After postponement at the start of the month due to poor weather, the Lough Ree Predator Challenge took place last weekend with twenty four teams scrapping for the title. It was an early and chilly start for the teams, who gathered at Coosan Point on Sunday morning, September 21st, ready to launch for the 5th edition of this annual multi species competition. The rules are simple, the goal of each team is to catch the biggest pike, perch and trout that they can! Teams who manage to catch the three species get bonus points to bump up their final scores.
Each team had their own plan prepared before the event, and after the check in and official start to the competition, each boat shot off to their favourite locations within the fishing sector to try and land the big three that would win the top prize.
Not long after, the organisers reported that competitors started to catch fish, with each recorded on the FishDonkey app, which the organisers always use to track the scores.
As the day wore on, the light breezes that had been forecast began to strengthen, making it difficult for lighter boats to hold position in open water – giving the bigger boats, with heavier engines, an advantage over the smaller ones! Still though, fish were getting caught and at the end of the day 112 fish above the minimum sizes were recorded on the app (19 trout, 2 perch and 68 pike). Fifteen of the teams did manage to catch the three target species and a 100cm bonus was added to each of their final scores.
After checking and rechecking all of the photos and videos that were uploaded, the final standings were:
- Team Boat Junkies 398cm (3 longest fish + bonus 100cm)
- Team Bag Up 395cm (3 longest fish + bonus 100cm)
- Team RLX_Predator_Fishing 392cm (3 longest fish + bonus 100cm)
- Longest Fish – Team Boat Junkies 106cm Pike
One of the sponsors, Dennett Outdoors, supplied with lures from Strike Pro for 3 teams.
- Team Brema Boat
- Team Tajnos Agentos
- Team Carlow Predator Angler
Special mention to Team The Wet Bandits who managed to catch a fabulous 63cm long trout – well done! Longest Perch was caught by team Guppie Chuckers at 34cm, also well done!
Next up for the organisers is preparation for Perch Master Ireland, the last round will take place on the 5th October then Pike Master Ireland on the 12th October – busy few weekends!!
