Newsletter 2006

Coming to the end of 2006 it is time to reflect on the past season. It seems that I could simply copy the report for the 2005 season and reproduce it for 2006. They really were very similar years, disappointing in general. Perhaps 2006 was marginally better than 2005. Yet again, no winter to speak of, little or no cold frosty weather. I am not sure how significant this is but the seasons do seem to be coming earlier and earlier.

Looking back over a longer period of time, say 20 years, the seasons are now running some two weeks earlier than then. The Mayfly now seems to peak at the end of the first week in May rather than at the end of the third week in May as it did many years ago. Duckfly fishing now seems to start in or about St. Patrick’s Day, March 17. At the time of writing, the big lakes have just experienced their highest water levels of the last 40 years. Those that are familiar with Grasshopper Cottage will be interested to know that the water level was some 3ft over the tops of the jetties – a lot of water! What effect, if any, this may have on the coming season I do not know.

The return of salmon/grilse to the lake last year was particularly disappointing though reports vary throughout the Corrib system with the Fisheries Board reporting that “the salmon were tripping over each other in Galway”. This certainly didn’t manifest itself in our section of the lake. At last, the powers that be have been forced to curtail drift netting at sea. The current government (which was never angler friendly) has seen fit to vent their anger upon the anglers as much as possible effectively doubling the license fee and curtailing catches and fishing opportunities throughout the country. All rather strange when you consider that just two years ago they were saying there was little or nothing wrong with salmon stocks. I very much welcome the banning of drift netting as I believe that it had a far greater impact than was ever admitted to. In fact, the few fish I have caught in recent years were all net marked and were lucky to have got in to fresh water at all. It is going to take a few years to evaluate this initiative and I certainly see some difficulties ahead with the equitable distribution of angling permits.

The stocks of trout do appear to be holding up pretty well and, yet again, Lough Mask enjoyed another good year particularly during July. The highlight of the year at Grasshopper Cottage has to be Peder Hansen’s magnificent trout of 19.5lbs. (ably assisted by Tom ‘Doc’ Sullivan). It wasn’t just the size of this fish but its fantastic condition which makes it perhaps the most incredible trout I have ever seen.Peder Hansen with Brown Trout 19.5lbs Because of the exceptionally high water, it has been difficult to assess the quantities of trout and salmon that went to spawn this season. What snippets of information I have managed to get have been quite encouraging.

Yet again, looking forward to the coming season and wishing you all the best for 2007.

Roy E. Peirce
December 28 2006