As you’re reading this, it’s quite possible Queen Elizabeth II is tucking into a 10lb salmon freshly caught on the River Lee.
English Market fishmonger Pat O’Connell purchased the salmon minutes after it was caught last Thursday, and immediately decided to send it to the queen to mark the first anniversary of her visit to Cork.
“I rang up Buckingham Palace and asked if her majesty would like it. They told me yes and I got UPS to courier it over,” said Mr O’Connell.
He was told the fish arrived at Windsor Castle yesterday morning. ….Irish Examiner……19/05/12……read full article……
Having just completed the April Light Line competition we were in a position to collate the results of all 5 light line competitions of the winter 2011/12 season to determine who was the overall winner. What a close run series it turned out to be!!!
Anglers were awarded points for their placings in each individual competition. If they finished 1st they were awarded 1 point; if second, then 2 points; third, 3 points; and so on down the line. If an angler missed a competition then they were automatically given 35 points. The best results from 4 comps out of 5 counted so that meant the worst result could be dropped. After all the points were posted, the calculations done, and the placings organised a clear picture emerged. There was still no separating the top two anglers. Martin Perryman and John Dennehy were both level at the top with 8 points apiece.
To determine the winner the committee decided to refer back to numbers of fish caught in the four competitions that gave the anglers qualifying points. When this was done Martin Perryman emerged the clear winner with 362 fish as compared to John with 278 fish. Well done Martin!!! Well done to John aswell!!! It couldn’t been any closer. What a great competition!
Many thanks to all the anglers who took part! We hope to see you all again for next winter’s series.
Many thanks also to all the skippers, particularly Donie Geary of the John Boy and Ger Keohane of the Naomh Cartha. Fair play to you lads you kept us on the fish!
The full results of the series were as follows:
1. Martin Perryman 8pts
2. John Dennehy 8pts
3. Slyvester Skowronski 12pts
4. Anthony Austin 25pts
5. Sandra O’Shea 36pts
6. James Brandon 39pts
7. Ger Brady 39pts
8. Danny Kane 45pts
9. Noel Kavanagh 47pts
10. Pat Condon 55pts
11. Rob Kelly 69pts
12. Eddie Deasy 70pts
13. Donnacha O’Connell 75pts
14. Pat Wright 75pts
15. Tomasz Kujawa 78pts
16. Stephen O’Neill 79pts
17. Frank Burke 80pts
18. Piotr Nowakowski 81pts
19. John Fitz 83pts
20. Pat O’Shea 90pts
21. Eric O’Neill 90pts
22. Conor Purcell 90pts
23. George Stockley 100pts
24. Bobby Crebor 102pts
25. Cian Ryan 106pts
26. Zdislam Banas 107pts
27. Zoltan Kowacs 108pts
28. Eoin O’Brien 112pts
29. Grzegorz Kmiecik 113pts
30. Barry Murphy 113pts
31. Colm Daly 115pts
32. Denis Morley 117pts
33. Ronan Coakley 119pts
34. Sean Og McShane 119pts
35. Timmy Leahy 120pts
36. Martin O’Leary 120pts
37. Ruud Boelhower 121pts
38. Ted Slattery 123pts
39. Steve Bry 124pts
40. John O’Reilly 124pts
41. Brian O’Neill 126 pts
42. Martin Breecher 126pts
43. Eddie Hayes 127pts
44. Deirdre Murphy 128pts
45. Stuart Power 134pts
46. Mike Slattery 135pts
47. Andrew Dwohig 139pts
Next year’s series of Light Line Competitions will be starting in November again. Keep an eye on this space later in the year for more details.
Children analysing a kick sample from River Dodder
Josie Mahon and Des Chew report that another event saw children learning about invertebrates, fish and the River Dodder’s ecological corridor as part of Fisheries Awareness Week. This was organised by the Dublin Angling Initiative.
