Fishery News & Reports

AASLEAGH LODGE & RIVER ERRIFF FISHERY

Posted in Jun 2014

Apart from a scattering od sea trout early June was a very quiet part of the month on the Erriff – angling did not get going until the middle of the month. The week commencing the 14th was a week of hot summer weather on the Erriff - it was a very dry week with low water of 0.6 meters on the Aasleagh Guage. With bright sunshine for the week angling conditions were far from favourable. However there were rewards for those who persevered. Selby Knox had 2 salmon and a sea trout for the week - best was a fresh fish of 11lbs taken in the Broken Bridge Pool on a Red Alley Shrimp fly. A few days later Selby caught a grilse of 5.25lbs in Black Banks on Beat 6. Tim Marshall, UK. caught a sea trout in the Garden Pool on Beat 9 and a grilse of 4 lbs on a Red Alley in the Falls Pool on Beat 9. Andrew Morley, London on his first ever salmon fishing trip caught a sea trout in the Garden Pool and a grilse of 6.25lbs in the Falls Pool both fish were caught on a s14 Cascade.

The run of sea trout has commenced with fish running upstream in very low water with just over 200 recorded for the week. Overall the sea trout are in excellent condition but many are very heavily sea liced.

At the time of writing the report the grilse can be seen splashing on the tide and with rain forecast for mid week prospects look good for a fresh run of fish into the river.

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Angling Report 22nd. to 30th. June 2014

Apart from a few light showers the rain the river needed never came – there were some torrential downpours in places but no water fell in the Erriff valleys. Water levels were at rock bottom for the entire week. However despite the low water Sea Trout continued to run up the fish pass in very good numbers with over 800 recorded for the month. There were also a scattering of salmon moving up from Beat 9 into the lower beats. The few rods that braved the conditions had good sport. It was a time to dispense with the traditional salmon patterns and switch to the smaller lightly dressed sea trout flies. 
Annie and Hugh Woodsend, UK. fishing the Erriff for the first time had 10 sea trout up to 2.5lbs taken on various small flies including Teal & Silver, Black Gnat and a Butcher. Knocht Roland, Switzerland caught a grilse on a Hare’s Ear in the Falls Pool on Beat 9 and also some beautifully spotted Brown Trout on Moher Lake. Ken Mills, Uk. caught a sea liced grilse in the Bridge Pool on a lightly dressed Hairy Mary. 

It was a super sea trout fishing week for low water expert Raphael Amat from France – Raphael topped his record sea trout catch of 52 last season and recorded a catch of 75 sea trout up to 2.5lbs. In addition Raphael also caught 2 sea liced grilse – all 77 fish were sportingly released into the river again. The most successful patterns were Stoats Tail, Black Pennel, Black Shrimp, and tiny Cascades – all flies were tied by Raphael himself and all very lightly dressed.

At the time of writing the report anglers are booking flights and preparing to travel – so without checking the weather forecast it looks like serious rain is on the way at last.

Raphael Amat releasing a fresh run grilse in the Bridge Pool Beat 9.

Photo: Selby Knox, UK. Broken Br. Pool weight 11lbs.