rods fishing, with only 12 visiting rods fishing for the week. Raymond Doran recorded a 6½ lbs. grilse caught from the Fish Counter Pool on a worm on Friday.

Lough’s Agency: Web: http://www.loughs-agency.org
E Mail: Lionel.knobbs@loughs-agency.org
Lionel Knobbs, Loughs Agency Angling Manager reports:

Friday 1/8/08
Conditions of the rivers are high water at present (1st August) and starting to fall. With growing numbers of fish entering the system we look forward to good catches during the next few days.
River Mourne
Visiting London angler Justin Maxwell Stewart caught 3 grilse on the Mourne in 2 days, the largest weighing 6.75 lbs. James Birley from England caught 3 average sized grilse in the last few days. However, one of his companion lost 6 fish in the last few days - “nippers not grippers”. A local angler caught one 3 lbs. grilse!
River Dennet
Reports from the Dennet are that there are few anglers out this week (again!). However, fishing reports coming in are promising with local angler Raymond Mehaffy landing 4 Sea Trout and one small Grilse. Water levels remain low with yesterdays rain missing the Dennet catchment but with the promise of more rain over the weekend Salmon fishing should improve.
River Finn
The Finn is looking good for fishing over the next few days with recent rain falling and fish moving into the system! Angling should improve over the oncoming weekend, especially on the upper sections.
River Faughan
Reports of many anglers out mainly on the mid and lower sections, and Salmon reported in growing numbers (mostly from the mid sections of the river).

Prohibition of the Sale of Rod Caught Salmon and Sea Trout
This regulation prohibits the sale, within the Foyle and Carlingford areas, of Salmon and Sea Trout caught by rod and line. This legislation brings the Loughs Agency areas into line with Central and Regional Fisheries Boards, who introduced a similar regime in 2001. The Agency believes the introduction of the Regulation will inhibit the opportunities for the disposal of illegally caught salmon and sea trout for gain, and will encourage conservation of the stocks by legitimate anglers. This regulation will be effective from 1st August 2008.
________________________________________
Level 3 NOCN Angling Guides Program !
The Loughs Agency are currently looking for details of individuals wishing to enrol onto a Level 3 NOCN Shore Fishing Guiding program. Any one that is interested should contact the Loughs Agency at the address below and register their details. Places on the Guides Program are not guaranteed. Individuals registering an interest in taking part will be contacted by the Loughs Agency within the next few weeks.
________________________________________
Riverwatch
Riverwatch is a great tourist attraction located just outside Derry City centre (opposite the Everglades Hotel) and with FREE admission it’s a must do for families and visitors. Visitors can see and learn all about our local wildlife and there are free activity packs to keep the kids entertained. We have lobster, crabs, starfish, coalfish, blenny’s and lots of other marine and freshwater fish and shellfish. We are scheduling feeding times during the summer (Jul! y and August) for every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 3 pm so visit ors can plan their trip around this frantic event. We are also continually changing our livestock so it’s always worth another trip! All indoors, it’s a great wet weather option too! Open Monday - Saturday 10am - 4pm during July and August.
www.loughs-agency.org
Tel: 02871 342100

COARSE ANGLING

Northern Region: Web: http://www.nrfb.ie
E-mail: info@nrfb.ie
Alice Murtagh reports:
Some English anglers staying in the Killeshandra area fished the Derries and report plenty of small fish and some nice Bream from Inishmuck using maggot caster and corn. Some other anglers report Bream up to 3½ lbs. from “the Foxholes” and good Hybrids and Tench up to 4 lbs. at Killykeen. Night fishing and early morning is producing good bags of fish in the Lough Oughter area particularly at Rann Castle. Eight English anglers staying in the Gowna area fished Killykeen match stretch and bagged good bags of fish. Bream up to 9½ lbs. were reported at Bakers Bridge recently.
In other areas, St. Johns and Kiltybarden Lakes near Ballinamore, Brackley Lough in Bawnboy and Drumlona Lake near Cootehill are all fishing well with good Tench reported on Drumlona.
SEA ANGLING

Eastern Region: Web: http://www.fishingireland.net/
E-mail: info@fishingireland.net

Angling Journalist, Johnny Woodlock from Skerries in Co. Dublin reports on recent small boat fishing off Howth in Dublin.

“I had a nice Thornback Ray taken off Howth. It weighed 15½ lbs. This was one of four double figured big ray taken last Saturday. I also had a couple of great days off north county Dublin with lots of double figure Thornbacks, good Tope, a gravid Tub Gurnard and LSDs.” See photo of Johnny with his big Thornback at http://www.cfb.ie/fishing_in_ireland/update/sea_angling.htm

Sea Angling guide Jim Hendrick reports on some recent Bass fishing with clients in the Wexford area.
“It seems like a good start to the latest tidal cycles - weather remains somewhat more settled and temps are very mild so it looks good for at least the next five days or so. Stuart Duncan who hails from Scotland but travelled on Tuesday from Angola to catch bass in Wexford had a superb day today on surface lures - all fish caught at less than 40 yards weighing 6 lbs., then an 8 lbs. and finally one close to 10 lbs. - we’re off tomorrow to try them on the fly
Best - Jim
Tel: +353 (0)53 9123351
Mobile +353 (0)86 3444557
——————————————-
web- www.bassfishing.ie
blog- www.sfdiaries.blogspot.com

South Western Region: Web: http://www.swrfb.com
E Mail: swrfb@swrfb.ie

Conor McSwiney from Enniskeane in Co. Cork reports on a recent deep sea angling trip around Dursey Island off the Beara Peninsula in West Cork.
“I was out off Castletownbere last Saturday out around Dursey Island. Had a great day drifting over some well known spots and we got an amazing amount of large Pollack. Attached was one of many >10 lbs. landed, some on double and even triple hook-ups. We reckon that one was between 13 and 14 lbs. We then went after some conger and attached was the best of the day, about 30 lbs. Both probably too small for publishing but if anyone is wondering, the fishing around Dursey Island is excellent at the moment.” See photos of Conor with a big Pollack and Conger at
http://www.cfb.ie/fishing_in_ireland/update/sea_angling.htm

Lough’s Agency: Web: http://www.loughs-agency.org
E Mail: Lionel.knobbs@loughs-agency.org
Lionel Knobbs, Loughs Agency Angling Manager reports:

Carlingford Saltwater Fishing Festival
Loughs Agency Programme
Saturday 9th August
Event: Bass Fishing Workshops
Time: 10am - 4pm
Location: Greenore Point (marquee tent)
Suitable for: Adults and juniors (a parent or guardian must accompany juniors)
Entry Fee: Nil (must pre-book)
Workshops include:
o Beach casting tuition
o Fly casting tuition
o Fly tying tuition
o Bass diet, dissection and life cycle.
Sunday 10th August
Event: Bass Shore Fishing Competition
Time: 10am - 3.30pm
Location: Greenore Point
Suitable for: Adults and juniors (a parent or guardian must accompany juniors)
Entry fee: ?10 Adult ?5 junior
Top prizes for junior and adult winners.
All competitors must pre-register before 1st August 2008.
Entry fee includes a free prize draw.
To register by e-mail send your: name, address, telephone number to
basscompetition@l! oughs-agency.org. Please indicate if you are attending the workshops and/or the competition. Alternatively, telephone +44 (0)28 7134 2100
Greenore Greencastle Community Association Programme
King of the Haulbowline (Entry must be pre-booked) -Deep Sea - Licensed Boats only

King of the Lough (Entry must be pre-booked) - Open Boat Fishing Competition
King of the Beach - Beach Fishing Competition
For Further information/ registration contact Greenore Co-Op
Phone/Fax; 00 353 42 9373822
Telephone: 00 353 42 9373201
Email: greenorefishing@yahoo.co.uk

Northern Ireland
Web:http://www.predatorireland.com/ Email: info@predatorireland.com

Proprietor Hamish Currie Telephone Home: 028 2177 1828 Boat: 07720440117
Based in the picturesque North Coast of Ireland in Red Bay, the revolutionary Red Bay Stormforce 9.1 Rib named “Predator 11” is the main chartered boat for all types of sea activities. The Predator is helmed by the well-known, fully qualified seaman, Hamish Currie. With a lifetime of experience of the sea and qualifications to match, you are always going to be in safe hands.
Hamish reports on more very good deep sea fishing off Red Bay in Co. Antrim.

“David Cherry from Ballyclare in Co. Antrim boated 2 fish yesterday aboard Predator 11, 16 miles north east off red bay total eight was 398 lbs.!! His first was a fine common skate of 185 lbs. and quickly followed it up with his second one weighing 213 lbs. which is our Catch of the Week at www.cfb.ie David works out in the gym 4 times a week and he was telling me that the two skate were a real work out. Both Skate were carefully returned alive to the water. The boat also recorded spurdogs to 22 lbs. 4 oz. (over the present record), conger and a few tope.

Special Notices

Central and Regional Fisheries Boards Catch & Release Incentive Scheme
Introduction
The Central and Regional Fisheries Boards have introduced a national incentive scheme to encourage anglers to practice catch and release when angling for Wild Atlantic Salmon.
The scheme is intended to acknowledge anglers who practice catch and release during the 2008 angling season. Catch & release merit pins will be awarded on the following basis:
gold for fifteen salmon caught and released,
silver for between ten and fourteen salmon caught and released,
bronze for between five and nine salmon caught and released,

Badges suitable for hats and jackets will also be available for one salmon caught and released. By submitting a catch & release application you are automatically entered into a prize draw. Prizes for the catch and release incentive are outlined on the leaflet.
How to enter
Entry forms are available for download on our website www.cfb.ie. Alternatively, email info@cfb.ie and put “Catch and Release Prize Scheme” in the subject line and supply your name and address. Forms may also be requested from the Project Officer 01/8842692.
Opening date
The incentive scheme opening date is 1st January 2008.
Closing date
The closing date for receipt of applications is the 19th October 2008.
Submitting the application
All completed applications must be submitted to the following address, Catch & Release Incentive Scheme, Central Fisheries Board, Swords Business Campus, Swords Co. Dublin.
Further Information
Copies of a 20 minute video/DVD on ‘Catch and Release - The future is in your hands’ is available free of charge from the address above. This video/DVD outlines the methods used for Catch and Release.
Outline of Prizes
1st One days fishing on the Ridge Pool in Ballina (Dates Subject to availability)
2nd One days fishing on the Galway Weir
3rd One days fishing on the River Laune or Blackwater
4th €100 voucher to spend in any tackle shop
Rules & Regulations of the Catch & Release Prize Scheme
• The closing date for receipt of applications is the 19th October in the current year
• A valid angling licence must be in the possession of the angler when fishing
• The incentive scheme only permits one application per angler
• The entry form must be submitted with the catch detail form
• Both the application and catch detail table forms must be completed in full
• On the Catch & Release entry form the applicant must provide contact information for the witness of the event and / or the Chairman / Secretary of the angling club or owner of the fishery to verify the event
• Details of catch and release must also be made in the current year’s logbook and the logbook returned no later than October 19th.

