Sea Trout

Zzippy

Mr Bumble wrote: »

Currane is certainly not a small lake....maybe small by corrib standards but it is a big slab of water......and of course at night......look at the shoreline at night and you'll see just how few eyes actually are on the lough....even in the daytime. The trippers were in for the Charlie Chaplain fest last week and the place was hoppin...every houe on the north shore was lit up....but that was for a week....normally you'll see a dozen houses lit up.....so no, far from a lot of people watching it other than than the wrong ones.....the entire southern shore has about a half dozen houses from the Castle to Capal and about the same all the way back into to the head of glenmore which (i think) is about 11k in and winds along the shore for at least half of that...it also skirts Capal lake which gets a lot of the very big sea trout and I don't know what the story is there....it's very isolated so vulnerable but it is a small lake and I think would be much harder to net. The Eastern shore is entirely unwatched and a net was found early in the morning off burnt island last week. Both rivers have traditionally had a problem....small streams with big volume of fish, A I said, is the bad run from the sea which is throwing a spotlight on the damage the poaching is doing

I'm confused now - is the run bad this year? In that case, why would poaching on the lake be to blame, the problem would be at sea, no?
The sea trout run has been poor enough in Connemara too this year, and I haven't heard any great reports from Carrowmore either. Might just be a bad year, and we did have a dry spring, which doesn't help with lice from salmon farms...

Mr Bumble

I thought the above was very clear but if not.....
Nobody has caught sea trout this year and in rapidly decreasing numbers for the last three years.
The juniors have not arrived this year and the 2/3/4lb fish stock hasn't been there in what I would consider normal numbers for three seasons now which is a huge concern....juniors have been decreasing and I'm told that less than 4000 have come in so far which is nigh on a collapse. In a good year 30,000/35,000 sea trout and most of them would be juniors up to 2lb fish. At least half of them should be here by now - even if we're running a month late because of weather.
As i said above, the issue IS confused by the very warm weather and some think that there are more fish in the lake than people realise and that they simply went deep. The deepest spot is over 160 feet down and fish always congregate there. Lads have pulled a fish finder across the deeps and seen large concentrations of fish. That hasn't been done this year that I know of. It may be true that the fish went deep during the heat and have stayed there. But i don't think that explains the poor fishing. They were very scarce in May/June before the heat and when the prolonged east wind went away. Conditions were bang on. I fished many days when the wave. wind, air, temperature and cloud cover was perfect and nothing. Of course that could be down to me or any of the zillion other factors which turn what should be a perfect day into a bust. But everyone else is having the same experience. I know the lake well now and the marks. I know where to fish, when to fish and what to fish with, as well as anyone who doesn't live in the area. I would expect to catch on certain days. That hasn't happened for three years. 2010 was the last good year.
I've fished the lake (and nowhere else!) a good deal for about 10 years and the fish counter on the butler pool backs up what anglers are saying..... and that's pretty much every one I've met, including the ghillies and I've been down a lot this season. There have been doubts about it's accuracy over the years but it's running properly now fand I'm told it's reliable again
The dry spring is not that relevant with sea lice. Sea temperature and light are the key influences and it was very cold for most of Feb/March/April which would have helped keep lice numbers normal as opposed to the explosive reproduction which happens when water warms up around the cages during long periods of daylight in the summer....sea was cold right up to late June.
I've seen quite literally massive runs of smolt to sea every year up until this year. I was catching 10/15 a day very small smolt into July when they should have been gone. There seems to be a good deal of half pound silver fish which could be early returned juniors or late leaving smolt...i'm not expert enough to tell....not sure if anyone is. We're in deep doo if they're this year' smolt are back in the lake early because of something at sea.....Deenish would then become very relevant.
Salmon numbers are strong but also prime target for poachers and even more so in the absence of sea trout. The poaching has increased all over the country because of the state we're in and as I said before, nobody was too upset in the area when there was 35,000 fish coming into the lake. Now, with so few fish coming in, poaching has a hugely increased the impact on the angling.

Currane could yet prove the master in this. It would be unusual in the extreme if 20,000 juniors came pouring into the lake between now and spawning but far from impossible I'm sure. Septermber could be a remarkable month and if it is, we'll breathe easier and move on but the signs so far are very bad...we'll only know for sure when we see the spawning streams in late November/December.

If they do arrive in september, I'll let ya know

Mr Bumble

fish moving today....eight to one boat and signs of more around the lake.....fingers crossed

okedoke

Mr Bumble wrote: »

fish moving today....eight to one boat and signs of more around the lake.....fingers crossed

might head to Currane at the weekend - would appreciate any updates as the week goes on!

Thanks

Slasher

okedoke wrote: »

might head to Currane at the weekend - would appreciate any updates as the week goes on!

Thanks

Take a look here for daily updates:
http://wwwsalmonandseatroutphotos.blogspot.ie/

Best of luck. Let us know how you get on.

okedoke

Slasher wrote: »

Take a look here for daily updates:
http://wwwsalmonandseatroutphotos.blogspot.ie/

Best of luck. Let us know how you get on.

yea - already follow that closely in the run up to any trip but the more sources of info the better!

