Fishing Reports
Salmon and trout angling | Coarse angling
Salmon and trout reports
Win Free Fishing
Win a days Free Fishing on the River Eany. Simply Purchase your 2009 Salmon & Sea Trout Licence online at www.nrfb.ie by 1st May to be entered into the draw. Visit www.nrfb.ie or call +353 (0)71 98 51435 to purchase online through the NRFB office.
Monday 20th to Sunday 28th April 2009
RIVER DROWES
Water levels on the Drowes hovered around 5 to 5.5 on the gauge over the week which gave great conditions for the fly although the winds were predominantly from the east and conditions were often bright and sunny. This seemed not to matter to the salmon and it was a great week with large numbers of salmon caught. The best day was probably Tuesday which was the brightest and sunniest. So much for the theories! Most salmon were caught during the week and although the weekend saw more rods fishing, less salmon were caught!
On Monday, Martin O’Hara recorded a 7½lb salmon caught on a cascade fly from the Mill Pool. Gary Bennett accounted for a 9lb fish from the Washstones caught on shrimp.
Yvonne and Tommy Carson with their salmon
On Tuesday, Frederic Rollin recorded a 7lb salmon caught from the Mill Pool on a Cascade fly. Tommy Carson accounted for 9½lb salmon also caught from the Mill Pool on a Cascade and his wife Yvonne repeated this feat catching an 8½lb salmon from the same pool on a Cascade fly. Tom O’Connell recorded a 9lb fish caught from the Sea Pool on a Flying ‘C’. Gary Bennett recorded a further salmon weighing 8lb caught once again from the Washstones on shrimp which he released. Tony Cusac accounted for a 7½lb salmon caught from the Island Pool on a Gary Dog fly.
On Wednesday, Rory Morrin recorded 7lb salmon caught from the Corry Clay on a Cascade fly. Andy Lattimer accounted for an 8lb fish caught from the Mill Pool on a Cascade fly. Tommy Carson recorded another salmon caught on a cascade fly from the Island Pool and weighing 8lb.
On Thursday, Davy McClelland accounted for an 8lb salmon caught from the Mill Pool on a shrimp. Marty King recorded a 7lb fish caught from the Trout Pool on shrimp. Darryl Kennedy landed a 10lb salmon caught from the sea pool on shrimp and Johnathon Shepherd accounted for a 7lb salmon caught on a Cascade fly from Briney’s.
John Gill and his salmon
On Friday, John Gill recorded an 8½lb salmon caught from the Sea Pool on a Monkey fly. Rory Morrin recorded a further salmon caught weighing 8lb caught from The Cascades on a Silver Stoat fly. Brian McEvoy accounted for a 9lb salmon caught on a Rapalla from the Weir Pool. On Saturday, Colin Gardiner landed a fine 12lb salmon from the Sea Pool on a Munroe Killer fly and Marius Ketyles accounted for an 8lb salmon also caught from the Sea Pool on a Red Ally’s Shrimp fly. On Sunday Chris McDaid landed a 5lb fish caught from the Mill Pool on a Green Highlander fly.
Colin Garner and his salmon
At present the gauge is reading 6 and prospects look good for the coming week.
For info/bookings etc on the Drowes Fishery & Lough Melvin see http://www.drowessalmonfishery.com/
LOUGH MELVIN
Easterly winds predominated once again for most of the week and the air felt chilly. A number of anglers are starting to venture out and a few decent trout were taken mainly towards the weekend on wet flies from the Garrison area and Lareen Bay. The salmon fishing was quiet with few boats venturing out. This was a little surprising. There is certainly good numbers of salmon in the Lough. The first salmon was caught in Rossinver Fishery (fly only) on Saturday and I am awaiting details of the captor.
ERNE ESTUARY
The Erne Estuary remained quiet over the week with few anglers fishing. This was probably due to the winds being predominantly from the east, the still cool air temperatures and the fact the hydro dam was generating all week. As such there is little to report. Shore anglers fishing of Tullan Strand (the adjoining beach) for flatfish accounted for a number of sea trout.