Please familiarize yourself with the current regulations and bye-laws governing open and catch and release fisheries for the 2008 season. This information is available on the Central Fisheries Board website: http://www.cfb.ie/fishing_in_ireland/salmon2008.htm

Terms and Conditions Apply

Important new bye laws for the Western Regional Fisheries Board Trout Waters

DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS, ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
FISHERIES ACTS 1959 to 2006
WESTERN FISHERIES REGION – RIVER CONG AND CONG CANAL (TROUT ANGLING)
BYE-LAW NO. C.S. 299, 2008

I, Eamon Ryan, Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 9 (as amended by section 3 of the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 1962 (No. 31 of 1962)) of the Fisheries (Consolidation) Act 1959 (No. 14 of 1959), section 33 of the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 1962, the Fisheries (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order 1977 (S.I. No. 30 of 1977) (as adapted by the Communications, Marine and Natural Resources (Alteration of Name of Department and Title of Minister) Order 2007 (S.I. No. 706 of 2007)) and having complied with the requirements of Regulation 31 of the European Communities (Natural Habitats) Regulations 1997 (S.I. No. 94 of 1997), hereby make the following bye-law:

1. This Bye-law may be cited as the Western Fisheries Region - River Cong and Cong Canal (Trout Angling) Bye-law No. C.S. 299, 2008.

2. This Bye-law comes into operation on 1 September 2008.

3. Notwithstanding anything contained in the Western Fisheries Region – Rivers Finney, Cong and Cong Canal Bye-Law No. C.S. 298, 2008 or any Bye-law fixing the annual close season for angling for trout in the River Cong and Cong Canal, it is prohibited for any person to angle for trout with rod and line during the period commencing on 1 September in any year and ending on 16 March in the following year in the River Cong and Cong Canal in the No. 9 (1) or Galway District.

GIVEN under my Official Seal,
28 July 2008.
Eamon Ryan
Eamon Ryan
Minister for Communications,
Energy and Natural Resources.
DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS, ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
FISHERIES ACTS 1959 to 2006

WESTERN FISHERIES REGION – (RIVERS FINNEY, CONG AND CONG CANAL)

BYE-LAW NO. C.S. 298, 2008

1. This Bye-law may be cited as the Western Fisheries Region – (Rivers Finney, Cong and Cong Canal) Bye-law No. C.S. 298, 2008.

2. This Bye-law comes into operation on 1 September 2008.

3. Notwithstanding anything contained in any Bye-law fixing the annual close season for angling for any kind of fish in the Rivers Finney, Cong or Cong Canal, it is prohibited for any person to angle for any kind of fish with rod and line during the period commencing on 1 September in any year, and

(a) ending on 14 February in the following year in the Cong River and Cong Canal, and
(b) ending on the last day of February in the following year in the River Finney,

in the No. 9 (1) or Galway District.

GIVEN under my Official Seal,
28 July 2008.
Eamon Ryan
Eamon Ryan
Minister for Communications,
Energy and Natural Resources.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS, ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
FISHERIES ACTS 1959 TO 2006
WESTERN FISHERIES REGION
(ANGLING) BYE-LAW NO. 842, 2008

1. This Bye-law may be cited as the Western Fisheries Region (Angling) Bye-law No. 842, 2008.

2. This Bye-law comes into operation on 1 September 2008.

3. In this Bye-law:

“mounted rod” means a fishing rod which has a reel, line and hook or artificial fly or lure or bait attached;

“specified waters” means all the waters of the Maam River, Bealnabrack River, Joyce’s River and the River Failmore in the county of Galway in the No. 9 (1) or Galway District.

4. It is prohibited for any person, in any year, during the period from 1 September to the end of the season to -

(a) use any lure other than artificial fly in angling for any kind of
fish with rod and line in the specified waters, or

(b) have in his or her possession any mounted rod to which is attached any lure other than artificial fly on or near the banks of the specified waters.

GIVEN under my Official Seal,
28 July 2008.

Eamon Ryan
Eamon Ryan
Minister for Communications,
Energy and Natural Resources.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS, ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
FISHERIES ACTS 1959 TO 2006
WESTERN FISHERIES REGION
RIVER CLARE BYE-LAW NO. 841, 2008
I, Eamon Ryan, Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 9 (as amended by section 3 of the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 1962 (No. 31 of 1962)) of the Fisheries (Consolidation) Act 1959 (No. 14 of 1959), section 33 of the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 1962, the Fisheries (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order 1977 (S.I. No. 30 of 1977) (as adapted by the Communications, Marine and Natural Resources (Alteration of Name of Department and Title of Minister) Order 2007 (S.I. No. 706 of 2007)) and having complied with the requirements of Regulation 31 of the European Communities (Natural Habitats) Regulations 1997 (S.I. No. 94 of 1997), hereby make the following bye-law:

1. This Bye-law may be cited as the Western Fisheries Region River Clare Bye-law No. 841, 2008.

2. This Bye-law comes into operation on the day after the day of its making.

3. In this Bye-law:

“mounted rod” means a fishing rod which has a reel, line and hook or artificial fly or lure or bait attached;

“specified waters” means that part of the River Clare from Daly’s Bridge in the Townland of Corrandrum to a point 300 metres upstream of the footbridge at Anbally in the townlands of Anbally and Turloughmartin in the county of Galway in the No. 9 (1) or Galway Distict.

4. It is prohibited for any person to –

(b) use any lure other than artificial fly in angling for any kind of
fish with rod and line in the specified waters, or

(c) have in his or her possession any mounted rod to which is attached any lure other than artificial fly on or near the banks of the specified waters.

GIVEN under my Official Seal,
28 July 2008.

Eamon Ryan
Eamon Ryan
Minister for Communications,
Energy and Natural Resources.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS, ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
FISHERIES ACTS 1959 TO 2006
WESTERN FISHERIES REGION
CONSERVATION OF TROUT BYE-LAW NO. 840, 2008.

1. (1) This Bye-law may be cited as the Western Fisheries Region Conservation of Trout Bye-law No. 840, 2008.

(2) This Bye-law comes into operation on the day after the day of its making.

2. In this Bye-law-

“artificial fly” means a fishing hook dressed with fur, feather or other natural or artificial material to resemble either an insect, fish or other prey item that will attract fish;

“bait fishing” means the act of rod fishing from the shore or a boat which is drifting or being rowed or mechanically propelled through water, by leaving static, retrieving, trailing or towing, on, in, under or through the water, a fishing line with a hook and bait attached;

“dapping” means the act of fishing from a boat, which is drifting on water with a rod (normally a long rod) and hook attached, the hook being either an artificial fly or having one or several insects attached, and presenting the fly on the surface with the assistance of the wind;

“ferox trout” means trout that are genetically distinct from brown trout and are frequently piscivorous and can grow to significant size;

“fly fishing” means the act of rod fishing from the shore, bank or a boat which is drifting or being rowed or mechanically propelled through water, by retrieving, trailing or leaving static, on, in, under or through the water, a fishing line with a number of hooks, made up as artificial flies;

“mounted rod” means a fishing rod which has a reel, line and hook or artificial fly or lure or bait attached;

“specified waters” means the waters of any of the rivers in the No. 9 (1) or Galway District mentioned in the Schedule;

“spinning” means the act of rod fishing from either the shore or a boat, which is drifting, being rowed or mechanically propelled through water, by trailing or towing, on, in, under or through the water, a fishing line with an artificial lure attached;

“trolling” means to fish from a boat, which is being rowed or mechanically propelled through water, by trailing or towing, on in, under or through the water, a fishing line with a hook, bait or lure attached;

“trout” means all fish of the brown trout kind and includes ferox trout.

3. Subject to Article 4, notwithstanding anything contained in any Bye-law prohibiting the taking or having in possession of more than a specified number of trout, a person shall not take on any one day in the specified waters more than 4 trout of which not more than 1 of those fish is greater than 10 lbs (4.54 kg) in weight.

4. A person shall not take in the specified waters any trout of less than 13 inches (33 cm) in length measured in a straight line from the tip of the snout to the fork of the tail.

5. Notwithstanding anything contained in any Bye-law, it is prohibited for any person to use in the specified waters at any one time–

(a) more than 1 rod or more than 4 artificial flies when fly fishing,

(b) more than 1 rod when dapping,

(d) more than 2 rods when bait fishing or spinning,

on or near the specified waters.

6. Notwithstanding Article 5 it is prohibited for more than 1 person to have on board any boat at any one time more than 3 mounted rods when bait fishing, spinning or trolling in the specified waters.

7. Any trout taken inadvertently in contravention of Article 3 or 4 must be handled carefully and returned without avoidable injury to the specified waters from which they have been taken.

Schedule
Rivers in the No. 9 (1) or Galway District.

River Corrib
Abbert River
Black River
Drimneen River
Joyce’s River
Cregg River
Cornamona (Dooghta) River
Bulkaun River
Finny River
Srah River (Tourmakeady)

Clare River
Sinking River
Lough Kip River
Owenwee (Fallamer) River
Failmore River
Cong River
Cross River
Cloon River
Owenbrin River
Keel River

Grange River
Dalgan River
Owenriff River
Bealnabrack River
Glenlosh River
Cong Canal
Robe River
Aille River
Glensaul River
Fooey River

GIVEN under my Official Seal,
28 July 2008.
Eamon Ryan

Eamon Ryan
Minister for Communications,
Energy and Natural Resources.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This is not part of the Bye-law and does not purport to be a legal interpretation)
This Bye-law provides for the following trout conservation measures in the rivers specified in the bye-law:
• Provides for a daily bag limit of 4 trout of which not more than 1 trout is greater than 10 lbs (4.54 kgs),
• Prohibits the taking of trout less than 13 inches (33 cm),
• Prohibits the use of more than 1 rod or 4 artificial flies when fly fishing,
• Prohibits the use of more than 1 rod when dapping,
• Prohibits the use of more than 2 rods or 4 artificial flies per rod when trolling,
• Prohibits the use of more than 2 rods when bait fishing or spinning,
• Prohibits the having on board a boat more than 3 rods when more than 1 person is bait fishing, spinning or trolling.

FOOTNOTE

Section 11 of the Fisheries (Consolidation) Act, 1959 provides that any person aggrieved by this Bye-law may within 28 days after its publication in the Iris Oifigiuil, appeal against same to the High Court

No tag for this post.

Irish Angling Update July

bob — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:45:01 +0000

From the Central & Regional Fisheries Boards
23 July 2008
Editor: Paul Bourke, Angling Information Officer
Website: www.cfb.ie

Salmon Sea Trout and Brown Trout Angling

• Very Good Sea Trout fishing reported from Lough Currane with several specimens over 6 lbs. reported.

• Lough Sheelin continues to fish well with small dry sedges producing some wonderful evening fishing.

• The great salmon season continues at the Galway Weir Salmon Fishery.

• Great improvement in Sea Trout fishing in Connemara.

• Very good Sea Trout fishing reported from Carrowmore Lake in North West Mayo.

• Good improvement in Salmon fishing in Donegal and in the nearby Lough’s Agencies fisheries.

Coarse Angling

• Great Bream and Tench fishing reported from Melview Lodge in Co. Longford.

