Ronan Cusack reports that Monday evening saw a climax to the 2016 World Cup flyfishing Championships on Lough Mask as 460 anglers battled it out for the much sought after World Cup trophy. Conditions on the final day were perfect, with soft winds and plenty of cloud cover as the 120 finalists headed off in the morning. The deep water was the place to be again this year, with plenty of hungry daphnia feeders willing to grab at anything pulled fast with a florescent tag.
The World Cup committee had reduced the bag limit this year to 3, with any additional trout being measured and released. These measurements were then converted into weights and the overall catch weight was recorded.
This year’s winner was the well-known Corofin, Co Clare angler, Thomas O’Loughlin, with a massive catch of 12 trout for a calculated weight of 13.4310lbs. Patrick Molloy of Oughterard was Thomas’s boatman on the day. Patrick also took the prize for being the boatman who brought in the biggest number of fish over the 5 days.
Second place went to Jonathan Craven of Roscommon with 8 trout for 8.5110lbs. Kenneth O’Keeffe from Kells, Co. Meath took third place with 5 trout for 6.0980lbs. The heaviest fish prize went to Feichin McMorrow Jnr from Sligo, with a trout of 2.880lbs.
This year’s best under-21 angler was Diarmuid Kelly from Tipperary with 2 trout weighing 2.770lbs. The best lady angler was Sue Hunter from Galway with 3 trout weighing 4.506lbs. This year’s best overseas angler was Bob Holland from the UK with 4 trout weighing 4.255lbs.
Overall the lake is fishing well at the moment and well worth a visit.
