John Chambers reports for IFPAC on the first qualifying competition of the 2019/20 National Pike Championships…

pike

65 anglers turned up in Legan, County Longford to attend the first qualifying competition of the 2019/20 National Pike Championships. We fished around 6 miles of river on one bank. Fishing was very patchy with some areas only producing a few jacks. That said there were some great bags and 8 doubles to 17lb 15oz.

Ronan's 17Ib 15oz fish caught at today's qualifier
Ronan’s 17Ib 15oz fish caught at today’s qualifier

One Lithuanian angler was playing a pike of 2lb 04oz when a very large pike attacked it. The big pike didnt want to let go and went up and down the bank hanging onto the unfortunate jack which it eventually released leaving it in a poor state.

The top 7 who qualified to fish in the Final next April were

  • 1st Sean Markey 9 pike 47lb 00oz
  • 2nd Seamus Coffee 5 pike 39lb 09oz
  • 3rd Martin Lynch 6 pike 31lb 11oz
  • 4th John Woods 6 pike 29lb 15oz
  • 5th Pat Behan 4 pike 29lb 02oz
  • 6th Chris Maguire 11 pike 28lb 08oz
  • 7th Ronan Murray 7 pike 26lb 09oz

Pools for heaviest pike

  • 1st Ronan Murray 17lb 15oz
  • 2nd Seamus Coffee 16lb 02oz
  • 3rd Pat Behan 15lb 01oz

pike

The Irish Federation of Pike Angling Clubs (IFPAC) is a body representing pike anglers in Ireland, North and South.The IFPAC was founded on 17th January 1988 at a meeting held at the Ardboyne Hotel, Navan. The membership for that year stood at fifteen clubs representing six hundred anglers, today membership of IFPAC is approaching 100 affiliated clubs representing in excess of seven thousand anglers from all walks of life.

http://www.angling-in-ireland.com/