International action on Owel
August 7th, 2012 | by Myles Kelly
2012 Youths International Fly Fishing Competition
The Irish Trout Fly Fishing Association hosted the 2012 Youths International Fly Fishing Competition at Lough Owel on 1st August 2012. Teams from Ireland, England Scotland and Wales arrived at the Bloomfield House Hotel on Sunday 29th July to commence practice for the match.
The 2012 Irish Team was captained by Sean Dempsey of Coosan Anglers, and coached by renowned international angler, Colin Cahill from Killucan. Other members of the team included Ryan Binley, Ferghal McKiernan, Ian Howard, Niall McCarty, Ciaran Reilly, Peter O’Brien, Dillon Ennis, Francis Rafferty, John Corbally, Colin O’Reilly, James Barry, Liam Huson and Daniel Plummer.
Congatulations to the 2012 Irish Youths Team who took silver
Practice began at 10AM on Monday 30th and and the morning began well with a moderate wind and occasional spells of sunshine. Most anglers managed to land some very nice fish utilising traditional wet fly fishing tactics. The afternoon session proved more difficult as the wind dropped, and although there were numerous fish feeding on the surface it proved very difficult to tempt them to a dry fly. Conditions on day two favoured traditional lough style angling, with a moderate wind and good cloud cover. All of the teams did well with good catches of fish being reported, particularly along the east shoreline from Brabazons Point towards the Bullring.
A Lough Owel Trout being prepared for the net.
On the morning of the match the four teams, which were comprised of fourteen anglers per team, assembled, and were assigned to the respective boatmen. Angling conditions were extremely demanding with a rolling wave and strong winds which have tested the skill and stamina of seasoned anglers. There were some sedges hatching and fishing with wet flies such as the Green Peter and fry patterns proved most effective. Competitors fished from 10AM until 5PM and when the scores were tallied it was England who came out on top with 38 trout for 43lb 1oz winning them the Bob Church Trophy. Second place went to Ireland with 28 trout for 31lb 6oz; third place went to Scotland with 24 trout for 23lb 4oz and Wales finished in fourth place with 12 trout for 16lb 12oz. The best overall basket was taken by English angler James Atkinson who landed 7 trout for 6lb 9oz narrowly beating top Irish rod Sean Dempsey, who had six trout for 6lb 5oz. James was awarded the Brown Bowl for best overall basket and Sean won the Lough Sheelin Trophy for the best Irish basket. The Ian Jones Memorial trophy for the heaviest trout went to Tom Dew of Wales with a fine Lough Owel trout of just under 3lb. The presentation of prizes took place following a post event dinner at the Bloomfield House Hotel.
Lough Owel is an excellent trout venue and is well worth a visit especially now that the Green Peter hatch has commenced.
The Irish Trout Fly Fishing Association would like to thanks Inland Fisheries Ireland and Lough Owel Trout Preservation Association for supporting this very important event.
Irish Team Captain, Sean Dempsey, prepares to land a trout in the 2012 Youths International Match.
Youths in action on Owel
Irish Team member, Ferghal McKiernan, in action on Owel.
This post is in: Lough Owel, Trout fishing reports
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