David Byrne reports on a heat of the Dromore winter league which was fished on Annaghierin lake near Shercock on Sunday last, the 27th November. The water was high fresh, cold and clear. To add to this there was a bitterly cold wind. Eighteen anglers braved the elements to fish the event with feeder and pole. Anglers fishing the feeder were fishing out to 40m. Catches consisted of mainly roach and surprising many anglers in the event a number of small skimmers, an unusual catch for this venue. The winner of the event was Dave Wursnup from Ballybay who weighed in 13 lbs 10 ozs. Second place went to Alan Larkin from Dublin BSI with 10lbs 12 ozs and third place went to Dean Watkins from Lurgan with 10 lbs 5 ozs. Red maggot worked best over darkened ground bait.
13 year old Gerard McLoughlin with his winning 15 lb pike from Lough Ramor
East Coast Pike Fishing
David Byrne reports that two young and enthusiastic anglers Shane and friend Darren from Dublin took to the water for a days pike fishing recently with angling guide Peadar O Brien. Despite the fact that it was one of the worst days to be out on, with strong winds and driving rain the lads stuck to the task at hand. In addition to the wind and rain the water level in the lake was very high and temp was right down. Shane is pictured with a big pike of 12 lb others weighed 3 lb. to 8 lb. We had them on lures with many hitting the lures and loosing them.
If you fancy a days pike angling with Peadar he can be contacted at [email protected]
Shane shows his 12 lb taken recently in difficult conditionsFishing Buddies Shane and Darren with another Pike
Darren poses for a photo with a future 20 lb. before its release.
Shane with another nice fish taken on a lure
Angling guide Pat McLoughlin also reports the Kells Anglers Association held a pike competition on Lough Ramor in Co. Cavan on Sunday 20th November. Due to a lot of people suffering from flu only 8 anglers turned up. The competition was fished from 11.30am to 4pm and fishing was slow throughout the day. However, the competing anglers managed to land 8 pike with junior member Gerard Mc Loughlin aged 13 taking 4 pike of 6lb, 7lb, 8.5lb and 15lb to take top spot. The other 4 fish were small jacks around 2 to 3lb. This was Gerard’s second win of the year in an adult competition having won the Dan Conaty Cup for fly-fishing during the summer. Well done Gerard!
13 year old Gerard McLoughlin with his winning 15 lb pike from Lough Ramor
If you fancy a days pike fishing with Pat McLoughlin he can be contacted at [email protected] or by mobile at 086 1017415
Ballyhaunis & District held their second leg of the winter league on Albert’s Lough, Jamestown. 18 out of the 22 registered members turned up to fish giving us 4 sections in total, 2×5 and 2×4 the winner of each section receives 1 point, second receives 2 and so on.
The winners this week were:
Section A – Leigh Maitland- 4.680kg (Pole)
Section B – Chris Ganley – 2.740kg (Pole)
Section C – Ben Gingel – 4.840kg (Waggler)
Section D – Shane Dunne – 1.400kg ( Feeder)
Leigh Maitland won section A with a 4.680 kg catch Chris Ganley won Section B with 2.740kg caught on pole Ben Gingel won Section C with 4.840 kg caught on waggler Shane Dunne won Section D with a 1.40 kg catch taken on Feeder
Carrickfergus Angler, Andy Logan with a fine specimen 19 lb. bullhuss while fishing out from Red Bay wins our Catch of the Week
Charter skipper Hamish Currie reports on another trip out with a local group of anglers fishing out from Red Bay in Co. Antrim. “This is andy logan Carrick Fergus specimen hunters with a cracking 19 lb bull Huss was taken using a whole mackerel in very very deep water. It wins our Catch of the Week
Carrigfergus Angler, Andy Logan with a fine specimen 19 lb. bullhuss
It came along with a total haul of 35 conger eels on a deep water reef 27 km north of red bay herring and mackerel are still abundant in the channel where I think they will stay for most of the winter months spurdogs, ling also accounted for a cracking days fishing for this time of year. ” Hamish
Another nice Conger from Red Bay.
Andy Logan with a nice conger from Red Bay.
