The Fishing

The Pontoon area of Mayo offers the visiting angler excellent fishing and a wide choice. The River Moy is internationally acknowledged as an exceptional salmon fishery, producing several thousand salmon to the rod annually. Good salmon angling both on rivers and lakes, is widely available throughout the County with many famous fly fisheries such as Burrishoole, Delphi, Errif, Newport and the Owenmore/Carrowmore systems to name but a few, all of which are within easy reach of Bundoovin Lodge.

Brown trout fishing is available locally and is particularly good on the Moy system which includes Lough Conn and Lough Cullin . The official recorded annual brown trout catch from Lough Conn / Lough Cullin in recent years has been in the region of 3,500 to 4,000 fish, averaging 1 lb. in weight. However, the real catch is probably in the region of 6,000 to 7,000 wild trout annually. The peak season on Lough Conn is of course the Mayfly period which gets underway towards the end of May. However, very good trout fishing is not uncommon between August and early October.

The other great Western lakes in Mayo, Loughs Mask and Lough Carra, are within easy reach (35 minutes) of Bundoovin Lodge. These loughs also provide excellent Brown trout fishing. Lough Carra has prolific hatches of Mayfly and holds a good stock of wild trout in excess of 1.5lbs. Wetfly, dry fly and dapping the natural Mayfly can all produce excellent catches. Nearby Lough Mask is a much bigger lough with countless rocky bays and shallows. This lough contains excellent stocks of wild brown trout averaging 1.5lbs, but Ferox trout of 10lbs and larger are taken annually. Lough Mask is also one of the few remaining lakes in western Europe which still has a healthy population of Artic Char.

Pike angling is available on many lakes, eg Derryhick and Lavally Lakes to the South and West of Pontoon respectively. Eaton's Lake near Knock, supports good stock of bream, and fishing stands have been erected to facilitate the coarse angler.

Lough Conn /Cullin (over looked by Lodge)
Co. Mayo

Lough Conn is a big lough stretching about 14,000 acres. Both lakes lake provide excellent trout fishing and are comparable with Corrib and Mask although of slightly different character.

Salmon also enter Loughs Conn and Cullin and are caught in fair numbers. The general wet fly fishing is very good.

Mayflies hatch in good numbers up to the middle of August. Because the trout take the fly so easily, very little dapping takes place. There are big hatches of caenis and small sedges in the summer. The average size of a Conn trout is about 13ozs and the average bag is over three per rod. The seasons run from 1st February to September 30th for salmon and from 15th February to 10th October for trout.

Lough Mask (35 minutes from Lodge)

Lough Mask is a large limestone lough of 22,000 acres in area and, along with Lough Corrib, is one of the best known brown trout fisheries in Ireland. The lough produces good catches to wetfly from about mid-April. Dapping the mayfly, daddylonglegs or grasshopper can bring about excellent results during the various months of the season. The lough continues to produce more trout with every season, last season been one of the better ones even though weather conditions were very unsuitable from July onwards.
Lough Mask is famous for its large ferox trout and every season anglers take a number of these great trout, mostly all over 10 lb and nearly always to trolled baits. The record for the lough is 18 lb, but others over 20 lb have been found including one of 22 lb some 10-years ago and is on display in the WRFB office at Cushlough, Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo.

The River Moy System(10 minutes from Lodge)

Ireland has a number of great river systems and of these, te Moy, which straddles counties Mayo and Sligo, is one of the most productive. It is approximately one hundred kilometers long and with its extensive tributaries, it drains a catchment of over two thousand square kilometers. The system includes great loughs such as Conn and Cullin but also many small lakes and streams. For much of its course, the Moy flows through pastureland hut the mountains of the watersheds which feed it are almost always in view from its banks. The Nephin Beg range lilies the western horizon and the Ox mountains mark the eastern watershed.

The Moy has long been famous as a salmon river but it offers a wide variety of quality angling to suit all tastes and budgets. One can spey cast for spring salmon or grilse, pursue the sea trout or cast a dry fly to a brown trout. One can even fish for specimen pike in waters within the Moy catchment which contains a wide range of aquatic habitats.

The main Moy channel is deep and up to forty meters wide in the middie and lower reaches. Huge numhers of salmon are landed here each season. The annual average declared salmon rod catch on the Moy over the last ten years is a staggering 7,362 fish. The famous Ridge Pool alone has produced up to 2,660 salmon to rod and line in a single season.

The upper river has a different character and is more akin to a spate river in parts. The fishing here can be superb and the pioneering angler can find excellent salmon fishing in solitude.

The rich lowland limestone rivers and loughs are home to stocks of heavy, fast-growing trout which are selective feeders and offer challenging sport. They have hatches of mayfly, olives and many sedge species. The remote mountain loughs and streams are populated by smaller free-rising trout which make up for their size by their large numbers. The occasional bigger fish may also lurk in the deeper pools.

The Moy estuary has large stocks of sea trout, some of which exceed four pounds, and which can be caught on fly and bait. The lower heats around Ballina and Foxford, and some locations on the upper river; also provide good sea trout fishing late in the season.