ANGLING NOTES:I HAVE HEARD it all now. Salmon caught at sea? Yes. In rivers and loughs? Yes. But in a canal. Surely not? But it is true. On a recent outing to the Royal Canal, Adrian Murray landed a wild salmon in Mullingar. Murray, along with pupils from St Bridget's School and supervised by fisheries staff Dermot Broughan and Tony Robinson, caught and released the fish near the the Harbour Bridge.
Scale samples revealed the salmon was a kelt. Broughan’s synopsis is that it entered the River Inny via the Shannon and then went into Lough Owel from the overflow near Bunbrosna. Once in Lough Owel, it made its way into the water supply system, which enters the canal.
* I enjoyed a great day last Tuesday on Lough Sheelin with angling guide Michael Flanagan. We spent 10 hours on the lake in sometimes difficult conditions and caught nothing, but raised several good fish. The fry-up of rashers and sausages with gallons of tea and coffee from our Kelly Kettle more than made up for a poor day’s fishing. E-mail him at: mick@midlandangling.com.
* The flood finally came to the Newport River and Beltra Lough, matched by extraordinary high spring tides. This combination brought a wonderful run of spring salmon into the system: 15 from mid-May to June 4th derived from a light rod effort.
The best from Beltra included Eamon Kennedy’s 7kg catch and John Campbell’s one of 5kg.
On the Newport River, Alan Marsden also caught a 5kg salmon while Pat Smith landed one and lost two. David Nevin caught and released two fresh fish of 6.8kg and 4.5kg.
“My best ever fishing day,” he said. To contact Newport House for bookings, call 098-41222 or e-mail info@newporthouse.ie.
* The fishing at Ballynahinch, Co Galway, has really picked up in recent days, according to fisheries manager, Simon Ashe. Traditionally a quiet time of the season, early June has really come alive, he said.
Conor Killeen took a fresh springer from the stream on Beat 1 with a yellow shrimp and Tom McManus caught a 6kg fish from the Iron Pier on Beat 4,5 on a size 10 silver rat.
The week was topped when regular angler Ann Corcoran landed a hefty 6.45kg salmon also from the stream. This fish is the largest so far this season at Ballynahinch.
Sea trout fishing has been really encouraging with a number of maiden sea trout coming over the counter. Richard McMahon released one of 1.4kg from Ranji’s Rock. “Most anglers are catching sea trout,” Ashe said.
Weather conditions remain good and there are spaces available on the river over the coming weeks. Contact Ballynahinch Castle Hotel on 095-31006 to check availability.
* On the brown trout front, fishing out of Pontoon Bridge Hotel on Lough Conn, Darragh Harte had five good fish with boatman Vinnie O’Boyle, all to the claret mallard, while James McWalter, Claremorris, had four keepers on Cullin, all returned. Roy James, from the UK, had 14 trout during his stay, on the octopus, bibio and bumble olive.
* Ken Robertson has retired as coxswain of Dun Laoghaire Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboat after a quarter of a century of dedicated service.
During his 25 years, the all-weather lifeboat (ALB) launched 535 times and saved 60 lives. In 2007, he received the thanks of the institution for rescuing a swimmer at Killiney.
The incoming coxswain is Mark McGibney, a crew member and coxswain since 2002. McGibney is also sailing manager at the nearby Royal Irish Yacht Club.
Meanwhile, the Ballyglass Lifeboat Station in Co Mayo will host an open day next Sunday from 2 to 6pm. Why not visit the station, meet the crew, see the lifeboats and the life-saving equipment?