• Very good catches of Bream, Roach, Hybrids and Tench from many venues in Co. Cavan.

Sea Angling

• Big Smoothound from Greystones wins our catch of the week – see www.cfb.ie

• Good deep sea Angling including Blue Shark up to 95 lbs.

• Good shore and deep fishing reported from Co. Clare.

• Great improvement in deep sea fishing off the Galway Coast.
GAME ANGLING

South Western Region: Web: http://www.swrfb.com
E Mail: swrfb@swrfb.ie

From Eureka Lodge, Caherdaniel, angling guide Vincent Appleby reports on the past week’s fishing trends on the LOUGH CURRANE system:

Email: salmonandseatrout@eircom.net
Website: http://www.salmonandseatrout.com/
14/7/08 There was some good action on Lough Currane in the sea trout department with a guest catching 8 Sea trout all in the 1 to 2 lbs. class, with his Gillie Mr Dominic Mc Gillicuddy, also in good form was a guest fishing with Bob Priestly, who caught five Sea trout of which the best was in the 5 lbs. class. Now for a bit of poaching, I was reading on www.loughcurrane.com that over the week end there have been some good catches and they are as follows, Mr Peter Kiernan caught a fine Sea Trout in the 3 lbs. class next in the striking zone, were anglers from Belgium, they caught 13 Sea Trout of which the best was 5 lbs. also in good form was Mr Ian Forde who caught six Sea trout, plus a good basket of Brown Trout of which the best was 2 lbs. Now up to the upper Lakes Both Lough Derriana and Lough Na Mona produced a good Basket of Sea Trout up to 4 lbs. for a Guest fishing with his Gillie Mr Tom O’Shea of www.oshealoughcurrane.com and in the Specimen department there was a fine 8.5 lbs. Sea Trout caught by an angler. Wind SSW light to calm and overcast with light rain, amount of rain fall 1.0mm, max air temperature 17.7C/63.86F.
15/7/08 After the week end and yesterdays catches our carbon fibre rods were in a none productive groove, even though I am sure there would have been a few Sea trout caught. Wind first thing this morning W then veered N Fresh in the morning then light in the afternoon, amount of rainfall 0.2mm, max air temperature 18.9C/66.02F.
16/7/08 There were a few Sea trout caught but no real rod benders on Lough Currane, but it was different story on Cloonaghlin where there were four Sea Trout caught of which the best was a 7 lbs. specimen Sea Trout caught by Mr Pat Brown and Mr Brendan Kelly, the also caught three Sea Trout on Lough Currane. Wind NNW light to calm and overcast, max air temperature 17.1C/62.78F.
17/7/08 There was a nice bit of action in the Salmon department on Currane, first in the striking zone was a Guest fishing with his Gillie Mr Donald O’Shea, caught a Grilse on the troll and staying with the O’Shea Family a guest fishing with Tom O’Shea, also caught a Grilse and Mr John Baller of the UK caught a Grilse with his Gillie Mr Neil O’Shea and you can contact Donal, Neil and Tom O’Shea of www.oshealoughcurrane.com but catch of the day goes to a French angler who caught a 10 lbs. Salmon and finished the day off with a grilse with his Gillie Mr Frank Donnelly of www.lakelandshouse.com and in the Sea trout department I was reading on www.loughcurrane.com that Mr Frank Barrett and Mr Peadar O’Machain caught two Sea Trout ranging from 2 lbs. to 4 lbs. Also in good form was Mr Steve Brush and party, they caught 13 sea Trout of which the best weighed in at 5 lbs., also in good form was Mr Phil McCarthy with five Sea Trout. The famous Butler Pool and of www.watervillegolflinks.ie produced some fine Grilse. Wind NNW light to fresh and overcast with light rain at times, amount of rainfall 0.2mm, max air temperature 17C/62.6F.
18/7/08 Lough Currane was on quiet side with just a few Sea tout caught but there was some good action this morning on the Butler Pool and of www.watervillegolflinks.ie first in the striking zone was Mr Bill Rushby who caught two Grilse with his Gillie Mr Dominic Mc Gillicuddy. Wind W then veered SW light to fresh and overcast with light drizzle, amount of rainfall 4.1mm, max air temperature 16.2C/61.16F.
19/7/08 Our manger Mr John Murphy and of www.loughcurrane.com reported to me that there were a few Sea trout caught in the 3 lbs. class and in the Salmon department Dr Tim Gleason fishing with his Gillie Mr Mike O’Dwyer caught a grilse and lost two good Trout and talking of Grilse Mr Vincent Donnelly caught himself a fine Grilse on Lough Derriana, now to the famous Butler Pool and of www.watervillegolflinks.ie where there was some good action, but my Noble Gentlemen and her ladyship won the day and My noble Angler failed Miserably in netting or Banking in procuring my noble Salmon, but at least they saw action. Wind NW fresh and sunny, max air temperature 18.6C/65.48F, Amount of rain in the last 24 hours 0.6mm. 20/7/08 There were a few Sea trout caught. Wind NW fresh with bright sunshine with the odd shower. That is all the news from your Gillie and the Waterville Fishery. No Spin No Fly’s just Facts. (See photo of 10.25 lbs. Specimen Sea Trout caught last week by John Andrew at http://www.cfb.ie/fishing_in_ireland/update/game_angling.htm)

Eileen Carroll reports:
FOR WEEKENDING SUNDAY 20TH OF JULY 2008

RIVER LEE
Very little angling activity on the river Lee due to low water levels.

RIVER LEE (ESB FISHERY)
No catch to report

RIVER BANDON
2 salmon caught on the Bandon River. Very little angling activity but plenty of fish to be seen due to low water.

Michael O ‘Regan treasurer of Bandon Angling Association sent me a mail clarifying several things on the recent capture of the 28 lbs. 3 oz. Salmon by Bill Canning. “Bill Canning is living in Tullow, Co. Carlow. The fantastic Fish was caught at Wilsons Reach on our Fishery. At least 3 Salmon of 18 lbs. have been landed over the last 3 weeks, lots of 10 to 14 pounders! Peal (Grilse) are not running the system, so far.
RIVER ILEN
No reports of any catches.

RIVER LAUNE BEATS 1 AND 2
2 salmon caught on Beat 2 of the Laune averaging 5 lbs. in weight and one fish caught on Beat 1 of the Laune.

KILLARNEY LAKES AND LOUGH LEANE
2 salmon caught on the Lakes ranging from 5 lbs. to 7 lbs. in weight

LAUNE ANGLERS WATERS AND BEAT 3 (REPORT OF BILLY DOWNES, CLUB SECRETARY)
Again perfect water for the week. A big fishing effort but for the effort and the perfect water fish were scarce. I did see a beautiful 12 lbs. fish caught on the fly on Laune Anglers Waters on Tuesday. There were five grilse caught on Laune Anglers Waters, from 5 lbs. to 2 lbs. all of these were caught on the worm. Despite the lovely water fly anglers were generally not meeting fish.

No fish reported from Beat 3.

RIVER BLACKWATER (KENMARE)
No data to report.

Shannon Region: Web: http://www.shannon-fishery-board.ie/
E Mail: info@shannon-fishery-board.ie
Brian McManus reports:

http://www.shannon-fishery-board.ie/guides/game/fishing-reports.htm

July 23rd, 2008

UPPER SHANNON
LOUGH SHEELIN
Lough Sheelin has produced some quality wild trout over the week to small dry sedges. Sedge hatches were prolific and angling conditions were ideal with some good results. Peter O’Reilly fished with Michael Kelly Balbriggan over two trips catching and releasing 18 trout in total, best 4.75 lbs., all fish were caught on dry sedges. Michael Kelly had other good fish recently on the lake. John Murphy caught and released two fish. Gene Brady L.S.T.P.A. had two fish on Wednesday. Pat Bannon released 3 fish on Sunday and Monday. Thomas Harten had 2 fish. Cahill Rush from Northern Ireland had quite good fishing. Prospects are very promising for the coming week with warmer evenings forecast for the next few days.
Catch up on the latest news from the LSTPA
http://www.loughsheelinanglers.ie/
For local updates contact Mr Sean Gurhy, Assistant Fisheries Inspector Lough Sheelin Tel: 049 4336144
LOUGH O’FLYNN & UPPER RIVER SUCK
Similar to last week anglers who are putting in the effort on O’Flynn are getting results, particularly during late evening sessions. The Daddy is now accounting for some fish both dapping and on wet fly patterns. Anglers are reporting a rise of fish from time to time but fish are tending to move around and proving difficult to catch at times. The best reports received by the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board Lough O’Flynn office were from Bernard Mannion and Matt Foley. They reported 23 fish over the weekend, most fish were released. Twelve of these fish were caught in a local competition. Mickey Maurice from Castlerea had 3 fish in 2 outings.
For updates contact John Ryan, Assistant Fisheries Inspector Co Roscommon at 087 2536064.
MID SHANNON AREA
LOUGH ENNELL
There were very few anglers out on Ennell during the week. John and Michael Tyrell fished two days and had 10 small trout averaging 1 lb. and all were released. Michael Devanney fished over three days with one fish of 3.5 lbs caught.
For updates contact Shannon Regional Fisheries Board Mullingar Office Tel: 044 9348769 mornings
LOUGH OWEL
There were good angling conditions reported on Owel. 10 anglers returned 16 fish, all on fly. The best flies were Silver Invicta and Peters. Brendan Murray and Dermot Caffrey had 8 fish averaging 1.5 lbs. Prospects look good for the coming week. The Peter season should commence over the coming weeks.
For updates contact Shannon Regional Fisheries Board Mullingar Office Tel: 044 9348769
LOUGH ACALLA CO GALWAY
There was another good week on Acalla with a notable improvement in fly hatches and a corresponding good rise of fish. There was also a better size of fish caught compared with those of last week. Two best reported fish were a 3.5 lbs. Rainbow caught by Dermot Down on a Green Peter. A 3 lbs. Brown Trout was caught by Michael Bradley from Ballinasloe. Several other fish were reported ranging from 1 lb to 1.5 lbs., all rainbows. The usual flies worked well, including the Peter, Muddlers, Peter Ross, Pennells and a variety of sedge patterns. An average of about 12 anglers per day fished with consistent results throughout the day and into evening time. Prospects look good with warmer evenings forecast.
For updates contact John Devaney, Assistant Fisheries Inspector, Roscommon 087 2266735
LITTLE BROSNA RIVER
No reports received from the Little Brosna River.
CAMCOR RIVER BIRR
Some local anglers are fly fishing at dusk on the Camcor River with only a handful of fish reported caught over the week. Chris Brummell had two croneen. Brian Mc Manus had two croneen of 1.75 lbs. and 1.5 lbs. upstream of syngefield ‘green bridge’. The croneen season so far has been slow so far this season with only a scattering of fish along the usual holding pools.
LOWER SHANNON AREA
RIVER MULCAIR CO LIMERICK
The Salmon fishing has slowed down over the week on the Mulcair as water levels drop back. There is a lot of Salmon in the river along all the popular stretches. Anglers might have a chance of the odd fish fishing with small flies in the evening time or early morning.
ShRFB reports for the RIVER FEALE CO KERRY
Water levels are now low and Salmon fishing has gone quiet.
For up to date fishing reports contact the local Assistant Fisheries Inspector Mr Paddy Halpin Mobile: 087 7729126
ShRFB reports for Castleroberts Fishery RIVER MAIGUE.
For angling updates on Castleroberts contact Mob: 087 9810817

