This is the latest report From Colin Folan on the Lough Inagh System in Recess, Connemara, Co. Galway, Ireland. If you have some fishing time then consider this!
Massive floods on Tuesday ensured a great run of Salmon and Sea Trout into Lough Inagh. The Sea Trout fishing is still improving as the days go on, and we are heading for our best year since the collapse in 1988. All the fish are in superb condition and are lice free. The average weight is over a pound and there are fish to 4lbs being hooked, and fish to 6lbs being seen. Total catch for the week was 168 Sea Trout. Top flies for the week were anything blue (Donegal Blue, Blue Zulu, Kamasunary Killer etc). On Wednesday five boats were out on Inagh, and it was a day to remember. Although the lake was very high and a small bit peaty 68 Sea Trout were landed. Dubliners Michael Heery and Dennis Murphy landed 25 Sea Trout to 2lbs, and 5 Salmon to 12lbs for their day. A Green Dabbler, Donegal Blue and Jungle Alexander was the cast that did the business. Andy Walsh(Galway) and Pat Molloy(Galway) boated 16 and Padraig Fahy(Galway) had 9 on a Fr. Ronan. Other notable catches include Paul Cashlin (Mayo) had 14 Sea Trout to 2.5lbs on Dabblers and Colin Folan and Ceri Jones (Wales) had 8 Sea Trout for 3 hours on the lake, and a 5lbs Brown from the river on a Sunray Shadow. The Maguire party from Dublin had 23 Sea trout for 4 rods and 2 days, and Hugh Maguire landed a 5lbs Grilse From The Derryclare Butts on a Black and Orange Shrimp pattern. Vincent Foley (Dublin) had a Grilse of 5lbs from The Derryclare Butts on a Sunray. In the last 4 weeks we have recorded 373 Sea Trout, compared to out total catch from 2011, which was 263!
Fishing and enquiries 095 34706, 0868679459
Tight Lines.. Colin Folan.
Lough Inagh…
On this day 34 years ago I was born.
I went to Fairlie for the weekend to visit some friends and fish the Tekapo canal. Kevin and I fished all day Saturday right into darkness. No fish. Kevin lost one on a prawn bait and I had one hit a black lure at night. We saw some fish everywhere we went so we always had a chance. Sometimes a big fish would come up and roll on the surface as if taking a dry, other times they would crash the surface, sometimes becoming airborne. These fish must have been hitting fry but we could not get a response from them. I decided to fish deep all day. I used a di7 line and various lures to get right down but I also covered any fish I saw move on top. Nothing seemed to work! The canals are a very unique fishery and I want another go. There are huge fish to be caught there which gain their weight from feeding on the abundant, easy pickings under the 2ks of salmon cages. We spent most of our time well away from the cages and these big fish were still present so they obviously move around. The biggest fish I saw was about 10lbs and Kevin saw on he reckoned to be over 15lbs. Well worth going back for!
Ronan..
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Happy Birthday to me!! A remote controlled chopper and the mother of all chocolate cakes from Kevin and Freddie!
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Kevin stalking a flat calm canal edge..
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Kevins bait rod set up. He lost a big, potentially huge fish doing this!
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The outflow.. The water was rapidly rising as we were there. This probably didn’t help our cause.
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A quick panarama shot between fishing locations..
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I brought Daltona home with me! She’ll be good on Dunstan. I plan to be on the lake next Sat and Sun!
Mike Wilkinson and I spent the day on one of our local waters on Sunday. I went to the right and Mike to the left so for the most productive part of the day we didn’t see each other at all. This often happens when flyfishing and in a way you have the best of both worlds when it does. One the one hand, you fish alone at your own pace taking as much time as you want with each challenge and opportunity the day brings, while on the other hand you know you will catch up with your fishing partner later in the day to compare notes and have the craic.
There were quite a few fish moving on Sunday probably due to the unseasonably mild conditions. Some were rising but most were tailing with their heads buried so deep in the weeds that getting them to see my fly was a real challenge. The wolley bugger inspired a few chases and one landed fish but “figure of eighting” a couple of Joe Creane’s nymphs accounted for more hook ups but still only one more landed fish.
Fish have been midging on the calm evenings. I had a look after work today but it was too windy. I finish work at 5 and its dark at 6 so my fishing window is tight! However the days are getting longer and the lake is close by.
Any calm evening over the next few days I’ll be on the water into twilight…
Ronan.. Stuntman/Joiner (CI/Fishing host by appointment!)
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The lake a few weeks ago. Plenty water in it now!
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Swans or geese?
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More of the same…
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One on Dad’s Hare & Copper..
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One on the Bugger!
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I think my next investment may be a decent camera. I seem to have lost my trusty old point and shoot pentax and my sanyo video cam back up does not take good pics. This could have been sharper.
