The very cold winter, with air temperatures at least 2 degrees colder than average, has slowed everything down, and spring is very slow to arrive in the west of Ireland this year. Water temperatures are still very low for the time of year, and this has affected the fishing. Very few trout were reported from opening day, with only a handful of anglers managing to land fish. One of those to score was Tom Molloy from Glann, with 2 trout for about 4lbs. The Collinamuck Anglers held a competition, with 28 anglers reporting just 2 trout. The winners were Brian Noonan and Bernard O’Halloran, with a fish of 3.3lbs, while Tommy Carter and Paddy Farrell took second with a trout of 2lbs.

The rest of February was similarly cold, with frequent night frosts and little rainfall, and the lake is quite low for the time of year. Angling effort has been low since opening day, with most anglers content to wait for water temperatures to rise and fish to start feeding again. I would expect the main hatches to be a little bit late this year given the harsh winter, but expect to hear about a lot more fish caught in next month’s report.