Western Region: Web: http://www.wrfb.ie/
E-Mail: kcrowley@wrfb.ie
Kevin Crowley reports:

Galway Weir
A fantastic season continues at the Galway Fishery, with 112 salmon landed for the week. The grilse run has been the best for many years, probably attributable to the cessation of commercial fishing at sea. There were 2 gates open until Monday, but water levels are now perfect at one gate, and fly anglers are having great sport.
Rory Cosgrove from Tuam landed 2 grilse on fly and shrimp, while Jimmy Keogh had 2 fish on shrimp. Christian Berger from Switzerland landed 2 nice grilse of 5 and 6 lbs. on fly, while Declan Tuffy from Athenry caught and released 3 grilse. Gerard Garnier from France, a regular visitor to the west of Ireland, had a nice 4.5 lbs. fish on fly, while John Liddy managed 3 fish to 5.5 lbs. Brian King had fish of 4 and 7 lbs on shrimp, as well as a 4-pounder on fly, and Noel Kavanagh landed 6 fish on fly (3 released). James McElroy caught and released 4 grilse up to 6.5 lbs., while Paddy Gargan caught and released 3 fish. Jack Flood from the UK had 5 grilse to 6.5 lbs., while Spencer Flood caught 2 fish, also on fly. Finally Margaret Downes hooked 12 fish and landed 4 averaging 4.5 lbs., under the expert guidance of Sean O’Toole.
The grilse run may be slowing down slightly, but fish are still being caught in good numbers, and hopefully some larger summer salmon will start running soon.

Western Lakes
Mayfly have been appearing again on Corrib over the last week or so, with good fish coming to the surface to feed on them. Frank Reilly landed 4 trout for one day to mayfly patterns, and John Meagher from Tipperary had 3 trout to 4.5 lbs. Two English anglers had 2 trout for 4.5 lbs.
Over on Mask, good hatches of sedge have been seen all over the lake, but few anglers have been out. That will probably change this week in the run up to the World Cup next week. Larry McCarthy from Headford caught 5 trout up to 4 lbs. on dry sedge last Thursday (all released), while 2 Scottish anglers staying with Larry had 4 fish the day before to 2.5 lbs, all on dry fly. Greg O’Donoghue from Ballinrobe landed 3 fish on Tuesday to 2.5 lbs, all released, while Robbie O’Grady from Ballinrobe landed 2 fish to 3.5 lbs on Thursday to wetfly.
Large hatches of green buzzer have literally covered Carra over the last week, with some nice catches of trout on buzzer and sedge patterns. Larry McCarthy had 2 fish to 2 lbs on Monday, while 2 UK anglers landed 4 fish to 2.75 lbs on wet and dry fly.

Connemara
Costello and Fermoyle fishery manager Terry Gallagher reports on the last few weeks fishing from Costello:
For the first 3 weeks of June there was still no rain at Costello and as can be expected the system was very low. That said, grilse still managed to push into the lower beats of the river. Fishing conditions were difficult and late evening proved to be the only time fish would take an interest in the fly. Small lightly dressed flies were the order of the day.
Jean-Pierre Maire caught the first salmon of the month, a beautiful fresh grilse of 5 lbs., taken on River Beat 1. Jean Pierre struck again a few evenings later on the same pool and landed another fish of 3 lbs. 8 ozs. Geoffrey Fitzjohn also fished Beat 1 and was rewarded with a very fresh fish of 5 lbs.
Finally, the heavens opened on the 20th of the month and the system went into flood, bringing a very large run of sea trout into the system. The dropping flood allowed the upper system to be fished and Mark Rogan seized the opportunity to fish Fermoyle Lough. He had a great day and landed 10 sea trout. Stuart Woodhead fished Beat 1 where he picked off 11 sea trout with a small black tube-fly. Michael Roche-Kelly had good sport on Beat 2 and landed 8 sea trout, all coming to the blue bottle on the dropper. Mike Fell was delighted with the 4 lbs 8 ozs grilse he landed at the sea pools on Beat 1. Finally, Pat Farrelly ended the month on a high note when he caught 2 grilse (4 lbs. & 5 lbs.) with a Pot Bellied Pig fly at the Cabbage Pool again on Beat 1.
As we came into July a series of smaller floods kept the system in medium to high water but as water levels dropped the loughs, particularly Fermoyle and Glenicmurrin fished quite well. Geoffrey Fitzjohn caught the first salmon of the month, a fresh grilse of 5 lbs. on the Carrick pools. Father & son team, Richard and William Lansdale, fished for 2 days and were rewarded with 2 salmon. The first, taken on Beat 1 in high water, was a fresh fish of 5 lbs. The second, a grilse of 4 lbs. 8 ozs, was caught in Fermoyle Lough along with 5 sea trout. Padraig MacDonagh fished Beat 2 and landed a 4 lbs 8 ozs grilse in the Crooked Pool, which has been producing impressive numbers of fish in recent years. Geoffrey Fitzjohn covered Beats 2 & 3 as the river was dropping and banked fish of 4,5, & 12 lbs.
Owen Jacob and Steven Orr fished hard on a high Glenicmurrin Lough and did extremely well to land 7 sea trout, Glenicmurrin traditionally being a lough which fishes best in low water conditions. John Connolly fished Beat 1 for 2 Sundays and was delighted to catch a salmon both days, both fish of 5 lbs. Brian Smith and Dave Oliver were on Fermoyle Lough when they landed 9 sea trout as were Tom Gallagher and Michael McCafferty when they caught 8 sea trout. On another high note it is worth mentioning all the anglers have remarked on the superb condition of the sea trout this year. Comments such as “plump”, “butter fat” and “a fierce fight” echo around the fishery office at the end of most days on the loughs. It is a very welcome change to the depressing observations of the early 1990’s.
Brian Smith and Dave Oliver returned to Fermoyle lough on a dropping flood to be rewarded with a very impressive 23 sea trout. Brian Connaughton and Sean Kelly also met with success but this time higher up in the system on Clogher Lough where they landed 15 sea trout. Roy Carton visited Costello and Fermoyle for the first time and was very pleased with the 6 lbs 8 ozs grilse he banked from the Crooked Pool on Beat 2. The fish was taken on Roy’s tying of the Wilkinson’s Shrimp. Edward Harbach was equally pleased with the 6lbs grilse he landed on Beat 1. John McManus and Brendan Keenan ventured out onto a dropping Glenicmurrin Lough and landed 10 sea trout. Roy Carton and Malcolm Wilson also went in search of sea trout and had 8 fish by the end of their day on Fermoyle.
Andy Walsh fished Glenicmurrin for the first time and was not disappointed with 13 sea trout. Jim Harbach was delighted with his first ever salmon which he took from the Cabbage Pool on Beat 1, a fish of 6 lbs. His angling companion, Max Folkes, returned to Casla and landed another grilse (6 lbs) this time on Beat 2. Geoffrey Fitzjohn also fished Beat 2 and caught fish of 4 lbs 8 ozs and 3 lbs 8 ozs. Chris and Donna Warne returned for their annual visit and had a great day on Glenicmurrin with 16 sea trout caught. Sean Kelly caught his first Casla salmon, a very fresh fish of 5 lbs on Beat 1. Finally, Eugene O Hagan and friends fished for 3 days throughout the system and had a grand total of 90 sea trout and 1 salmon.
At the time of writing (21/07/08), the system has dropped considerably since the last flood and is fishing well throughout. Sea trout are running well up into the system and salmon are still appearing on the tides.
For queries on fishing at Costello and Fermoyle, please contact Terry Gallagher at 00 353 (0)91 572 196 or email cosfer@iol.ie

North Western Region: E Mail: info@nwrfb.com
Web: www.northwestfisheries.ie
Rory Sheehan reports:

River Moy

Angling catches improved on the River Moy when compared to the previous week, with a steady run of fish moving in the river and salmon reported caught in all the fisheries. Water levels continued to drop throughout the week, leaving ideal fly angling conditions on the fisheries with fly water.

The Moy Fishery had a much improved take of fish during the week. On the Ridge Pool 11 year old Northern Irish angler, Peter Murphy, caught two salmon on the fly. Swiss angler, Christian Berger had two salmon while fly fishing for 4.26 & 4.3 lbs. Bill Cleary had a fantastic weeks fly fishing on the Moy Fishery, catching 3 salmon on the Ridge Pool and 3 on the Cathedral Beat. Also on the Cathedral Beat, Peter & Annie Taylor, from England, had 1 fish each. The Spring Wells and Ash Tree Beat started to fish well this week. On the Spring Wells Beat, Spanish angler, Matthias Jacob had 1 fish on a spinner and Jon Freestone had a fish on the fly. Keith Hudson from England found some good fishing on the Ash Tree Beat, catching 3 salmon while fishing the fly.

The Coolcronan Fishery will provide special memories for father Mr. Rodgers and 10 year old son Nathan Rodgers as they both caught their first ever salmon. The Coolcronan Fishery also accounted for two salmon for Steven Richardson from the North of Ireland while on Armstrong’s Fishery, Raymond Caley, from the Isle of Man, banked two grilse. Paul Tibbetts of the UK had a grilse on the fly at the Foxford Fishery. Cloongee was the kind to visiting German Angling Journalist, Bernd Taller. Bernd caught a grilse while getting to grips with fishing the “Bubble & Fly” method as before Bernd had never fished a fly like this. Also on Cloongee, Dublin angler, Bill O’Regan had a 5 lbs fish and Robert Locke from the UK a 4.5 lbs salmon. Four salmon were caught by Northern Irish angler, Dermot Drain while he was fishing at the East Mayo Angler’s Fishery.

Moy Estuary
Angling on the Moy Estuary has remained very constant over the last number of weeks. A large number of small fish are still holding in its waters. German angling journalist, Bernd Taller and boat partner, guided by Judd Ruane, enjoyed very good sport on the fly.

Lough Conn

Few anglers fished Lough Conn this week apart from the Irish Youth International Fly Angling team. They were in practice for the up coming Youth International competition that will be fished on Lough Conn on the 30th of July. Elsewhere Edward Michaels and his wife Frida from Austria, boated 4 trout for 6 lbs, the best a 2.2 lbs fish.

Carrowmore Lake

Excellent Sea trout angling was once again the order of the day for Carrowmore Lake. Anglers out on the lake encountered a fine head of fish in good taking form. Mark Corps, Angling Adviser with the Central Fisheries Board fishing with a journalist Andy Bowman managed to land 28 sea trout on fly, and all were returned. Oisin and Eamon Giblin from Clare boated 2 grilse and 7 sea trout between them while on a different day Eamon had another grilse and 4 more sea trout. Westport anglers Brian Hope and Toby Gibbons had 8 sea trout between them selves.

