Two well-known Irish coarse fishing clubs are organising charity events to raise money for good causes this summer.
The IASCaire Feeder Fishing Club is celebrating its 10 Year Anniversary this year and what better way to celebrate that to team up with Children’s Health Foundation Temple Street and organise a charity fund raiser!
All Funds that are collected during the event will be donated straight to Temple Street Hospital for the sick children. The club are calling on fellow friends and anglers to come join them on the 25th of August to celebrate 10 Years and support their charity initiative.
The chosen venue for the occasion will be Lough Garadice and Pegs will be decided depending on how many anglers sign up.
Participants will be meeting at 8:30 at Haughton’s Shore, and the draw will be at 8:40. The five hour, all method match will start at 11am and will end at 4pm. Any donations will be greatly appreciated, below is a link for those that won’t be able to make it but would still wish to donate.
Trophies and Prizes will be presented to the Top 5 that will be sponsored by Fishing Tackle and Bait.
Also hosting a charity event are the Pettigo and District Anglers Association; their event will be held in memory of their beloved member Gavin Brown who sadly passed away recently. Fishing will take place on Drumgun lake on September 15th and all funds raised will go to the Marie Curie Foundation.
The club can be contacted using the details on their poster (above) or through their Facebook page.
Great bags of skimmers caught on the Blackwater, NI
Members of the Lurgan Coarse Angling Club held a match on the Argory Section of the River Blackwater over the weekend. With hardly a roach to be found in the river in recent weeks, the main target was skimmer bream and, thankfully for the anglers, the bream were very accommodating on the day!
Top weight on the day was Meeky Cummings with 17.750kg followed by Kevin Maguire in 2nd place with 14.450kg and Jim McAllister in 3rd place with 10.175kg – some great river fishing!
IFSA held the first leg of the All Ireland Juvenile Boat Competition qualifiers on Saturday in Crosshaven, Co. Cork. The weather was good and two local boats were chartered for the event, Osprey skippered by Pat Condon and Lagosta skippered by Alan Kennedy.
Fifteen young boat anglers took part and a total of 394 fish were captured and released. The species caught included dogfish, gurnard, rays, dabs and whiting.
The top anglers on the day were
Jack Walsh, Crosshaven SAC,
Sarah Lynch, Crosshaven SAC
Adam O’Neill, Rinnashark SAC
The three anglers weill now go forward to represent Ireland at the World youths boat championships in Montenegro in 2025.
The rest of the team will come from the second qualifier which is on in Lough Swilly on August 3rd.
The under 16 section was won by Kate Healy O’Connell from Crosshaven SAC with 26 Dogfish and 1 gurnard. Second place went to Jay O’Halloran.
The organizers would like to thank Dan Lynch of Halfway Angling Centre for his generous sponsorship of the prizes and bait on the day. They also thanksed Crosshaven SAC for the use of their clubhouse facilities on the day.
Go fishing…
Join the club
Founded in 1957, Crosshaven SAC is one of Ireland’s longest established Sea Angling Clubs. We hold both Shore and Boat Angling competitions (seasonal). Juvenile Anglers are particularly welcome. Web:https://www.facebook.com/crosshavensac
Offshore 105. 380 HP Iveco Skipper: Alan Kennedy Licence: 713 Base: Crosshaven/Cobh Operational Area:
40 Miles out of Cork Harbour, Ballycotton, Kinsale.
Notes: Lagosta II has a complete inventory of electronic and safety equipment. Fishing in the rich offshore waters of south-west Ireland, Alan specialises in wreck, reef and shark angling. Even in the worst of weather, anglers can fish for rays, flatfish and conger in the extensive and sheltered waters of Cobh harbour.
Pro Fisherman 33 Skipper: Pat Condon Licence: 1350 Base: Crosshaven and Cobh Operational area: 30 miles from Crosshaven, Kinsale, Cobh, Monkstown and Ballycotton.
Notes: With more than 30 years Sea angling experience in hand and having won several national & international sea angling competitions, Pat Condon offers his clients the wealth of his angling skills as part of their experience.
Anglers can fish many reefs near the Cork harbour for ling, cod, conger eel, pollack and coalfish. Shark fishing off Cork Harbour is from mid june to september.
