Plenty of water, a few salmon and prospects good on Owenea
The Owenea received a big flood on Monday (0.58m) which gave lovely river levels on Tuesday (0.30m). Thereafter the river dropped until a minor flood on Saturday (0.22m). The gauge average for the week read 0.24 metres. Despite some lovely water levels, only 11 visiting rods fished for the week, mostly during the low water periods! To date, we have 4 salmon recorded for the week.
On Monday, Alan Mooney recorded a 10lb salmon caught on a fly from beat 9. On Wednesday, Davy Arbuckle reported an 11lb salmon caught on a fly from beat 9. On Thursday, Billy Blair recorded a 6lb grilse caught on fly from beat 8 and John Ward accounted for an 8lb salmon caught on a spinner from beat 9.
Given some rain, prospects are looking rosy for the coming week given the increasing tide sizes up to big spring tides at the weekend. The forecast is for very warm weather towards the end of the week and hopefully this will bring some heavy showers.
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For info/bookings etc on the Owenea Fishery – Tel: +353 (0)74 – 9551 141. (9am to 1pm April to May & 7am to 1pm June to Sept). For beat maps and more visit http://www.fishinginireland.info/salmon/north/owenea.htm.
Fair water on the Drowes, river fished well
Water levels were fair on the Drowes at the beginning of the week but with the sunny, warm & dry conditions, the river continued to fall over the week. The river fished well given the challenging conditions and the grilse started to appear in good numbers.
On Monday, Brian McEvoy recorded a 9lb salmon caught on a spinner from Briney’s. On Tuesday, Billy Grimes reported a 4lb grilse caught on prawn from Rooney’s Turn. On Wednesday, Julian Ciconte caught and released 2 grilse weighing 3 to 4lb on a spinner below the Four Masters Bridge. On Friday, Urs Mardot recorded a 7½lb salmon caught on a fly from the Eel Weir.
On Saturday, Julian Ciconte reported an 8lb salmon caught on a spinner from Corry. French visitor Antoine logged a 4lb grilse caught on a Rapala lure from Red Roof. Simon Harris registered a 6lb grilse caught on fly from Corry and A. Carty accounted for 2 fish weighing 5 & 8lb caught on a spinner from Corry with the smaller of these being released again. On Sunday, William Marshall recorded a 10lb salmon caught on prawn from the Sea Pools and Nial Kennedy accounted for a 7lb salmon caught on prawn from The Washstones.
At present the ‘sun is splitting the stones’ here and salmon angling conditions are very poor but thundery showers are forecast towards the weekend and these may equate to better water levels in the river.
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River Drowes
The Drowes Fishery is one of Ireland’s premier spring salmon and grilse fisheries. The river is some 5 miles in length, with over 70 named pools, flowing from Lough Melvin at Lareen Bay and entering the sea at Tullaghan, just outside Bundoran. The Drowes has a wide variety of water suitable for all fishing methods, including several miles of good fly water and deeper slower moving pools suitable for spinning and bait fishing.
For information and bookings on the Drowes Fishery & Lough Melvin see http://www.drowessalmonfishery.com.
Tel.: +353 (0)71 – 9841 055 (8 am to 12 noon).
Mob: +353 (0) 87 8050806
Recent rain improves fishing on the Erriff
Osgur Grieve reports that after being plagued by low water in recent weeks, a bit of rain last week brought decent fishing conditions to the Erriff, with a flood of 1.86m on the 15th. When the flood did come it was very dirty.
By Wednesday 17th the river had cleared nicely and was reading 1.06m in the morning. Regular visitors Stephen and Philippa Sayer (UK) along with their son Christopher fished the afternoon and Philippa was rewarded with her first ever salmon; the ranched springer weighed 8lbs 1oz and was caught on a Cascade. It gave her a great fight in the Bridge Pool. Interestingly she caught her fish on the same date that her husband Stephen caught a springer last year at the Falls.
By Saturday 20th the river had dropped to 0.76m, visiting angler Jamie McStay fished with us for the day and caught a fresh ranched salmon of 8lbs 12oz on a Conehead Cascade from the Sea Pool.
On Sunday 21st it was visiting angler and ghillie Simon Pont (UK) who was into action, catching a fresh ranched salmon of 7lbs from the Upper Garden Pool on a claret coloured shrimp fly. Well done to all our anglers and we hope to see all our anglers back on the Erriff for a great season during 2017.
Some rain is forecast over the weekend, with heavy thundery showers about which may bring a rise in water level and provide further sport. The Erriff is offering reduced rates for fishing in 2017, with rods available currently for €70 per day (€45 half day) or €350 per week (6 days). For July and August, prime grilse season, the daily rate is just €75. Contact Osgur at Erriff.fishery@fisheriesireland.ie for further details or to book a beat.
Galway Fishery: Grilse are in!
The grilse are in. That’s the latest news from the Galway Fishery, where grilse have arrived in good numbers in the last couple of days, providing anglers with a welcome boost, and 30 fish landed for the week.
French visitors Remy Gateau and P. Schmitt had a grilse each, both caught on shrimp, and local angler Michael Leonard had a fine 11lbs fish on the fly. Dublin angler Dave O’Reilly had a brace of fish of 4 and 9.5lbs, both on fly, while John Anderson from Moycullen had a 4.5lbs grilse. Regular angler James Dunne had a lovely 9.5lbs fish on shrimp, Brian O’Rourke had a 4.5lbs fish on fly, and John McCarthy took a brace of grilse to 4.5lbs on fly. Laois man Frank O’Hara had 2 fish to 6lbs on fly, Clare angler Michael Griffin had a grilse on shrimp, and Tipperary man John Ryan took a 5lbs grilse on fly. Clifden native Louis Mathews had a 10lbs springer on fly, while there were grilse for Clare man Gerry Kelly, Kilkenny’s Jim Delahunty, and French visitor Jean le Moal. Tuam man Louis Brennan had a 4.5lbs grilse on shrimp, while Laois angler Ray Drennan had the best fish of the week, a cracking 12lbs spring salmon caught on the fly.
Fellow Laois man Billy Moylan took a 7.5lbs fish on fly, while UK angler Steve Turner and Longford man Sean Kenny both had a grilse each on shrimp. German visitor R. Gehringer had 2 grilse to 6lbs on shrimp, while his compatriots M. Pfetzing and L. Friesenhauser had a salmon each, including a 9-pounder on fly. Finally, Eddie Corry from Limerick enjoyed his day today, landing 3 grilse to 5lbs on the fly.
I had a look over the bridge today and saw a good head of grilse holding in the clear water. With fresh fish coming in in better numbers now, and water conditions perfect, fishing prospects look good for the coming weeks.