Children analysing a kick sample from River Dodder
Children get to see wild brown trout from the River Dodder
Young people taking part in FAW learned how to fish at an event organised by the Dublin Angling Initiative (DAI). A number of these events took place during the week at Aughrim, Angling For All facility in Co. Wicklow. A total of 101 teenagers participated in these days which consisted of talks in their school and a hands on fishing day. The participants were given tuition by IFI, Blackrock staff and Dublin Angling Initiative tutors. More than 90% of these youngsters experienced fishing for the first time. They learned how to tie fishing knots, how to cast, play and land a fish safely and release their catch. More than 100 hard fighting rainbow trout were caught, these fish were kindly donated to the fishery in support of our event by IDAS Fish Rearing facility in Wicklow.
DAI DRAWS THE CROWDS AT AUGHRIM
A Great Rainbow for These Young Lads at DAI's Aughrim Event
Brian Cooke demonstrates a different type of bait at FAW Sealife event
The Dublin Angling Initiative (DAI) organised an event as part of FAW with the National Sealife Centre in Bray. It involved a fisheries presentation by Jimmy King, IFI, which gave an insight into the importance of our estuaries as nursery areas for angling species. Following refreshments, Brian Cooke gave a presentation and workshop on angling in our estuaries. The evening finished with a tour of the National Sealife Centre. Feedback from the event has been fantastic following a full attendance at the event. Special thanks to Jimmy King, IFI, Brian Cooke, PRO, Irish Federation of Sea Anglers and Pat O’Suilleabhain from the National Sealife Centre.
Brian Cooke demonstrates a different type of bait at FAW Sealife event
Jimmy King, Brian Cooke, Pat O'Suilleabhain and some of the children at Sealife FAW event
Details have just been received of an event which took place with Cannestown National School from Navan, Co. Meath as part of FAW. It took place at the Battle of the Boyne site in Oldbridge, Co. Meath. Presentations were given to youngsters on the lifecycle of salmon, their habitat and impacts on our river corridors. Field trips took place to the River Mattock, River Nanny and the Boyne estuary at Mornington where 220 youngsters experienced kick sampling, analysing invertebrates and examining fish species from the rivers and estuary areas. A great experience was had by all and staff from the Drogheda District organised this event (Francis Carolan, Gerry Conaty and Fionnuala McCabe).
May 21st, 2012 : While the fishing slowed down last week, for instance no fish were landed on the Clohamon beat, it was marked by the capture of 2 big fish lower downstream with 15 and 19 lb fish being taken. It would seem that many fish have taken the opportunity presented by the heavy rain in the past weeks to run upstream.
In line with other rivers, while the 2012 run has been small, the quality of fish has been excellent with plenty of fish in the teens of pounds and at least 2 fish of circa 19lbs landed todate.
On Thursday 17th May IFI held a Fisheries Awareness event at Clohamon fishery. This was an introduction to Fly casting. It was well attended and turned out to be a fun day for all, below are some of the anglers of the future!!!
Peter Quinn, Belfast with his Sheelin beauty of 5.6lbs on May 13th
May 13th to May 20th 2012
‘Victory is in the quality of competition and not the final score’
Mike Marshell
The Spring International Fly Fishing competition dominated the fishing scene on Lough Sheelin last week between the pre match days of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and then the competition day itself on Friday May 18th.
The excitement and tension was evident and fishing for the four teams for these dates was serious business but Sheelin let nobody down and despite the persistent cold and sluggish hatches of fly this lake impressed everyone with catches of 5, 6 and 7lbs being landed in the run up to the competition date.
The lake was reported as being ‘stiff’ with fish particularly down along Wilson’s pt, Hollywell and Walkers but in general everywhere was good.
D day – Friday 18th saw particularly low temperatures of 9 – 10 degrees and conditions were not as favourable as on the pre match dates so the visiting teams got a run for their money but the Irish out ran everyone to win gold beating the ‘tipped to win’ Welsh team by 2 fish.
Results were:
Ireland 34 fish 2076 pts.
Wales 32 fish 2004 pts.
