If you were lucky enough to have been bass fishing on the South East Coast of Ireland recently you would have experienced some of the best fishing in a long, long time!
The last few weeks we have seen numbers of bass feeding with the shoals often hitting the shore devouring sprats, sandeel and herring.
Average fish was approximately 4lb with numerous 60cm + and a few 70s for good measure.
The fishing has been relentless morning, noon and night on numerous locations.
The prime catch times for me have been dawn and dusk, and I’ve been matching my tactics to the daily habits of the sprat who instinctively swim to the surface in the evening and return closer to the bottom at first light. Therefore, topwater was very effective in the evening with shallow divers deadly in the morning. Actually, it’s been hard lures only – shallow divers, surface lures and metals, not a soft plastic in sight!
Some of the recent catches
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The masses of baitfish offshore, along with herring and sandeels, have provided an abundance of food for the bass which appear to be in prime condition possibly preparing for spawning.
There is so much we still don’t know about bass, a fish that continues to give us so much action so late in the year!
Until last Saturday, eight-year-old Euan McKee from Carnlough in Antrim had never caught a pike despite many attempts. However, his luck changed completely recently when he and his father Ryan fished Lough Erne with Peter Neeson. On a day when conditions came good and the pike were hungry, Euan landed a total of nine altogether! The fish weighed in at between two and fourteen pounds, the biggest and best being taken on a trolled soft plastic.
The Newbridge District Pike Angler’s Open Pike Competition @ Poulaphouca Lake will take place this Sunday, 24th November, with check-in at 8am at the West Wicklow House in Blessington. It’s a family event, and junior anglers are welcome, with plenty of prizes given out on the day.
Wet, wet, wet… oh wait! Our usual November weather has been anything but. Three weeks of very little rainfall and temperatures closer to those of May are not what we usually get in November. Wasps are still buzzing around, the grass is still growing well, and cows are still grazing in the fields – a far cry from our usual Novembers. Climate change is certainly changing our seasons, and that is impacting on water temperatures and fish. The mild spell is set to come to a sudden end next week, however, with a Met Eireann weather advisory for much colder weather from Monday. See oar forecast below for more details.
Last week saw Ireland host a major fishing event, the Youth & Junior World Shore Angling Championships. Held on the beaches of Co. Wexford, the event was a huge success. Although glory evaded the Irish teams on this occasion, the young anglers representing our country gained fantastic experience that will stand to them in future years. The Youth event was won by France, while Spain are the new Junior world champions. It was a privilege to attend and see these talented young anglers competing. And congratulations to the IFSA volunteers who gave so much time and effort to run such a successful event.
Elsewhere on the sea angling front, a 77cm painted ray was the highlight of a winter league competition for the Killybegs Mariners, but it was a haul of flounder that won Stefan Martin the top prize.
John Burke with a lovely Painted Ray of 77cm
South Shore SAC held a competition at Dodds Rock which saw fishing improve markedly as darkness fell, with 19 fish the winning catch for Dan Costello.
The bluefin tuna season ended this week, and what a week to cap the season for Killybegs Fishing Trips, the highlight undoubetdly being the first tuna for 13-year-old Noah Kennedy, the youngest angler to boat a tuna on the Fiona Tee, and wins our Catch of the Week. It was a great season too for the Fiona Tee, with just two blank days.
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Noah visibly enjoying his time aboard Fiona Tee
Great bluefin for 13-year-old Noah
On the south coast, the settled weather allowed skipper Sean Maxwell to get to some offshore wrecks, and some very good ling were a fine reward for his guests.
Adam with the best ling of the trip
Staying on the south coast, David Noprman reports excellent kayak fishing for pollack, with plenty of bait fish around to keep them feeding well into Autumn. We have notices of some big upcoming competitions too, including the All-Ireland Open Shore (Jimmy Smith) and the All-Ireland Cod Championships, both being held in Youghal. Entries are now open for both, so get cracking!
To fresh water now, and Portumna Coarse Anglers held a two-day competition on the Shannon, which produced some fantastic bags. Paul McCaul was the top rod with an incredible 61lbs 1oz, including over 40lbs on Day 2! A mixed bag was reported from Lough Muckno, where Rimantas Kondrakas won the first round of the C/M Lakelands Muckno League with a weight of just over 6kg.
VDE Baggers held a match at Lough Skeagh, where Dominykas Kuklys’ versatility came to the fore as he notched up a bagful of skimmers on the tip before switching to the pole and hammering the smaller roach to give him the winning bag of 6.2kg.