Monday 13th to Sunday 19th April 2009
RIVER DROWES
Patrick O'Malley and a 10lb salmon
The earlier part of the week gave some rain and overcast conditions with the latter half of the week warmer and brighter. Winds were mostly from an easterly direction all week until turning to light southerlies on Sunday. The weekend gave lovely sunny days. Despite the earlier rain, the river fell away nicely over the week from 7 on the gauge to read 6 by Sunday.
There was a good run of salmon over the week and the river fished well with good numbers of salmon recorded and also a number of salmon hooked and lost including a very big fish hooked on the fly in the Island Pool which broke free after a 30 minute battle!
On Monday, James O’Toole recorded a 5lb fish caught on a Pot Belly Pig fly from Billy’s Hole.
On Tuesday, John Haddon accounted for an 8lb salmon caught from the Cascades on a Flying ‘C’ and Billy Grimes recorded a 7½lb salmon caught from The Blackwater on shrimp.
On Wednesday, Victor Brown recorded a 9.5lb salmon caught on a #8 cascade fly from the Island Pool. Max Reichert accounted for an 8lb salmon caught on a Flying ‘C’ from the Sea Pool and there was a further 7lb fish caught on the fly and released from the Spa Well.
On Friday, Andy Ward caught and released a 7½lb salmon from Briney’s and John Fahey accounted for a 9lb salmon caught on a Toby from the Crooked Hole.
Over the weekend there were also a good number of salmon caught despite the very bright conditions. On Saturday, Martin O’Hara recorded a 9½lb salmon caught from the Black Hole on worm. F. Tiernan accounted for a 7½lb fish caught on prawn from Rooney’s and a further 7½lb salmon was caught from the Money Hole on a spinner. On Sunday, Frederic Rollin recorded a 7lb salmon caught on a #8 cascade fly from the Mill Pool losing a further bigger fish later. Patrick O’Malley accounted for a 10lb salmon caught on a cascade variant fly from the Island Pool and P.J. Bailey landed a 7½lb salmon from the Black Hole on worm.
For info/bookings etc on the Drowes Fishery & Lough Melvin see http://www.drowessalmonfishery.com/
LOUGH MELVIN
Easterly winds predominated all week until Sunday when the winds turned to a southerly direction but the weekend brought bright sunny weather with cloudless skies. Temperatures were a little on the low side over the week and there was still a ’nip’ in the air until Sunday. As a result of all this it would seem, Lough Melvin was fairly quiet with only a limited number of anglers out fishing for salmon and even fewer fishing for trout. I have only heard of one salmon caught over the week. This weighed 8½lb and was caught trolling by Kevin Gilmurray. Darren Maguire caught a fine trout weighing 5¼lb on Monday while trolling.
ERNE ESTUARY
The Erne estuary was fairly busy at the weekend, most likely due to it being the Easter weekend. There were a number of good sea trout recorded mostly caught on sandeel. I heard of one 6lb sea trout caught (but have no details of the captor as yet) and 3 fish around the 4lb mark.
Monday 6th to Sunday 12th April 2009
RIVER DROWES
The week was fairly wet and meant that the Drowes rose over the week to read 7 on the gauge by Sunday. With the spring tides this week, good numbers of salmon entered the fishery and there were good numbers of salmon recorded throughout the week. The weekend was busy though surprisingly, there are no reports of fish caught to date. With the higher levels in the river, the salmon seemed to be running straight through to Lough Melvin.
On Monday, Johnny O’Neill recorded an 8lb salmon caught on a copper spoon from the Sea Pool.
Stephen McGimpsey and his salmon.
On Wednesday, there were 6 salmon recorded. Father and son Stephen & Phillip McGimpsey, recorded a salmon apiece. The fish weighed 9½ & 8¼lb respectively and were caught on Flying ‘C’s from Lennox’s & The Blackwater. Brendan Lyons accounted for an 8½lb fish caught on a Flying ‘C’ from the Black Hole. The three further fish weighed 7½, 7½ and 10½lb and were caught from The Meadow, the Washstones and the Mill Pool on a Flying ‘C’s with the larger fish caught on a Yellow Belly.