Even if the weather is poor you can fish within Cork harbour for species such as bass, blonde ray and thornback ray, plaice and dabs.
The latest Feederking qualifier was held on a rock hard Garadice Lough in Leitrim. Fishing was very difficult, with only the Deeps section fishing well. It was from the Deeps that Piotr Horbiński managed to bag 6.675kg from peg 30, with roach making up most of the weight.
Second overall and keeping up his good form recently was Bruce Zhou with 5.825kg of roach and the odd perch, also on the Deeps section.
Tough going on Garadice
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Paul Leese made up the top 3 with another Roach bag – 4.700kg from peg 34 on the Deeps.
Nick Seddon won the grassy bank section with 20 small fish and Andy Butterfield won Houghton’s shore with a mixed bag of fish, enough for each of them to claim a much coveted golden Ticket.
RESULTS
GOLDEN TICKET WINNERS.
BRUCE ZHOU
NICK SEDDON
ANDY BUTTERFIELD
SECTIONS.
HOUGHTONS/Andy Butterfield and Padraig Smith.
GRASSY BANK/Nick Seddon and Nick Richards.
DEEPS/Bruce Zhou and Piotr Horbinski.
There is only one more qualifier left, which is on Lough Sillan on August 11th. There are still a limited number of places available for this.
Lough Ree Lanesborough Angling Hub has a proud tradition of coaching a new team of anglers every year, whether from the riverbank or out on Lough Ree
Their qualified coaches, Mary and Philip, have recently commenced weekly coaching sessions again, bringing out a large group for regular learning experiences.
Coaching classes at Lanesborough
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If you’d like to take part or know somebody who might be interested in learning how to fish, you can contact the club at [email protected] or via their Facebook page.
It has been a week of verys. It’s been very wet in the south east, very dry in the northwest, very sunny for most places. It’s been very windy a lot of the time and very cold in the evenings and very, very difficult not to give in to the temptation to turn on the central heating. It comes as no surprise that the fishing in general has not been very good and that at the same time there have been some very good reports.
Cillian Nash playing his first salmon on a West Cork river
Trout anglers continue to report that the unsettled weather is upsetting trout feeding patterns. We’re not seeing many reports but that’s not to say there isn’t any fishing to be had. The trout are still there. Catching them is not easy by any means but with a bit of luck you should still be able to get them on the rivers with nymphs, spiders and dries. Anyone looking for a few fly fishing tips should have a look at Dan O’Neil’s River Whispers. It’s a mine of information.
Not much to report from the world of pike angling but we do have another great update from Senan Stanley and Paul Bourke who fished away from home for some great results. You can watch how they go on in their Youtube video.
Senan with a good pike
To the high seas and the sea shores now. Michael Callaghan won the Killybegs Mariners 2 day boat competition with with 100% scores both days. In other Mariners news, Mariners members enjoyed great fishing on the local beaches with a run of small eyed rays (painted) to specimen length. In other competition news, Newport SAC hosted the club’s 34th annual National Junior Competition for junior anglers. When all results were in and tallied up, Laoise Fynes was announced as the 2024 National Junior Champion to rapturous applause. A little further south in Galway Bay, the Brazen Hussy was out during the week with varying results as blustery weather made its presence felt. There were some good days, though, and some super porbeagles were caught, tagged and released.Heading down to the Clare coast and Shannon Estuary, anglers on the Clare Dragoon had some great fishing, particularly for tope and spurdogs, with a number of specimens recorded. To West Cork now and Mark Gannon reports that his anglers are continuing to get good fishing with skate providing some great sport. Next we travel all the way round to the east coast where Greystones Ridge Angling Club has announced it will be hosting the Greystones Tope Festival on 17th-18th August, with €5000 of prizes up for grabs.
A fine John Dory caught aboard Meridian skippered by Brian McGilloway
For catch of the week we return to Courtmacsherry in West Cork where an overnight session brought spectacular results for anglers fishing with West Cork Charters. Very spectacular. The catch included 6 blue sharks, 2 specimen sized and 24 skate of which 14 were over specimen size. Incredible stuff!
