Moy Report 26th March @ 5pm

Height at Ballylahan bridge 1.25m

East Mayo Anglers Association are having a riverbank clean up on Sunday 29th March to prepare the fishery for the coming season. The assembly point will be Oldcastle car park at 10am.  It is hoped to remove rubbish from along the river banks over three hours with a barbecue to follow at 1pm.  Please wear suitable clothing and footwear and bring along any litter pickers you have.

On the fishing front things have been fairly quite with just another couple of fish caught and lost behind the boxes in Ballina.  The water has been in good order for that section of river but fish seem to be few and far between.

On the EMAA stretch fishing effort has been light with only an occasional angler around.  I have only heard of a couple of kelts caught and nothing fresh sighted.  Today’s flood seems to be heralding the start of another unsettled spell so water should be plentiful.  It would be nice to hear of at least one fish caught before March goes out!

The tail of the Longbank on a St Patrick’s day walk. Another year with worryingly few kelts showing?

Moy Report 1st February 2015

Height at Ballylahan bridge 1.50m

Another season gets underway today on the River Moy.  After a torturous season last year due to lack of fish and water, anglers will be hoping for much better results in 2015.  As you can imagine water is not scarce at the moment but fish will be.  As per norm, I would expect the first fish of the season to be caught behind the boxes in Ballina whenever the conditions become suitable.

Up stream in the East Mayo Anglers stretch a fish could be expected in mid to late March.   Unfortunately the last two seasons have failed to produce a March fish on this stretch.  Hopefully this trend can be reversed.  I would normally begin my own campaign in early April on the Moy but a trip or two to the Drowse may occur in March if reports are tempting.

Tight-lines for the coming season and I will just leave you for now with a selection of photos taken during the close season.

A Salmon running the falls on the Clydagh river, October 2014

Bank clearance at the Gub, November 2014.

Bank clearance at the Gub, November 2014

Snow at Oldcastle car park, 14th January 2015

Snow melt combined with heavy rain resulted in a big flood on 15th January 2015. This was the downstream view from Cloongullaun bridge.

Looking down river from Ballylahan bridge with the river at around 3.5m on 15th January.

A day on the River Derg

I fished the River Derg again yesterday with friend Ronnie Mc Morris. It had received a nice 3ft flood the day before and still held a good level.  Although most of the flood had gone the river still carried a fair bit of sediment.  It was around 11am before we finally got fishing but we were in no rush as it was still quite cold after an overnight frost.

A bright day on the River Derg yesterday.

Even with the good water level we weren’t expecting a bonanza as the Derg like most rivers this season has had a poor run of fish.  I managed to get one pull from a salmon which thankfully made it to the net after a good battle.  I also had a sea trout and several brownies.  Ronnie was less fortunate when his only hook up with a salmon came off after a few seconds.  We saw a few salmon showing in the various stretches fished, so that offered some encouragement.

One from the River Derg yesterday.  A size 8 cascade fished on a slow sinking tip brought success.  Hopefully it makes it to the spawning redds.

River Derg sea trout.

The sky was virtually cloudless for the day and didn’t help the fishing.  Another top drawer excuse was the air temperature was a lot lower than the water for a good part of the day.  Other anglers that have studied this combination reckon its not helpful for a good days fishing, even when there are plenty of fish about?

 

Moy Report 23rd May @ 8.30am

Height at Ballylahan bridge 0.97m

Some overnight rain has held up levels and there will probably be another bit of a rise as the day goes on.  Each rise lately has brought a lot of colour into the river to the detriment of those wishing to fish the fly.  There is however generally dry weather forecast from today into next week, so the river will get a chance to clear out.

There were reports of a few fish caught and lost in the Oldcastle stretch yesterday morning but then the river began to rise and colour again and that section pretty much went out of action.  Further downstream around six fish were reported to the waterkeeper up to 6pm.  These were a mixture of spring fish and grilse with the best around 11lb.  Once again the lower stretches were well fished and a lot of anglers left disappointed.

The River Moy at Oldcastle.

Moy Report 22nd May @ 8.30am

Height at Ballylahan bridge 0.95m

Its a cool blustery morning with a fresh northerly wind blowing.  There was some rain overnight that seems to be holding levels, with a rise possible later today.  The very showery weather we have at present is forecast to end, with more settled conditions coming in for the weekend.  It would do no harm at this stage for the river to settle, as levels fluctuating on a daily basis rarely leads to good fishing.

There have been better reports coming from Ballina recently, with fish seen running and a mixture of springers and grilse landed behind the boxes.  From what I can gather they have had their best day or two of the season so far.

The fly only stretch, East Mayo Anglers Association.