Fishery manager Osgur Grieve was back from holiday in the first half of August and had great news from the Erriff, where the rod catch so far this year is almost four times the total for last season already, with almost two months of the season left to go. The smolt run of 2016 had a clear lice-free run to the open sea, with the local salmon farm being fallow last year, and the improvement in returns is staggering.

We have had a bumper last eleven days fishing here on the Erriff with 131 salmon landed by our anglers. The combination of wet and windy conditions coupled with a good run of fish really helped anglers’ chances. Some of their catches are as follows, Thursday 27th produced 16 grilse with Donal Chambers accounting for seven grilse alone, of which 6 were wild and were released. Donal was using a conehead Cascade from the Falls. On Saturday 29th Jim Stafford and Arthur Muckion fished with us on Beats 4 and 9 and had eleven salmon between them, eight of which were wild and released. These fish ranged from 3 – 9 lbs and were caught using a variety of flies such as Sunray Shadow, Stoat’s Tail and Cascade.

Sunday 30th produced 24 grilse; Martin Witort had three from Doyle’s and the Colonel’s on Beat 6 using a Curry’s Red shrimp – 3 lbs, 3.3 lbs and 6 lbs, two of which were wild and released. Jim Stafford and Arthur Muckion had five good salmon between them from Beats 3 and 4 ranging in weight from 4 lbs – 7.5 lbs on Stoat’s Tail and Blue Cascade. Peter Murphy had eight salmon on a Posh Tosh from the Falls and Garden Pools ranging between 5 lbs and 7 lbs – all wild and released. Gerry Merrick had six grilse on a Posh Tosh, five of which were wild and released from the Falls and Garden Pools.

Monday 31st Glen Harmon had four grilse from Kings Pool on Beat 4 on a Red Ally’s shrimp between 3lbs and 5lbs. Conor O’Leary released a nice 7lbs wild fish from the Broken Bridge Pool on Beat 5 using a Garry Dog tube. On the 2nd August regular visitor Simon Hughes had a 3.5lbs ranched grilse from the Middle Garden on a Red Ally’s shrimp. Regular visitor Martin Witort released three more salmon from the Colonel’s and Altamont’s Dam on Beat 6 using a Cascade and Fiery Brown between 3.5lbs and 8lbs.

Regular overseas visitor Gael Kerschbaumer released three wild grilse on Beat 6 from the Humps and Hollows and Willow Pool, these grilse came to a Silver Stoat and General Practitioner and weighed  3lbs, 3lbs and 5lbs. Sunday 6th August Seamus O’Neill had great fishing releasing five wild grilse between 2lbs and 6lbs, these fish came from Altamont’s Dam and Doyle’s Pool on Beat 6 and the Broken Bridge on Beat 5. There was a greater variety of flies that were doing the business this time with the Bann Special, Stoat’s Tail and Posh Tosh accounting for many fish along with the usual suspects such as the Cascade and Ally’s shrimp. It has been great to see so many happy anglers on the Erriff and we look forward to what the next weeks will bring.

If you wish to book fishing please call the fishery office on +353 (0)95 – 42382 or email us at erriff.fishery@fisheriesireland.ie.

Source: www.fishinginireland.info.