The 5th edition of this five-day coarse angling festival showcasing the fishing available on the Shannon Erne Waterway in County Leitrim took place from the 22nd to 26th of May. The event saw County Monaghan based feeder angler Shamie Winters fish a close match to win.
Shamie fished a great festival with some good weights against tough competition which saw him take the lead on the final day with a 12kg catch at Connolly’s Shore finishing with just under 50kg in total. Enniskillen Angler Tony Green’s 7.250kg from Lough Scur wasn’t enough to keep the top position he held all week and he finished second with 45.830kg. Runcorn angler Dave Stewart finished in third place with 49.470kg. In 4th was Wayne Fuller and 5th Mark Harris.
The visiting angler from England represented just under half of the total 40 anglers in attendance who drew their pegs daily Ballinamore’s Tourism Office. Run by Lakelands Angling the club is working closely with the Ballinamore Tourism & Angling Group to highlight the good fishing in the region. The group who have realised the economic potential of angling tourism first attracted the World Pairs Angling Championships to the region in 2012 have now secured funding from Leitrim Council and Inland Fisheries Ireland for venue improvements.
Katrina McGirr from sponsors Waterways Ireland presented the trophy and cash prize of €1000 to Shamie at the presentation evening at Terry Shorts Heritage Bar. The top five all received cash prizes along with numerous section winners.
Ballinamore Tourism & Angling Group would like to thank all those who took part and stayed in the Ballinamore area this week. Thank you to members of Lakelands Angling Ballinamore, local landowners in particular Padraig Mulligan who provided transport at Connolly’s funded by Inland Fisheries Ireland and Irish Bait and Tackle Limited for providing fresh bait.
The Festival next year will take place from Monday 28th May to Friday 1st June 2018.
Report courtesy of National Coarse fishing Federation of Ireland www.ncffi.ie.
