Minister O’Neill visits Loughs Agency HQ
You may find it worth your while to read the article regarding the Minister of Agriculture Michelle O’Neill’s visit to the Loughs Agency headquarters:
Yearly Summary Mourne/Derg Report October 2010
Mourne Early season fishing on the Mourne was poor due mainly to the prolonged dry spell lasting from the first week in April to the end of June extremely low water coupled with bright sun shine made for difficult angling. From late July into August there was a fairly regular supply of water with weekly floods or creeps bringing fresh fish off every tide. The “big run” we had all hoped for did not materialise, instead we got this steady re-supply on a daily basis of fresh grilse coming with each tide, certainly enough to give anglers a decent chance of a fish or two. The usual hot spots did well, Strabane and Sion Mills and above Victoria Bridge began to produce. It was during this period that “pluckers” came to dominate proceedings with fish regularly tugging, pulling and plucking but not taking whatever was offered. Fly patterns of all descriptions were tried: old patterns, variants, new patterns, secret weapons, sublime to the downright frightening were all tried but the “pluckers” continued unabated!
September saw the arrival of a mixture of coloured grilse as small as 1lb right up to big clean salmon in the teens and beyond coming off the tides. It did the heart good to see the river take on a distinct autumnal look with a good head of fish right up to closing day. High clean water dominated this period and at last the fish began to play ball. It was heartening to see so many fish being returned safely; unfortunately there are always the odd “fishermen” who continually try to justify the taking of late coloured fish. “It’s for the smoker! It’s a nice clean one! The hook was down its throat! It’s my first this year!” Heard them all before boys, wise up!!
Derg The Derg suffered from a lack of water and fish and can only be described as a shadow of its former self. The season on the whole, apart from the dry spell, was OK. It was good to see the legal nets suspended because it would have been a very poor year if they had been allowed to continue. It was good to hear of some fish being in the Glenelly and Owen Killew towards the tail end. It was heartening to see some proper salmon in the system including the 33½ lb springer caught at Lifford. It was by no means a poor year but then again it had plenty of scope to be better.
Mark Gough @NMTackle, Sion Mills
Tel:028 8165 9501
Email:nmtackle@btinternet.com
Fishing Report 10 June 2010
Mourne Nothing much has changed over the past fortnight. Lifford Bridge remains the best chance of sport and to a lesser extent below the weir at Sion Mills. A few grilse continue to be caught daily in both locations, some as small as a pound and a half. On Monday and Tuesday this week we had some moderate rainfall which put about two to three inches in the Mourne, a small frenzy of activity on the back of this small rise brought a few extra fish off the tide. With the weather outlook in the short term looking set fair and dry there is little chance of improvement in the coming week. Reports from the Foyle indicate a reasonable head of fish building up but also a sharp rise in illegal poaching.
Derg No fish yet.
Mark Gough @ NM Tackle Sion Mills.
Thought for June My biggest worry is that when I die my wife will sell my tackle for the price I said I’d paid for it!