Owenmore River
Angling conditions on the Owenmore river were generally good if a little on the windy side during the week. A number of fish were caught with Richard burgess 1 grilse, 8 lbs, Larry Mitchell 1 grilse, 7 lbs and Martin Rouland, Bangor, 1 grilse 4 lbs. having the best of the fishing on the Bangor Club water.
Lough Furnace
The good head of fish that had been holding in Furnace Lough over the last number of weeks finally came on the take. Moderate westerly winds meant angling conditions were ideal. Once again the ever popular Ally’s Cascade and Green Peter fly patterns proved to be the most successful flies for the week. Tim Aldiss from the UK caught the best fish of the week on the Lough, a lovely 7 lbs grilse. Tim also caught 2 other salmon for 6 & 4 lbs. Sean Smyth from the UK and Billy Bullick from Northern Ireland both had 3 grilse while Trim angler, Mark O’Regan, landed a grilse.
Ballin Lough
The angling on Ballin Lough remained steady during the week with 13 anglers fishing and 22 trout caught. Martin McGuire from Newport boated 3 trout the best a lovely 5 lbs fish while Matt Fahy had 4 trout, the best for 2.5 lbs. Best flies for the week were Green Peter, Butcher and Dabblers.
Bilberry Lough
The Mc Conville Cup was fished on Bilberry Lough on the week ending 13th of July. The winner of the Mc Conville Cup and the 19ft angling boat was Pat Day, Headford. 2nd Padraig Mulgrew, Ballymacragh, 3rd Peter Byrne, Castlebar.
A junior competition was held on the 20th of July. Under 10s; 1st Gavin Hastings, Enniscrone, 2nd Aoife Gray, Castlebar, 3rd Coleen King, Castlebar. Over 10s; 1st Claire Walsh, Ballymacragh, 2nd Jarlath O’ Malley, Mountdaisey, 3rd Dean Carney, Cloggernagh.

Ballisodare River

The angling on the Ballisodare River continues to be extremely good, with many fish caught and a very high percentage of these released. Low water levels have lead to excellent fly angling conditions on the Fishery. A Juvenile angling day was held on the Fishery, with junior angler, Sean Gallagher catching the biggest fish of the week that day, a lovely 8 lbs. salmon.

Lough Arrow

The Green Peter fishing on Lough Arrow remains good with anglers willing to fish late in the evening rewarded with some very nice trout, many over the 2 lbs mark. Peter Dunne, from Leitrim, had the best of the fishing with 7 trout for the week, from 2 lbs to 3.75 lbs. David Gray had 2 trout for 4.2 and 4 lbs while Mary Gunning caught a 3 lbs fish on the wet fly.
Drumcliff River
The Drumcliff River started to produce salmon over the week. Local angler, Johnny Lockney, landed a 6 lbs. salmon on worm while fishing high up on the system on the Lurgan stretch.
River Bonet System
Water conditions on the Bonet were ideal over the week and, as a result, salmon were caught. Juvenile angler, Jamie Conlon, had a good salmon upstream of Dromahair village, to a Flying C while 3 salmon were taken from the Garravogue River.
Lough Bo
Lough Bo has been stocked with 200, fine quality trout and as a result would be well worth fishing. You can arrange fishing on Lough Bo by contacting Mary McDonagh at 071-9165126.

Northern Region: Web: http://www.nrfb.ie
E-mail: info@nrfb.ie
Lynsey Clarke reports: (Two Week Report)

RIVER DROWES – Monday 14th to Sunday 20th July 2008.

The Drowes rose gradually over the week and at present is reading 5 on the gauge at the Four Masters Bridge. Though by no means a big flood, there is plenty of water for fish to run and conditions are good for the fly. Grilse continued to enter the fishery in good numbers over the week and there were some 40 plus fish caught this week by various methods with most fish weighing around the 3 lb mark. We are awaiting details of many catches but given here are a sample of the same. On Monday, Tommy Carson recorded 2 grilse caught on the fly from Lennox’s Bridge. Nigel Stevens accounted for a grilse caught from the Blackwater on fly. On Friday, John Anthony recorded 3 grilse caught on the fly and Urs Frei accounted for 2 grilse caught on worm. The forecast for the coming week is for mainly dry, warm humid weather with the chance of thundery showers toward the latter half of the week. The Drowes will hold its levels week over the week though rain will be welcome.

RIVER DROWES – Monday 7th to Sunday 13th July 2008.

The Drowes has risen somewhat once again and the gauge the Four Masters Bridge is reading around 4. The week was fairly quiet however and there were less visiting rods fishing than would be expected, especially since the weekend was a bank holiday weekend in Northern Ireland.
The river is receiving a good run of grilse at present and of those rods that did fish, many were successful. Most of the fish caught were in the latter half of the week. Alan Collonvilla’s Belgian Party recorded 7 grilse to 4 lbs. for their weeks fishing. M. Beatty accounted for 2 grilse caught on a spinner. Columba Fitzpatrick recorded 4 grilse caught for the week with 3 of these caught on Friday. On Thursday, Chris Coulter recorded a 5 lbs. grilse and Steven McNee caught 2 grilse to 3 lbs. on worm. Mr H. White accounted for a 7½ lbs. fish caught on a fly (#14 cascade). On Friday, S. Oliver recorded a 7½ lbs. salmon caught on the fly from the Blackwater and Harry Kerr accounted for 3 grilse caught on the shrimp. Aaron Carville recorded an 8 lbs. salmon caught on the worm. On Sunday, Aaron Carville recorded 3 fish caught in the Sea Pools weighing 2, 4 & 8 lbs. There were also a number of other anglers who recorded single grilse caught over the week. Unfortunately, there is little rain forecast for the first half of the week but the Drowes is slow to drop and conditions should remain fair for the week.

LOUGH MELVIN – Monday 14th to Sunday 20th July 2008.

There are good numbers of fresh grilse in the Lough and fish are showing all over the lough. There seemed to be very little angling for salmon however and most of the fishing was for trout. Most trout anglers are fishing over the deeps for sonaghan and the fishing was very variable from day to day. Some days were good (one angler caught 14 good sonaghan one day) and on other days it was very hard to catch a fish! Little is being caught over the shallower water and the sonaghan seem to be located only over the deeps.

LOUGH MELVIN – Monday 7th to Sunday 13th July 2008.

The Lough was up again slightly this week but still remains fairly low. There were a number of boats out fishing for salmon and I heard of three grilse caught but there was no major effort on the salmon front this week. Most of the anglers that were out were fishing for sonaghan over the deeps. Reports are that fish are there but hard to catch with the trout ‘coming short’ and hard to hook. We are blaming it on the heavy and thundery kind of weather we are having.

OWENEA FISHERY – Monday 14th to Sunday 20th July 2008.

The Owenea ran at low levels from Monday to Wednesday but we received good floods on Thursday, Friday and Saturday which gave some nice water levels through to Sunday. There was a good gauge average for the week reading 0.27 metres. The fishery was busier with 45 rods fishing for the week, all but 6 fishing over Friday, Saturday & Sunday. With the floods came fair numbers of salmon and the fishery is beginning to fish well. Friday in particular was a good day with some 20 salmon caught. We await details of a number of catches but given here are some of the successful anglers. On Wednesday, Tommy Irvine recorded a 6 lb grilse caught on the spinner and lost 2 further fish. On Thursday, Gordon Young accounted for a fine 12 lbs. salmon caught on the spinner from beat 8. John Boyle caught and released a 9 lbs. salmon on the fly from beat 3 and William Marshall landed a fine 13¼ lbs. salmon on a spinner from the Battery on beat 6. On Friday, Stuart Gracy caught and released a 7 lbs. fish on the fly from beat 5. Paul Brennan accounted for a 4 lbs. grilse caught from beat 8 on the spinner. Gordon Young landed a 4 lbs. grilse caught from beat 8 on the spinner. Damien Doherty recorded a 4½ lbs. grilse caught on the fly from McGill’s Long Pool on beat 8. John Northridge recorded a 9¼ lbs. salmon caught on the fly from Gavigan’s Pool on beat 8. The following day he also landed a 10¼ lbs. fish on the fly from the Ash Bush pool on beat 4.
The forecast for the coming week is for mainly dry, warm humid weather with the chance of thundery showers toward the latter half of the week. At the time of writing the fishery is at low levels so hopefully some of the showers will fall in the headwaters.

OWENEA FISHERY – Monday 7th to Sunday 13th July 2008.

There was plenty of rainfall in Ulster this week, just not where we are! The Owenea ran at low levels all week and with little water there were few anglers in attendance. The gauge average for the week read only 0.10 metres and there were only 6 rod days fished for the whole week. I have no reported catch to date.

EANY FISHERY – Monday 14th to Sunday 20th July 2008.

The Eany ran at low levels from Monday to Wednesday but as with the Owenea, we received good floods on Thursday, Friday and Saturday which gave some nice water levels through to Saturday evening. 20 visiting rods fished for the week with most of these fishing on Thursday and Saturday. The salmon seemed unforthcoming however. Except for a couple of small grilse caught, I have yet to hear of any catches. The forecast for the week is the same as the Owenea. Hopefully we will receive some good rain towards the end of the week.

EANY FISHERY – Monday 7th to Sunday 13th July 2008.

The Eany received a small flood reading 0.58 metres on Thursday but for the rest of the week the river ran at low levels. The gauge average for the week read only 0.24 metres. There were 14 visiting rods fishing for the week with 6 of these fishing on Thursday and 5 on Sunday. I have no records as yet of rod catches. The previous Sunday (6th), Dimitrios Kandiotos had a good day with 2 salmon caught on worm. The fish weighed 5½ lbs. and 16½ lbs. and were caught from the Fish Counter Pools.
The forecast for the first half of the week is for little rain though the forecasters have not been particularly accurate when predicting rainfall over West Donegal to date this season. Watch this space!

River Crana
Garry Fullerton reports:

“I am a member of Buncrana Anglers Association and I caught this fish (salmon) on July 19th in the Crana River, Co. Donegal. (See photo of this great fish at http://www.cfb.ie/fishing_in_ireland/update/game_angling.htm) I was using a single handed fly rod and the fly was a McCormac’s folly. The fish weighed 16 lbs.+ (length 34″ and girth 21″). Scales and measurements have been submitted to the fishery board for analysis.

Garry Fullerton
Meenaward
Drumfries
Co. Donegal

Lough’s Agency: Web: http://www.loughs-agency.org
E Mail: Lionel.knobbs@loughs-agency.org
Lionel Knobbs, Loughs Agency Angling Manager reports:

Loughs Agency Angling Report
Thursday 24th July 08
River Mourne
Visiting Anglers to the Mourne continue to do well with promising numbers of Grilse reported from the upper sections: Dr Annesley (London) and his father, fishing Fly, caught 5 grilse – average size 4 lbs. for three days fishing; Joseph Dobbin (Belfast) caught 1 Grilse; Thomas Taylor (Belfast) 1 Grilse; and Italian anglers (from Milan) caught a 5 lbs. grilse and lost 3 good sized fish.
I have reports of local anglers landing 9 Grilse from the same section of the river. Conditions have been good this week and fish numbers are still improving and we look forward to better catches during the next few days.

