Fishing Reports
Salmon and trout angling | Coarse angling
Salmon and trout reports
Monday 25th to Sunday 31st May 2009
RIVER DROWES
Water levels remained good throughout the week dropping to 5.6 on the gauge by Sunday but the weather was dry and very sunny especially towards the end of the week. This seemed to slow the fishing somewhat though there were still decent numbers of salmon caught over the week.
On Thursday, Urs Frei recorded a 4lb grilse caught from the Black Gutter on a worm. George Matier accounted for a 6½lb grilse caught from the Mill Pool on a shrimp. There was a further 6½lb fish recorded from the Mill Pool also caught on shrimp. On Friday, Chris McDaid recorded two salmon caught from The Washstones on a Flying ‘C’ lure weighing 7½ & 3lb. Dietter Luttgen accounted for a 6½lb salmon caught from the Sandy Hole on a Toby lure. On Saturday, Colin Gardiner caught and released a 3½lb grilse on the fly from the Estuary. C. Fitzpatrick accounted for a 6lb fish also caught in the Estuary on a fly (Cascade). On Sunday Bob English recorded a 6lb fish caught on prawn from the Mill Pool.
The forecast for the coming week is for very warm, dry and sunny weather which will not bring ideal angling conditions and will see the river levels fall. The drop in water levels may be an advantage however in slowing down the grilse run and holding some fish in the river for longer.
For info/bookings etc on the Drowes Fishery & Lough Melvin see www.drowessalmonfishery.com.
LOUGH MELVIN
There were dry and very sunny conditions for the greater part of the week and east winds on a number of days. This did not give particularly favourable angling conditions and there were few salmon anglers out trolling. There seems to have been no salmon recorded to date. The trout fishing is beginning to pick up however with a number of anglers having decent catches, mainly sonaghan. Mayflies are making an appearance in shallower areas of the Lough such as Lareen Bay and Kinlough Bay. A visiting group of Welsh anglers fishing out of Rossinver bay recorded catches of up to 15 per rod trout over Wednesday & Thursday. Regular rod Jim Hoye recorded a 4½lb trout caught from Ross Point on the fly.
Kinlough Anglers held one of their local fly angling competitions at the weekend. This was won by Freddie Boyd who weighed in 3 trout for 1.52lb. In second place was John McDonald with 2 trout for 1.45lb and in third place was Brian Hallet with 2 trout for 1.12lb. Kinlough Anglers will be running the O’Connor Cup competition next Sunday and hosting the Connaught Cup on the 13th of June. Contact Thomas Kelly for details, Tel: 071 9841497.
Monday 18th to Sunday 24th May 2009.
RIVER DROWES
The weather was very variable once again this week with bright sunshine, strong winds & heavy rain at times. The rainfall meant that the river remained at good levels and the gauge at the Four Masters Bridge was reading 6 on Sunday. The fishery was fairly busy with good numbers of rods fishing over he week. There were good numbers of grilse seen entering the fishery and most of these it would seem were running straight through the river to Lough Melvin. It was another very good week on the Drowes and there were good numbers of salmon caught over the week once again though the fishing seemed to slow towards the end of the week.
On Monday, Niall McIntyre recorded a 8lb salmon caught from the Mill Pool on a Flying ‘C’ on his 14th birthday. Andy Latimer accounted for a 7lb fish caught on the fly from the Mill Pool.
On Tuesday, John O’Neill recorded a 4½lb grilse caught from the Mill Pool on a Cascade fly. C. McNiece landed a 7lb salmon from The Stoppage on worm.
On Wednesday, Jim Atkinson recorded a 4lb grilse caught from Briney’s on the fly. Dara Treacy accounted for a 4½lb grilse caught from The Blackwater on a fly. Maurice Kettyles recorded 2 fish caught on the spinner from The Washstones weighing 4 & 7lb releasing the larger fish. Terry Rafter accounted for an 8lb salmon caught on the fly from the Trout Pool.