Pike fishing reports have been slow lately, probably due to the mild conditions and unseasonal water temperatures, but that may all be about to change with next week’s more wintry forecast. Kilkenny angler John spent two days with Kevin Lyons at Melview Lodge in Longford recently, and while fishing was indeed tough, John landed some lovely pike on deadbaits.
The 2024 Barrow Perch Bonanze was held over the weekend, and perch, pike and a bonus bream were all caught on lures, but it was Colin Rutherford who took top honours on the day, with his best 5 perch measuring 141cm.
Young Anthony O’Neill has started to bring younger brother Daniel along on his trips, and it looks like dad Dan will have his hands full, with two future angling tyros keeping him busy. The recent highlight was Anthony’s PB pike on the fly, but Daniel also lost what would have been a good first pike at the net. Read about their exploits here.
Anthony with pike on the fly
Trout anglers are enjoying a rest (!) from fishing, but many will be busy tying flies for nesxt season. Peter Driver from iscari-Fly is back doing live flytying shows for Piscari club members, well worth checking out. You can also check out their Youtube channel, with many previous flytying sessions online.
The mild spell continues today, wirh temperatures of 10 to 13C, but it turns fresher for the weekend. Saturday will see damp conditions in the south, drier further north, with rain and drizzle clearing the south coast later on. Feeling somewhat fresher with afternoon highs of 8 to 11 degrees in moderate northwest winds
Sunday will be a fresh and bright day for much of the country with spells of sunshine and just a few showers in northern and western coastal counties. Cloud and rain moving in from the northwest towards evening. Highest temperatures will range from 7 to 10 degrees with moderate westerly breezes
Brrrr! There is a weather advisory for next week, with forecasters showing a high confidence for a spell of cold and wintry weather from Monday night onwards and throughout much of next week with frost, ice and some wintry showers. Starting on Monday with outbreaks of rain and the chance of wintry showers, and temperatures from 4-12 degrees (north to south).
A cold northerly air-flow develops over Ireland from Tuesday to Friday bringing a mix of sunshine and scattered wintry showers of hail, sleet and snow. Showers will be most frequent across Connacht and Ulster with some lying snow expected, especially over the hills but not exclusively. There will be widespread frost and ice at night with some hazardous travelling conditions. Typical daytime temperatures will range from around 3 to 6 degrees whilst night-time temperatures will range from around zero to -3 degrees
This report from the Irish Federation of Sea Anglers:
From November 2nd to 9th, Ireland proudly welcomed anglers from all over the world for the FIPS-M World Shore Angling Championships in the Junior and Youth categories. It was an incredible week filled with exciting competition, teamwork, and making lifelong friendships with people from so many different countries.
When all was said and done, Vito Ferara of Croatia was crowned the new Junior World Champion, and Mathis Roux of France the new Youth World champion.
Vito Ferara of Croatia – the new Junior World ChampionMathis Roux of France the new Youth World champion
In the junior events, Spain became the new World Champions with the Netherlands in 2nd place and France in 3rd place.
In the youth World Championships France are the New World Champions with Portugal in 2nd and England in 3rd.
The final scoreboards
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Individually, Maarten Van Beek of the Netherlands finished in 2nd place with Alvaro Cabrera Orciel of Spain in 3rd at junior level and Patirk Uhac of Croatia was in 2nd place and Jorge Calabuig Mendez of Spain in 3rd at youth level.
Congratulations to all the medal winners and all those that took part.
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The Irish Federation of Sea Anglers were so proud to have hosted this event and to show off Ireland’s beautiful coastline. A special thank you to:
Hotel Curracloe, our headquarters hotel, for the outstanding job they did hosting teams and delegates. Your warm hospitality and attention to detail made such a difference.
All the amazing teams and supporters who made the week so special.
Our hardworking volunteers, Head Steward Stephen Glynn and his team of stewards, and organizers who made sure everything ran smoothly.
Our sponsors, like Inland Fisheries Ireland, for their incredible support – we couldn’t have done it without you.
To all the incredible anglers who competed, what an honour it is to represent your country on the world stage. You showed true skill, dedication, and sportsmanship throughout the week.
Thank you to FIPS-M and our FIPS-M delegate Arthur Van Tienan for trusting us to host this incredible event, and to everyone who joined us – whether competing, helping, or cheering on the teams.
This week has been unforgettable, and we’re so grateful for the friendships made and memories created. We look forward to participating in next year’s championships in Spain and making even more memories!