As the light declined the skate continued to feed hard
And now the weather…
A cloudy start to Saturday with outbreaks of light patchy rain and drizzle spreading southwards over the country. Sunny spells will develop through the day with further scattered showers developing also. Highest temperatures of 15 to 19°C in a light northerly or variable breeze. Scattered showers will develop through Sunday morning and afternoon. Turning cloudier in the south and west later with rain and drizzle moving into the southwest during the evening. Some coastal mist or fog also. Highest temperatures of 16 to 20°C in light to moderate southerly or variable winds. Unsettled conditions for next week very likely…
Don’t forget to check the forecast before heading off and if you’re going to sea, check the tides.
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.
A fine John Dory caught aboard Meridian skippered by Brian McGilloway
Last weekend the poplar annual two-day Killybegs S.A.C. boat competition took place. Please see the short report from Killybegs Mariners below…
After a hectic two days angling in the Killybegs Sea Angling Club Boat Competition in which 1440 fish were caught by the two boats Meridian and Deep Blue, it’s a well done to local charter skipper and top angler Michael Callaghan with 100% scores both days for 200% including 90 fish Sunday alone for the overall win.
Also very well done to Mariners angler Pat Cunningham in 2nd place overall with 187% and only ten or 15 fish points behind in a close finale.
Fine weather during the two-day event
Plenty of species were caught with bluemouths, haddock and John Dory’s being bonus catches!
Elsewhere, Mariners members enjoyed great fishing on the local beaches with a run of small eyed rays (painted) to specimen length (80cm) for John Cunningham which also is a new club record length fish along with a sole and a few sea trout.
Also a first ever small eyed ray for Cormac Burke whilst fishing small size 1 hooks for turbot with light flouro snoods on the light rod which was great fun trying to land.
Specimen length small eyed (painted) ray of 80cm for John CunninghamA double of turbot for Cormac Burke
For this week’s episode of Ireland on the Fly, Tom & Daire are focusing on salmon and the recent decision in Norway to close thirty-three of the country’s most prolific rivers in the southwest including the Gaula and Orkla.
It was a decision that caught many unawares, including anglers who were on their way out to Norway and one such angler was Clare man, Johnny Casey.
Johnny tells of his shock at the news when landing in Norway, how they had to scramble to make last minute changes of plan and what local anglers are saying over there about the decision and what it might mean for the wider salmon angling community and our own home waters.
Kevin Lyons of Melview Fishing Lodge reports on another successful week for one of his clients:
Elvin from the UK was once again over in Ireland for his annual fishing trip to Melview Fishing Lodge in Longford. Elvin, who loves his pole fishing on the canals, decided to mix it up a little this year and try a few Lakes. Both venues that he fished managed to produce a few good Bream, Roach and Hybrids along with nice Tench throughout the week. Another enjoyable week for Elvin and we hope to see him again next year.
Kevin has over 30 years experience of fishing in Ireland and is happy to offer a guided tour on your arrival, and to advise where the on-form waters in the area are. We can arrange your bait order so it’s here when you arrive. Melview offers free use of 17ft lake boats with engines to our guests (pay fuel only) and Kevin is happy to assist with any pre-baiting requests. Maps and other information regarding fishing are also available.
Guests of Luke Aston have had a cracking week on the Clare Dragoon out of Carrigaholt. Fine days when they got out west produced some excellent reef fishing, with shads producing plenty of pollack and coalfish, and bait providing flat out spurdog fishing with plenty of fish over the specimen weight of 12lbs.,
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Luke had a crew that enjoy tope fishing this week, so a few days were spent in the Shannon Estuary, where the tope are still about and hunting in good numbers. Looks like they enjoyed themselves!
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The estuary is also producing some fine thornback ray to 14lbs, and some really good bull huss too. What a bonus to have this sheltered water to fish in when it’s rough outside the Loop!
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Go fishing…
Clare Dragoon
Clare Dragoon is a LOCHIN 366 powered by 650HP engine, skippered by Luke Aston and operating out of Carrigaholt Co. Clare…
I have some offers up on my web site www.fishandstay.com and if anybody is interested in putting a trip together please do get in touch. Also I Twitter from the boat on @fishandstay and try to update my face book page www.facebook.com/CarrigaholtSeaAngling fairly often!To experience some of the best deep sea fishing available in Ireland contact Luke. Telephone: +353 65 9058209 or +353 87 6367544 Email:[email protected]Web:www.fishandstay.com
Osprey
