Salmon and trout angling | Coarse angling
By Lindsey Clarke
Monday 20th to Sunday 26th August 2007.
The Drowes was fairly quiet this week with few anglers fishing despite fair water levels. As a result there were only a few salmon caught for the week. George McAteer and Roger McGahy recorded a grilse apiece caught at the weekend.
Lough Melvin fished well for trout this week with Sonaghan and Gillaroo to 2lb plus caught right throughout the week. There were fair hatches of late mayfly with some sedges and it only takes light hatches to get the fish feeding on the Lough.
The Garrison Open Doubles Fly Competition was held over the last four days of the week. There were 352 anglers fishing the competition Thursday, Friday and Saturday were qualifying days. Top rods on Thursday were Sean Maguire and Aaron Kirkpatrick with 12 fish. On Friday, Johan Peters & Mark Regen came in top with 8 fish and on Saturday, top honours went to Joe Deery & Stella McGrisky with 8 fish. The final was held on Sunday with 88 boats fishing. 1st place was won by Sammy McGowan, Newtownards & Donal Bourke, Co. Kildare with 10 fish caught. In 2nd place were Matt Browne, Co. Fermanagh & Harry Wise from Scotland and in 3rd place were Jason Martin, Co. Fermanagh & John Faherty, Co. Galway.
We received one big flood (1.26 metres) on Monday but that was it for the week. The gauge was at 0.30 m by Tuesday and the river remained at low levels for the rest of the week. The gauge average for the week read 0.39 metres. Despite the low water conditions for the greater part of the week, 28 visiting rods fished for the week, mostly on Monday & Tuesday. A testament to the good numbers of salmon present in the fishery. Due in great part to the low water conditions and also in part to the salmon being somewhat dour, there were few fish caught for the week. On Monday, Charlie Furey accounted for 2 grilse to 5lb caught from the fish counter pools on a spinner. On Tuesday, Chris Ryan recorded a small grilse caught from the Luggie’s on a fly.
Despite the low water levels, there are still good numbers of salmon running over the fish counter. We hope for more rain though the forecast is for fairly dry weather!
The Owenea received a good flood (0.48 metres) on Monday but the weather became dry and the river dropped and ran at lowish levels for the rest of the week. The gauge average for the week read 0.23 metres. 48 visiting rods fished for the week spread all over the week. There were a number of salmon recorded which is to be expected given the good head of fish in the river. On Monday, Henry Patterson recorded a 9lb salmon caught from beat 9 in high water on the spinner. Visiting French angler Denis Bonnet recorded 2 grilse caught on the spinner from beat 7. The fish weighed 6lb & 2lb (released) and he also lost four further salmon! On Tuesday, Kevin O’Neill had a good day with a 10lb & 5½lb fish caught on the fly from beat 5. Denis Bonnet recorded a 3½lb grilse caught on the fly from beat 4. Dr. Pierre Rumeau caught and released a 6lb grilse from beat 3 on the fly. On Thursday, Denis Bonnet recorded an 8lb salmon caught on the fly from beat 9. On Saturday, Davy Arbuckle recorded 2 grilse caught on the fly from beat 8. The fish weighed 6½ & 2½lb and were caught from Mc’Gills pool and Brian’s pool respectively.
The weather is forecast to be dry for most of the week so the river may drop to low levels but the forecasters have been wrong a few times this season!
No report
The Northern Regional Fisheries Board presents this web site as a useful guide to salmon, trout and coarse fishing in Donegal, Leitrim and Cavan.