Around 200 top predator anglers from across Ireland and further afield converged on Lough Ree last week for the annual Lough Ree International Pike Festival. The festival is a three-day event, with teams of two anglers recording their longest pike on each day of the festival, to give a total combined score for the competition. All pike were measured in the boat and returned to the water without delay. Anglers used a range of different methods and fished from boats and engines of all shapes and sizes. It was great to see such an armada of boats heading out from Coosan each morning and the coverage the event got from RTE Radio.
There were plenty of big pike caught, with the top four teams averaging 100cm+ fish every day of the competition. When the final results were tallied, Krzysztof Sibiga & Marcin Gregorczyk came out on top with an impressive combined length of 314.5cm.