Yes, from May 6th anglers were permitted to fish local waters within 5km of home. This meant many anglers were out & about last week on Ennell, Owel and Derravaragh. The fish were certainly jumping for joy and many cracking pike and trout were caught. Lough Owel made the RTE news that Wednesday as my pal Ciaran Mulloly dropped down for a chat with cameraman John McMurrow. The May Fly is up on Ennell and already Spent are drifting across Ennell in the evening time. We have a lovely selection of local anglers pictured this week and what I leave out will be published in next week’s Angling Focus.
RTE ON OWEL: I had just settled into my first drift on Owel last Wednesday morning when I received a call from my pal Ciaran Mulloly of RTE. I know Ciaran some years now and have had the pleasure of doing a few interviews with him for RTE. When Ciaran rang, his first question was where are you fishing and would you come in off the lake for a chat. I belted back to Tullaghan for 12 noon and we had a great chat about Covid- 19 and the impact it’s having on angling and angling tourism. Then it was down to business and cameraman John McMurrow was set up for a live broadcast for the one o’clock news. Then we did a piece for the evening news with local angler Kenny Kiernan and his son Oisin being interviewed. It was a bit of fun and good to highlight our wonderful angling here in and around Mullingar. Cameraman John McMurrow also went home a happy camper, as I gave him a beautiful trout I caught that morning. I chatted to Ciaran about the big competition coming up in September on Ree and it’s looking good. I will keep local anglers up to date this competition with €10,000 in prize funds up for grabs.
LOCAL ANGLERS ON OWEL: Kenny Kiernan was out on Owel as I mentioned and Kenny is a very experienced fly angler. There were no May Fly on Owel but a steady trickle of Olives had fish on the move. Kenny boated a few cracking fish, with one pushing 4lbs and another over 3lbs, which he returned. Mark Moran sent a super photograph in of a lovely trout caught during the Olive hatch out from Portloman Shore. Pauric Martin was also in the thick of the action and had some lovely trout on the troll. One fish he caught going past me took a pink Tasmanian lure, it’s amazing what colour lures work on certain days. Amy Smith is a chip off the old block and caught her first trout out fishing with dad Philip. The Smith family are part and parcel of angling and shooting here in Mullingar and it’s great to see young anglers coming on line. Hope you kept a fish for the old Granddad Tom.
ENNELL ANGLERS: It was great to see the hardy Ennell anglers back out on the lake as the May Fly are hatching and some lovely wild brown trout are being caught. Tom Gorman and Frank Keena were out on Sunday and Tom had some nice trout last week on Ennell. Local Postman Alan Tyrrell was also in the thick of the action and had a lovely fish over 2lbs on Sunday. I also had my first 2020 Ennell cracker on the green May Fly, and they are certainly one of the most beautiful looking trout in Ireland. This trout I dropped into my old angling pal Con Hope who is an Ennell legend and is still in great form at 86 years of age. Any time we chat it’s Ennell, Ennell and more Ennell. Naturally Con’s fishing days are over, as he says himself you can’t turn back the clock. I had fantastic years fishing with Con where we won many competitions on the pike and trout scene and I learned a lot about fishing with Con.
DERRAVARAGH ANGLERS: The big pike are coming on the feed on Derravaragh and some super pike were boated by my younger brother J.J. and his son Cathal. The lads were fishing with Damian Grifferty, J.Js brother in law. Some of the pike were well up in the double figures and weighed 14-15lbs. Hopefully soon the 5km will be extended and I will be back out on Derravaragh.
LENE CLOSED TILL 8TH JUNE: Lough Lene Chairman Tom Fagan has received advice from the Eastern Fisheries Board that Lough Lene in North Westmeath will remain closed until June 8th. Lough Lene is a mecca for anglers from all over Ireland and come July and August it will produce fantastic fishing during the Murrough and Peter hatch. Something to look forward to in the future. Lough Lene Angling Association have received reports of anglers fishing Lene who are well outside the 5km limit and we are told Garda have been notified.
OLIVER DALY R.I.P: Sadly, Derravaragh Angling Club lost one of its long serving members, the late Oliver Daly of Multyfarnham, who was also Hon President of Derravaragh Anglers. Oliver had a boat hire business years back on Derravaragh and also over the years we fished the Daly Cup competition in honour of his late father Gerry Daly. On behalf of Angling Focus we send our deepest sympathies to Oliver’s family and his many friends.
THAT’S IT: Great to be back out Rocking and Rolling on Owel and Ennell, and in the coming weeks, all going well, we will get out on many more of our fantastic lakes and rivers. Tight Lines until next week.
Mick Flanagan
Mobile: 087-2797270
E mail mick@midlandangling.com
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