With an ‘R’ in the month, it’s hard to expect great weather. This week things have cooled down a lot and water levels have dropped back to more normal levels.

Last Sunday saw anglers who were well wrapped up enjoying the open coarse angling competition at Oakland Lake Fishery in New Ross. Some great weights were had with Danny Murphy coming out on top with 136lbs, followed closely by James Foley with 130lbs. Oaklands is a paradise for coarse anglers and offers a range of fish for every level of experience from beginners to professionals.

Up the country in Co. Monaghan the IADA held their Winter League match on the Lough Muckno. The banter was good and anglers enjoyed a good but cold day. Overall winner was Alan Larkin followed in second place by Darren Fairhurst and Andy Chapman came in third. Section winners were Paul Leese, Philip Jackson and Peter Horbinski. The next Lough Muckno matches and festivals group outing: Fur and Feather is on the 14th December on White Island.

Richard Ruthland
Richard Ruthland with his cracking bass weighing 12,4lb is our ‘Catch of the Week’ winner

Lough Muckno also set the scene for some  pike fishing during the week too. In tough frosty conditions anglers found it difficult to connect with the pike.  Neither boat or bank anglers had any luck while fishing on Gas lake and anglers trolling in the White lake area observed no fish. The previous Sunday saw a beautiful 16lb 10oz fish at a  pike fishing competition which was held by an angling club from Keady and the only other pike landed for the day weighed 8lb 11ozs. The last day of November also saw the Glore Anglers take to Lough Glore for a piek fishing competition. The lake was mirror calm and crystal clear which made connecting with these toothy predators a real challenge and only smaller fish were landed.

Out on the coast we had Sean Jordan of ‘Bass Fishing Wexford’ getting back to fishing after a short famine.  Sean is a guide with a momentous amount of experience and he uses his instincts to determine the best marks and methods.  Although conditions were still not perfect Sean met 8 bass in pristine condition, most were just either side of 60cm and he tells us they were obliging to all tactics, surface, hard, + soft lures.

Back down in Kerry, Richard Ruthland had a bass of a lifetime, a super fish weighing in at 12,4lb.  This feisty fighter is our ‘Catch of the Week‘ winner.

The Neely clan headed out in Donegal for a weekend of fishing.  After finding a massive ground swell running at the first mark, they had better luck at the second.  After a few wrasse, Steven’s Dad landed a fine Donegal pollack and hopes to land a few more before the year is out.

As we approach Christmas anglers should keep a look out at the offers and vouchers available from our tackle shops, guides and charterboat owners.  Supporting Irish means putting more back into our own communities.  There are a lot of vouchers and sales at present and a look at our facebook page will keep you up todate on what is available. As always we would recommend everyone to think safety first and if you haven’t a good lifejacket or personal floatation jacket, this may be a good time to get one.

The outlook for the coming days is to be cold with a few wintry showers and further frost at times. But some windy and wet spells too. Saturday will start cold, dry and fairly sunny. But wet and windy weather, along Atlantic coasts by noon, will become widespread during the afternoon and evening. Fresh to strong southwest winds will develop also.

Tight lines especially in Ireland,

Nancy Hearne
Catch, Photo, Release

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'Blue sky and lure ' photo by Steven Neely
‘Blue sky and lure ‘ photo by Steven Neely