It was another cold, though mostly dry week. The cold conditions slowed down the fishing at a number of freshwater venues but not as much as might have been expected – though ice was an issue on some waters! Sea anglers did a little better and the winter leagues are reporting good numbers of fish caught…

The Naas and District Anglers enjoyed catching a fish a cast on the Barrow last weekend. Dace on the pole made for good sport but there was some enjoyable action for roach on stick float too. In the Midlands Michael Flanagan had some pretty perch on soft plastics using vertical fishing tactics. Ice was a problem at a couple of venues. Oaklands was frozen recently so it’s not a bad idea to phone ahead to check the status of waters if you are travelling to fish in the next couple of days.

Some decent pike have been reported from the Claremorris area but otherwise the cold is definitely making these predators slow down. One group of anglers on the River Erne found the going tough enough and this was not helped by ice to 2cm in parts on the river.

Fly anglers are still getting some respite at rainbow trout fisheries. The Annamoe Winter League had its 4th heat at the weekend and the 15 anglers in attendance caught 41 trout.

Pierre Montjarret is more familiar to readers of these pages as a pike angling guide on Lough Derg. He took a break from the lake to fish with bass guide Sean Jordan in Wexford recently and had some great fishing on sub surface lures. Shore anglers fishing an evening competition at Youghal also had good fishing but it was mostly the whiting which provided the sport here. There were also reports from Keith Barry of cod in at Waterford. At a Tralee Bay SAC competition on Inch beach in Kerry flounders, bass and coalies made for a great evening’s entertainment while up in Donegal pollack from the rocks and flounders and whiting on the beaches are keeping anglers ot in the cold, crisp conditions. Catch of the Week goes to the sea angling set this week – Nikki Foley is our winner for her 60cm bass at that Tralee Bay SAC competition on Inch.

Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) is looking for public feedback on its current funding programmes.  The organisation has awarded over €3.4 million to angling projects and fisheries initiatives in communities nationwide over the past five years. We are looking for feedback via an online survey which will help inform the future direction of funding schemes.If you have received funding from IFI or made an application to one of our funds please make the efoort to take this survey – https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/IFIFundingSurvey.

As we go to press there is another Orange weather warning with severe frost forecast for this evening and continuing overnight and Friday morning. Lowest temperatures of 0C to -5C, coldest in Leinster. The outlook is for the dry and cold conditions to continue for a time, but turning more changeable later in the weekend and early next week. There will some fog in the mornings so any anglers heading out to go fishing are advised wrap up warm and to be cautious on the roads.

Safe fishing to all and tight lines, especially here in Ireland.

Myles Kelly

Catch, Photo, Release

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Sunset
Sunset at Inch Beach where good flounders, bass, coalies and even turbot have been caught recently