River Finn
Some very good reports this week from the Finn and its tributaries with Johnny Byrne of Killybegs (fishing catch and release with a Butch Special) catching 2 fish from the Reelan river (3 lbs & 12 lbs), Ryan Neeson (Ballybofey) a 5 lb Grilse on Fly from the Ballybofey section of the river and Martin Harvey (Ballybofey), fishing catch and release Fly, caught 7 fish - 2 from the River Reelan 8 lb & 9 lbs and 5 from the River Finn at Ballybofey with the largest weighing in at 8 lbs.
The Finn is looking good for fishing over the next few days with rain falling at present on the upper sections of the river. This should ensure good water levels over the oncoming weekend.
River Faughan
There are reports of many anglers out at night after Sea Trout, mainly on the lower sections of the river. A number of 2 lb Sea Trout have been reported from the Ardlough and Tidal sections of the river! On the Salmon front we have reports of Salmon from the upper sections around Ballyarton and a growing number of good size Trout from the same holding pools.
Fishing should be good over the weekend with the present conditions. I would favour trying my luck for Sea Trout, with what I would describe as top conditions for Trout at the moment.
Carlingford Lough
Reports from Carlingford Lough are that Fishing is steadily improving as the season progresses. Among the successful anglers this week is Russ McCartney landing a cracking 7 lbs. Sea Trout at Greencastle on a Spinner.
Keep in mind the salt-water events taking place at Greenore Sat 9th Aug. This will be an opportunity for all to learn new shore fishing skills.
Danes Cast Fishery
Fishing at Danescast Fishery has greatly improved over the past few weeks due to a combination of the weather and the supply of new fish stocks ranging from 1.5 lb to 5 lb. The best of the fishing is in the evening, with some anglers getting catches of up to 20 fish using Dry Fly and Emergers, Ace of Spades and Cats Whiskers. The bait lake has been a great success so far with no anglers blanking to date. Last week 184 lbs. of fish was taken from the lake by anglers and it has been restocked with fish from 1.5 lbs. to 2.5 lbs.

Further info from:
Margaret O’Hare
Danes Cast Fishery
Web: www.danescastfishery.co.uk
E-mail: danescastfishery@hotmail.co.uk
tel.no.02830821758
mob.no.07973632016
Moyagh Trout Fishery
A good week for this fishery near Donemana with Kevin Burke of Claudy having 5 trout on dry flies and Rory O’Neill of Donemana 4 on Daddies. Damien Devine (Donemana) took one on Buzzers while Kevin McCullagh (Donemana) had 4 on Buzzers. Stephen Young had 4 on worm. Derry City Council employees had a great day with almost 50 fish landed. Bookings are now available weekdays – contact Stephen on 0781 707 9946.
Anglers Insight
This week I am telling a bit of a story of my local river Dennet and one of its feeders the Bunowen Burn, the two waters that started my passion for Sea Trout and Salmon fishing. Reports this week from the Dennet have been patchy with few anglers out on the river. This tends to happen a lot when other larger rivers in the area are fishing well. Regardless, we seem to have less anglers out at night on the Dennet in comparison with previous years. I know when I used to fish on the Dennet and one of its tributaries, the Altinaghree (locally known as the Bunowen Burn); I was seldom on my own. It is hard to imagine anyone fishing small rivers like the Bunowen anymore. l have no doubt that this small tributary of the Foyle system still has a good population of Trout but the chances of meeting a fisherman along its bank is next to nil.
The Bunowen is the river I landed my first Sea Trout from (the Carry Hole) and also is the river I had my equally largest Sea Trout from - the other large trout came from the river Faughan. It is also the river my son had his first Sea Trout from and many other family members. As time progressed and I got my first motorised wheels I began to move further and further down the Dennet and its tributaries followed by family members and began to try my hand at Salmon fishing. I landed my first Salmon (Loop Hole) and then progressed to fishing larger rivers and gradually moved away from night fishing on the Dennet.
I have went exploring my old fishing grounds on the Dennet and Bunowen during the past weeks and saw no signs of any angling activity along the stretches of the rivers where I and many others learned to fish. I did see fish in a lot of the pools, perhaps not in the numbers I recall from times past, but certainly plentiful enough to want to retrace my footsteps and encourage other anglers to fish these forgotten pools and streams.

Friday 18th July

River Mourne
Visiting anglers to the Mourne continue to do well with good numbers of Grilse reported. Some of the names are Lex va Welij, (Netherlands) who banked a fresh run 3¼ lbs. Grilse, Hyppo Wanders (Netherlands) who caught a 4 lbs. Grilse (released), John Russell (Hungerford, UK) landed a 4 lbs. Grilse and the Hazleton family banked 3 Grilse, the largest weighed in at 4 lbs.
River Finn
Reports today are of high water conditions and water may remain high over the next few days if the rain continues.
Rivers Strule & Derg
The Derg and Strule look in good condition today and should fish well over the coming weekend. I have received reports today of Grilse caught from the upper sections of both these rivers and things are looking promising with growing numbers of fish entering the system.
Moyagh Trout Fishery
Kevin Burke from Claudy landed 2 Trout using Buzzers the largest a cracking fully 12 lbs., Conrad O’Kane (Dungiven) caught 4 Trout on worms, Kevin McCullough (Donemana) landed 2 on Buzzers fished under Indicator, Mark Doherty took 1 on Bubble & Fly and Steve Young 4 on worms.
Moyagh Fishery is now available for bookings weekdays.
Further information Tel Stephen 07817079946
Cashel Trout Fishery report by Marlene Mc Laughlin

Ideal fly fishing conditions once again at Cashel this weekend.

B Mellon from Maghera had an amazing twenty-one trout over two days which mostly took assorted buzzer patterns. Ciaran Mellon (Swatragh) bagged two trout which weighed 9 lbs. 14 ozs plus he released ten great trout back into the lake. Ciaran’s trout took a mixture of dries and buzzers. Billy Hazlett (Derry) banked nine trout taking four home which weighed 10 lb 13 ozs. Billy’s trout took buzzers and dries also. Ballykelly anglers, Shaun Mc Ivor, Shaun Brolly and Colin Duffy had a great time banking trout near the double figures using dries, pheasant tail nymphs and assorted dries. Shaun Mc Ivor bagged four trout which weighed a total of 14 lbs. 12 ozs and continued to release a couple of others. Shaun Brolly banked eleven trout taking four trout home which weighed 16 lbs. 14 ozs. Colin Duffy banked ten great trout taking only four home also which weighed an average of 2 lb each. Portglenone’s Caolan Mc Nally bagged two trout which weighed 7 lbs. 1 oz while his friend Niall Hanna (Derrytresk, Co. Tyrone) bagged two which weighed 5 lb approx. Both of these young anglers released three trout each. Declan Mc Ateer (Claudy) bagged two weighing 5 lbs. 3 ozs. which took a black fritz while Limavady’s Lawson Hunt and Dean O’Kane released half a dozen each which fell to dries and CDC’s. Their fish were all between 6 lb and 8 lb weight. Dungiven’s Mark Leonard, bagged a real lovely trout which weighed 4lb 1oz and took a black/red lure. Jeff Davidson and Davy Laird (Derry) banked thirteen and four trout respectively using black dries, suspender buzzers and an odd small lure. Jeff took two trout home which weighed 4lb 9ozs while Davy also took two home which weighed 3 lbs. 8 ozs. Feeny’s Roland Mullan banked three trout which took a zonker and a viva but unfortunately lost a big one. Young lads, Mark Deehan and Ciaran Guy (Limavady) bagged two and one trout respectively and also lost a few others. Mark’s fish weighed 4 lb 3 ozs and Ciaran’s two trout weighed 4 lb 13 ozs and 3 lb 8 ozs. Martin Mellon (Maghera) released five good fighters on Sunday evening which mostly took damsels.

River Licences are on sale at Cashel Trout Fishery.

We are now taking group bookings for any angling club or corporate groups interested in a fun day. Catering facilities are available in the adjacent Cashel Fishing Lodge.

Info and enquiries to Marlene at 17 Birren Road, Dungiven, Co L’Derry, BT47 4SH,Tel/Fax: Dungiven 028777 42159, email: casheltrout@hotmail.com , Web: www.cashellakeview.com

________________________________________

Prohibition of the Sale of Rod Caught Salmon and Sea Trout
This regulation prohibits the sale, within the Foyle and Carlingford areas, of Salmon and Sea Trout caught by rod and line. This legislation brings the Loughs Agency areas into line with Central and Regional Fisheries Boards, who introduced a similar regime in 2001.
The Agency believes the introduction of the Regulation will inhibit the opportunities for the disposal of illegally caught salmon and sea trout for gain, and will encourage conservation of the stocks by legitimate anglers.
This regulation will be effective from 1st August 2008.
________________________________________
Riverwatch
Riverwatch is a great tourist attraction located just outside Derry City centre (opposite the Everglades Hotel) and with FREE admission it’s a must do for families and visitors. Visitors can see and learn all about our local wildlife and there are free activity packs to keep the kids entertained. We have lobster, crabs, starfish, coalfish, blenny’s and lots of other marine and freshwater fish and shellfish.
We are scheduling feeding times during the summer (July and August) for every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 3 pm so visitors can plan their trip around this frantic event. We are also continually changing our livestock so it’s always worth another trip! All indoors, it’s a great wet weather option too!
Open Monday - Saturday 10am - 4pm during July and August.
www.loughs-agency.org
Tel: 02871 342100
COARSE ANGLING

Shannon Region: Web: http://www.shannon-fishery-board.ie/
E Mail: info@shannon-fishery-board.ie

Brian McManus reports:
http://www.shannon-fisheryboard.ie/guides/coarse/fishing-reports.htm

July 23rd, 2008

UPPER SHANNON

COARSE FISHING ON THE SHANNON AT LANESBORO…
River conditions are ideal and there was quite good fishing reported on the Shannon in the Lanesboro area. One of the hotspots was on the hot water stretch. UK party had lots of Rudd, skimmers and Tench to specimen size 6 lbs.
Paul Waghorn a regular visitor to Lanesboro launched a dedicated angling website earlier in the year. This can be viewed at http://www.lanesboroughangling.ie/
Brian Bohan CHAFLYNNS COTTAGE & GUIDING SERVICE MOHILL reports on angling in the upper Shannon region around MOHILL and CARRICK ON SHANNON
Report to follow.
Kevin Lyons, MELVIEW LODGE GUESTHOUSE, Drumlish Road, Clonrollagh, Co Longford Tel : 003534345061 Mob: Email: info@melviewlodge.com Web: http://www.melviewlodge.com covering fisheries in the LONGFORD AREA and the STROKESTOWN LAKES
The Lakes, Rivers and Loughs in and around Longford have been producing some great catches of Bream, Hybrids and Tench. Despite water levels being up this has not put the fish off feeding, how ever at certain venues the Pike have been very active and anglers have been experiencing high levels of Pike attacks. Where pre-baiting has attracted many fish the Pike have taken advantage of this and seen it as easy pickings. Kevin was out having an early morning Tench session and was met with a swim full of pike. He managed to land four and lose five on the pole as this was the only gear he had with him. Fish into double figures were present.
Dave, Trevor, Dave Finn and Andy from Reading who we reported on last week had another great catch. Two of their catches totalled 677 lbs. between the four of them and had a great week. Andy and another friend are to return in a few weeks.

