The Irish Ladies Fly Fishing Association (ILFA) will be hosting the 2013 Ladies International Championships on Lough Caragh near Kilorglin in Co. Kerry from the 10th – 13th June 2013
Ireland has the opportunity to host this important Championship every four years and the venue offered has always been a wild brown trout fishery. The Irish team will be joined by women’s teams from three other competing countrys; England, Wales and Scotland.
Julie Gerry, Chairwoman of the ILFA and International President for 2013, said;
‘This is a very special year for the ILFA as the host nation and we will be able to show off one of the most spectacular angling venues in Ireland to an international audience.
Julie, came to Ireland from her native England in the late 1990’s and settled in Maynooth in Co. Kildare. She is passionate about angling and has proven to be a formidable force having won one of Ireland’s biggest competitions in 2004 - The World Cup - and being the only woman to ever do so. This will be her eleventh Cap and her fourth time as captain. In 2013 she has been awarded the coveted title of International President.
Wild brown trout venues are not as common in the rest of the British Isles so it will be a great treat for the visiting teams to be fishing such a spectacular venue. Ireland has wonderful venues but Lough Caragh is very special and I know that our visitors will be impressed. All our events on Lough Caragh are being organised in conjunction with Mike O’Shea who is the Lough Caragh Fishing Manager and we are very grateful for the advice and support of all the local boatmen’.
The Irish team who come from all over Ireland have a wealth of experience. The team will be Captained by Julie Gerry from Maynooth in Co. Kildare.
The rest of the team are;
Susan Brown, from Lisburn in Co. Antrim.
Jenny Casey from Clane in Co. Kildare
Hazel O’Gorman from Quin in Co. Clare
Linda Straghan from Derryhenell in Co. Armagh
Mary Murphy from Mallow in Co. Cork
Niamh Breene from Ardkeen village Co. Waterford
Carmel Kelly from Knockmore in Co. Mayo
Julie McGeever from Foxford Co. Mayo
Dorrie Gibbons from Cong in Co. Galway
Ann Kerrin from Derryrin in Co. Fermanagh
Carmel Sheridan from Blackwater in Co. Clare
Ann McWilliams from Kanturk in North Cork
The team will be Coached by Denis Cronin from Macroom, Co.Cork and Allen Griffin from Tralee, Co. Kerry will be the team Fly Tier.
Women who are interested in taking part in the next trial on the 18th May 2013 on Lough Corrib can find our more information at www.irishladiesflyfishing.com This will be the second of four trials which will be used to select the Irish team for the International Ladies Fly Fishing Championship in 2014 which will happen in Wales.
Jenny Casey ROI 087.6593174 or Susan Brown NI 07922647628
Susan, from Lisburn in Co. Antrim has represented Ireland on seven occasions. She became interested in fishing at a very young age when she went mackerel fishing one summer with a group of friends and became hooked on it! Her favourite fly-fishing venue is The Straid in Ballyclare because it was the first place she cast a fly. She works for the Ulster Bank and says that her greatest catch ever was meeting her partner Derek while fishing. She is a member of Gilford Angling Club and Lisburn Angling Association. She also holds the position of honorary secretary in the Irish Ladies Fly Fishing Association.Jenny, from Clane, Co. Kildare, began fishing at an early age. After demanding a fly rod for her eight birthday, because she was jealous of her cousins going fishing with her father and uncle she felt she was missing out. She was able to get plenty of practice as the river Liffey ran through the family farm near Clane. This will be Jenny’s second Cap and is also the International Treasurer of the 2013 International Ladies Fly Fishing Committee. She also finished her degree this year in the National University of Ireland Maynooth with double honours in History and Geography and plans to follow her mother in the teaching profession. When not studying she can be seen in the K.Club as one of the resorts Gillies showing guests the art of fly fishing.Hazel, is living in Quin, Co. Clare. This is her second appearance on the Irish team. Her first International was in the Lake of Menteith, Scotland in 2012. She started fly fishing in 2009. Her favourite place to fish is Dromoland Castle Lake,Co. Clare, where she gets plenty of “long style” casting practice, fishing from a drifting boat. Her best catch was eleven wild brown trout in Caragh Lough in 2012. She has qualified as Vice Captain for the 2013 team and also holds the position as PRO for 2013.Linda is from Derryhenell, Co. Armagh, and will be representing Ireland for the third time in this year’s Ladies International. Linda works in facilitating Management Services for the Southern Education Library Board. She has been fishing for over twenty years and will be cheered on by her partner Brian Kerr, who has also fished for Ireland at International level and their two and a half son Sonny. Linda is looking forward to catching up with friends old and new.Mary, originally from Kilcorney, Co. Kerry, but now is living and working over the border in Co. Cork. She will be representing Ireland in the Ladies Flyfishing International Championship in June 2013 for the second time. Mary’s interest in fishing was first ignited from spending the summers of her youth in Kerry fishing the lakes of Glencar and Blackvalley. At the tender age of seven, Mary landed her first fish, a trout, from the river Blackwater and from that she literally became hooked! The achievement of making the Irish Team is down to the time she spent honing her fly fishing skills with the Kenmare Fishing Club. She is looking forward to the Competition and hopefully landing the trophy!Niamh, is from Kenmare in