Predator
RedBay Stormforce 9.1 Rib
Skipper: Hamish Currie Base: Red Bay Address: 9 Bellisk Drive, Cushendall, Co. Antrim BT44 0AX. Telephone: 028 2177 1828 or Boat: +44 7720440117 Web:www.predatorireland.comEmail:[email protected]
Skipper Max Couque with a nice Pollack of 11.5 lb. taken in late September
Skipper Max Couque with a nice Pollack of 11.5 lb. taken in late September
Charter skipper Max Couque reports from the Galway Bay area on some recent deep sea fishing: “This season is coming to an end. It has been a difficult one, the weather didn’t help us, but the fishing was very good. Pollack still our main target, the biggest was around 11.5 lb. Cod is coming back in good numbers in Galway Bay, is it the weather or this quota system? Who knows! We caught more than 20 species this year, the unusual one was a crayfish.
A lot of Spurdogs were caught and released, all females as always. The weather didn’t give us many chances to target Tope in the middle of the bay or Blue Shark outside the Aran Islands. We got three nice Topes but no Blue Shark or no Porbeagle Shark.
Not only the weather let us down, the numbers of mackerel also. It has been the first year that I saw such a few numbers of mackerel in the summer. In October and November we had to catch the Joey mackerel for bait.
Galway Fishing still available during the winter subject to the weather. Do not hesitate to contact Max on 0863234638 or visit my website www.galwayfishing.ie.”
Max Couque
Leaca Rua
37′ Tyrell. Skipper: Max Couque Base: Spiddal Operational area: Galway Bay Notes: A regular Galway Bay Safari is from 9am to 6pm. The Leaca Rua will pick up your party from the pier at Spiddal, County Galway. The boat is yours for the day, though of course skipper Max will advise you where the best fishing is to be found. Tackle hire is free. Address: Galway Bay Fishing, An Cuan, 16 Cullane Road, Carraroe, Co Galway. Telephone: +353 91 595 352 or +353 86 323 4638 Email:[email protected]Web:www.galwayfishing.ie
Skipper Max Couque with a nice Pollack of 11.5 lb. taken in late SeptemberSkipper Max Couque with a nice Crayfish in September
Cashel Trout Fishery report by Marlene Mc Laughlin
Although the weather has been quite unpleasant over the weekend some anglers were not deterred from giving Cashel a throw. Using different types of black lures anglers caught on average of four trout each. Shane Irwin (Dungiven) released five trout while Martin Bradley also from Dungiven released four. Claudy’s Kevin Burke had an amazing seven trout which took the black fritz while Barry Hasson (Feeny) only managed the one at the tail end of Sunday evening.
We are taking group bookings for any angling club or corporate groups interested in a fun day. Catering facilities are available in the adjacent Cashel Fishing Lodge.
Brian Cooke (PRO, IFSA) displaying a fine specimen flounder from Wexford taken recently on crab.
This 46cm Wexford flounder (being measured prior to release) wins Catch of the Week for Brian Cooke
The weather in late November has remained generally mild in the past fortnight with some windy and wet conditions and there was a fair bit of angling activity at sea and on inland waters. Water levels have generally dropped now on the loughs in the Cavan Leitrim area and in the Shannon catchment.
Along the east coast there was plenty of sea angling activity mainly on the shore with many winter beach competitions taking place and good catches of flounders and some codling featuring. Some mullet were reported from north Dublin but mullet are few in number and virtually gone at this time of year. There was some bass reported from Wexford but few in number. Many anglers are turning their attention to big flounder at this time of year in south Wexford and many fish over 2 lb. were recorded. Well known Dublin angler, Brian Cooke who is pro of the Irish Federation of sea anglers caught a lovely specimen flounder in south Wexford using peeler crab and this is our Catch of the Week. In west Cork there was some nice bass taken from rock marks in the Beara peninsula on lures. Some codling were also taken by shore anglers in the area. Up in red bay in Co. Antrim, a group of local anglers went fishing with charter skipper Hamish Currie and they fished just off the Mull of Kintyre and took some nice Congers, Spurdog and Ling.
