The Killala club are hosting the second annual Mícheál Quinn Memorial competition on the 1st f February. This was a great success last year with anglers travelling from all corners of Connacht and beyond, and promises to be a good one again. See the announcement and flyer below, and get your entries in!
In memory of our fishing friend, Killala Boat and Shore Angling Club will host the Mícheál Quinn Memorial Shore Fishing Competition on Saturday, 1st Feb 2025. All entry proceeds will be donated to “Croí”.
Registration will be from 2 o’ clock. Fishing venue will be in the Killala area tbc closer to the time.
This competition is kindly sponsored by the Quinn Family, and the presentation will take place in Killala afterwards.
Entry Fee: €25 (Juniors €15) All competitors must provide IFSA Affiliation number.
*Last date of entry Jan 30th,* please send name and IFSA number to: Billy: 0872128175 Owen: 0872303802
Transition Year students Nikita Greidans and Jack Keenahan are working together at Blackwood Bait and Tackle. As part of their Transition Year they are supplying reports to the Irish Angling Update…
Float fishing is one of the simplest methods of fishing and in my opinion it’s one of the most effective methods of fishing. In my personal experiences, I have caught multiple personal bests while float fishing and the canal is an incredible place to fish because of its wide variety of fish species, its easy accessibility and no license or membership is required to fish at the canal.
The set-up I use
When I float fish on the canal, I like to use a 12ft waggler rod with a 6bb waggler float and a size 12 or 14 hook. I feel that this setup gives me enough casting range and enough sensitivity in the float. To create this setup, you will need your rod of choice, a 6bb waggler, some bb splitshot and your choice of size 12 or 14 hooks. Start by putting the line through the eyes of your rod and give yourself around three quarters of the rod length’s extra line to work with, then thread the float on your line and put a bb splitshot either side of the eye to hold your float at the desired depth, then tie on your chosen hook and finally, put three or four splitshot leads on the line between the hook and the float.
Once your setup is ready
When you have your setup ready you need to do three things before you’re ready to fish. First cast your float into the water with a bare hook to check your float is sitting correctly. Personally, I like just the orange tip exposed out of the water but, some people like parts of the body of the float exposed too but either way works. If your float is sitting too high, add another splitshot to the line between the hook and the float and if it is sitting too low remove one. Once your float is set, you then need to plum the depth of the water. Watch my video attached below to learn how to plum the depth. Once you have done this, you’re almost ready to fish, all that’s left to do is pick your bait. Personally, I like to use maggots or worms when float fishing on the canal, but sweetcorn and bread also work well. Now that you’re ready to fish just cast in your float and wait for it to go under.
Bite indication
When I get a bite indication on my float I count to three before I strike. I do this to make sure the fish has got the bait fully in his mouth. If you don’t do this, it can lead to losing a lot of your fish. You also must take wind into account as the ripple on the water can make your float move and show a false indication.
My own experiences with float fishing on the canal
I have spent a lot of time float fishing on the canal. I have learnt a lot from doing it and I will continue to learn more. My favourite experience float fishing on the canal was when I caught a carp on the canal while fishing for bream and Tench. I was fishing a spot my cousin had fed for a few weeks and the reeds were freshly cut. After catching about 30 bream, I hooked into something big and when I saw the fish go into the net and realised it was a carp, I knew the trip was really special. I quickly rang my uncle who first got me into fishing, he quickly told my cousin who fed the spot for me, and he drove down to see the fish straight away.
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John Browne reports on the fifth round of the Oaklands Winter League fished at the weekend…
with the lake still nearly fully frozen on Friday ice melt had the water temperature not much above freezing on Sunday. Anyway the youngsters showed up most of the adults so a big “well done!” to them. 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
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Top adult bag on the day and a big congrats to Gavin Roe winning his first match at Oakland’s today netting a hard earned 5.530kg. Not far behind was Paddy O’Regan with 4.030 kg and Leo Lynch in 3rd with 1.850 kg.
Today’s Results
1st Gavin Roe 5.530 kg
2nd Paddy O’Regan 4.030 kg
3rd Leo Lynch 1.850 kg
Section A
Matija Ivkov 1.230 kg
Section B
Johnny Bailey 1.800 kg
Junior’s
1st Conor Fitzharris 5.840 kg
2nd Charlie Upton 4.920 kg
3rd Finn Mccarthy 3.950 kg
Thanks to all the boy’s who travelled down. Next match Sunday 25th January.
A very popular carp fishery. Popular with competition anglers and novices alike. Alway a great chance of a bumper bag here. Friendly staff more than happy to advise beginner anglers. Caters to all sorts of clubs and groups.
Munster Coarse Anglers fished the sixth match of their winter series at O’Briensbridge at the weekend. Kevin Leahy reports…
Not much was expected after all that snow and ice but 9 brave souls made it to the banks of the Shannon at O’Briensbridge for match six on Sunday 12 January.
The river was only up a small bit but was crystal clear, never a good sign. The only good thing from the last time was nearly all the catches were roach. The only exception was Ian who found a nest of Perch willing the bite.
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Small catch for Pawel
Clive - Not bad considering and enough for joint 2nd
Munster Coarse Angling Club are affiliated to the National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland, NCFFI the National Governing body for coarse and predator fishing and casting. www.ncffi.ie
This week on Ireland on the Fly, Tom & Daire are finding out about the unique and special Lough Carra, 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.
However, the Lough has many interested stakeholders, not least the local communities, which have been vociferous and active in their attempts at restoring Carra to its once greatness.
And Tom Byrne, of the Lough Carra Catchment Association, and lifelong angler, joins them to tell them more.
