Kit Dunne of Wicklow Boat Charters reports that the tope have returned to Wicklow oin good numbers. He had a few different groups out over the past week and managed to boat plenty of tope. And the tope must have been hungry, even taking frozen mackerel baits!
The NCFFI have announced that tickets are now on sale for the All-Ireland Method Feeder Championships:
𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗢𝗡 𝗦𝗔𝗟𝗘 𝗧𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗱 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗿𝘀!
This popular event perfect for the positive angler is dedicated to the deadly Method Feeder tactic, which has helped anglers of all ages and abilities achieve large match weights on commercial stillwaters.
Join us for one of two qualifiers leading up to the 𝗔𝗹𝗹-𝗜𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗱 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀, taking place at Oaklands Lake on 14th September 2025.
📍 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 & 𝗩𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲𝘀:
1st Qualifier: Gaulmoylestown Lake – Saturday, 24th May 2025 (Max 20 anglers)
Book: www.ncffi.ie/mfq1
2nd Qualifier: Oaklands Lake – Saturday, 28th June 2025 (Max 30 anglers)
Book: www.ncffi.ie/mfq2
🏆 Qualification:
Top 12 from Gaulmoylestown (of 20)
Top 18 from Oaklands (of 30)
𝗧𝗼𝗽 𝟯𝟬 𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗴𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗹𝗹-𝗜𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝘁 𝗢𝗮𝗸𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝟭𝟰𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿.
🥇 Final & Prizes:
€1,000 prize fund (based on full entry of 50 anglers).
Top three in the final will be awarded cash prizes and medals.
In the event of a tie, the organiser reserves the right to increase the number of finalists.
Online booking only. €5 admin fee for members / €10 for non-members (paid in advance). €20 towards the prize fund – collected on the day before fishing. Optional pools: €20 (on the day). €10 fishery permit, paid directly to the fishery owner on the day.
Gaulmoylestown AC Carp Match Ireland Oaklands lake
Dates have been announced for the Big Meadow 2-Day Coarse Match in Athlone. See below for details:
The fishing conditions on Saturday were extremely challenging for everyone who took part on the day. The main issue was that the fish were spawning, compounded by warm weather, bright sunshine, and a huge amount of surface, drifting weed throughout the section. Despite these obstacles, someone had to come out on top—and that someone was Bob Hulme. Bob managed a winning weight of 5lb 8oz, made up of one tench and a mix of small hybrids and roach.
Well done to everyone who took part in what turned out to be a very tough match.
John Browne reports on the first round of the Oaklands Summer League fished at the weekend…
On Sunday we ran the round of our Summer match’s a fantastic turn out on the day big thanks to everyone who travelled down.
Winning on the day bagging 68.580 kg from peg 14 was Sion Pritchard well done to him. 2nd opposite him on the river bank was Ronan Minogue netting 56.290kg from peg 48. Running in 3rd on the day was Loe Lynch weighing in at 55.180 kg from peg 36.
1st S Pichard 68.580kg
2nd R Minogue 56.290 kg
3rd L Lynch 55.180 kg
A V Alexandru 52.280 kg
B k Reeves 45.410 kg
C M Ivkov 39.190 kg
D D Minogue 37.920 kg
E P O’Neill 50.830 kg
1st C Upton 20.360 kg
2nd M Urbanski 12 340 kg
3rd M Cumkas 4.880 kg
Congratulations to all the framers.
There places still available for next weekend’s Commercial Pairs if anyone is interested.
With catches currently hit and miss across the island, Oaklands lake stands out – with excellent fishing recently reported. You and your partner won’t want to miss this chance to bag up at one of Ireland’s premier commercial venues!
Venue: Oaklands Lake
Dates: Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th May
Format: Two-day pairs event
Entry Fee: €150 per pair (€160 for non-NCFFI members)
Admin Fee: €10 per pair (€20 non-members), collected online at entry
Cash Pools: €140 per pair, payable on the day
Fishery fees apply
Limited to 29 pairs – advance online entry only
Book now: https://www.ncffi.ie/25comm
Tickets are non-refundable.
Michael Murphy reports that the Albert Berry Invitational Competition was held on Lough Cullin over the weekend of 10th/11th May.