On the coarse angling scene, the Erne winter float only league continued on the Roslea lakes in Co. Fermanagh and good catches of Roach were recorded on the day and fishing was generally good for this time of year. The big shoals of roach and hybrids are moving inshore on Lough Ramor near Virginia but anglers are reminded that there is a byelaw banning the use of keepnets.
Young anglers from all parts of Dublin enjoyed themselves at the annual Dublin Angling Initiative Rainbow trout fishing competition which was held recently at the Angling for all Fishery in Aughrim in Co. Wicklow. Many fish were caught by the big crowd of anglers and prizes were generously donated by fishing tackle wholesaler, Millards of Dublin. Down in Co. Kildare the good rainbow trout fishing continues at the Curragh Springs Fishery with fish to 12 lb. recorded. The Cashel Fishery in Derry continues to fish well for rainbows and good catches were reported in the last week.
The good pike fishing continues and a film crew out on Lough Derravarragh enjoyed good action with a team of anglers recording fish up to 18 lb. Up in Lough Muckno in Castleblayney, a French delegation visiting the town sampled some of the pike fishing on the lough. In Roscommon, the Irish polish fishing club fishmaniak fished a lough and several big fish were recorded including fish to 109 cm which was estimated at 25 lb. Blessington Lake is now open to fishing and several good fish were reported including a fine fish of 20 lb. With the mild weather set to continue according to Met Eireann for another week, there are plenty of opportunities for anglers to enjoy the best of Irish Angling,
Tight lines especially in Ireland,
Paul Bourke
Angling Information Officer Catch, Photo, Release
The constantly blowing Southerly winds are both a blessing and a curse at the moment. Temperatures are staying nicely in the 12 to 14 Degrees but it is also blowing in some wet weather and preventing us from fishing some of our favourite areas on the stronger gustier days.
Dave Tims and John Horseman were over for a quick visit from the UK with bass being the main target. Their 3 days fishing produced good numbers of fish with 26 bass in total and the split between those caught on lure and bait about 50/50. Best fish was taken on peeler crab at 5 lbs 11 ozs. They also had a ‘by catch’ of about 20 codling in the 2-4 lb class mainly taken on bait but 4 on lures which shows the healthy numbers there are about at the moment.
On one of the calmer days I went looking for some late season mullet and I was not disappointed with six fish landed from 3 lbs 6 ozs to 4 lbs 12 ozs. All the fish were taken on float fished bread.
Anyone looking for information on fishing on the Beara can contact me at [email protected] or ring me on 00 353 (0)27 60330.
The Kilmore Open shore angling competition was held on Saturday last 12th November 2011. A total of 28 anglers travelled from Wicklow to Cork to fish the event. The competition was fished over the evening high tide and the weather was mild and good catches of flounder and coalies were recorded. The winner of the competition was Martin Howlin from Wexford with a terrific catch of 23 fish made up of coalies and flounder. Second place went to Alan Mulcahy from Cork with 14 coalies and third place went to Joe Byrne with 13 coalies. Three hook flapper rigs worked well and best baits were crab and lug worm.
In the Courtown area one anglers had a great 7 lb cod and there has been great fishing for small codling and flounders.
J.P. Molloy from Cork won a Leinster league match that was fished over recently around Wicklow. Circa 60 anglers fished and there were great catches of whiting. JP won the competition with 25 whiting. Occasional codling were also taken.
Charter skipper Hamish Currie reports: ” The settled couple of days allowed us to push across the channel into the deep water holes s/w of mull of kintyre in search of some really big fish but after the first hour it was plain to see there was no monsters in this particular hole as over 20 congers came aboard followed by some nice spurs and ling, herring and mackerel can still be caught offshore in the middle of the channel.”
Hamish Currie Predator II
Red Bay Stormforce 9.1 Rib Address: 9 Bellisk Drive, Cushendall, Co. Antrim BT44 0AX. Web: www.predatorireland.comEmail: [email protected] Telephone: 028 2177 1828 Boat: 077 20440117
Some nice Congers from Red BayBig Spurdog from Red BayNice Ling from Red Bay
