🎁🎄🎁14 Dec 24: With Christmas only round the corner the Irish Specimen Fish Atlas would make an ideal present for that special angler in your life. Click this link to purchase…
The Irish Specimen Fish Committee has just published a new book documenting and analysing specimen fish catches in Ireland from 1955 to 2019. It promises to make an interesting read for any angler interested in learning about specimen fish and how catches of specimen fish have evolved over time. Details of the book are given below along with a link to purchase.
ISFC & IFI Joint publication – Irish Specimen Fish Atlas
Distribution and frequency of large angler-caught fish 1955-2019
Recreational anglers in Ireland have been recording their record and specimen fish captures with the Irish Specimen Fish Committee (ISFC) for more than 60 years. This comprehensive archive is presented here in the form of a Specimen Fish Atlas, which furnishes both an angler-centric output and a scientific evaluation of the specimen fish information. The Atlas, covering the period between 1955 and 2019, includes species-specific reports and trend analyses for specimen-sized fish of the popular freshwater and marine angling species occurring in Irish waters. Annual specimen catches, specimen weight distributions, and angling techniques are reported. The Atlas provides a map-based catalogue of capture locations which allows for easy interpretation and review of this large dataset. Comprising 83 species and over 27,000 individual specimen fish, results indicate that the numbers of large individuals of many species is declining compared to historical specimen numbers reported between 1955 and 2000 (i.e. pre-2000 comparative period).
Details: 220 pages, full colour – A4 format softbound
Available from the ISFC website: http://specimenfish.ie/irish-specimen-fish-atlas-published-and-available-for-purchase/
Recent ISFC News
2025 Irish Specimen Fish Committee Annual Report Published January 28, 2026 - Three New Irish Record Fish smash existing records Three new Irish record fish were caught by anglers in 2025. It’s just been confirmed by the Irish Specimen Fish Committee that Sean Bannon, Co. Cork, who caught a Thick Lipped Mullet of 5.24 kg at Cork Harbour in May 2025, has smashed the existing record […]
Deadline for Specimen Fish claims is approaching October 8, 2025 - Irish Specimen Fish Committee 2025 – closing date for submission of specimen claims is 31 Oct 2025. The deadline for submitting specimen claims is approaching fast. If you were lucky enough to catch a specimen fish this year and want to claim it, get your paperwork into the ISFC as soon as possible so that the […]
Two new Irish records in the 2024 Irish Specimen Fish Committee Annual Report January 15, 2025 - It has just been confirmed by the Irish Specimen Fish Committee that Patrick Lombard, Co. Cork, who caught a Gilthead Bream of 4.37 kg at Clonakilty Bay in April 2024, has smashed the existing Gilthead Bream record by over ½ kg. Another record breaker is Dubliner Ronan Doherty, who caught a superb 38 cm Shore […]Recent Specimen Fish News
2025 Irish Specimen Fish Committee Annual Report Published January 28, 2026 - Three New Irish Record Fish smash existing records Three new Irish record fish were caught by anglers in 2025. It’s just been confirmed by the Irish Specimen Fish Committee that Sean Bannon, Co. Cork, who caught a Thick Lipped Mullet of 5.24 kg at Cork Harbour in May 2025, has smashed the existing record […] Deadline for Specimen Fish claims is approaching October 8, 2025 - Irish Specimen Fish Committee 2025 – closing date for submission of specimen claims is 31 Oct 2025. The deadline for submitting specimen claims is approaching fast. If you were lucky enough to catch a specimen fish this year and want to claim it, get your paperwork into the ISFC as soon as possible so that the […]
Big Smoothhounds for Mariners in Donegal August 20, 2025 - The Killybegs Mariners have been getting some great hound fishing off the Donegal beaches of late. There have been numerous 90cm+ fish landed, but there have been a few bigger ones, including a fine 109cm fish for Darren Rawdon and an even better 112cm fish for Proinnsias Doherty, which established a new club record. There […]
