A Report from our 3rd Trial of the year held at Loughanure Lake, Co. Donegal.

 
Irish Ladies Flyfishing Assocation members with the Loughanure Anglers Club members at the recent trial on Loughanure, Co. Donegal

Members of the Irish Ladies Flyfishing Association travelled to Loughanure Lake, Annagry. Co. Donegal last weekend for the Ulster Trial and 3rd trial of the year to select their 2020 International Team to represent Ireland at the Ladies International Flyfishing Championships  at Lake of Mentheith, Scotland next May.

Ruth Arrell presenting Liz Dermott with her Top Lady Angler Prize and PJ. Walsh from the Loughanure Anglers Club.[4].jpg

The Trial was hosted by the Loughanure Anglers Club and PJ Walsh ensured a warm welcome for all the traveling lady anglers who arrived from Dublin, Louth, Mayo and many counties in Northern Ireland, to be greeted with the stove lit and a blazing turf fire, serving us with homemade scones and teas and coffees, the hospitality continued throughout the day and delicious hot food was served to all the anglers and their traveling family members before leaving the hills of Donegal to travel back to their home destinations. While the hospitality served up by the Loughanure Anglers Club was top class so was the fishing on the day. 11 lady anglers braved the cold and wet conditions on the lake, all the lady anglers caught fish, some experiencing catching their first ‘wee brownie’, our newest member Catherine Poxon from Bangor, Co. Down caught her first ever wild brown trout outside the jetty just before 6pm, which was the finishing time of the Competition. Great excitement by all the anglers watching her net, measure and safely return her first ‘wee brownie’. The Trial was fished on a catch and release basis with all fish returned safely to swim another day. Some ladies reported hooking sea trout and a few salmon were sighted at the mouth of the Crolly River, only brown trout were allowed to be measured in the competition. All anglers reported hooking many more fish than they were allowed to measure and getting those lively wee brownies into the net proved to be an art in itself!

A Loughanure Brownie being measured and safely returned to swim another day.

The winners of the Trial were:

1. Liz Dermott, (Portadown, Co. Armagh), 13 fish measuring 337cms,

2. Susan Brown, (Lisburn, Co. Antrim),  12 fish  for 297 cms

3rd:  Ann Kerrin (Killyleagh, Co. Down, & Julie McGeever, Foxford, Co. Mayo), 6 fish each measuring  149cms.

All the lady anglers left with warm memories of the fishing and the hospitality extended to us by the Loughanure Anglers Club and will look forward to fishing the lake again.

The 4th and final Trial of the year to select the 2020 International Team will be held in Munster on Saturday, 12th October, on the Carrigavantry lake, Co. Waterford and will be hosted by the Waterford City & Country Trout Anglers Association. For further enquiries on the Trial please visit our website or FB pages Irish Ladies Flyfishing, or email [email protected].

Julie (McGeever)

PRO Irish Ladies Flyfishing Association