Thursday was a good day with 10 fish recorded to date. George McAteer recorded a 4lb grilse caught from the Sea Pool on shrimp. Stephen Hooper accounted for a 6lb salmon caught from Lennox’s on shrimp. John O’Neill landed a 3lb grilse from the Crooked Pool on a fly. Daryl Kennedy recorded 2 fish caught from the Money Hole on shrimp weighing 5 & 8lb. There was a further 5 salmon caught for which I have no captor names. These were a 3lb fish from the Crooked Hole on a fly, a 3lb fish from the Sea Pool on shrimp, a 5lb fish from the Sand Hole on worm, a 7lb fish from the Money Hole on shrimp and an 8lb fish from the Sea Pool on worm.
On Friday, J. Atkinson recorded a 4lb grilse caught from Briney’s on a Willie Gunn fly. Paddy Norton accounted for a 5lb fish caught from the Perch Pool on a black shrimp fly.
On Saturday, Paul de Haan recorded a 3lb grilse caught from Lennox’s on a Flying ‘C’. Phillip Palmer landed a 4lb grilse on a Cascade fly from the Round Hole. There were also grilse of 3 & 4lb caught on worm from The Blackwater and Lennox’s.
On Sunday, there were 2 salmon recorded to date caught from the Old Sea Pool, one of these by Tony Parker.
The start of the week has been wet and windy at times but the forecast is for sunny, warm dry weather towards the end of the week so we will see if this affects the fishing. Prospects certainly look good for the week especially with the increasing grilse run.
For info/bookings etc on the Drowes Fishery & Lough Melvin see http://www.drowessalmonfishery.com/
LOUGH MELVIN
The week was wet, cool and windy in the most part. It seems very few anglers were out fishing for salmon and I have no reports of any salmon landed this week.
The Lough is fairly quiet for trout angling at present with most trout fisherman being drawn to Lough Erne (as is normal when the may fly are up on Lough Erne). For those who are fishing the lough for trout, the fishing is starting to pick up with mayfly beginning to hatch. Michael & James Quinn staying at Lareen and fishing with a couple of other angling friends reported that there were good hatches of mayfly early in the mornings and good numbers of trout rising to them. They had some great fishing around Lareen, the Water Plant and Burke’s point with plenty of sonaghan caught and Gillaroo up to 4¼lb.
Winner of Salmon Licence Competition Announced
The Northern Regional Fisheries Board is pleased to announce that lucky salmon angler Alexander Ritchie from Bangor has been drawn as the winner of the One Day Free Fishing prize on the River Eany.
Monday 11th May to Sunday 17th May 2009
RIVER DROWES
The early part of the week brought bright sunny weather and easterly winds. On Thursday night the weather turned very wet and unsettled and this variable weather continued to the end of the week. The river gradually dropped over the week from just over 7 to 6.8 on the gauge by Sunday and the fishery was well attended with fair numbers of rods fishing over the week.
The river fished very well again this week with good numbers of salmon recorded from every day of the week despite the unfavourable conditions on a number of days. On Monday, John Martin recorded a 9½lb salmon caught from Lennox’s on the fly and a further 9½lb salmon was caught from the Sea Pool on prawn (no captor name yet). John Todd landed a 5lb grilse from the Sea Pool on the fly. There was a 7lb fish caught from The Meadow on a Flying ‘C’. On Wednesday, Davy McKee recorded an 8lb salmon caught from the Mill Pool on a Flying ‘C’ and Chris McDaid recorded a 7lb salmon also caught from the Mill Pool on a Flying ‘C’. There were two 7lb salmon caught from the Sea Pool on prawn. Eoin McManus recorded a 10lb salmon caught from Lennox’s on a Flying ‘C’.
On Thursday there were 7 salmon recorded. Paul Cooper accounted for two salmon weighing 7 & 5lb both caught on the Flying ‘C’ from The Washstones and the Mill Pool. Martin McCarron recorded a 4½lb grilse caught from the Island Pool on a copper spoon. Michael Brunton accounted for a 6lb fish caught from the Old Sea Pool on a Cascade fly. W. Hichwanden landed a 6lb fish from the Eel Weir on a Flying ‘C’. Chris Sinclair recorded a 7lb salmon caught from The Meadow on a shrimp. B. DeHaart also landed a 7lb salmon from the Stone Ditch on a Toby spinner. On Friday, Chris McDaid recorded a 9½lb salmon caught from the back of The Vets on a Flying ‘C’. Terry Rafter accounted for a 9lb salmon caught from the Trout Pool on a Curry Red Shrimp fly.
