Western River Basin District IFI Ballina Angling report – w/e 19th June 2016

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Ballina Tourism 25th June 2016

Salmon Angling

River Moy

The Moy system produced a whopping 645 salmon for the week bringing the yearly total, so far, to 1631. Heavy rain on Monday resulted in excellent fishing conditions from Wednesday onwards. Good numbers of salmon were caught on all fisheries as plenty fresh fish were moving up the system.

On the Ridge Pool, Northern Ireland anglers, Colin Farrell and Bill Hayes, had 3 salmon on fly, best at 7 lbs. Gavin Simmonds, UK, did well on the Mount Falcon water catching 3 salmon on fly and two on spinner (2 released), while Abdul Azeez from Kuwait had a grilse on prawn on Coolcronan. On Armstrong’s, John Clarke, Galway, landed two grilse on worm and Billy Hutchinson scored with a twelve pounder (also on worm) on Gannon’s. Trevor Bolton, UK, was successful on the Foxford Fishery landing two salmon at 5 lbs. and 8 lbs. on fly.

Colin Farrell & Bill Hayes, Northern Ireland, with their Ridge Pool catch

The Foxford Salmon Anglers’ waters yielded a total of 128 fish for the week with youngster, Bobby Taaffe, catching his first ever salmon. Jean Landauer and Alain Debierre, France, had several fish between 3 lbs. and 9 lbs. for their week on Cloongee, while anglers fishing the East Mayo Anglers’ stretch also reported over 100 salmon for the week. Successful anglers on East Mayo included: Jean Pierre Rouillard, France, Frank Kreichau, Germany, and Garry Todd from Northern Ireland, who caught his first ever salmon.

Garry Todd, Northern Ireland, with his first ever salmon caught on East Mayo Ballisodare Fishery

Luke O’Connell reported that the Ballisodare Fishery produced a total of 215 fish (74 released) for the week. The fresh water really livened things up at Ballisodare as water levels rose in the early hours of Monday resulting in good fishing conditions for the rest of the week. The fly was the most productive method accounting for approximately 70% of the fish. Fish were caught both upriver and at the Falls, with a good number of decent sized grilse in the 5 lbs. – 6 lbs. bracket showing.

Billy Devitt had two lovely fish at 9.25 lbs. and 8 lbs. respectively at the Falls on worm. Hughie Mahon caught a ten pounder at the Falls on Friday on the worm along with a 4 lbs. grilse. Frank Adams landed a 7 lbs. fish at the Falls on Thursday on the fly and also released a grilse of 4 lbs.

On Saturday, Pat Glennon, Aiden Heffernan, Roy Cooper and Sean Gallagher all had fish in the 6 lbs. -7 lbs. bracket on the fly upriver, while visiting angler, Spencer Wolf, caught a lovely 10 pound bar of silver on the fly also upriver.

Successful flies included various Cascades patterns, Green Highlander, Silver Wilkinson, Stoats Tail, Silver Stoat, Posh Tosh and Ally’s Shrimp.

For information and bookings please check www.ballisodarefishingclub.ie

Carrowmore Lake & Owenmore River

Angling on Carrowmore Lake and the Owenmore River picked up considerably during the week. Anglers on the lake enjoyed good sport for sea trout and grilse alike, while the first good flood of the season produced several nice fish on the river.

Regular visitors to Bangor Erris Danny Verbessem and Paul De Neef from Belgium did particularly well catching several fine salmon up to approx. 12 lbs. on the Owenmore River. All fish were caught on single barbless hooks and carefully released to the water. The two Belgian anglers also scored on Carrowmore where they had a number of fine sea trout together with a grilse.

Paul de Neef, Belgium, with a fine Owenmore salmon ready for release

Please note that Carrowmore Lake is a Brown Tag Fishery and the Owenmore River is strictly Catch & Release this year! For fishing on Carrowmore Lake & the Owenmore River contact Seamus Henry on +353 (0)97 83487 or visit www.bangorerrisangling.com.

Garavogue River

There was also good salmon angling on the Garavogue River during the first half of June with several fine fish up to 16 lbs. reported. Brendan Gordon, Ollie Conlon, David Coyle and Alan Kean, all Sligo, had several fish on prawn at Kelly’s Bridge, while Colm O’Rourke, Sligo, had two on spinner also at Kelly’s Bridge. Pat Fox, Sligo, landed a fine twelve pounder on spinner, while Francis Brady, Sligo, caught and released a grilse on fly. The best fish however, was caught by Toni Gorman at Kelly’s Bridge. Toni’s fantastic fish weighed 16 lbs. and took a spinner.

Sea Angling

Donal Kennedy, skipper of the Leah, reported excellent sea angling for some of his clients on Killala Bay during the early part of June.

On June 5th a party of French anglers enjoyed a day’s fishing on Killala Bay. They left Killala harbour at 8.30am in good time due to the big spring tides. The weather was perfect and the sea was calm while the skipper headed out far into the bay. Mackerel was the order of the day first but as always the skipper was well prepared with fresh frozen mackerel to use as bait. The French anglers enjoyed a cracking day’s fishing catching fine cod, ling and pollack with many of them into double figures.

On June 12th a local party from Co. Mayo set out for a day’s fishing in the bay. Conditions were also perfect and the fishing was steady. The group caught fine cod and ling up to double figures together with pollack, pouting and coalfish.