Well, the weather news that made the headlines during the week was the prolonged spell without sunshine, as parts of the country went 11 days without seeing much of our closest star, with the west of the country faring better than most. But no sooner than that news broke, we were treated to a sunny day across much of the country before a spell of very wet and windy weather moved in that looks set to stay for a few days. Angling lore would tell us that dull weather is supposed to be good for fishing, and it does seem that the overcast spell spurred both fish and anglers into action, as there has been a noticeable uptick in angling reports coming into us this week.

We are now entering one of the prime pike fishing times of the year, particularly for larger fish, so it’s no surprise to see that pike anglers were busy last week, with clubs, angling guides and specialist anglers all hitting the water. We’ll begin with the club scene and the Newbridge Pike Anglers, who had to wait until this week to get their 2025 events underway but found that the wait was well worth it, as the pike were in a taking mood and a total of 145 fish were netted by the 28 competitors. A little further north, the Ardee Pike Anglers held their Buddy Martin Memorial Cup, and they, too, found the pike to be very active, as their 32 competitors landed 170 pike between them.

Worth the wait for Newbridge Pike Anglers

On the guiding scene, Bodo Funke of Angling Services Ireland got his year off to a good start, as he boated decent doubles for clients from the UK and the USA. Meanwhile, in the Midlands, Chris Scally from Fish Tales had a couple of members of the well-known angling club “Irish Outgoing Pikers” out on the lake with him and, despite some lousy weather, had laughs and craic all day and even broke a PB with a 98cm fish for Alex Geoghan. Down in Clare, Damien Culliney of Anglers Paradise had a couple of clients out on Lough Derg during the week. The weather was against them, apart from two short spells that provided a window of opportunity, which the guys seized with both hands, boating a fine fish of 103cm. But we have saved the best till last, as specialist angler Artur Pikeseeker was on a mission to catch a real monster on the River Barrow last week. Knowing he had to be patient and be prepared to wait for the fish to come on the feed, Artur was rewarded for the long hours with a real ‘river monster’ as he brought a fantastic 30lb pike to the net, winning him this week’s Catch of the Week.

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Artur’s fantastic Catch of the Week, a rare 30lb river pike

Coarse angling clubs were busy enough over the week, as a couple of clubs brought their league competitions to a close. The Northern Irish-based VDE Baggers made another trip to Lough Muckno for the final round of their winter league. The venue hasn’t been kind to them on recent trips, and it didn’t really fire last weekend, either. But at least everyone had bites, and Aaron Nabc Hutchmann, who finished third on the day, was the clear winner of their league. The Leinster Coarse Fishing Federation drew their pairs competition to a close on the Royal Canal at the weekend, and there were some nice bream showing as well as some welcome early season tench, with Bob Hulme & Nicky Harrison taking the match on the day and the overall league title as well. While some clubs were winding down their leagues, Munster Coarse Anglers were kicking theirs off as they fished the opening match of their Team of Four League on Inniscarra. As usual, there were some big bags to be taken, and quite a few double-figure hauls, with the best being Trev Platt’s 15+kg, while team Oaklands New Ross Blue won out on the day with 35+kg. We wrap up the coarse angling section with news that the IASCaire Feeder Fishing Club will run an Americal Pairs competition later this year on Garadice. This unusual format sees pairs of anglers fish a single peg, and we look forward to hearing how it plays out.

Trev tops the individual scores at Inniscarra

Sea-angling clubs continued their competition events around the coast last week with varying fortunes. In Northern Ireland, the Ulster Krakens had a tough night on the beach at Portrush, where some nice sea trout were landed but unfortunately didn’t count under competition rules. So, a couple of bass for Fra Mahoney was the highlight of a dour night, which saw Raymond McCann finish tops with five fish. The members of West Cork & District SAC fared a little better as they held the first competition of the year at Broadstrand, where 20 anglers turned out, including a few new recruits. However, neither new recruits nor old hands could get a decent run going as bites proved scarce enough, and Pat Keating’s eight fish for 221 points was the winning score on a slow night. The Rebel County SAC had the pick of the fishing last week for the third round of their league, which was fished in Cobh. They found the fish to be active from the start, with bites happening as soon as baits hit the bottom. That made for a busy match, and Noel Tahran was the busiest angler, as his high score of 18 fish gave him 475 points to give him the win.

Rebels line the promenade at Cobh

Last week saw the opening of the wild brown trout season across a number of our rivers and lakes, ending a months-long wait for many trout anglers to wet a line. Opening day on the Corrib is a special experience that attracts anglers from both near and far, and last week, Dublin-based streamer specialist Keith McDonnell made the trip west on the 15th to fish with angling guide Jasper Mathews. The cold conditions meant fishing large flies at depth, something Keith’s innovative streamers are perfectly suited to, and they managed to tempt a couple of early-season trout from the depths. The team from Piscari Fly also welcomed the new trout season, fishing on the Funchion River near Mitchelstown. With fish stuck hard to the bottom, deep nymphing was the main tactic to employ, and it proved successful in winkling a few trout out of their lies.

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A very welcome opening day Corrib trout

We wrap up this week’s update with salmon news, such as it is, as the anglers down on Lough Currane struggled with wind and rain, which kept them ashore for a few days and kept them fishless on those days they could venture out. In podcast news, well-known salmon researcher and all-round angler Ken Whelan talks to Cormac Walsh in the latest edition of the Lure Fishing Podcast. Ken is a wealth of knowledge on all things piscatorial and shares some of that knowledge in this week’s chat. And finally, the Ireland on the Fly guys spend this week’s podcast chatting to master fly-tyer Barry Ord Clark on his career in fly-tying and the publication of his latest book.

And now the weather

Today will be wet and windy with some heavy showers that may lead to spot flooding in places. The rain will clear from the west later today, with some brighter weather to follow. There will be some more rain in Atlantic coastal areas tonight, and it will be a cooler night than recent ones, with lows of 3°C. Saturday will be brighter, with reasonable amounts of sunshine and just a few showers. More rain will develop on Saturday night, accompanied by strong to gale-force winds, and this will extend into Sunday. The unsettled weather seems likely to persist until at least the middle of next week.

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

IFI Staff
Catch, Photo, Release

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