Scotland 27 fish 1692 pts.
England 13 fish 788 pts.
Frank Kelly from the Irish Team with a fish weighing in at 6lbs won the heaviest fish.
Gary McKiernan of Lough Sheelin guiding services (www.loughsheelinguidingservices.com) won best boatman and Kieron Thomas from the Welsh Team landed 7 trout to win him the prestigious ‘brown bowl’ which is awarded to the top rod and best individual bag of fish.
We won mention who got the timer stirrer…
All the visiting teams were very impressed with our lake and for the hospitality and ‘craic’ during their stay in Ireland.
The opening of The Spring International, doing it the Scottish way - A bit cold for a skirt!
Well done to The Lough Sheelin Trout Protection Association for the huge amount of work and effort it took to organize this event- You don’t need eyes to see you need vision’.
Kieron Thomas, Wales with one of his 7 fish (fish weighed in at over 5lbs) which won him top rod and the coveted brown bowl on May 18th 2012
The fishing world did not stop on the lake because The International had arrived, many non competing anglers fished the lake during the week and at the weekend.
It was the cold that was the only complaint and because of the cold there was a lack of fly life and although there were hatches of mayfly this lake needs heat and at the weekend prayers were answered and the temperature started to rise and with the rise in temperature came the rise of trout and good hatches of mayfly – at long last.
The lake over the past few days has fished well in every area and catches of 4, 5 and 6lb fish were recorded. Most anglers are dry fly fishing mainly with the green mayfly. The buzzer fishing was good in the bog bay area.
A few interesting dry flies that are having great results were ‘The Guzzler’ and ‘The Slash Hook’ other flies were the Green Wulff, Green Drake, Claret dabbler, Octopus, Gosling and the Fiery Brown.
Best mayfly hatches were along the Western shore – Orangefield/Plunketts pt. and also at Wilson’s pt. and along the Hollywell shore.
A selection of 'Killer' Wulffs for Sheelin
The popular Sheelin Classic trout competition now in its 8th year will be run on Lough Sheelin on Sunday June 10th 2012 – 11am to 6pm. There will be a 15” size limit and only 2 fish per competitor. This competition will involve an open draw for partners and entries must be in by June 1st. Entry fee is €65 for a boating angler and €85 for non boating, the number of boating anglers will determine the number of non boating anglers
There will be numerous prizes which include:
1st 19ft Sheelin boat & trailer & crystal
2nd 5 hp 4 stroke outboard engine & crystal
3rd €54 & electric engine & crystal
Owain Pikersgill, Mullingar with his 3.5 lb wild trout caught on a 'Guzzler' between Inchcup island and Curry Pt on 20th May
A catch and release policy is actively encouraged on this lake.
Peter Quinn, Belfast with his Sheelin beauty of 5.6lbs on May 13th
Peter Quinn, Belfast with his Sheelin beauty of 5.6lbs on May 13th
381 fish were recorded for the week.
The fish of the week was an 8lb wild fish caught by Ken Kearns, Dundalk on Thursday May 19th using a green wulff around Stony Island at around 5pm.
3.5lb trout caught and returned at Orangefield on Thurs 17th May
Some catches were:
Peter McArdle & Ken Kearns, Dundalk – 9 fish for the week. Peter’s heaviest was 5½ lbs using a green mayfly, fish averaged between 2 and 3lbs. All caught on the dry.
Brendan Corr, Belfast and Donal Ryan, Drogheda – 25 trout for the week, averaged 1½ – 3lbs, heaviest was 5½ lbs, fishing around Orangefield and Derry pt, all caught on the dry green mayfly.
Brian McAdams, Derry – 5 fish all on the dry best was 3½ lbs.
Dessie McNab – 1 trout on the dry at 3lbs.
Kevin McDevitt, Belfast – Kevin fished the lake from Tuesday onwards, caught 4 trout, heaviest was 4½ lbs, fished around Derry pt, Hollywell and Orangefield.