On Saturday there were 11 salmon recorded. The McNiece party recorded salmon of 10, 9 & 5½lb caught on worm from The Meadow, the Sea Pool and the Mill Pool. Stephen Kelly landed a 6lb fish from he Blackwater on a Flying ‘C’. P. Foley recorded a 7lb salmon caught from the Island Pool on the fly. Martin McCarron recorded a further salmon weighing 6½lb caught from the Island Pool on a copper spoon once again. Anthony Carty accounted for a 4lb grilse caught from the Upper Mill Pool on worm. There were further salmon caught weighing 5, 6, 6 & 7lb (no captor names at present) caught from the Mill Pool and Lennox’s on Flying ‘C’ and prawn. On Sunday, Peter McKenna registered a 5 grilse caught from The Cascades on a Flying ‘C’ and Andy Best recorded a 6lb fish caught from the Island Pool also on a Flying ‘C’.
For info/bookings etc on the Drowes Fishery & Lough Melvin see www.drowessalmonfishery.com
Lough Melvin
Lough Melvin was quiet again this week and certainly the bright sun and easterly winds over the first four days of the week did not encourage anglers to venture out on the Lough. The rest of the week brought vey variable conditions as a low pressure system sat over us. The winds were very variable with showers and temperatures were on the cool side. I have only heard of one salmon caught for the week by Ernie Louden on a trolled bait. There was a good salmon lost on the fly in Rossinver Bay after a 30 minute battle! A couple of boats recorded decent catches of trout on the fly. Patrick O’Malley had a good days fishing at the weekend pulling a cast of hedgehog flies landing 11 trout (10 sonaghan and 1 gillaroo). In truth, the trout fishing has not started in earnest and the weather would need to settle and warm somewhat. The mayfly will start to make an appearance in a couple of weeks and hopefully this will really kick things off.
Monday 4th May to Sunday 10th May 2009
RIVER DROWES
The first half of the week brought strong westerly winds which in turn brought heavy rain. This meant the river rose from 5.5 on the gauge on Monday to read 8.8 by the end of the week. The second half of the week brought poor angling conditions giving bright sunny conditions and easterly winds. Despite the varied weather, the Drowes fished very well again this week with many salmon recorded throughout the week except, funnily enough, for Sunday. Also a number of grilse were caught again this week and no doubt the main run of grilse will start soon.
On Monday, David Taylor recorded a 6lb salmon caught from the Sea Pool on a shrimp.
On Tuesday, Andy White accounted for an 8lb salmon caught from the Mill Pool on a fly. Gerry McCaffrey landed a 7lb fish caught from The Meadow on a Flying ‘C’. Brian McClintock registered a 3lb grilse caught from The Blackwater on a Flying ‘C’. Pierre Hersant recorded a 7lb salmon caught from The Blackwater on a Flying ‘C’.
On Wednesday, Pierre recorded a further 7lb salmon caught from The Mill Pool on a Toby spinner. Gerry McCaffrey also recorded a further salmon that weighed 10lb caught from The Meadow once again on a Flying ‘C’. Thomas Giles accounted for a 3lb grilse caught from The Elbow on a Toby spinner. Two further salmon were caught, one from The Meadow and one from The Blackwater though I do not have further details of these two fish to date.
On Thursday, there were two 7lb salmon caught on the Flying ‘C’ from the Trout Hole and the Island Pool (I do not have the names of the captors are present).
On Friday, Brian McEvoy caught and released a 5½lb fish caught from Lennox’s on a yellow belly devon minnow. Beat Eggar landed a 10lb salmon from the Perch Pool on a Flying ‘C’. Brendan Lyons recorded a 6lb fish caught from Lennox’s on a Flying ‘C’.
