Salmon and trout angling | Coarse angling
Monday 11th to Sunday 17th August 2008.
The Drowes had good water levels this week and the water rose further over the weekend and is now reading over 8 on the gauge at the Four Masters Bridge. The fishery was not particularly busy and it seems it is mainly the season ticket holders that fished over the week. There were a number of salmon caught over the week. On Monday, Phil McMahon and David Taylor recorded fish caught weighing 3lb & 9lb on shrimp & fly respectively. On Saturday, Marty King recorded 2 grilse caught weighing 3 & 4lb on shrimp. Stephen Hooper also landed 2 grilse on shrimp weighing 3 & 4lb. On Sunday, Earnest Parkinson recorded grilse of 4 & 8lb caught on the fly.
Lough Melvin did not see many anglers venturing out this week and those that did have reported that the trout fishing has not been very productive with most fish coming short and most fish (sonaghan) being small. I did hear of a good trout of 5lb caught on the fly from Kinlough Bay but I do not yet have details of the captor. There seems to be no anglers fishing for salmon and there is little to report on this front!
There was a fair amount of rainfall over the week and this ensured some nice water levels at times during the week. Friday night was very wet and this gave a good flood of 0.50 metres on Saturday and the river was still reading 0.38 metres by Sunday morning. The gauge average for the week was high, reading 0.32 metres. The river was fairly busy with 104 visiting rods fishing for the week.
There were catches recorded throughout the week and given here is a selection of the same. On Monday, Davy Arbuckle and Billy Blair both recorded a grilse of 4½lb caught each from beats 8 & 9 with one of these released. Stephen McHugh caught an 8lb fish from the Battery on beat 4 on the spinner. Ian Hanley recorded 2 grilse caught weighing 5 & 8lb from beat 5 on the spinner. John Joe Doherty landed 2 grilse weighing 6 & 7lb on the spinner from beat 8.
On Tuesday, Davy recorded another grilse of 3½lb caught from beat 8 on the fly and Billy landed 2 grilse weighing 4 & 8lb caught on the fly from beat with the bigger fish returned. Michael McLoughlin recorded a 6½lb grilse caught on the spinner from beat 8 & Peter Grahame recorded 3 grilse caught from beat 7 on the spinner. The fish weighed 3, 4 & 5lb.
On Wednesday, Billy recorded a further grilse weighing 5½lb caught on the fly from beat 8. Neil Black recorded a 7½lb grilse caught from beat 5 on the fly. Tommy Irvine caught 2 grilse weighing 5½ & 7lb on the spinner from beat 8. Angler partner Joe McMullin landed an 8lb fish on the spinner, also from beat 8. Kevin O’Neill and Paul Fergusson reported grilse of 3 & 4lb caught on the fly and spinner from beats 9 & 7 respectively. Bill Tasker recorded a 3lb grilse caught on the fly from beat 5.
On Thursday, Billy Blair recorded a small grilse caught and released from beat 8 on the fly. On Friday, Bill Tasker recorded two small grilse caught on the fly. On Saturday, Billy Blair reported 2 grilse caught from beat 8 on the fly. The fished weighed 5 & 7lb and were returned.
On Sunday, Michael McGroary caught 3 grilse from beat 7 on the fly weighing 4½, 4¾ & 8lb and Davy Arbuckle recorded 2 grilse caught on the spinner from beat 8 weighing 4 & 6lb. Otmar Butz landed a 7lb grilse on the fly from Lugguog on beat 7. Patrick Kelfell caught a 6lb grilse on the fly from the Crooked Pool on beat 6 and Jackie Hutchison recorded a 5lb grilse caught on the spinner from beat 9. Joe McMullin accounted for a 5lb grilse caught on the spinner from beat 8 and angling partner, Tommy Irvine landed 2 grilse weighing 5 & 7lb on the spinner from beat 8.
EANY FISHERY
The week was wet and there were a number of floods or rather a continuous flood of varying heights over the week. On Saturday the river was unfishable with the river rising to read 2.60 metres by mid afternoon! The gauge average for the week read a huge 1.00 metres! All this meant that at times the river was too high but there were opportunities over the week. The week was fairly busy with 61 visiting rods fishing over the week.
Catches were variable over the week and the salmon never seemed to settle and take properly with the constantly changing water levels. There were good numbers of fish recorded for the week however. Monday was the best day with numerous anglers catching fish. John McLoughlin had a great days sport with 9 salmon hooked and 6 landed on the fly up to 11lb with four of these returned. Stuart Henry recorded 2 fish caught weighing 4 & 10¾lb on the spinner. Fred Henry accounted for a 5½lb grilse caught on the spinner. John O’Donnell recorded 2 fish caught on the fly weighing 12 & 3lb with the bigger fish returned. Michael McLoughlin landed a 5½lb grilse from the Devlin on the fly. John Wilson recorded 2 fish caught on the spinner weighing 9½ & 6lb. On Tuesday, Patrick Kelly recorded a 10lb salmon caught from the Devlin on a spinner and Malcolm Finney caught a 4lb grilse on the spinner. On Wednesday Gerry McCafferty recorded a 3½lb grilse caught on the fly & Dermot McLoughlin landed a 4½lb grilse on the fly. On Thursday, John Wilson recorded a 4lb grilse caught on the fly from Letterbarra. Connie Burke landed 2 grilse caught on the spinner weighing 4lb each and Gerry McCafferty recorded a 5½lb grilse caught from Drumboarty on the fly. On Friday, Ciaran Scullion recorded a 3lb grilse caught on the worm from Bonnyglen Falls. On Saturday, Ernie Kells caught a 7lb grilse on the spinner from the Plantin Pool. On Sunday, Michal McLoughlin recorded 2 grilse caught on the fly weighing 5 & 6lb with one of these returned.
The forecast is for more rain so the river will probably continue to go up & down ‘like a yoyo’.
21 August 2008
High water levels have left conditions very difficult for anglers. Some anglers who fished Lough Gowna report plenty of Skimmers, Roach and Hybrids on Church Lake, Skimmers on Kevin's Shore while the Deeps at Leonards are producing Bream and Skimmers and plenty of Hybrids and Skimmers at Leonards farm.
Some English anglers fishing Killykeen match stretch in high waters observed plenty of Bream turning but were unable to reach them.
Karl Ganter staying at "Riversdale" in Ballinamore had a good bag of 5 tench in poor conditions from Corgar lake and good roach and hybrids in the canal.