Aidan Rush, Armagh – 7 trout on Sunday May 20th, all released.
Paddy Lyons, Cavan – using a green drake pattern Paddy clocked up 10 trout for the week, fishing at the back of Church Island and between Merry pt. and Wilson’s pt. Heaviest fish was 4½ lbs
Paddy Delaney, Baileboro – on 20/5/12 fishing a green drake 1 trout at 3lbs, Paddy reports that there were a lot of fish moving late on Sunday night but they were ‘hard got’
Pat Savage, Navan – 17 trout for three days – Thursday, Friday and Saturday, fishing around Orangefield using a green mayfly, all Pat’s fish were returned.
Morris McDevitt, Donegal – 10 trout for the week, dry fly fishing, best fish weighed in at 5¼ with the others averaging 2¾ – 3½ lbs.
Mickey McCluskey, Donegal – 20 fish for the week, best was 4½ lbs – all dry fly fishing.
Billy Sweeney, Donegal – 14 trout for the week, best was 4½ lbs
John Minnock, Galway – 6 trout, best at 3lbs, dry fly fishing.
Paul Burke Kennedy, Crover – on May 18th using a dry mayfly 1 trout at 5lbs.
Shane Gallagher and Peter Quinn, Belfast – 8 fish on May 13th and 14th, Peter’s heaviest weight was 5.6lbs.
Noel Shields, Dublin – on May 20th, 3 trout averaged between 3 – 5½ lbs.
Paul Owens and his son Karl, Dublin – fishing around Derrysheridan 2 trout averaging at over 3lbs each.
Fly Casting Tuition taking place at The Inch, Abbeyfeale on Sunday 3rd June, 2012 at 11.00 am
A team of professional fly casting instructors will travel to Abbeyfeale to coach fly anglers in the various casting methods. All are welcome to attend, whether beginner or experienced, young or old. The morning session will consist of a demonstration of the various casting techniques, followed by personal tuition, starting at 11.00 am. A light lunch will be served at the venue. In the afternoon, it is hoped that the participants will be able to try out their new skills on the river. There will be single handed and double handed casting tuition.
Limerick County Council have donated five sets of rods, reels and lines for the young anglers who are new to the sport of angling. The club is extremely grateful for this donation. The instructors also hope to bring some rods for those who may not have their own equipment.
Adults €10.00 and Juniors free
Phone: 087 2213876 & 087 2825577 to leave your name
Minister Fergus O'Dowd Meets Lots of Budding Young Anglers at the Fisheries Awareness Week Event in Navan
Fisheries Awareness Week came to an end on Sunday 2oth May with a fantastic event hosted by Navan and District Angling Association in Navan, Co Meath. The day kicked off at 11am in the Ardboyne Hotel in Navan with an introduction by David Byrne IFI who welcomed all those attending and thanked Navan and District Angling Association for hosting the event.
David outlined the importance of promoting angling to all and introducing new adults and young people to angling and the angling and aquatic environment.
Minister Fergus O'Dowd Meets Lots of Budding Young Anglers at the Fisheries Awareness Week Event in Navan
He said that Fisheries Awareness Week provided a great opportunity to work together with angling associations and the other industry members such as anglers, clubs, associations, federations, fishery owners, guides, ghillies, instructors, educators, boat hire providers, tackle dealers and accommodation providers to achieve this. David also said that Fisheries Awareness Week provided IFI with a platform to showcase the valuable work being carried out by its staff and stakeholders. Thanks was offered to all the IFI staff and Navan and District Anglers Association members who helped set up the two event venues at the Ardboyne Hotel and at Kilcarn Bridge.
Mr Richard Farrelly acted as MC for the day and he introduced the days busy schedule which began with a very informative power point presentation by Peter O’Reilly, APGAI Ire and FFF Master Instructor, who provided his services free of charge for the day. Peter gave a comprehensive talk on staying safe while fishing, how to choose and match fishing tackle and the basic rules of fly casting. This was followed by a question and answer session.