ROUND 4 of the CM Lakelands winter feeder league took place on Lough Muckno on Sunday, 12th of January. Sections fished were Black and Yellow islands. Fishing was extremely difficult due to the snow and frost melt.
Piotir Horbinski continued his fine form of late winning the day with 3kg, made up of 64 small roach. Mariusz Killan was 2nd overall with another small fish weight of 2.350kg. In third was Rimantas Kondrakas with 30 plus roach for a weight of 1.890kg.
Section winners were Darren Fairhurst on Yellow Island and Damien Foltyn on Black Island.
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. On that visit, Steve broke his Pike PB twice in 20 minutes.
With sub zero temperatures and a lake that was on the brink of freezing up, it was a case of layering up and hunkering down to stay warm. Slippery conditions underfoot meant that Steve had to tread carefully on the frozen fishing stand to avoid a dunking in the freezing cold water – not an easy feat when the line on the furthest rod begins to tighten and the bite alarm starts to sound…
At sundown the viewer will see that it was an enjoyable but frustrating day of pike fishing, with lots of action and great underwater and drone footage.
Don’t forget to like the video and subscribe to Steve’s channel to get more great pike fishing videos.
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/bait. They could see them on the finder, but couldn’t coax a take out of them. Still, it was far from a blank, and hopefully Tommy and Charlie will have seen enough to book another trip, when the big girls are more in the mood…
Young angler Tommy is all smiles with a nice pikeCharlie looks pretty happy with his one too
Click the image to access the report on the ISFC website
It has just been confirmed by the Irish Specimen Fish Committee that Patrick Lombard, Co. Cork, who caught a Gilthead Bream of 4.37 kg at Clonakilty Bay in April 2024, has smashed the existing Gilthead Bream record by over ½ kg. Another record breaker is Dubliner Ronan Doherty, who caught a superb 38 cm Shore Rockling in Arklow on 1 February 2024.
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. Small shark species such as Spurdog and Tope were predominant in the saltwater, and large Skate were also present in good numbers. In freshwater, Tench and Dace featured prominently in anglers’ catches.
Cork-based anglers caught the most specimens (32%), with Dublin anglers accounting for 31%. Wicklow and Down anglers accounted for 7% each, with the remainder distributed between anglers in many other counties, as well as tourist anglers from the UK, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
Details of all of these fish and current Irish record fish are in the Irish Specimen Fish Committee Report 2024, which 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.
The Irish Specimen Fish Committee, which is supported by Inland Fisheries Ireland, is an independent all-Ireland voluntary body which verifies and records the capture of large fish caught on rod by anglers in freshwater and marine waters.
o far, the new year hasn’t really allowed for any decent angling in Ireland with near Arctic conditions prevailing for most of the past week. Widespread harsh frost, substantial snow fall and biting cold winds have dominated our weather making angling extremely difficult. However, we’ve received a few reports mainly from pike and sea anglers from the turn of the year and the Christmas period which are worth a mention.
Pike anglers usually don’t mind cold and wintry conditions…so it’s no big surprise that this week’s angling update is dominated by reports from anglers who pursue Esox lucius.
In sea angling, some excellent fishing was reported from Co. Cork where Cobh SAC held their annual fundraiser at the end of December. This time, 38 anglers in 5 boats fished for the win with the proceeds going to the Irish Youths Boat Team. Fishing was confined to the Cork Harbour area and a fine selection of species were recorded which included whiting, dab, place, dogfish, thornback ray, bullhuss, conger, ballan wrasse, coalfish, turbot, pollack, haddock, dragonet, weaver and sand goby.
There is news of a new shore angling guiding service being set up for 2025. James Raymond from Irish Angling Adventures, well-known to many of our subscribers for his great sea fishing videos on the IAA Youtube channel with fellow angler Ian O’Grady, has decided to put his expertise to good use by offering tailored shore guiding experiences on the west coast. Staying in the west, Galway Bay SAC are kicking off the new year with an open day on the 19th of January. New and prospective members are invited to come along and try a fishing session, with members on hand with spare equipment to show people the ropes, and give them a gentle introduction to shore angling.
James Raymond will be guiding shore anglers in 2025
January 1st saw the start of the new salmon angling season on a number of fisheries, including the Drowes, which traditionally is one of the few “early” fisheries with good prospects of producing the first salmon of the season. Ireland on the Fly took this opportunity to have an interview with Shane Gallagher from the Drowes Fishery to find out how the opening days went on the river. Shane also looks back on the 2024 season, discusses the fall off in the spring run and why 2025 just might be a year to be hopeful.
River Drowes
Concluding this week’s Irish Angling Update, we would like to draw your attention to Peter Driver’s Piscary-Fly newsletter. Peter is back with his weekly roundup of the fishing scene, and a look back at some of his personal highlights from 2024.
Other news
A total of 78 rivers will open for salmon angling in 2025. The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan, has approved legislation that will govern the wild salmon and sea trout fisheries. To support the legislation for 2025, Minister Ryan received management advice from Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) in relation to over 140 genetically-individual wild salmon stocks in Ireland, which was based on individual scientific assessments. Further information and complete lists of all open, C&R and closed fisheries is available here.
Tonight won’t be as cold as previous nights with lowest temperatures of 0 to 4 degrees in light to moderate southeast winds, fresh in the west and northwest. The weekend will see an end to the Arctic conditions and it will start to turn gradually milder. Becoming dull with rain and drizzle at times early next week. Further outlook: Staying mild with nearby high pressure bringing a good deal of dry weather overall. However, a few patches of light rain and drizzle are possible.
If you have an angling story to share with the Irish Angling Update please send it to [email protected] and don’t forget that all of our fishing reports are available on our dedicated Angling Ireland Facebook page.
Anyone who would like to fish the Munster Coarse Anglers Winter League can contact us by 