Zzippy

Mr Bumble wrote: »

I thought the above was very clear but if not.....
Nobody has caught sea trout this year and in rapidly decreasing numbers for the last three years.
The juniors have not arrived this year and the 2/3/4lb fish stock hasn't been there in what I would consider normal numbers for three seasons now which is a huge concern....juniors have been decreasing and I'm told that less than 4000 have come in so far which is nigh on a collapse. In a good year 30,000/35,000 sea trout and most of them would be juniors up to 2lb fish. At least half of them should be here by now - even if we're running a month late because of weather.
As i said above, the issue IS confused by the very warm weather and some think that there are more fish in the lake than people realise and that they simply went deep. The deepest spot is over 160 feet down and fish always congregate there. Lads have pulled a fish finder across the deeps and seen large concentrations of fish. That hasn't been done this year that I know of. It may be true that the fish went deep during the heat and have stayed there. But i don't think that explains the poor fishing. They were very scarce in May/June before the heat and when the prolonged east wind went away. Conditions were bang on. I fished many days when the wave. wind, air, temperature and cloud cover was perfect and nothing. Of course that could be down to me or any of the zillion other factors which turn what should be a perfect day into a bust. But everyone else is having the same experience. I know the lake well now and the marks. I know where to fish, when to fish and what to fish with, as well as anyone who doesn't live in the area. I would expect to catch on certain days. That hasn't happened for three years. 2010 was the last good year.
I've fished the lake (and nowhere else!) a good deal for about 10 years and the fish counter on the butler pool backs up what anglers are saying..... and that's pretty much every one I've met, including the ghillies and I've been down a lot this season. There have been doubts about it's accuracy over the years but it's running properly now fand I'm told it's reliable again
The dry spring is not that relevant with sea lice. Sea temperature and light are the key influences and it was very cold for most of Feb/March/April which would have helped keep lice numbers normal as opposed to the explosive reproduction which happens when water warms up around the cages during long periods of daylight in the summer....sea was cold right up to late June.
I've seen quite literally massive runs of smolt to sea every year up until this year. I was catching 10/15 a day very small smolt into July when they should have been gone. There seems to be a good deal of half pound silver fish which could be early returned juniors or late leaving smolt...i'm not expert enough to tell....not sure if anyone is. We're in deep doo if they're this year' smolt are back in the lake early because of something at sea.....Deenish would then become very relevant.
Salmon numbers are strong but also prime target for poachers and even more so in the absence of sea trout. The poaching has increased all over the country because of the state we're in and as I said before, nobody was too upset in the area when there was 35,000 fish coming into the lake. Now, with so few fish coming in, poaching has a hugely increased the impact on the angling.

Currane could yet prove the master in this. It would be unusual in the extreme if 20,000 juniors came pouring into the lake between now and spawning but far from impossible I'm sure. Septermber could be a remarkable month and if it is, we'll breathe easier and move on but the signs so far are very bad...we'll only know for sure when we see the spawning streams in late November/December.

If they do arrive in september, I'll let ya know

That's not quite true. A dry spring means less freshwater flushing through coastal areas, and lice larvae survive better. Also, although this is more relevant to salmon, in a wet spring smolts get offshore faster through less saline conditions, and aren't impacted by lice as much. While temperature does play a part, of much more importance is the stock that's present on local fish farms i.e. how many hosts are present = how big the reservoir of lice is, and the husbandry on those farms - if the fish are being harvested over the spring months they cannot be treated for lice, and numbers can really build up. If temperature was that important then Norwegian fish farms would have no problem with lice, which is patently not the case.

Is the fish counter operational this year? Any chance your concerns could be expressed through the local club/boatman's association to IFI - while they probably won't divulge actual numbers they might be able to either confirm or allay your fears about low returns. Hopefully the fish just are staying deep due to the high water temps and fishing picks up as it cools down a bit!

Mr Bumble

Point taken about flush of fresh water/salinity etc. Temperature is relative to the environment the lice live in and Norway does get a belt of the gulf stream if I'm not mistaken. Temperature and light are the two dominant factors in a rapid expansion of population. There are upwards of 80 different types of the critters in our waters (apparently - knowledge acquired from talking to those who know what they're talking about)) and let's be honest, we don't really know definitively the which what where and how of this problem. If we did, the argument would be won and then the job at hand would be to put the fear of god into politicians. Very few votes in fish farms. A handful of jobs at best. All of us here think that fish farms do damage and I could even go as far as to say that we know that this to be true - in much the same way we knew what Haughey etc was up to. But if it could be said definitively that fish farms are destroying salmon and sea trout populations, it's an election no brainer. Visiting anglers are down but plenty still come. They won't if there's no fish.

Mr Bumble

okedoke wrote: »

might head to Currane at the weekend - would appreciate any updates as the week goes on!