Nineteen boats carrying thirty-eight anglers fishing in two angler teams enjoyed good fishing over the two days with Davey Elliot & Cyril Care coming out the winners. In second place was Gary Binley & Michael Polin and in third place was Aidan Rush & Jim Hughes. A healthy return of twenty trout to the measure for these places with the best of the weekend weighing in at 3.01 lbs.
On Lough Conn reports of good fishing with Mayfly hatches showing generally all over the lough and still some olive hatches to be found in some bays with the Caenis fly starting to show. Angling pressure remains seasonably low because of bright warm conditions but those that dare to try are showing decent returns for their efforts
Go Fishing
Michael Murphy reports on catches from the Moy…
Water levels at Ballylahan continue to drop steadily from 0.4 m on Sunday 4th down to 0.26 m by noon on Sunday 11th May. Weather wise the past week has been very dry nationwide with little or no rainfall recorded. Belmullet in County Mayo saw the most rain with only 4mm accumulated which is only 25 % of the average rainfall for this time of year. Angling pressure remains relatively low in the catchment as is again reflected in this week’s catch returns.
The first salmon of the season was caught on The Ridge Pool, weighing 8lbs. It was caught by Jonathan O’Neill, Co Kildare on a spinner.
Roy reports of two salmon caught on the prawn weighing 9lbs and 14lbs respectively.
Granville reported two salmon caught on the prawn of which one was released, weighing 8lbs and 9lbs respectively.
Harry reports of eight salmon caught, four from Carrigeen and four from Rinnaney, using all methods. All good spring fish weighing from 8 lbs up to 12 lbs.
Two salmon were reported caught weighing 6 lbs to 8 lbs.
Kathleen reported two salmon caught with one taken on the spinner of 7.5 lbs and one released with the best being 11.5 lbs.
It’s official Lurgan CAC are the All Ireland Feeder Club Champions for 2025! The premier team, current silver medallists and former World Champions, were in top form on a challenging Lough Muckno this weekend, delivering a 𝗱𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 to take the title. Congratulations to Lurgan Coarse Angling Club.
The race for second place was hard-fought between CM Lakelands Feeder Club and Nytro Fishing Ireland , with CM Lakelands Green edging ahead to claim the runner-up spot—and with it, the opportunity to compete at the 2026 Feeder Club World Championships in Croatia.
To make it a clean sweep, all three top individual anglers came from the winning Lurgan
Blue team:
𝗧𝗼𝗽 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗱𝘂𝗮𝗹𝘀:
Philip Hartin – 2 pts (Perfect score)
David Herron – 3 pts
Philip Jackson – 4 pts (on weight)
𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀 – 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀:
1st: Lurgan Blue – 20 pts
2nd: CM Lakelands Green – 33 pts
3rd: CM Lakelands Blue – 34 pts
4th: Nytro Team Ireland – 36 pts
5th: CM Lakelands Gold – 41.5 pts
6th: Lurgan White – 46 pts
The NCFFI would like to thank 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘆 for delivering a well-run event, and extend our appreciation to all who took part under testing fishing conditions. The running of this event contributes €400 to the travelling team and subject to 2026 budget approval the €1600 FIPSed entry fee will be covered by the NCFFI.
Lurgan Coarse Angling Club
The club is one of the most successful in Ireland, having won all of the main team based match fishing competitions, in some cases several times, over the last decade. The club has also a long list of International Honours earned by its members.
The club is the current Drennan Superleague title holder, having won the last event in 2007.
Our objective is to promote coarse angling in the greater Lurgan and Craigavon area.
For more see: https://www.facebook.com/LurganCoarseAnglingClub/
Diego from Italy was over once again for his annual pike fishing trip to stay with host Kevin at Melview Fishing Lodge. Some days were difficult due to the hot and very bright conditions but he still managed a good number of pike to 80cm. Both lures and dead baits produced fish for him at a few different venues, however the best was saved till last producing his personal best fish of 113cm. The last three days also produced fish to 94, 97, 103 and 107cm. Host Kevin said, a sun tan and fish what more could you ask for. Thanks again and will see you again next year.
ALL FISH RETURNED UNHARMED.
Water levels remained low for the week ending 11 May on the Laune river. There was just 1 salmon reported. The fish was estimated to weight 8lbs and was caught by an angler spinning on Beat 3, Laune Angler’s water.
Castle Maiden
Manannan Mac Lir
