County Mayo

[betanut]

Folks,
I'm hoping to get across to visit one of my wifes pals for a week, probably late August. Whilst they indulge in some retail therapy ;D I plan on having at least two days fishing
Possibly both on a river but certainly one day after salmon and one after trout.
Having never put a foot 'over the border' to Eire (and knowing there's a huge amount of fishing available in that particular part of Ireland) ideas/suggestions of where to go fish from those who've done it would be very welcome

[scottyjock]

Hi Hamish

I dont know if you have seen this link may be of some use to you .

www.northwestfisheries.ie/

I have only ever fished The Moy & Owenmore rivers although that was in April & any info would probably be irrelevant in August the Owenmore was a nice little river though .

Jock

[macd]

Hamish i fished the owenea last aug- good water great sport. its in donegal, only hour or so from ballina. we did a day on each. its an experience fishing the cathedral beat, but I loved the owenea.

easky will know- i went there with him

Ross

[elwyman]

I caught a salmon in August 2005 on the Galway Fishery on the River Corrib - your wife can shop while you fish in the river through the city centre!

Not very scenic, but a very productive fishery, although runs do tail off in August. Other mayo rivers might be short of water in August.

www.wrfb.ie/gameangling/galway/galway_salmon_fishery.php

Just looked at a map - I thought Mayo was closer to Galway - but you could have 3 days fishing while your wife shops!

[carrowmore]

Hi Betanut,
There will be plenty of grilse in The Moy at that time of year but , as ever , you'll need fresh water to stand a decent chance of a fish. East Mayo Fishery has some nice fly water ( has an office to buy day tickets in Swinford ). A ghillie would be very helpful ( I have phone numbers if you needed them ). The River Easkey in Sligo is a lovely little spate river and you can often get day tickets on The Fortland Fishery , likewise The Owenmore in West Mayo ( tickets from Seamus Henry's pub in Bangor Erris ). For river trout fishing there are any amount of tributaries of The Moy which are mentioned on The North West Fisheries website, mostly small trout and the evening being the best time in August. If you wanted a day after lough trout then I would highly recommend Lough Mask. It is a beautiful lough that still fishes well ( unlike Lough Conn ) and there are some mighty big trout in it. I can give you the number of a great ghillie.
There is a guy named Markus Muller who works at North West Fisheries who is a good contact too. I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself , it's God's own country and the people are exceptionally friendly and hospitable.

Danny

[easky]

Hi Betanut

It fishing heaven in Mayo, you will be spoilt for choice . The biggest factor will probably be the water and will largely determin where you should try. As the rest of the guys have said the Moy is the obvious one for grilse - if its low water then the lower town stretchs fish well and if there's water then the upper reaches (East Mayo esp) will fish. Drop me a PM nearer the time and I can give you the low down. There are quite a few small spate rivers in the area as well, the Easky being my Favorite . Not so up to speed with the lough fishing but carrowmore seems to have this covered.

tight lines

E

[charlieh]

Although I wouldn't disagree with them, most of the comments so far have focussed on North Mayo. Don't overlook the fishing opportunities that the southern end of the county can offer.

The two main systems are Delphi and Erriff. Although some of the Delphi fishing is sold off on timeshare, I think there's a good chance of vacancies in August - this is past the traditional peak of the fishing, but in the past few years the grilse have come late and last year August gave some of the best fishing. If you're based somewhere down there, you can also easily get down to the northern Connemara loughs such as Kylemore, Fee and Muck. You're not too far from Mask, Corrib and Carra, too, though it's not the best time for them. The only thing you haven't got as much of in the south of the county is river trout fishing. Whereas there's limestone in North Mayo (and correspondingly good invertebrate life), south Mayo is mostly granite, so feed and trout are poorer on the whole.

Because the North Mayo nets were mainly based out on the Mullet, at the north western extremity of the county and to the West of Ballina, I have always thought that they may have taken more of the fish heading for the rivers and loughs to the south than those of heading east to the Moy, Easky and Ballysodare rivers. As such, with the nets off I'm hopeful that the south Mayo rivers will see their catches improve significantly this year.

IMO the scenery is better in south Mayo, too!

[bg110960]

Town beats on the Moy at Ballina can be tricky to get since bookings have to be in by previous December. The Weir pool at the famous Ridge pool is bookable 3 days in advance. I fished it last 12th July at short notice and had two nice grilse. Also Google Tiernan Brothers at Foxford. They have a good reputation and plenty of good fishing there

[betanut]

Cheers guys - I'm trying to persuade she who must be obeyed that a week makes more sense.... and that I don't mind fishing at all