April 20th. Water temperature is rising! 12 degrees C yesterday at noon. There are a few bass about but North, North Easterly winds don’t help. I spoke with two shore anglers last weekend who managed to catch two small bass on lug & rag worm. It will be May before we can get those plugs out.
Some big salmon being caught around the country. One in particular that interested me was a specimen fish caught by Philip Maher from Clonmel on the Owenduff river in Mayo, weighing 22lbs. Biggest fish from this river in many years.
June 16th. Bass season on again, after a long wait! The weather was anything but kind during the month off so not much missed. Debbi, John & Lizzie persuaded me to go out in the boat! They were keen to have a go, having spent hours from the beach with not much success. The first outing was a disaster, too much wind. Last evening was fine & calm . Debbie & John had a fish each. John’s fish at 6 lbs. The terns are working hard & again I see fine sand eels in their bills as they head back to the chicks on Lady’s Island.
St Helen's, May 2011
Lovely to see the rain. Some fresh water in the eastern rivers will bring in a few salmon. Off to Galway tomorrow. Hope I have a few pictures to post when I return!
June 20th
Superb fishing on the ‘weir’ on Sunday morning. Perfect conditions. One gate open, mild, overcast, no wind & plenty of fresh fish about. What more could you need! Managed to hook 8, land three, return one & rose a few others. Very exciting fishing. Seamus had a lovely fresh 8 lb grilse. Declan on his first visit to the weir had a good 4.5 lb fish. A great morning. James fished hard with some great spey casting but sadly nothing to show for his hard work! Our thanks to Seamus & James for their hospitality. I enjoyed seeing the eels being weighed!! We’ll be back
Galway Weir 2011
July 2nd -9th
Yet again a wonderful week spent in the Nephin Mountains with Gerald, Chris, Simon & James. We waited patiently for rain . It passed by tantalizingly close but we were rewarded last Thursday with some heavy rain & a great flood in the little spate river. We were up at 3.30am & fishing by 4.30. I released a fine coloured fish from the Wall pool at 5am, measured & later to reveal its weight of around 13lbs. Simon had a beautiful 8.5lb grilse also from the Wall pool. Gerald walked for miles & was rewarded with a fine fish of 9.5lbs. Some beautiful seatrout were also caught. All released safely back to the river. Sorry not to have had Sibylle & Guy for dinner! Maybe next year.
Owenduff 2011
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August 1st -5th
Great week spent on the Moy in Ballina. The water was low & the salmon playing hard to catch! Very hard. Chris had 4, Simon 2, self 1 & John & James both had fish on but lost them. James broke in a good fish. Thanks to Breda for her wonderful hospitality & also many thanks to Stuart for a great evening spent at the Wall Pool. I believe a rise in water the day after we left gave those fishing a good bit of sport. Kevin, as usual, managed to tempt an odd one out
August 20th – 27th
Wonderful bass fishing. Most on poppers but I had a lovely evening catching a few on fly. Brendan joined me on two occasions but we had it difficult as the wind was a bit strong on both nights. Some good sized fish about. Sadly no pictures as the camera is missing!!
September 4th -9th
Just back from the River Dee at Banchory in Scotland. A truly lovely place to spend a few days fishing. Catch & release policy throughout the river & has been that way for a few years now & what a stock of fish in the river! Only in Ballina have I seen such a quantity of salmon. Most fish on Deeside are coloured but we did catch a few fresh ones with sea louse..
Chris started off with a fine cock fish of about 16 lbs followed by two fresh grilse to my rod. We both caught again. All carefully released. Jason & Steve tried hard & both hooked up but failed to land. Debbie & Lizzi, must surely share first prize for their effort both in fishing & providing the best dinners you could imagine. My thanks to them all for a great few days . Debbie’s seatrout wins the catch of the week!! Christened the new rod.
September / October
Some amazing bass bass fishing over the past few weeks. The weather has been difficult but any trip out has been successful. We managed to get Paddy a fine bass on the K-ten. Simon hooked a beauty in St Helens Bay.
I had a wonderful afternoon in a thick fog on October 2nd!! Surface poppers worked a treat & two on fly! Mr Hill recons the Megabass Gateride is one of the best. I can really say, he is quite right. Outstanding lure & a quick peep at his You Tube video is very worthwhile.
Poor weather forecast for the next few days, sadly.
The salmon season all over. No rain in the Eastern side of the country so September salmon fishing was poor. Over all a good season. Flytying now!