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his past week saw an increase in temperatures and much milder weather after the unusually harsh and freezing Arctic conditions of late. That said, snow melt still impacted negatively on angling conditions throughout the country, resulting in extremely cold water temperatures, making fish even more lethargic than normal during this time of year.

Coarse anglers, however, were among those who braved the difficult conditions, fishing a number of matches during the week.

Richard Bedford won match no 6 of the Munster winter league at O’Briensbridge last weekend where not much was expected after all the snow and ice of late. Nevertheless, 9 brave anglers competed on the banks of the Shannon catching mainly roach and some perch in challenging conditions.

Down south at Oaklands, conditions were similarly challenging with the venue just having thawed in time for the 5th round of the Ger Hennesy Winter League. With the lake still nearly fully frozen last Friday, ice melt had the water temperature not much above freezing on Sunday, providing testing conditions for all competitors. But it was the juniors who obviously coped best, showing up most of the adults. Junior winner Conor Fitzharris’ bag of 5.840 kg actually exceeded the winning adult bag on the day, which makes this our Catch of the Week. Other notable junior catches included a 4.920 kg bag for Charlie Upton (2nd in the junior section) and 3.950 kg for Finn McCarthy, who finished in third place. Well done to all!

Happy young anglers at Oaklands!

Jack Keenahan sent in a short article about float fishing in canals, which might be of interest to experienced and novice coarse anglers alike. Jack covers a number of aspects, such as the set-up, different techniques, tackle requirements and bite indication.

We are concluding our coarse angling section with Lough Muckno, where round 4 of the CM Lakelands winter feeder league took place on Sunday, 12th of January. Fishing was extremely difficult on this popular Co. Monaghan venue due to the snow and frost melt. However, Piotir Horbinski continued his fine form of late winning the day with 3kg, made up of 64 small roach with Mariusz Killan in 2nd place and Rimantas Kondrakas finishing third.

Still a good bag, considering the tough conditions on the day

Staying in Monaghan but over to pike fishing, where Steve McDonagh of the Fishing with Steve YouTube channel was back on the water during the cold spell – this time revisiting the scene of his best ever session exactly one year previous when he broke his pike PB twice in 20 minutes. Check out how he got on this time and if his recent session was as successful as last year’s…

Elsewhere, Chris Scally of Fish Tales had a couple of anglers out on Lough Ree with him recently. While they had plenty of fish to the boat, it was one of those days where the larger fish just weren’t interested in taking their lures or baits. They could see them on the finder, but couldn’t coax a take out of them. Still, it was far from a blank with some decent pike for Chris’ clients Tommy and Charly.

Young angler Tommy is all smiles with a nice pike from Lough Ree

On the sea angling front, it was exceptionally quiet this week, with just one report dating back to New Year’s Day from the always-active Killybegs Mariners. But what a great session it was for some members of the Mariners crew catching turbot, flounder and trout under an aurora sky!

What a setting for Killybegs Mariners SAC

Also in sea angling, Killala Boat and Shore Angling Club will host the Mícheál Quinn Memorial Shore Fishing Competition on Saturday, 1st Feb 2025. The competition was a great success last year with anglers travelling from all corners of Connacht and beyond, and promises to be a good one again. Further info available here.

Last but not least, we would like to draw your attention to this week’s Ireland on the Fly podcast. This time Tom & Daire are finding out about the unique and special Lough Carra. They are joined by Tom Byrne, of the Lough Carra Catchment Association. Lough Carra is  renowned for its marl bottom which gave the water an alluring blue and aquamarine appearance. Not only that but the fishing – and mayfly fishing especially – was pretty spectacular.  But like so many things in nature, Lough Carra went into decline due to eutrophication.

Other news

The Irish Specimen Fish Committee Report 2024, including two new Irish records, has just been released as a digital download. In the coming weeks, hard copies of the report will be available free of charge from Inland Fisheries Ireland offices nationally. Almost 500 exceptionally large fish of different species were caught by anglers from venues throughout Ireland in 2024. The vast majority of these fish were released again following weighing & measuring. The 2025 ISFC Specimen Awards Day will be held on Sat 15th Feb at 2.30 pm in the Clayton Hotel Leopardstown Dublin. All anglers who caught a specimen fish in 2024 are invited to attend.

 

Tonight will be mainly dry but cloudy with a few patches of mist and drizzle. Lowest temperatures of 6 to 9 degrees in moderate to fresh southerly winds. The weekend will start with a mix of cloudy and clear spells, with outbreaks of rain slowly moving in from the west over much of Munster, Connacht and west Ulster. It will be drier and clearer further east, though, with a few spots of drizzle. Lowest temperatures of 5 to 9 degrees generally with mostly moderate southerly winds. Current indications for next week are for it to turn slightly more unsettled again, with outbreaks of rain developing from the south. Staying cloudy, too, with highest temperatures of 9 to 11 degrees.

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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