The fine weather over the past week brought out the best in Irish game angling. Pride of place goes to 3½-year-old Oisín McElroy who, with a little help from dad Noel, caught a magnificent brown trout of 6.4kg on Lough Mask on Easter Sunday.
Fishing out from Clonbur, Oisín hooked into the big fish while trolling in the shallows on the northern tip of Red Island.
The Moy fished well for mid-April with 28 salmon reported, the majority of which were caught on Foxford club waters and Gannon's Fishery. Fish were also caught on the Ballyvary River (the inflow to Lough Cullin), on Cullin itself and on Lough Conn.
David Cahill caught a fine salmon of 4.42kg on the Foxford Fishery.
Free fishing continues on the Ridge Pool at Ballina until the first salmon is caught. Fishing on the Cathedral Beat and Point commences tomorrow. With water levels ideal at present, prospects look good for the coming week.
Carrowmore Lake enjoyed another good spell with 28 salmon, most of which were released. Most were in the 4kg range, however, fishery officer John Cosgrove returned an excellent fish of 4.98kg.
An underwater camera in the top pool at the Galway Weir revealed fresh spring fish in the river but just the one caught by Sean O'Toole remains the tally to date. With one weir gate open, conditions are ideal for fly-fishing.
The Waterville update from Co Kerry makes for interesting reading. March and early April saw few anglers on Lough Currane; however, salmon were present in moderate numbers, according to fisheries manager, John Murphy.
The good news was the amount of large sea trout running, with more than 10 specimens taken to early April, and also the record number of kelts caught in the system.
The salmon catch for March reached 20, along with six specimen sea trout. The second week started brightly with ghillie Bob Priestly guiding Gregory Block and Brano Bakovik from Germany to two fish of 5.4kg and 5.9kg, respectively.
Simon Perks returned a salmon of 4.1kg while fishing with Dominic McGillicudy. "Unfortunately, this was the last salmon taken by Simon who passed away the following week. We would like to extend our sympathy to his family. His charm and wit will be sadly missed in Waterville," Murphy said.
The amount of juvenile fish in the system is truly staggering with vast quantities of trout and salmon showing on the surface over the first two weeks of April. Prospects are looking good for sea trout in May and with drift nets gone, summer salmon should make a welcome return to Kerry this summer, he said.
• Lough Conn enjoyed reasonably good fishing, with 36 anglers reporting 42 trout. The best fishing was found in the Brackwansha and Cloghans areas. Most successful flies included Bibio, Golden Olive and Sooty Olive.
With Olives beginning to hatch, fishing should pick up over the coming weeks, subject to the weather.
• The European Federation of Sea Anglers-Ireland (EFSA-I) Boat League for 2007 got under way at Kilmore Quay, Co Wexford, over the Easter weekend. In glorious weather, eight charter boats ferried 67 anglers to the fishing grounds off the Saltee Islands for two days of top-class angling.
Competitors too were top notch - the crème-de-la-crème of Irish boat anglers - household names included Peter McCartin, John Cronin, Joe Gough, Warren Doyle, Terry Carolan, Shay O'Neill, to name just a few. Together, they caught a staggering total of 3,541 fish comprising cod, pollock, coalfish, ballan and cuckoo wrasse, ling, pouting, dab and dogfish, all of which were returned to the sea.
At the presentation dinner in the Wooden House Lodge Hotel, EFSA-I chairman George McCullough was glowing in his appreciation of the huge turnout, especially the non-angling guests. "This year's league, together with the final result from 2006, will decide the two teams to represent Ireland at the EFSA Boat Angling Championships in Cobh next year," he said.
Overall winners: P McCartin, P Robinson, B Whelan, T Squires, M Kennedy, M Clarges, T Behan, P Enright, G Darker and J Smyth. The next two-day event is scheduled for Cahirsiveen, Co Kerry, over the May bank holiday. Entries, by April 20, to Warren Doyle. Contact 087-8069961 or warrendoyle@iol.ie