Ronan Cusack reports that angling has improved considerably over the past week with plenty of good reports coming from the deep.
Ballinrobe & District Anglers were the host club for the I.T.F.F.A interprovincial on Lough Mask on Saturday last which was a huge success. The competition was organised on a catch-and-release basis with a 31cm size limit. Well done to David Egan from Ennis who was the overall winner with a magnificent bag of 9 trout. David’s boat partner on the day was Harry McAteer Jr, who just missed the cut off and is first reserve for next year. David’s boatman on the day was the well-known Mick Dunne from Tourmakeady. There were 151 fish caught, measured and released by the anglers on the day. Leinster were the top team, with 44 fish for 6380 points, followed by Munster, with 37 fish for 5610 points, Connacht with 37 fish for 4890 points, and Ulster, with 33 fish for 4490 points.
David Egan (Lough Lene) won the Lennon Trophy for Best Overall Rod with 9 fish for 1290 points. The Scotch Bowl trophy for the Heaviest fish was won by Tom Sweeney (Killarney S&T) with a trout of 48cms (270pts).
The trophies for the best anglers from each province were as follows:
Connacht (Deacy Cup): Seamus Kelly, 1060 points
Leinster (Moylett Cup): Dave Egan, 1290 points
Munster (McCarthy Cup): Barry Healy, 910 points
Ulster (McCrea Cup): Darren Maguire, 680 points
International Qualifiers for the Irish team in 2018 were:
- Dave Egan
- Seamus Kelly
- Barry Healy
- Darren Maguire
- Michael Monaghan
- Tony Murphy
- Eddie Shanagher
- Ciaran Newman
- Denis Goulding
- Kieran Casey
- Eoin Dunne
- Julie Gerry
Reserves:
- Harry McAteer Jnr.
- Andrew Rea
- Barry Fox
- Noel Shiels
- Stuart Marry
- Fabien Tronche
