Brrr! It’s been a very cold week, with temperatures dropping below -7C on Wednesday night, hard frosts all week and even snow in places. The high pressure that heralded that cold spell has also brought us clear skies, and beautiful sunshine, a welcome boost after seemingly months on end of rain and stormy weather.

A frozen Oaklands fishery in Co. Wexford this week.

With this weather, it has been a quiet week on the fishing front, although there is some good news. Many freshwater anglers will not have even been able to access some fisheries, with smaller lakes freezing over, particularly in the shallow margins. We have plenty of sea angling news, coarse angling, and some good pike reports too, so read on…

Sea Angling

Some people say “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes”.  Jim Clohessy is one man who subscribes to that view, having headed out of Cork Harbour this week in frigid -6C temperatures. The good thing about this weather, apart from the sunshine, is the lack of wind, and that suits small boat angling very well. The fish weren’t feeling the cold, with good numbers of pollack in the 6-8lbs range. Not too shabby!

This one engulfed a Crazy Sandeel… had to get the pliers out to remove it😮

The future stars of the sea angling competition scene were also enjoying good sport, with the under-16 and u-21 Irish team qualifiers taking place over the weekend in Co. Wexford. Some were already stars, having won an u-16 World Championship already this past November in Holland. Fishing was hectic, with hundreds of fish caught, measured and released in quick succession, and speed and skill coming to the fore. The standard of competition was so high that some places on the teams were decided on a countback, with anglers tied on points. The future certainly looks bright, and with this year’s Worlds being held in Ireland, expectations will be high!

James Raymond from Irish Angling Adventures is back with another video, the second episode in his winter Shannon Estuary cod hunt. Will the cod show? Check it out here to find out…

The West Cork & District SAC are already back in competition action, with their latest comp held on Garrylucas beach at the weekend. A tight contest saw the lead change hands several times, but a late charge from Derek Kenrick took the win.

Coarse angling now, and cold conditions saw small weights caught on Muckno for the third round of the bCM Lakelands winter league, but plenty of small fish were available, and 1st overall was the ever consistent Damien Foltyn, with 50 plus small hybrids and roach for just under 3kg on Black Island.

The Leinster Coarse Fishing Federation are up and running for 2024 as six teams turned out for the first round of their pairs competition, held on the Grand Canal at Daingean. Fishing was pretty good, and the pair of D. Murray & P. Gill took the win with 8.14kg.

Winter piking is in full swing, and members of O’Casey’s Pike Angling Club converged on a misty Monaghan lough last weekend for their first competition of 2024. The fishing turned out to be pretty good, with 38 fish caught including two good doubles of 13lbs and 14lbs, while Daron Reynolds too the win with 29lbs 1oz from nine fish.

Senan Stanley reported slow fishing on Derg, with just 7 pike between 2 anglewrs, but the size of the fish more than made up for the wait, with 5 fish over 90cm, and 3 over the 1m mark!

derg pike

Young Anthony went to the Barrow with a plan, and the plan paid off! After a kind angler had put him over some nice perch, a move and a switch to the fly rod saw Anthony land a nice jack pike that came clean out of the water as it took the fly. What an experience for the young man! And for his tactical thinking and hard work, Anthony gets our vote for Catch of the Week.

The Limerick County Pike Anglers travelled up the country for a club outing with the Irish Outgoing Pikers. Although jacks dominated the catches, the best bag was over 23lbs, but it was the social element of meeting fellow anglers and enjoying a new venue that was the most rewarding part. No doubt the return leg will be just as much fun.

Trout anglers are spending a lot of time at the vice in this weather, although some are enjoying good fishing at the likes of Laois Angling Centre, as reported in the latest Piscari-Fly newsletter. One man who is eagerly awaiting the opening of the new season is guide Tomi Kurman, who whetted our appetite with some photos from last year’s early season ferox hunting.

This week’s Ireland On The Fly podcast speaks with an Irish man abroad, Graham Reynolds who has taken to life in Sweden so well that he is now captaining their trout fishing team at World Championship level. Although Graham is enamoured with the great fishing available in Sweden, his favourite catch still came from Irish waters… we love to hear it!

In other news…

Although a few stragglers may be just bringing their amorous affairs to a climax, most of our wild salmon spawned over the last 6 weeks in rivers up and down the country, hopefully leading to a healthy smolt run in 2/3 years time, and even healthier returns a year or two after that, fingers crossed! We managed to get some nice underwater footage of salmon preparing to spawn, although the “money shot” of the actual spawning itself eluded us. We guess salmon are shy about doing it on camera too! Check it out here or see it full size on Youtube here.

IFI and the ESB are working together to make fishing more accessible to anglers in Ireland. The wide range of permits to fish in ESB waters can now be purchased online.

Fisheries include:

In addition, permits for the Castleconnell Salmon Fishery on the River Shannon will be available shortly.

And now the weather..

The frosty weather is slowly clearing today, although a rain shower at 7am here in the west onto frozen grounds left roads like sheets of glass, so be careful out there! Remaining cold for today with max temps of 3-7C, although it should stay dry with showers in Ulster dying out.

Saturday will be a much milder day with outbreaks of rain and drizzle. Some dry spells will develop in the afternoon but a more persistent spell of rain will spread from the west again tomorrow evening. Noticeably windier with fresh to strong southerly winds and highest temperatures of 7 to 11 degrees.

Sunday looks a day for the fireside, or the high stool, with heavy rain spreading from the southwest and strong to near gale force and gusty southerly winds developing. Gales developing on some coasts also. Highest temperatures of 11 to 13 degrees.

The outlook is for more unsettled weather, blustery winds, rain and hail showers. Lovely!

Safe fishing to all and tight lines, especially here in Ireland.

IFI Staff
Catch, Photo, Release

If you have an angling story to share with the Irish Angling Update please send it to reports@fisheriesireland.ie and don’t forget that all of our fishing reports are available on our dedicated Angling Ireland Facebook page.

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