ANGLING NOTES:GOOD NUMBERS of spring salmon are running the river in Galway and with low water conditions, fly anglers are enjoying good sport, as indeed are shrimp fishers. Athenry angler Declan Tuffy started the week off with a nice grilse, and ended it with a fine salmon of 6.1kg (13.5lb), both taken on fly.
Water levels are perfect at the moment and prospects look good for the coming week.
On the Moy, East Mayo water yielded 45 salmon, including a beauty of 7.7kg (17lb) for Declan McNulty, Swinford; a 13 pounder for visiting Italian angler Alberto Rombi; one of 4.1kg (9lb) for Marcel Jacquiem, Belgium, and two for Vincent Prior, France.
On Lough Mask, in Co Mayo, Ronan Cusack reports that fishing was difficult last week, with strong winds and temperatures barely moving out of single figures. Despite this, those who braved the elements were well rewarded.
Ivor Hazlet and Gareth Love, Northern Ireland, had nine fish over two days and Kevin Sheridan, Ballinrobe, had 23 fish for the week on a combination of wets and dries, all returned. Kevin Beatty, also Ballinrobe, had something to smile about when he landed a cracking trout of 3.1kg (6.75lb) on a dry olive.
Mayfly hatches are still sparse, yet olives continued to hatch in large numbers all week. For guiding details, contact Ronan at cusackronan@gmail.com or 087-2869487.
Emy Lake, in Emyvale, Co Monaghan, is fishing extremely well so far this season with some lovely brownies to 2kg, according to Enda Fields. Last weekend club member Jimmy Skinnader caught a beauty of 2.8kg (6.25lb).
A limited number of places are available for the current season and day tickets may be obtained from Paul Gormley on emyvale.net/emy%20lake.html and 087-6128259.
In Co Donegal, the Lough Derg RNLI lifeboat went to the assistance of two people on board a 40ft vessel in danger of sinking after it was holed when it hit rocks last Wednesday. The Toshiba Wave Warrior located the vessel inside Bonaveen Point in Cloondavaun Bay, at the northern end of the lake.
Two large-bore marine pumps soon emptied the vessel, which was then towed to Sullivan’s Marina and lifted out of the water. Those on board were unharmed and had readied their RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat) in case they had to abandon ship.
Met Éireann provides a number of forecasts. Those of particular relevance for planning of boating trips are sea area forecasts, small craft warnings and inland lakes forecasts.
The latter is issued daily at 07.30 and 16.30 and covers Loughs Derg, Ree, Corrib, Mask, Allen and Key, and is available on met.ie/forecasts/inland-lakes.asp mobile.met.ie/mobile/lake.asp. It is also broadcast by Irish Coast Guard on Ree VHF Channel 62 (at 0715, 0915, 1615 and 1815) and Derg VHF Channel 61 (at 0720, 0920, 1620 and 1820).
Forecasts for wind, weather and visibility are given for the day of issue, along with outlook for the following day. For anchoring and mooring purposes, winds overnight are included also.
Small craft warnings are issued if winds of Beaufort Force 6 (minimum mean of 22 knots) are expected up to 10 nautical miles offshore. Warnings will be delivered to ICG for transmission on Marine VHF Channel and included in Weatherdial forecasts, and met.ie/forecasts/warnings.asp
Lough Conn and Cullin Anglers’ Association Tolan/ Traynor Cup Competition will be held on June 2nd and 3rd. Entry fee is €100 for boating anglers and €130 non-boating.
Entries will only be accepted if written confirmation and entry fee is received by closing date of this Friday. Further details from Pádraic at 086-6052687.
angling@irishtimes.com