Salmon and trout angling | Coarse angling
Monday 18th to Sunday 24th August 2008.
With the wet weather continuing, there were decent water levels this week on the Drowes. Despite the good conditions however, the fishery was not particularly busy. Those rods that did fish enjoyed some good sport over the week. Given here are some of the catches. On Monday, Marty King recorded 2 grilse caught from the Wash Stones on shrimp. The fish weighed 3 & 4lb. Jack Brown landed grilse of 4 & 8lb from the Island Pool on a cascade fly. On Thursday, Stephen Donoghue recorded a 5lb grilse caught on the fly from the Blackwater. Ernie Parkinson recorded 7 grilse caught for the week weighing from 2 to 7lb caught on fly & worm. At the time of writing, the gauge at the Four Masters Bridge is reading 7 so the prospects look good for the coming week.
Fishing was patchy on Lough Melvin this week with varying reports of catches, most of them poor. There was however good numbers of big trout to 4½lb caught on the fly. With the prevalent weather and floods in the rivers, good trout are often attracted to the river mouths at this point in the season. The Garrison Anglers hosted the annual Lough Melvin Open Boat Competition which ran for four days with qualifying for the first three days and the final on Sunday. The competition was won by Aiden Millar, Derrygonnelly, Co. Fermanagh and Michael Pollin, Lugan, Co. Armagh with 2.115 kg. In second place were Roger McGaughey, Belanaleck, Co. Fermanagh and Hugh McCloy, Moneymore, Co. Derry with 1.43 kg. Third place went to John Deery, Omagh, Co. Tyrone and Conal Wright, Fintown, Co. Donegal with 1.375 kg. The heaviest fish award was won by Ronan Cusack from Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo with a fine trout of 4lb 5 ounces.
The Rossinver Fishery was fairly quiet this week with only a few anglers venturing out. A number of anglers reported hooking grilse on the fly which all came loose. The fish do not seem to be taking the fly confidently at all.
There was fair water on Monday on the Owenea which fell away through Tuesday but on Wednesday we received a fair flood reading 0.45 metres. The river then fell away once again over the week until Sunday when we received a small fresh reading 0.26 metres. The gauge average for the week was fair reading 0.24 metres. The fishery was reasonably busy with 76 visiting rods fishing for the week.
There were fair numbers of salmon caught though the salmon seem to be very dour and hard to tempt at present with fish just turning once at the fly and not coming back again.
Given here are some of the catches for the week. On Monday, Donal McMenamin recorded a 4½lb grilse caught on the fly from beat 8. Billy Blair caught on the fly and released a 4lb grilse from beat 9. John Northridge accounted for a 6lb grilse caught on the fly from beat 8. On Tuesday, Fred Henry recorded a 7lb grilse caught on the spinner. Anthony McGall accounted for a 7lb grilse caught on the fly from beat 9 and Davy Sullivan landed a 4lb grilse on the spinner. On Wednesday, Billy Blair recorded 2 grilse caught from beat 8 with one of these released. The fish weighed 4 & 5lb and were caught on the spinner & the fly. On Thursday, Alan Watts recorded a 7lb grilse caught on the fly from beat 9. Johnathon McCorkhill logged a 6½lb grilse caught from beat 8. On Friday, Achim Baurnefeind recorded a 5½ grilse caught on an Apach Shrimp fly from the Priest’s Pool on beat 5. On Sunday, Dietrich Bonhurst recorded a 5lb grilse caught on the fly from beat 7 and Tommy Irvine accounted for a 9lb grilse caught from beat 8 on the spinner.
Rainfall was variable this week and this consequently gave a range of water heights. There was a small fresh on Monday (0.52 metres) and a fair flood (0.90 metres) on Wednesday which seemed to take a long time to clear. The river then fell away until Sunday when we received another fresh reading 0.60 metres. The gauge average for the week read 0.46 metres. The river was fairly well attended with 43 visiting rods fishing for the week. Despite decent numbers of salmon running over the counter, there were few recorded catches for the week and the fish seem particularly dour with the fish rarely showing in the pools. On Wednesday, Andrew Lennox recorded a 5lb grilse caught from the Corner Pool below the Fish Counter on a fly and a further 3lb grilse was caught from Limm-na-Mhille on a spinner. On Sunday, John McLaughlin recorded an 8lb grilse caught from the Devlin on a fly.
28 August 2008
Despite the heavy rain and high water levels fishing is reported to be good in most areas.
John Woodsworth, Hull fished Gulladoo Upper and bagged 111lb of fish including Bream up to 5lb. His friend Peter Emmerton also from Hull bagged 95lb, while John Platter fished Gortymone lake and bagged 76lb. Rodney Marsh 72lb and Pete Johnston 86lb.
Some anglers on Rockfield report good bags of Hybrids and Roach while Town Lake Kilelshandra is giving sizeable Tench up to 4lb. Trinity is producing mixed bags with some nice Hybrids and the occasional Bream.
Good bags of fish are being caught on Bunerky with plenty of Hybrids and the odd Bream. Brackley is giving good Bream and Bolganard Bream and Hybrids. The canal below weirs is giving plenty of Bream and Hybrids.
Church Lake, Muddy Lake and Barnagrove are all giving good mixed bags of fish. Most anglers are using boats to access these lakes this week.
The Gowna Festival is taking place this week, more details next week.