Co.Kerry, is currently working as a nurse in Waterford Regional Hospital. Now in her early twenties she is the youngest member of the Irish Team. She was out in a boat as a toddler and has been fly fishing from a young age. She is competing in her second international in Ireland.Julie, is from Freshford, Co. Kilkenny and is living in Foxford, Co. Mayo. She took up fishing during her time at Healy’s Hotel, a well known anglers hotel in Pontoon, Co. Mayo. She took up fishing with her guests on Loughs Cullen and Conn for brown trout and salmon fishing on the River Moy. She joined the ILFA in 1993 when the first Ladies International was held in Ireland on Lough Conn. Her favourite lakes are Lough Corrib at the May fly time, and Lough Mask for the World Cup. Her first cap was Llyn Brenig in 1998, this year will be her eight cap. She was team co.ordinator on two occasions at Internationals in Ruthland Waters and Loch Leven. She is a full time student in an Honours Business degree in GMIT Castlebar, in Political Economy and Corperate Ethics. She is looking forward to fishing Lough Caragh and meeting all the competitorsDenis Cronin, is from Macroom, Co. Cork. He has been the Tafi Competitions chairman for the past number of years. He is involved with Tafi now for twenty five years and has fished for Ireland in the world cup and European Championships. Tafi representative to Fips Mouche the world governing body. Also managed Tafi Teams in world and Euro Championships and Youth Championships. He fished National Championships on two occasions. Managed the Irish Ladies Team who won Gold in 2009 for the first time. He hopes we can achieve a good result in Caragh Lake in 2013.Dorrie Gibbon’s, family home is in Cong, Co. Mayo. She first fished when she was five years old. Taught by her late father Dick Gibbons. A well known angler throughout the country. She was hooked straight away, and over the years her passion just grew and grew. She is fly fishing over twenty three years and has never looked back. She first represented Ireland in 1995 which was fished on Grafham Water in England. She was the first Irish Lady to win the Heaviest Fish Trophy for Ireland which was the “Jeanette Taylor Trophy”. She has competed in many competitions through out the country with good success. She also fished the “Bob Church Classic” on Rutland Water in 2010 and was the “Top Lady Angler”. Her main fishing waters would be The Beautiful Corrib and the Majestic Mask. She also has a passion for fly fishing salmon. She is the Hatchery Manager for Salmo Salar Ltd., Fisheries Conservation. Based in the ESB Salmon Hatchery in Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal. They stock the Erne catchment with wild salmon unfed fry, parr and smolts etc. she has been working in Donegal for the past five years. She has worked in Fisheries Covnervation/Fisheries Commercial for the past twenty one years. This will be her ninth Cap for Ireland. She was on the 2009 team when they won the “Gold Medal” for Ireland and was also the International President.Carmel Sheridan, is living in Blackwater, Co. Clare. This is her first Cap in the Ladies Flyfishing International. After attending a fundraiser fly fishing event she decided to take up the sport and is really excited at the prospect of being involved with this competition. She is a member of the Bleach Lough Anglers in Limerick.Carmel Kelly, home house was on Glass Island in Lough Conn, so fishing is a big part of her life. She has been involved in the Irish Ladies Team since its inception and this is her tenth time fishing for Ireland. She is married to Padraic Kelly who is also an Irish International angler, as are two of her sons and two of her daughters.Ann McWilliams, has been fishing almost twenty years. She lives in Kanturk, North Cork. She is originally from Lisburn, Co. Antrim. This is her eleventh Ladies International Cap. She also had the honour to Captain the Irish Team on three occasions including our first victory on Lough Leine in 2009. She is a hospital representative for Pfizer – a pharmaceutical company. She has completed eight International Marathons and hopes to run this year’s New York Marathon. She also enjoys mountain climbing and reached the summit of Kilimanjaro. She is secretary of her local club Kanturk and District Trout Anglers.Ann Kerrin, always had a love for fishing, catching perch and trout on her local Arney river as a youngster. Whilst working as a nurse in Belfast she wanted a hobby and with having a background in fishing, fishing it was. Ann then discovered fly fishing was more productive catching trout. Fishing is relaxing for Ann who works as a Theatre Sister in the new South West Acute Hospital in Inniskillen and as a member of the Special Lecturer team for Queens University Belfast. Ann fished her first International on Llyn Brenig in Wales in 1998 and has fished ten other’s since. She was very proud to be a member of the winning Irish International in 2009.Allan Griffin, was born in Tralee in 1973. He got interested in fly tying when a friend gave him a couple of fly’s that were falling apart at the age of eight years old. He took the fly’s apart and learned what the feathers were and observed that there were tinsel and flosses also in the fly. He met a guy called Don Cantrell who had a fly tying business in Tralee and with his help and a few fly tying books he started to improve. Eventually he started to supply local tackle shops and private individuals, many of which keep coming back. He has sent flies all over the world and he has tied for some of Irelands most successful anglers. He is starting up a Bait, Flytying and Guiding business, after successfully completing a Marine and Countryside Guiding Course at IT Tralee. This will be Allens first time accompanying the Irish Ladies Team as a fly tier.