On Saturday, Tony Parker landed a 12lb salmon caught on a Flying ‘C’ from The Meadow. M. Mahon accounted for an 8lb salmon caught from Lennox’s on a Flying ‘C’. George McAteer recorded a 7½lb fish from the Sea Pool on a shrimp. Henry Pearce landed a 10½lb salmon on the fly from Briney’s and Jackie Lendrum recorded an 8lb salmon from the Money Hole on the fly.
The gauge at the time of writing is reading 7 and prospects once again look good for the week.
For info/bookings etc on the Drowes Fishery & Lough Melvin see www.drowessalmonfishery.com.
LOUGH MELVIN
Lough Melvin remained quiet again this week. The start of the week gave very strong westerly winds and anglers (probably wisely) stayed ashore. Then the rest of the week gave bright sun and easterly winds. Hardly good angling conditions for lough fishing! This all meant that few boats fished over the week and there is little to report. There were two salmon caught on Sunday. Sean Maguire accounted for one of these weighing 4lb and Noel Johnson the other weighing 5lb. Bother were caught trolling. I have not heard of any anglers out fishing for trout. Given the conditions, I am not surprised!
Monday 27th April to Sunday 3rd May 2009
RIVER DROWES
Water levels on the Drowes rose over the early part of the week to read 5.9 on the gauge by Thursday. The river then fell very gradually for the rest of the week and was reading 5.7 by Sunday. It was another good week on the Drowes with good catches of salmon recorded throughout the week with Sunday being the best day probably due to the larger numbers of rods fishing.
On Monday Paul Foley recorded a salmon caught from the Mill Pool on a Cascade fly.
On Tuesday, Columba Fitzpatrick recorded a 7lb salmon caught from the Black Hole on worm. Marty King accounted for a 7lb salmon caught from The Washstones on a shrimp and John Stephenson recorded a 7lb salmon caught from the Sea Pool on a fly.
On Wednesday, Richard Todd recorded an 8lb salmon caught from the Sea Pool on a prawn and a visiting French angler accounted for a 7½lb fish caught on a Foxford Shrimp fly from the Sea Pool.
I have yet to hear of any fish caught on Thursday.
On Friday, Richard Todd recorded an 8½lb salmon caught from The Meadow on a Flying ‘C’.
On Saturday, Francie Grimpy recorded a 6lb salmon caught from The Washstones on prawn. Jim Morrin accounted for a 5lb fish caught on the fly from the Island Pool. A visiting French angler recorded a 4½lb fish caught from the Mill Run on a Flying ‘C’ and there was an 8lb salmon recorded caught from The Washstones on prawn.
On Sunday, Peter McKenna recorded a 6lb fish caught from the Crooked Hole on a Flying ‘C’ and Brian McClintock accounted for a 7lb salmon caught from the Spa Well also on a Flying ‘C’. David Patterson recoded a 6lb fish caught from the Trout Pool on a Cascade fly. There was a further 3 salmon recorded caught on Sunday. These were a 7lb fish from The Washstones caught on prawn, a 7lb fish caught from Rooney’s Turn on prawn, a 6lb fish caught from the Trout Pool on a Cascade fly and an 8lb fish caught from the Island Pool on a fly.
At he time of writing (Tuesday) there is heavy rain which will continue into tomorrow so the river will surely rise. The forecast is for the rain to abate somewhat which should see the river levels falling into the weekend so prospects look good once again for the coming week.
For info/bookings etc on the Drowes Fishery & Lough Melvin see www.drowessalmonfishery.com.
LOUGH MELVIN
Lough Melvin remained fairly quiet with only a limited number of boats out fishing over the week. There were 3 salmon caught over the week trolling and Sean Maguire recorded a 6½lb salmon caught on Sunday morning. The trout fishing remained fairly quiet and the strong westerly winds at the weekend did not help matters and meant the lough was fairly quiet. A couple of boats recorded 2 decent trout to each angler on a couple of days but there little more than this to report. We are all waiting, really, for the trout angling to start in earnest!
Coarse angling Report
no report