Not alone was there some fantastic pike caught but there was also some fantastic trout also landed at The Lough Ree International Pike Festival and World Cup.

One of the many 100cm plus pike caught at the Lough Ree pike festival
One of the many 100cm plus pike caught at the Lough Ree pike festival

Last week’s competition had 90 boats registered since November  2016, which is no surprise given the €17,000 prize fund. This very popular catch and release competition is fished by pairs of anglers from a boat and all the fish are photographed on a measuring mat before being safely released. The number of 1m plus fish landed is a testament to Lough Ree as a pike fishery.  On each of the 3 days of fishing a 100cm fish was needed to secure a place in the Top 10. In fact, the fish only got bigger with each passing day.

Lough ree pike
A beautiful Lough Ree pike

Apart from the daily prizes awarded, the big winners were Stephen Gibbons & Al Rawlings and
Dave Sanders & Peter Vulovic. Each of these pairs caught a pike that came in at 113cm winning them a share of the Longest Pike.

The World Cup title went to Joe McDermott & Pat Healy for their superb 3 fish total of 330cm, made of pike measuring in at 108.25cm + 112.25cm + 109.50cm.

Results

Wednesday 26 April 2017

1st. 108.25cm – Boat 38 – Joe McDermott & Pat Healy – €1000
2nd. 107.50cm – Boat 82 – JJ Flanagan & Damian Grifferty – €800
3rd. 104.50cm – Boat 67 – John Egan & Tommy Furey – €700
Jnt 4th. 104.25cm – Boat 38 – Joe McDermott & Pat Healy – €550
Jnt 4th. 104.25cm – Boat 47 – Lukas Sankiewicz & Piotr Kaczmarek – €550
6th. 103.75cm – Boat 47 – Lukas Sankiewicz & Piotr Kaczmarek – €400
7th. 102.50 – Boat 37 – Barry Darby & John Creighton – €300
8th. 102.00cm – Boat 30 – Rafal Pelc & Igor Klosowski – €200
9th. 101.00cm – Boat 24 – Dean Murray & David Delaney – €150
10th – 100.75cm – Boat 27 – Paul Molloy & Steven Barry – €100

Thursday 29 April 2017

1st. 112.25cm – Boat 38 – Joe McDermott & Pat Healy – €1000
2nd. 112.00cm – Boat 54 – Stephen Gibbons & Al Rawlings – €800
3rd. 110.50 – Boat 8 – Philip Cunningham & Richie Murray – €700
4th. 110.00cm – Boat 37 – Barry Darby & john Creighton – €600
5th. 108.00cm – Boat 37 – Barry Darby & John Creighton – €500
6th. 106.00cm – Boat 30 – Rafal Pelc & Igor Klosowski – €400
7th. 105.00cm – Boat 34 – Conor Hannon & Eamon Craven – €300
8th. 102.00cm – Boat 43 – Tomasz Kurman & Jacek Gorny – €200
9th. 101.00cm – Boat 65 – Alan Cully & Keith Gleeson – €150
Jnt 10th. 100.00cm – Boat 64 – Joe McDermott & Pat Healy – €34
Jnt 10th. 100.00cm – Boat 38 – Peter Farbula and Martina Farbulova – €34
Jnt 10th. 100.00cm – Kevin Geoghegan & Steven Turner – €34

Friday 28th April 2017

Jnt 1st. 113.00cm – Boat 54 – Stephen Gibbons & Al Rawlings – €900
Jnt 1st. 113.00cm – Boat 29 – Dave Sanders & Peter Vulovic – €900
3rd. 109.50cm – Boat 38 – Joe McDermott & Pat Healy – €700
4th. 107.75cm – Boat 7 – David Dunne & Richie Dunne – €600
Jnt 5th. 106.00cm – Boat 13 – Dermot Lynch & Tony O’Donnell – €450
Jnt 5th. 106.00cm – Boat 4 – Declan Murphy & Stephen Doyle €450
7th. 105.25cm – Boat 47- Lukas Sankiewicz & Piotr Kaczmarek – €300
8th. 104.50cm – Boat 47 – Lukas Sankiewicz & Piotr Kaczmarek – €200
9th. 104.00cm – Boat 30 – Rafal Pelc & Igor Klosowski – €150
10th. 103.50cm – Boat 39 – Rory Hughes & Mark Hughes – €100

Single Longest Pike

13.00cm –
Joint Winners – Stephen Gibbons & Al Rawlings – €500
Dave Sanders & Peter Vulovic – €500

World Cup Winner

108.25cm + 112.25cm + 109.50cm = 330.00cm
Joe McDermott & Pat Healy – €1000

trout
A few incredible trout were also caught, impressive but didn’t count in this competition