IFI Editors Note: Congratulations to the IFSA team on hosting such a well organised and successful event – the amount of time and energy that the federation volunteers had to commit to hosting an event like this is above and beyond the call of duty and has tp be seen to be believed – every one of them deserves a well earned rest!
Last week, Killybegs Mariners fished the 6th leg of their popular winger league. Read their report below…
We had a great turnout of 24 anglers for the 6th league outing last Friday on a warm balmy night with a lovely surf running making for a comfortable night fishing.
But alas the fish weren’t easy got without but there were some good flounders in the 30s for Cormac, Dara, Robert senior and junior, Chris, Pat B, Dessie and Cara.
Distance casting big baits for John Burke produced a lovely painted ray of 77cm.
John Burke with a lovely painted ray of 77cm
A total of 5 species were caught including flounders, turbot, painted ray, pollack and trout.
Longest flattie of the night was a big 39cm flounder once again for Cara Boyle .
Daragh McGuinness with a 32cm flounder
In 2nd place with 4 counting flounders to 32cm was Daragh McGuinness and in 1st place with 7 counting turbot and flounders was Stefan Martin.
Killybegs Fishing Trips had a great final week at the bluefin tuna. Check out their report below…
So that’s it for 2024 tuna season…Tuesday was the last day of the season and it was a great day again with lots of feeding frenzies on show but only managed one hook up, a nice 300lb tuna for Peter Bows.
300lbs tuna ready for release
Big thanks to Peter for all his custom and help on other trips for the last few years. It was fitting that he landed the last tuna on board the Fiona Tee for 2024. On the 2nd last day off the tuna season another tuna was landed on the Fiona Tee, a nice 200lb fish for Albert and we lost another one. I think this was the most tuna seen all season for us, it was really exciting all day.
Earlier in the week, 13-year-old Noah Kennedy landed his first ever tuna, a nice 200lb fish, and becoming the youngest person on board the Fiona Tee to land a tuna ever. Well done young man, think he has the bug now!
Noah visibly enjoying his time aboard Fiona TeeGreat bluefin for 13-year-old Noah
We at Killybegs Fishing Trips would like to thank all the customers that booked a tuna trip this year. It was a very good season with only two blank days this year…already can’t wait until next year.
The All-Ireland Open Cod Championships, sponsored by Henrys Tackle, is being held in Youghal on Saturday the 23rd of November. Entries are now open for the annual event, which draws competitors from far and wide.
Fishing on the day is from 4pm to 9pm, with check-in at the Walter Raleigh Hotel between 1-3pm. Entries must be received by 7pm on Friday 22nd, so get your traces tied and bait sorted for what is sure to be a great competition. Check the poster below for full details of how to enter…
The 2024 edition of the Barrow Perch Bonanza took place on a beautiful and mild November Sunday. Conditions were still and bright, which probably didn’t help the fishing, but made for a pleasant day on the riverbank for each of the twenty participating perch hunters.
The day started with short meeting early morning, all registered anglers received their measuring boards, hi-viz jackets and name cards. The starting call was given at 9am and soon after there were fish on the lines – but on the day the perch were very picky, and only the best of anglers managed to fill their cards with five over the 25cm minimum size.
Beautiful Barrow perch
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In the end, thirty perch over the magic 25cm were caught – and as many again were landed below 25cm – with some hungry pike and a very unexpected bream also taking the lures!
Barrow bream bonanza?
As the days are becoming shorter and shorter, the competition finished at 3pm, and after checking all the pictures and fish release videos, the organisers could finally award the best anglers of the day.
Ladies and gentlemen, the winners were:
First Place – Colin Rutherford 141cm (best 5 Perch)
The Irish Specimen Fish Committee have announced that the awards ceremony for the 2024 season will be held in the Clayton Hotel Leopardstown on the 15th of February 2025 at 14.30.
You’re invited
All anglers who caught a specimen fish will be invited to attend to claim their cert and award.
Please note that the venue is Leopardstown (not the Airport Clayton where the event has been held in recent years).
Venue
Clayton Hotel, Leopardstown, Dublin, D18 K2P1
You can find us in Central Park, Sandyford – one of South Dublin’s largest business districts. It is easily accessible by car and is just off junction 14 of the M50. We are also the closest hotel to the Leopardstown Racecourse. It has great transport links around the city and surrounding areas. The Luas Green line is only a two-minute walk from the hotel. Taxis are available outside the main door most of the time. You may also book a taxi with our reception team.
Luas
The Luas Green line is only a two-minute walk from the hotel. The stop is ‘Central Park’ and can take you directly into Dublin City Centre in just 20 minutes.