Neil, Dave and Alan were back again for their annual fishing trip to Melview Lodge and another good trip it turned out to be. They confined their fishing to just three venues during their seven day stay and were rewarded with some great catches of fish. Kevin commented that all of these lads each have over twenty years experience of fishing in Ireland and know what is required. See our next report on Friday August 15th with the next updates including pictures of another good catch of Bream for the lads from Blackpool.

MID SHANNON AREA
The ShRFB reports for Ray Duthie Old Forge Banagher, Bait Stockist, Tackle and ACCOMMODATION PROVIDER Tel: 057 9151504. BANAGHER area this week.
Angling conditions are ideal on the Shannon with light breezes and warmer water temperatures than of late. A few fish were reported at the ‘joinings’ with the River Brosna and Grand Canal at Shannon Harbour. Banagher town stretch is producing some good late evening fishing. Bullock Island is still throwing up a few good fish also, Tench, hybrids, Bream and good sized Roach. Ray and friend fished a couple of nights ago and had 27 hybrids up to 1.5 lbs and a few Bream to 3 lbs at Bullock Island.
ShRFB reports for the RIVER SUCK VALLEY - Mid River Suck
Coarse angling has been quiet along the Suck Valley area. Pleasure anglers did report plenty of small fish at Glinsk and Donamon. Bill Cassidy’s school of angling had a group of youth anglers from Ballinasloe fishing at Glinsk in a training session. They all had fish, mostly Roach and Rudd, odd Skimmer Bream.
Further local info contact Mr John Ryan, Assistant Fisheries Inspector Tel: 094 96 40103 Mob: 087 2536064 and John Devaney, Assistant Fisheries Inspector, Roscommon for the lower River Suck 087 2266735
ShRFB reports for Mark Egan Athlone Bait Stockist, Accommodation Provider Email: info@shannonsidehouse.com Website www.shannonsidehouse.com Tel: 090 64 94773 the River Shannon and Inny ATHLONE area.
Paul Mangham, Rotherham, South Yorkshire reports on his recent trip to Lough Ree near Athlone.
I had a few good days fishing off Barrymore point on Lough Ree.

After a few days pre-baiting morning and night I fished for the first time on the Tuesday evening of our stay at Dutch House and was rewarded with around 45 - 50 lbs of Bream, all taken on worm and corn on the groundbait feeder around 40 yards out, facing the island.
After a few days visiting places I fished for the second time on the Friday and once again after pre-baiting I weighed around the 50 lbs. mark, on the same method as before. Both sessions were around three hours long and in the evening.

I then had some good hybrids to 2 lbs and Roach to 1.5 lbs on the waggler basically just messing about just to the left of the jetty in front of our digs one afternoon, all on corn and maggot for around 35 lbs.
Due to the weather I only fished once more on the point but I decided to get up early and after a slow start the fish started to show and I caught 18 Bream to 5 lbs for a weight of around 80 lbs. All fish were in perfect nick and I was pleased with the fishing even though the weather throughout our stay was dire to say the least.
My message to anyone going to fish Lough Ree is quite simply, feed one spot and stick to it and you will be rewarded with fish.
Fantastic place, fantastic scenery and we all loved every minute.
ShRFB reports for INNY BAY B&B - fishing at TOM FOXES ANGLING STRETCH and lower RIVER INNY Tommy Foxe Mob: 087 9960173 for enquiries and boat hire
There are a huge amount of Perch at Arny point on Lough Ree. Other than this it’s been quiet in the area with little angling going on.
ShRFB reports for the MULLINGAR AREA
Generally coarse fishing has been quiet in the local Mullingar lakes. However some good Bream catches were reported mid week from anglers night fishing on Ballinafid lake, best time 10 pm to 2 am.

Northern Region: Web: http://www.nrfb.ie
E-mail: info@nrfb.ie
Alice Murtagh reports:
There are not many anglers about and fishing is very quiet in the area hence no feedback. Angling conditions are very good and the few anglers who fished in the area had excellent sport.
Some English anglers who fished the Arva/Gowna area reported good bags of fish. D. Hawkes from Northhampton recorded 92 lbs. on Leonard’s shore while Mr. Clutterbuck recorded bags of 62 lbs., 42 lbs and 116 lbs. Mr. Rushby Liverpool fished the same waters and recorded bags of 61 lbs and 74 lbs of Bream, Roach and Hybrids. Mr. Thompson also from England recorded bags of 78 lbs. and 111 lbs.
The Lough Allen Open took place on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th of July. Ten competitors fished Lough Scur. The winners are as follows:
1st Mike Brough, Cavan 13.680 kg. 2nd Fergal Smith, Cavan 11.340 kg. 3rd John Balcombe, Enniskillen 8.120 kg.
The stretch at Derryvoney near Belturbet is giving good bags of fish with 3 to 4 lbs. Bream featuring in catches. Pike fishing in this region is also quite good.
Good Tench up to 5 lbs. and Bream 6 to 7 lbs. are being caught on Drumlona Lake near Cootehill. Plenty of nice Trout have been caught on the Dromore River at Ashfield.
PIKE ANGLING

Shannon Region: Web: http://www.shannon-fishery-board.ie/
E Mail: info@shannon-fishery-board.ie
Brian McManus reports:

http://www.shannon-fisheryboard.ie/guides/coarse/fishing-reports.htm

July 23rd, 2008
ATHLONE ANGLERS ASSOCIATION NEWS
contact Eamon Cunningham P.R.O. Athlone Anglers Association Phone
Mob: 087 – 2340815
FANTASTIC DAY OUT IN THE STRAND TACKLE SHOP LADIES DAY PIKE COMPETITION AT ATHLONE
MARTINA WINS STRAND TACKLE SHOP LADIES DAY COMPETITION ….

The Strand Tackle Shop Ladies Day competition took place last Sunday and what a fantastic day it turned out to be. There was a great turnout with twenty nine ladies taking part and the weather almost played ball as well as the rain held off, there was some sunny spells but the wind was a little high and led to choppy conditions. But despite that the ladies headed off in high spirits confident of what lay ahead, however when they returned to Coosan Point for the superb lunch they were a little less enthusiastic as the morning’s fishing had not been great and the lead fish was at that stage only 2 lb 8 ozs. Their minds were soon taken off the fishing as they tucked into burgers and curry with appetites that only a morning fishing can give you. The afternoon fishing was much better and Geraldine Rohan was kept busy at Coosan Point with over twenty fish brought to the scales including the winning 16 lbs. pike.
The presentation of prizes was held that evening in the Shamrock Lodge Hotel where the hall was packed with tired but happy anglers and with master of ceremonies, Angela Sloane, in sparkling form the evening got off to a great start. The first award of the evening went to “The King”, otherwise known as Eileen Moran’s dog who was dressed as Elvis for the day and the resemblance was almost uncanny. Then Ann and Lisa, were next to be awarded for the “Most Original Outfit” and also should have be given an award for the “Biggest Laugh of The Day” as they had cheered everyone up after a hard morning’s fishing. The next award called the “Best Reason Not To Go fishing But Still Went Anyway” went to Amanda Wheatley who turned up wearing only one wellie as she had a broken toe on the other foot! However she did put the spare wellie to good use as it acted as a very efficient wine cooler for the day! The prize for “Guess the weight of the Winning Fish” went to Patricia McCarthy who was only 2 ozs out and the prize for “Best Boat” went to Angela Sloane for her pink and black bedecked boat and her matching outfit. The prize for “Best Wellies” went to three and a half year old Chloe Dowling who looked resplendent in her purple wellies and the prize for “Best Hat” went to Helen Conway for her hat which featured a look-alike doll of her husband Dominic.
It was then onto the main prizes of the evening, the fishing prizes, and the first prize awarded went to Margaret Gaffey for the “Smallest Fish” for her 8 oz monster. Husband Davey was in the boat with Margaret and he was so convinced that she had hooked a monster that he immediately took in the other lines and got the net ready in expectation of the great struggle about to ensue! I think Davey needs to do a little more fishing as he has forgotten what a big pike looks like. The prize for sixth place went to last year’s winner Maureen Doolan for her pike of 2 lbs 3 ozs and fifth place went to Sharon Moran who was leading the pack at lunchtime with her pike of 2 lb 8 ozs. Amanda “Broken Toe” Wheatley received fourth place for her fish which weighed 4 lb 3 ozs and in the same boat Patricia McCarthy received third place for her fish of 6 lb 6 ozs. Second Place went to Margaret Donovan for her fantastic 8 lb 7 ozs pike and first place and the Cup were awarded to Martina Lynch for her supreme 16 lb Pike caught late in the afternoon. With the awards out of the way the celebrating and dancing started and the packed hall was soon rocking’ into the wee small hours with super group Effigy and everyone went home happy, content and very tired after a long day.
Our thanks to Geraldine Rohan, Helen Conway and Angela Sloane who put a lot of effort and time into organising this event and they did a fantastic job. Thanks also to Des Powell of the Strand Tackle Shop who as always sponsors the Ladies Day Competition and without this sponsorship the event would not be as big as it is. We would also like to thank Angela Blacoe of Blacoe Jewellers, Michael Ganly of Ganly’s Homevalue Hardware and Cunningham’s Pharmacy all of whom were very generous when the girls were buying the spot prizes. And finally congratulations go to Regina Keogh on her recent engagement to Diarmuid; Diarmuid was a big hit on the dance floor showing some very flash moves which John Travolta would have been proud of to all the very impressed ladies!

THE GUINNESS CUP ….
Next Sunday the male members get a chance again when we will be fishing for the Guinness Cup. This is a Pike competition and will take place on Lough Ree. There will be the usual two starts at Gallagher’s Boat Shed and at Portrun both at 10.30 am. The Captains location and contact numbers will be given to all anglers on the morning of the competition.

ShRFB reports for the MULLINGAR AREA
15 anglers took part in a Pike competition on Lough Owel.12 pike were weighted in, heaviest 15 lbs. There was also a Pike competition on Lough Derravaragh. 20 anglers including 15 juveniles caught 20 Pike averaging 4.5 lbs.

North Western Region: E Mail: info@nwrfb.com
Web: www.northwestfisheries.ie
Rory Sheehan reports:

Balla & District Angling Club hosted the All Ireland Pike Fly Competition on Sunday, 20 July at Carrowmore Lake, Manulla. Twenty-five anglers took part in the event and a total of 20 pike were caught and safely released after weighing. Angling journalist from the Star, David Gray won the competition by a narrow margin of just 0.25 lbs. with a pike weighing in at 11.75 lbs. Professional angling guide, Bodo Funke, Boyle finished in second place with a fine 11.5 lbs. pike. See photo of Bodo with his Pike at

Northern Region: Web: http://www.nrfb.ie
E-mail: info@nrfb.ie

From www.angling-in-ireland.com Mickey Mc Kenna reported in a mail on the forum on winning the Pike Championship qualifier held recently in Lough Egish.

