Officially we are now in winter time here in Ireland but the fish are still biting well although the numbers of anglers out fishing is smaller than in the recent mild period of Autumn.  The weather is still fairly mild although there has been more rain in the past week and the occasional frosty night bringing water temperatures down on most waterways.

It is that time of year for the first big fly fair here in Ireland for the third year running in Galway this weekend in Salthill and I am sure many anglers will flock to this popular event.

Rainbow trout fishing is always popular at this time of year as many fly anglers don’t put away their fly gear and dabble a bit on their own local put and take fisheries which are now dotted all over the country.  It is nice to report that the boys from St. Joseph’s Deaf/Blind Anglers enjoyed good rainbow trout fishing at Rathbeggan Lakes and very nearly won catch of the week with their nice trout.  Down in the Rathcon Fishery, over 40 rainbow trout were caught at the first qualifier of their winter league and Dave McBride and Freddie Miller were worthy winners.  There was great catches of rainbow trout recorded in a competition on Knockaderry Lough in Co. Waterford and Brian Brennan was the worthy winner with four fish.

'Catch of the Week' winner Christin Breuker, Germany, with fine pike PB
‘Catch of the Week’ winner Christin Breuker, Germany, with fine pike PB

At this time of year, pike angling is dominating most of the fishing effort and it has been a good week with catches of nice fish reported nationwide. Up in Co. Mayo, a first time visitor to Ireland, Christin Breuker from Germany linked up with angling guide Kenny Sloan and she enjoyed super pike fishing on fly catching many fish including pike up to 97 cms which wins her the Catch of the Week.  Down on the River Barrow, Roly Byrne reported some super fishing for good pike in his blog.  Another pike competition on Lough Boderg on the River Shannon produced some excellent boat fishing with several good double figure fish recorded.  In the midlands on the River Inny, some nice pike up to 14 lb. 3 oz. were reported in a weekend competition.

There was only a handful of sea angling reports this week and Gerard Doran down in Wexford had some nice shore fishing with quality Dabs and a few Whiting making up most of the catches. Cian Twomey reports that they had a great day small boat fishing near Courtmacsherry taking nice catches of Dabs and many dogfish while small boat fishing.

There was some good coarse fishing to report with Garadice lake in Co. Leitrim continuing to fish well and Rory Dunne was a worthy winner at a match there last weekend. Good catches of Carp and coarse fish were reported taken at a match at the Oaklands Fishery near New Ross in Co. Wexford last weekend.  Dave Houghton from Active Irish Angling has given us a working list of Coarse Angling Festivals for 2014 and anglers from home and abroad will be eager to plan their coarse fishing matches next year.

Finally IFI staff will be present at the Irish Fly Fair in Galway this weekend to help you with any queries on all types of Irish Angling

Tight lines especially in Ireland,

Paul Bourke
Angling Information Officer

Catch, Photo, Release

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John Flynn -  Aughnaclanny River north of Dundrum, Co. Tipperary.
Aughnaclanny River north of Dundrum, Co. Tipperary. Photo: John Flynn IFI