The August bank holiday weekend saw anglers from England, Scotland and Ireland attend the annual coarse angling festival in Clones. This year brought some new faces over from the UK and saw the return of others. The banter was merry at the daily draw held at the Creighton Hotel, Clones over breakfast, with everyone in good spirits providing a relaxed atmosphere for the match.
The five hour matches were held over four days from Friday 3rd August to Monday 6th August in varying weather conditions. Four venues were included allowing each angler the opportunity to fish them all; Annaghmakerrig, Bairds Shore, Bream Rock and Mullinary.
Irish International Tommy Dowd from Virginia, Co. Cavan is this years winner of the Clones Festival with a total weight of 45.500kg. The last day saw a fish off between Tommy and Cathal Hughes, the latter whose fine day three performance on Annaghmekerrig saw him start day four with a 4kg lead; but a good performance on Bream Rock for 9.200kg wasn’t enough for Tommy’s 14.650kg and the top weight of the festival on the last day at Mullanary. Consistency throughout the festival led to Bas Smith finishing third, followed by Neil Mazurek in 4th and Rory O’Neil in 5th. Festival newcomer England International Steve Hemingray just missed out on the top five.
After weeks of dry weather a full 24 hours of rain caused temperatures to fall and the anglers played a small fish match for roach and hybrids. A full payout was shared among a number of anglers winning their 5 peg sections, top two daily and top three by rotation.
Clones Coarse anglers would like to thank all those who took part, to the local landowners for access to the venues, the Tyrone Guthrie Centre and to the Creighton Hotel Clones for their hospitality throughout.
NCFFI
Clones CA are affiliated to the National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland and are members of the Angling Council the National Governing Body for coarse and predator angling as recognised by Sport Ireland and Sport NI. www.ncffi.ie