Peter O'Reilly, APGAI-Ire, FFF MASTER Instructor Speaking at the Ardboyne Hotel in Navan
Peter O'Reilly Explains the Rules of Fly Casting at the FAW Event in the Ardboyne Hotel, Navan on Sunday 20th May
Next on the schedule was a presentation by Dr William Roach Senior Research Officer with Inland Fisheries Ireland on the Celtic Sea Trout Project (CSTP). Dr Roach outlined the background to and developments in the Celtic Sea Trout Project and the benefits accruing from the research being undertaken. A valuable question and answer session then followed.
Dr Wlliiam Roach, Senior Research Officer IFI talks about the Celtic Sea Trout Project at the FAW Event on Sunday
Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Fergus O’Dowd TD then addressed the audience. He complemented Inland Fisheries Ireland on valuable research being carried out in this area and commented on how lucky we were to have access to this valuable scientific advise which helped inform management decisions in this area.
Minister Fergus O'Dowd Address the Audience at the Ardboyne Hotel
Minister O’Dowd then presented awards to 4 of the top contributors to the Celtic Sea Trout Project. Martin McKenny, River Dee, Jimmy Condra, River Boyne, John Harmon River Boyne and Brian McShane, Castletown River.
Jimmy Condra Receives his CSTP Award from Minister O'Dowd
Martin McKenny Receives his CSTP Award from Minister Fergus O'Dowd
Brian McShane Receives his CSTP Award from Minister Fergus O'Dowd
John Harmon Receives his CSTP Award from Minister Fergus O'Dowd
Following the CSTP award ceremony Minister O’Dowd launched the Boyne Valley Fishery Brochure and highlighted the importance of tourism in this historic area.
Minister Fergus O'Dowd Launches Boyne Valley Fishery Brochure, Pictured (l to r) David Byrne IFI, Minister Fergus O'Dowd, PeterO'Reilly, Chairman Navan Anglers Association, Richard Farrelly, Vice Chairman Navan Anglers Association
Navan and District Angling Association then presented a cheque for €500 to Meath River Rescue.
Minister O'Down joins Navan Anglers Association who Made a Presentation to Meath River Rescue
Following a finger food buffet lunch the event continued in the afternoon with a number of casting demonstrations at Kilcarn Bridge on the River Boyne. Peter O’Reilly, APGAI Ire and FFF Master Instructor demonstrated single handed wet and dry fly casting techniques.
Peter O'Reilly, APGAI-Ire and FFF Master Instructor gives a Fly Casting Demonstartion on the Boyne at Kilcarn Navan
Eamonn Conway, APGAI Ire demonstrated Czech nymphing and New Zeland style nymphing. The demonstrations finished with a double handed casting exhibition by Peter O’Reilly, APGAI Ire and FFF Master Instructor. People were then invited to have a go with the casting instructors.
Eamonn Conway, APGAI-Ire, Demonstrates Fly Casting at the Navan FAW Event
The event finished with the draw for the competition where young anglers had to guess the length of the fish in the display tank at the river. Three sets of fly fishing gear were awarded to the winners and other prizes included a fly reel and a fishing book. One of the winners of the LMFM radio giveaway competition Gareth Ward from Ardee was also presented with his fishing tackle by Colm Lynch and David Byrne IFI on behalf of the local tackle shops Clarke’s Sports Den, Anglers World Specialist Tackle and East Coast Angling.
One of the LMFM Radio Competition Winners Gareth Ward (Right) Receives his Prize Sponsored by Clarke's Sports Den, Anglers World Specialist tackle and East Coast Angling from Colm Lynch (Centre) and David Byrne IFI (Left)
The organisers thanked all the sponsors of the event, Hydro International Rotary Club of Navan, Ardboyne Hotel, Clarkes Sports Den, Anglers World Specialist Tackle, East Coast Angling, Peter O’Reilly School of Fly Fishing and Inland Fisheries Ireland.
