Avery Happy New Year to all our readers, and let us start by wishing everyone a very successful 2026, particularly on the fishing front. Annual reminder that much of our content is driven by our readers, and we welcome all reports and photos, which you can send to anglingqueries@fisheriesireland.ie.
This week started off with a spell of very cold weather, with frost, ice and even snow in parts. (Slightly) milder weather followed in midweek, then we saw the southern counties receive a glancing blow from Storm Goretti, which mainly affected France and the UK, and brought rain and wintry showers yesterday. Despite the weather, we have a number of angling reports to bring you from some hardy anglers who managed to venture out.
Pike angling is in full swing over winter, and this week we bring you another great video from Steve McDonagh on his Fishing with Steve YouTube channel – if you can’t get out pike fishing yourself, this might give you the motivation!
First place went to Ronan Murray and Trevor Martin in the Ardee Pike Anglers final club boat competition of the year, with a fine 105 cm pike helping the duo to the win.
Kai Fischer was fishing a Munster venue recently and a slow day was enlivened by a nice perch taking his soft plastic lure – then taking it again 5 minutes later!
We are lucky to have some very professional angling guides working across Ireland, providing a great service to visiting anglers, and Paul Bourke at Irish Fishing Tours on Lough Derg has certainly enhanced his offering with two fine new boats, kitted out with the latest electronics and trolling motors, so guests will be fishing in luxury this year!
We have a report on the final leg of the Monasterevin & Fisherstown Match Anglers three-man team Winter League, which concluded recently with a leg win for Conor Browne, and an overall league win for the Sensas team.
Despite freezing conditions, no one blanked and there were some surprisingly good bags recorded at the Iascaire Feeder Fishing Club New Year match on Rockfield Lough. with a winning bag of 3.70kg for
It was a similar story at Muckno for the Lurgan Coarse Anglers Memorial Cup match, where top weight on the day was Andy Chapman who had a 3.750kg bag of roach with some hybrids and a bonus skimmer.
And just before Christmas, the 5th round of the Ger Hennesy Winter league was fished at Oaklands, where water temps of 3C made for difficult fishing. John Browne was top weight with 19.690kg of Feeder caught carp, whioe young Finn McCarthy kept up his winning streak in the juniors, almost pipping John in the seniors with 19.53kg!
To the salt now, and Cobh SAC held a fundraising competition for the Irish World Boat Team on December 28th, with good miced fishing reported. Species caught included corkwing wrasse, dabs, dogs, pollock, poor cod, pouting, red bream, thornback ray, tub gurnard and whiting.
The same day saw the inaugural South Shore SAC Winter Pairs Competition at Kilgorman, with 20 pairs travelling from all over to compete. And it was a travelling pair from Uster, Ryan Blair and Drew Ferguson who were top rods on the day.
In west Cork, Dave Norman of Angling Adventures West Cork managed a few outings between Christmas and New Year, with some nice shore caught pollack rounding off his successful year. This fish wins our first Catch of the Week for this year.
In Donegal, the final leg of the Killybegs Mariners winter league, doubling up as the club’s Closed competition, saw Shane Cunningham win out on the day with 5 fish, and Darren Rawdon took the overall league title in a closely-fought finish.
Salmon fishing now, and we have no update on the proposed salmon regulations for 2026. Open, closed and catch and release rivers, quotas and bye laws remain the same as in 2025 while the Department considers the views expressed in the Public Consultation as part of the process to finalise the Regulations, which is expected to be completed later in the New Year.
We feature the Delphi 2025 newsletter this week, which is an evocative reprise of the 2025 season at Delphi written by fishery manager David McEvoy, and contains tons of info and stats on the season just gone by. It’s just over 3 weeks to the 2026 season there, and we’re sure the newsletter will whet your appetites for that.
The season itself kicked off on the 1st of January on the River Drowes, but so far we have no reports of fresh salmon caught.
Other news..
Sponsorship Programme 2026
Inland Fisheries Ireland has announced details of its Sponsorship Programme for 2026. The programme aims to promote angling tourism in rural areas in 2026, whilst also supporting activities for novice anglers and supporting Irish international teams at overseas championships. It is one of IFI’s main funding mechanisms to promote sustainable angling in Ireland and in 2026, €40,000 will be awarded to angling clubs, federations and tourism bodies to support their angling events.
State Fisheries
The tender process for IFI State Fisheries for 2026 is now open and a list of available fisheries has been published on fisheriesireland.ie. If your club wants to tender for one or more fisheries please download and fill out the Condition of Tender Questionnaire and return to IFI at the address indicated or you can apply online.
Salmon regulations 2026
As most people know, the 2026 salmon regulations have been delayed as the Department continues to analyse the submissions made during the public consultation. As of now, the 2025 regulations remain in force
Salmon licences, logbooks and tags
Salmon anglers who have not yet returned their logbook and unused tags from 2025 are asked to do so now.
And now the weather
Cold today with some sunny spells but scattered showers, some wintry, mainly in the west, snow possible over high ground. Starting cold in places on Saturday morning with frost, ice and fog slow to clear. Dry with sunny spells for most though a few well scattered wintry showers in Ulster and Leinster. Cloud will build from the west through the afternoon with outbreaks of rain and drizzle developing across Atlantic counties, extending eastwards in the evening.
Sunday will be windy with widespread outbreaks of rain, turning heavy in places with a chance of hail. Milder with highest temperatures of 8 to 12 degrees. Southerly winds will be fresh to strong reaching near gale force at times.
The outlook is for unsettled weather for the early days of next week, with plenty of showers and longer spells of rain, but milder with temps of 7-11C.
Don’t forget to double-check the forecast before going fishing, and if you’re going to sea, check the tides.
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.
All the angling news
Coarse Angling Reports
- Monasterevin & Fisherstown Team League Draws to a Close
- New Year’s Open Match for IASCaire anglers
- Leinster Coarse Anglers publish their 2026 Competition Calendar
- Lurgan Coarse Anglers remember past members at Muckno Match
- Finn McCarthy wins 3 in a row at Oaklands
Pike Fishing Reports
- Last casts for 2025 and first for 2026 – Fishing with Steve
- Big developments at Lough Derg’s Irish fishing Tours
- Ronan Murray & Trevor Martin win Ardee Anglers final boat comp of 2025
- Kai Fischer and the 40cm perch that bit twice
Sea Angling Reports
- Mixed fishing but great craic at National Boat Teams fundraiser in Cobh
- Mixed fishing but great craic at National Boat Teams fundraiser in Cobh
- Shore caught pollack close the 2025 accounts for Angling Adventures West Cork
- Shane Cunningham wins Mariners Closed Cup and league Final
