This week the Lough Muckno and the town of Castleblayney is playing host to the FIPSed 6th Feeder Fishing for Clubs World Championship.
Céad Míle Fáilte
As a result, Castleblayney, Co Monaghan and surrounding areas all welcomed twenty-four international coarse angling teams representing seventeen nations. These visitors are providing a welcome boost to the local economies. In short, this indicates that angling tourism is alive and well and is vitally important to local and rural communities.
Chair of Carrickmacross-Castleblayney Municipal District, Aidan Campbell commented that: “Monaghan has fantastic potential as a destination for angling tourism. We have a superb world class venue such as Lough Muckno. In addition, we have excellent hospitality”.
He continued “Monaghan County Council is delighted to support this international festival and to welcome visiting anglers and their support teams to this beautiful part of Ireland and particularly to the town of Castleblayney”.
Official Opening
On Thursday evening the local community came out in force to welcome the 100s of anglers, their managment teams, families and supporters during the Parade of Nations. This Parade saw all of the teams from participating nations parade their national flags along the route from the centre of Castleblayney to the wonderful Iontas Theatre.
At the Iontas Theatre the teams were welcomed with speeches from Oliver McGauley, President of NCFFI, Mark Downs FIPSed, Technical advisor and Cllr Aidan Campbell. The event was declared officially open by Yann Van Schendel of FIPSed. Yann commented that “it will take a good team to win this years event”.
Festivals and Fishing
During my visit on one of the practice days some nice fish were being caught and one angler informed me that this was the start of his festival schedule for 2023. He will be spending one month in Ireland fishing festivals and competitions across the island of Ireland.
Another angler said the venue was tough but that the anglers liked the fact that it was wild fish in a wild natural setting. We can only wish them all the best of luck!
Working Together
The succes in securing the event was due to a lot of hard work on behalf of the NCFFI. There was a lead time of 12 years to secure this particular event since the first bid for the event.
In addition, the cooperative working and support between all of the stakeholders, FIPsed, Angling Federations, Clubs, Anglers, Local communities, volunteers, Co Councils and Inland Fisheries Ireland was acknowledged.
Oliver McGauley, President of the NCFFI praised the efforts of Monaghan Co Council and Inland Fisheries Ireland for their efforts in developing and maintaining the Lough Muckno venue. This ensured that it was up to the standard required for such an event.
One thing is certain, everyone is looking forward to a fantastic Championship.