On Thursday, there were two salmon caught. One weighed 7½lb and was caught on a Flying ‘C’ from the Mill Pool and released. The other fish weighed 11lb and was caught on a Flying ‘C’ from The Cascades.
On Friday, 2 salmon were recorded and 4 hooked and lost. James O’Toole recorded a 9lb fish caught on a Cascade fly from Tinker’s Hole. Paul Cooper accounted for an 8lb salmon which he released caught from Lennox’s on a Flying ‘C’.
Prospects look good for the week with the river falling from 7 on the gauge. The forecast is for small amounts of rain or drizzle which should mean the river will continue to drop. Unfortunately, winds are forecast to remain from an easterly direction.
For info/bookings etc on the Drowes Fishery & Lough Melvin see http://www.drowessalmonfishery.com/
LOUGH MELVIN
The Lough remained fairly quiet during the week but the Easter weekend saw many boats out fishing. There were some 22 boats fished on Saturday and 13 on Sunday. There were 6 salmon recorded on Saturday all caught trolling. Robbie O’Hare accounted for an 8½lb salmon. Darren Maguire had a good day recording a salmon of 8lb and losing two further salmon. He also caught and released a fine 8lb trout! Matty O’Shea landed an 8lb salmon. Rab Mallin accounted for a 7lb salmon and John Flanagan accounted for an 8lb fish salmon from Flanagan’s Bay. It seems (so far) that there were no salmon landed on Saturday.
The trout fishing is still slow to pick up with sparse fly hatches and few anglers venturing out after the same and those that did recorded only one or two trout that were of a decent size. The easterly winds are not helping allied to the air temperature still being low giving chilly conditions out on the Lough.
Monday 30th March to Sunday 5th April 2009.
RIVER DROWES
The weather was variable once again this week. Monday was cool and windy but Tuesday through to Thursday gave lovely spring like days with good sunshine and higher temperatures. The river averaged around 5 on the gauge for the week. We received some rain on Friday night which raised the river to read around 6 on the gauge. The weekend was somewhat unpleasant with strong, cold winds blowing however.
The river was fairly quiet over the week with few rods fishing (despite the warmer weather) until the weekend when there were a number of rods fishing. Friday was a good day however. I have heard of 4 salmon caught so far. John Gill recorded an 8 lbs. fish caught on the fly from the Washstones. There was a 12 lbs. salmon caught from the Mill Pool, a 7 lbs. fish from the Blackwater and a 6 lbs. fish from the Eel Weir. I am awaiting details of the captors. Young beginner, 12 year old Callum Kettyles, had a great weekend recording his first ever salmon on Saturday, a 7½ lbs. fish caught on the shrimp from the Long Hole. He followed this up on Sunday by catching a further fish weighing 8½ lbs. caught from the Eel Weir on a Flying ‘C’. He’s gonna think this salmon fishing lark is easy!
At the time of writing the river is reading just under 6 on the gauge and the forecast is for a wet week so levels should be good for angling.
For info/bookings etc on the Drowes Fishery & Lough Melvin see http://www.drowessalmonfishery.com/
LOUGH MELVIN
Monday started off cold and blustery but Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday brought lovely settled spring like days. Friday was wetter and windier and the weekend brought dry weather but gave strong and cold winds. It was mostly white horses to be seen on the Lough rather than anglers over the weekend!
There were a number of salmon caught over the week. On Tuesday there were three salmon caught and the following day an 11½ lbs. salmon was caught. I am awaiting details on the captors etc On Friday Denis Maguire recorded a 7 lbs. salmon caught trolling along the Garrison Shore. There were few boats out on Saturday due to the strong winds but on Sunday there were two salmon caught, one of these by P. J. McKenna and another of 7 lbs. by a visitor from Portadown. The trout fishing does not seem to have picked up yet and reports are variable with only small bags of fish recorded though there has been fair hatches of Duck fly and early sedges. In truth there have been few anglers targeting trout yet. A spell of more settled weather would definitely improve things somewhat.