Specimen mullet for Gavin Fitzmaurice with Angling Adventures West Cork March 13, 2025 - David Norman of Angling Adventures West Cork, reports from West Cork… Just completed four short sessions during which I introduced returning young angler Gavin Fitzmaurice from Co Galway, who generally fishes for Pike in his home waters, to the delights of early season West Cork, Mullet fishing. Despite the generally cold and windy weather, we […] Two new Irish records in the 2024 Irish Specimen Fish Committee Annual Report January 15, 2025 - It has just been confirmed by the Irish Specimen Fish Committee that Patrick Lombard, Co. Cork, who caught a Gilthead Bream of 4.37 kg at Clonakilty Bay in April 2024, has smashed the existing Gilthead Bream record by over ½ kg. Another record breaker is Dubliner Ronan Doherty, who caught a superb 38 cm Shore […]
Overnight session brings spectacular results for anglers fishing with West Cork Charters July 9, 2024 - Dave Edwards of the West Cork Charters reports on an exceptional overnight session from Sunday afternoon into Monday morning: First, we headed South, where the five anglers onboard Silver Dawn shared 6 Blue Sharks, including 2 specimens. As darkness fell, we headed back inshore to anchor for Skate. It didn’t take long before our […]
First time fish of a lifetime for junior Dublin Pike Angler February 7, 2024 - Senior members of the Dublin Pike Anglers held a competition recently on the Erne system, where they mentored some of the up and coming junior members of the club, passing on their pike fishing knowledge to the next generation. Fishing under the watchful eyes of old hands Godfrey Donohue, Paddy Burke and Gavin Downey, junior […]
Weather finally breaks for Wicklow Boat Charters February 6, 2024 - After a frustrating month, during which Wicklow Boat Charters couldn’t fish the prime marks due to weather, leading to plenty of cancelled days, things finally came good for the lucky anglers fishing at the weekend. In a short, 2.5 hour session, the guys managed around 30 spurdog, with 11 of them reaching specimen size. A […]
Spur season in full flow for Wicklow Boats January 10, 2024 - After last week’s first specimen spur of the season, things have kicked on a bit, and it’s fair to say that the spurdog season is in full flow for Wicklow Boat Charters. In recent days, another four specimens were landed, falling to Clyde McElwaine (2), Bert McGregor and Brian Cooke, none of them strangers to […]
85cm bass for Keith Barker in Waterford October 10, 2023 - Keith Barker is no stranger to big bass but at the weekend he he surprised even himself by beating his PB by 5cm… I would like to report my fish caught at the weekend from a shingle beach in Co. Waterford, taken on light lure gear, on a neap tide on the 6th of October […]
Specimen smoothhounds hit the beaches as the sun comes out September 4, 2023 - Dawid Kopczynski was back in touch with another great report from the east coast… With the return of long awaiting but late summer to the Irish coast loads of anglers flocked to the beaches. Stuart and Josh Maher were among them. Duo specialise in specimen hound fishing. The spirits were high and the fish didn’t […]
Specimen tope tagging for Kit in Wicklow July 31, 2023 - Its been a tough week in Wicklow for Kit Dunne of Wicklow Boat Charters, with winds making things tricky offshore, but local knowledge and persistence meant that the fishing still came good despite the conditions. Kit reckons that the Tope fishing is still very good at the moment with plenty of pack and young tope […]
It’s windy in Wicklow, but the specimens keep coming. July 4, 2023 - Kit Dunne of Wicklow Boat Charters has found the wind to be a bit of a nuisance of late, hampering his plans to target tope with any regularity. But any time the wind dies away, he’s back on the water, and luckily the tope are still there in good numbers. Earlier this week he managed […]
Specimen sea bass for Craig in Kerry! June 29, 2023 - We received a great report from Craig Murphy, who caught his fish of a lifetime in Kerry. Read his report below… I haven’t shared a report in some time but this fish is a special one for me. Stephen Gibson and myself drove from Dublin to Tralee Bay for the day’s ray fishing. Crazy I […]
Sharks, specimen pouting and rarely seen Rissos Dolphins thrill West Cork anglers June 23, 2023 - Silver Dawn skipper Dave Edwards reports on the recent fishing down in West Cork… 14 June: Fishing has been good inshore over the last few days with plenty of good Pollack and many other species showing. Mario had a superb, specimen sized Pouting amongst his catch yesterday. Offshore shark fishing is also plenty of Blues […]