Thanks

From what i've been told, fish caught were in a while. As noted above, check out Vincent Appleby's blog...they seemed to have switched on and that was two days ago.....
. Lake temperature has dropped from 17/19 a week ago to just above 16 and dropping. You're timing could be very good. Air temperature to drop over next few days down to 15s and 16s with cool nights. Flush of rain in the next 24 hours would help too and that seems to be on the way. I'm jealous.

PS...bring ant patterns....falls all over kerry on and off for the last ten days......might be a tad cool over next few days but ya never know

okedoke

Mr Bumble wrote: »

From what i've been told, fish caught were in a while. As noted above, check out Vincent Appleby's blog...they seemed to have switched on and that was two days ago.....
. Lake temperature has dropped from 17/19 a week ago to just above 16 and dropping. You're timing could be very good. Air temperature to drop over next few days down to 15s and 16s with cool nights. Flush of rain in the next 24 hours would help too and that seems to be on the way. I'm jealous.

PS...bring ant patterns....falls all over kerry on and off for the last ten days......might be a tad cool over next few days but ya never know

Thanks Bumble - I've never used ant patterns for sea trout, or is it just small and black - any particular patterns (i presume you're talking about wets?).

I'm hitting the vice tomorrow to restock the box

realrebel

My favourite fly for currane is the red arsed green Peter tied by a chap in carrigaline, co cork called Jim Sheehan
It's a killer of a fly when u get the colours right
Another deadly fly is the daddy for September and October make sure u try that too

okedoke

Thanks realrebel - have loads of daddies tied up and a couple of red arsed green peters

Mr Bumble

daddy, green peter great, hoppers... i had two red arsed peters i picked up somewhere which had a yellow/orange hackle and they were deadly y.......might have been southside....
ANts.....i've only ever seen it twice and you could throw a red hook out and they'd whack it.....remarkable......used a red zulu and caught.....anyhting i had in the bag...bloodworm too......I assume red's the important bit.......falls usually come with a wind to blow them onto the lake so wet okay........better fishing all week so you're hitting it right....6lb salmon taken on the drift and some decent sea trout.....juniors too....don't know how fresh they are but they're looking up

Mr Bumble

realrebel wrote: »

My favourite fly for currane is the red arsed green Peter tied by a chap in carrigaline, co cork called Jim Sheehan
It's a killer of a fly when u get the colours right
Another deadly fly is the daddy for September and October make sure u try that too

i'm told he's good alright rebel.....is he expensive???

realrebel

Mr Bumble wrote: »

i'm told he's good alright rebel.....is he expensive???

I think he's about 1.50 to 2 euro a fly, I'm not too sure as I get a lot done at the same time and they would be a mixture of small wets for currane, long shanks 8 for seatrout in rivers and tubes
They are excellent flies to be honest everything is right proportion and colours
His green Peter catches me 95% of my fish on currane

okedoke

Good conditions down on the lake - I got a couple of juniors and lost a beauty at the net, about 6lbs

All had been in the lake a good while I'd say, not that fresh

Daddies and red arsed peter

realrebel

okedoke wrote: »

Good conditions down on the lake - I got a couple of juniors and lost a beauty at the net, about 6lbs

All had been in the lake a good while I'd say, not that fresh

Daddies and red arsed peter

Good man but unlucky on the fish lost at least u had a fight off him and saw him

Mr Bumble

nice fish.....lost at the net is good enough........big drop in temperature on east coast....same below???

okedoke

I had a great day on sunday - loads of juniors and a couple of nice sea trout, the trout were pretty stale though. This was the biggest (around 3lbs):


Big drop in temperature alright, it was fairly cold down there.

Zzippy

Might not be fresh, but that's a cracking sea trout. Well done!

okedoke

Cheers Zippy - emptied the reel twiceand the circled the boat for about 5 minutes. I was sure I'd lose him after losing a bigger fish the day before.

realrebel

Fair play that's a lovely seatrout

fisherking

Any tips for fishing the current foggy nights?
I can't stir a fin......

Cantona's Collars

fisherking wrote: »

Any tips for fishing the current foggy nights?
I can't stir a fin......

Sounds crazy but try rainbow trout flies,the Missionary can prove deadly when trout won't even look at anything else.



BTW,there's a great late run of trout in the Slaney,was watching loads of large trout below the "Old Bridge" in Enniscorthy this evening,pity the season is now closed.The positive is that it bodes well for future stocks in the river.

SeaFields

Not crazy at all. I always have a few rainbow lures in the box for seatrout. The baby doll is a killer on my local river late in the season.

fisherking

Great

Will try Something Out Of The Ordinary.....
Makes Sense.....

SeaFields

Also should have mentioned the worm fly. Its another good one. Its very like some scandinavian patterns, the double hackle. Might account for its effectiveness.

popsy09

I got sent a pic earlier of a 14 lb + sea trout caught in currane yesterday any one else hear of this ?

I will look for the lead to connect to laptop to upload a pic if no one else has one

popsy09

Hope this works ! Was returned too

Slasher

popsy09 wrote: »

I got sent a pic earlier of a 14 lb + sea trout caught in Currane yesterday. Anyone else hear of this ?

More pics here.

http://wwwsalmonandseatroutphotos.blogspot.ie/