“Aye, I qualified at Lough Egish with the top bag, 30 lbs. 1 oz!! Now I can’t remember the exact weights of the rest of them but 2nd was Marty Lawlor with 20 lbs.; 3rd Eddie Mulvanney with 18 lb; 4th Terry Sheridan with 17 lb and Derek Mohan with 16 lb.
See you at the final if not before it”

Lough’s Agency: Web: http://www.loughs-agency.org
E Mail: declan@loughs-agency.org

Lionel Knobbs, Loughs Agency Angling Manager reports:

Loughs Agency Pike Festival will take place at Baronscourt Co Tyrone Sat 20th and Sun 21st Sept 08, again we will publish further information soon.

SEA ANGLING

Eastern Region: Web: http://www.fishingireland.net/
E-mail: info@fishingireland.net

I got a e-mail from Gerry Byrne for inclusion for catch of the week

Hi Paul,

Here is a photo of a 13.24 lbs. Smoothound my dad Paddy Byrne caught at Greystones last Saturday while boat fishing. Maybe a runner for fish of the week?

Thanks, Gerry Byrne

Log into www.cfb.ie and see Paddy with his massive Smoothound and it is our CATCH OF THE WEEK for the 25th of July.

South Western Region:

Tigger
Pro-charter Offshore 31. 330 HP
Skipper: John Angles
Base: Castletownbere Operational Area: 30 miles out from Castletownbere. Address: Inches House and Restaurant, Eyeries, Castletownbere, Co. Cork.
Telephone: +353 27 74494 or +353 86 3983586 Fax: +353 27 74494
Email: info@irelandseaangling.com Web: www.irelandseaangling.com

A quick update from Castletownbere.
We have had four Blue Sharks in two trips just recently, all females with the largest at 95 lbs being caught by Peter Lynn on Sunday 13th July. Several shark were seen cruising in the rubby dubby slick but we failed to connect with them. All Shark caught are tagged and released
We have had some reasonable Haddock fishing just lately with several fish over 5 lb being landed. Also Pollack to 10 lb, and Coalies to just over 12 lb.
Toby Sparrow (six years old) caught a specimen spotted Ray of 5 1/2 lb on mackerel strip on the 10th July, a notable achievement, the ray was taken ashore and weighed before being returned with a tag in it.
Lets hope the weather settles down a bit and then we can all enjoy some fabulous angling.
Best regards
John
Inches House & Boat Angling Centre offers:-
Maulin cottage (sleeps two/four)
Milleeny cottage (sleeps two plus one)
Miskish Cottage (sleeps four)
Boat Sea Angling & Scenic cruises aboard TIGGER. A fast & comfortable 31ft Procharter Offshore.

All this on the beautiful Beara peninsula in South West Ireland.

Shannon Region: Web: http://www.shannon-fishery-board.ie/
E Mail: info@shannon-fishery-board.ie

Brian McManus reports:

Bill Ryan, Querrin St., Kilkee, Co. Clare. Tel: Mobile Outside Ireland: 00353 87 4130122 Inside Ireland: 087 4130122 E-mail: info@chillwithbill.com Web: http://www.chillwithbill.com

Bill Ryan, angling guide in west Clare reports on some recent shore fishing in the region
Clare Area – Shore Angling Report to July 17th, 2008
Despite the strong winds shore anglers found some sheltered marks
and had success with Wrasse, Pollock, Coalfish, Thornback Ray, Garfish, Mullet and Dogfish.
Poulnasherry Bay
Thornback Ray/Garfish/Dogfish
Some Thornback Ray being caught on fresh Mackerel or Sandeel. Fishing two hours either side of Low Water best. Garfish are being caught on small spinners with dogfish on Mackerel or Sandeel.
Carrigaholt Pier
Dogfish/Mullet
Plenty of dogfish on Mackerel strip or Sandeel. Go
Clare Area – Shore Angling Report to July 17th, 2008
Despite the strong winds shore anglers found some sheltered marks
and had success with Wrasse, Pollock, Coalfish, Thornback Ray, Garfish, Mullet and Dogfish.
Poulnasherry Bay
Thornback Ray/Garfish/Dogfish
Some Thornback Ray being caught on fresh Mackerel or Sandeel. Fishing two hours either side of Low Water best. Garfish are being caught on small spinners with dogfish on Mackerel or Sandeel.
Carrigaholt Pier
Dogfish/Mullet
Plenty of dogfish on Mackerel strip or Sandeel. Go

Martin Brennan ‘Morning Star’ Angling Column 2008.
Quite a successful week for the Morning Star despite the difficult weather conditions
Report dated July 21st:
This week has again been plagued with high winds and rain. This has made fishing difficult but despite this I have had a fairly successful week catch-wise. We had Tope best to 39 lbs., these were caught deep on Carrig Bank on the last of the flood. The marks at Beal and Asdee did not fish but this was mainly because of the weather. The tide has been ebb in the mornings so the heavy wind has made sailing difficult and westerly winds and north west and ebb tides have made a weather tide and overfalls so we encountered plenty of ‘white sugar’ on the way to some marks. Pollock some to 5 lbs. are being taken on the reefs east side of Kilbaha bay and Mackerel are easily caught but are not as far in the estuary as they were this time last year.

Clare Dragoon
LOCHIN 366, 650HP.
Skipper: Luke Aston
Base: Carrigaholt Operational Area: 30 miles form base. Address: Rahona, Carrigaholt, Co. Clare.
Telephone: +353 65 9058209 or +353 87 6367544
Email: lukeaston@eircom.net Web: www.fishandstay.com
Luke Aston ‘Clare Dragoon’ Angling Column 2008
STEADY RUN OF RAY IN THE SHELTER OF THE SHANNON ESTUARY FOR DUTCH GROUP - REPORT DATED JULY 23rd, 2008
Report dated July 23rd …
Fishing this week was at a much gentler pace for me! I had a group of fisherman from Holland over for a 3 day trip midweek and they like to fish in quite calm conditions and with the weather the way it is, this means staying in the estuary.
We fished for a day on some Ray marks and this resulted in a steady run of Ray to about 6 lbs and plenty of doggies. A Tope session of about 2 hours produced 1 fish to the boat with a couple more missed. Some fishing on the drift south of Horse Island did produce quite a species count with Cuckoo and Ballan Wrasse, Whiting, Gurnard, Pouting and small Pollock. Fishing at anchor here turned up lots of doggies, a few Congers and a few small Bull huss.
The gang from S.A.I. were back again to try there luck at the weekend. After what was a peach of a Tope trip last year hopes were high, but the weather was not as obliging this time round and we only had a 2 hour session on the last of the flood tide. This resulted in 3 fish on but only 1 in the boat. They know the reason why, I’ll say nothing!! Earlier in the day we had anchored on a Huss mark and had 4 fish in double figures. The next day was my first full Shark drift of the summer. It is still early for that here but with 2 Sharks a week earlier while fishing whitefish it was worth a try. The day did produce one Shark in the boat and hopefully this fishing will be picking up from now on.

Western Region: Web: http://www.wrfb.ie/
E Mail: kcrowley@wrfb.ie
Kevin Crowley reports:

Boat angling is starting to produce very good sport for anglers, and I have heard reports of some good fish being caught. Eoin trill who was skippering for Pat Conneely in Roundstone reported a fine painted ray being caught and released, that was estimated at 12 lbs. Good species fishing was also to be had, with pollack, ling, thornback ray, huss and other species prominent.
On Galway Bay, Kevin MacGabhann has had some tope to the boat, as well as good mixed species fishing. Kevin and fellow skipper Max Couque were shark fishing today near the Aran Islands, and the last I heard from them was 2 fish to over 70 lbs. boated so far. Hopefully more fishing to report soon.

Contact details for all three Charter skippers as follows:

Maigden Mara
43′ Aquastar.
Skipper: Kevin MacGabhann
Base: Spiddal Operational area: Galway Bay Address: Galway Bay Safaris, An Boluisce, Spiddal, Co. Galway.
Telephone: +353 91 553888 or +353 86 8547890
Email: kevin@galway-bay-fishing.com Web: www.galwaybayfishing.com

Leaca Rua
37′ Tyrell.
Skipper: Max Couque
Base: Spiddal Operational area: Galway Bay Address: Galway Bay Fishing, An Cuan, 16 Cullane Road, Carraroe, Co Galway.
Telephone: +353 91 595 352 or +353 86 323 4638
Email: max@galway-bay-fishing.com Web: www.galwaybayfishing.com

Lady Marilyn
Lochin 40′. Twin 350HP
Skipper: Pat Conneely/ Eoin Trill
Base: Roundstone Operational area: Roundstone, Cleggan, Rossaveal. Address: Harbour View House, Roundstone, Co. Galway.
Telephone: +353 95 35952 or +353 87 2871012 Fax: +353 95 35921
Email: roundstoneangling@hotmail.com Web: www.seaanglingwest.com

North Western Region: E Mail: info@nwrfb.com
Web: www.northwestfisheries.ie
Rory Sheehan reports:

Northern Region: Web: http://www.nrfb.ie
E-mail: info@nrfb.ie
Lynsey Clarke reports:

Lough’s Agency: Web: http://www.loughs-agency.org
E Mail: declan@loughs-agency.org

Lionel Knobbs, Loughs Agency Angling Manager reports:
Carlingford Lough
Reports from Carlingford Lough is that fishing in general is picking up as the weather settles slightly with Mackerel still not as plentiful as we would expect this time of year. Tope fishing is now going well in the bay also good reports of good size Gurnard.
________________________________________
Carlingford Saltwater Fishing Festival
Saturday 9th August
Event: Bass Fishing Workshops
Time: 10am - 4pm
Location: Greenore Point (marquee tent)
Suitable for: Adults and juniors (a parent or guardian must accompany juniors)
Entry Fee: Nil (must pre-book)
Workshops include:
o Beach casting tuition
o Fly casting tuition
o Fly tying tuition
o Bass diet, dissection and life cycle.
Sunday 10th August
Event: Bass Shore Fishing Competition
Time: 10am - 3.30pm
Location: Greenore Point
Suitable for: Adults and juniors (a parent or guardian must accompany juniors)
Entry fee: ?10 Adult ?5 junior
Top prizes for junior and adult winners.
All competitors must pre-register before 1st August 2008.
Entry fee includes a free prize draw.
To register by e-mail send your: name, address, telephone number to
basscompetition@loughs-agency.org Please indicate if you are attending the workshops and/or the competition. Alternatively, telephone +44 (0)28 7134 2100
________________________________________
Level 3 NOCN Angling Guides Program
The Loughs Agency are currently looking for details of individuals wishing to enrol onto a Level 3 NOCN Shore Fishing Guiding program. Any one that is interested should contact the Loughs Agency at the address below and register their details.
Places on the Guides Program are not guaranteed. Individuals registering an interest in taking part will be contacted by the Loughs Agency within the next few weeks.

First Bright Salmon

bob — Fri, 30 May 2008 09:59:51 +0000

Here are a couple of submitted photos. Looks like things are starting nicely on the northwest.

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