Family Friendly Angling Fair Reels In Angling Novices & Enthusiasts
Don’t miss what has evolved into Ireland’s largest and only angling show of its kind this May. Building on the success of previous years, this year, the Irish Spring Angling Fair promises to be bigger and better than ever! The two day event takes place on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th May 2024 at Ardaire Springs Angling Centre, located just outside Mooncoin, Co. Kilkenny (Eircode: X91XTY7). Once accompanied by an adult, children under 14 years of age can attend for free making this an ideal family day out. Parents can browse the stands, attend talks and demonstrations, while children can enjoy a dedicated Kid’s Zone and avail of free fly tying and casting lessons, and the opportunity to catch their very first fish!
The Irish Spring Angling Fair has become a big hit with angling novices and enthusiasts who value the opportunity of meeting with and learning from a host of world renowned celebrities such as Scott Mackenzie, Glenda Powell, Peter Driver, Jim Clohessy, Craig Barr, Jason 0’Riordan, Maurice Cahill, Stuart Wylie, Martin Barrera Oro, Marcin Kantor, Cormac Walsh and more.
The two day weekend schedule is packed with interesting talks on various angling related topics and free demonstrations, such as salmon, trout, saltwater and pike flies being tied by some of the best in the business. Game, sea and pike angling are also hot topics and there is guaranteed to be something for everyone, as well as onsite catering for refreshments throughout the day.
Ardaire Springs Angling Centre has been run by Ned Maher for many years and the site has over 4 acres of lakes, stocked with rainbow and brown trout ranging from 2lb to 20lb. As angling fairs go, this is a venue like no other, as it allows world renowned celebrity anglers to showcase their skills and leading tackle manufactures to provide fishing tackle and boat demo’s on the lakes.
With a broad range of exhibitors lined up for this year, anglers will be presented with a fantastic opportunity to immerse themselves in all things angling, pick up some of the latest tips and techniques and add to their tackle collection. Some of the exhibitors in attendance will include tackle suppliers and stands from fisheries as well as international angling holiday promoters and much more.
Don’t miss this landmark family-friendly Angling Fair at Ardaire Springs Angling Centre and the opportunity to meet celebrity anglers and fellow angling enthusiasts for what promises to be a great weekend!
A frozen Oaklands fishery in Co. Wexford this week.
Brrr! It’s been a very cold week, with temperatures dropping below -7C on Wednesday night, hard frosts all week and even snow in places. The high pressure that heralded that cold spell has also brought us clear skies, and beautiful sunshine, a welcome boost after seemingly months on end of rain and stormy weather.
A frozen Oaklands fishery in Co. Wexford this week.
With this weather, it has been a quiet week on the fishing front, although there is some good news. Many freshwater anglers will not have even been able to access some fisheries, with smaller lakes freezing over, particularly in the shallow margins. We have plenty of sea angling news, coarse angling, and some good pike reports too, so read on…
Sea Angling
Some people say “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes”. Jim Clohessy is one man who subscribes to that view, having headed out of Cork Harbour this week in frigid -6C temperatures. The good thing about this weather, apart from the sunshine, is the lack of wind, and that suits small boat angling very well. The fish weren’t feeling the cold, with good numbers of pollack in the 6-8lbs range. Not too shabby!
This one engulfed a Crazy Sandeel… had to get the pliers out to remove it😮
The future stars of the sea angling competition scene were also enjoying good sport, with the under-16 and u-21 Irish team qualifiers taking place over the weekend in Co. Wexford. Some were already stars, having won an u-16 World Championship already this past November in Holland. Fishing was hectic, with hundreds of fish caught, measured and released in quick succession, and speed and skill coming to the fore. The standard of competition was so high that some places on the teams were decided on a countback, with anglers tied on points. The future certainly looks bright, and with this year’s Worlds being held in Ireland, expectations will be high!
James Raymond from Irish Angling Adventures is back with another video, the second episode in his winter Shannon Estuary cod hunt. Will the cod show? Check it out here to find out…
The West Cork & District SAC are already back in competition action, with their latest comp held on Garrylucas beach at the weekend. A tight contest saw the lead change hands several times, but a late charge from Derek Kenrick took the win.
Coarse angling now, and cold conditions saw small weights caught on Muckno for the third round of the bCM Lakelands winter league, but plenty of small fish were available, and 1st overall was the ever consistent Damien Foltyn, with 50 plus small hybrids and roach for just under 3kg on Black Island.
Winter piking is in full swing, and members of O’Casey’s Pike Angling Club converged on a misty Monaghan lough last weekend for their first competition of 2024. The fishing turned out to be pretty good, with 38 fish caught including two good doubles of 13lbs and 14lbs, while Daron Reynolds too the win with 29lbs 1oz from nine fish.
Senan Stanley reported slow fishing on Derg, with just 7 pike between 2 anglewrs, but the size of the fish more than made up for the wait, with 5 fish over 90cm, and 3 over the 1m mark!
Young Anthony went to the Barrow with a plan, and the plan paid off! After a kind angler had put him over some nice perch, a move and a switch to the fly rod saw Anthony land a nice jack pike that came clean out of the water as it took the fly. What an experience for the young man! And for his tactical thinking and hard work, Anthony gets our vote for Catch of the Week.
The Limerick County Pike Anglers travelled up the country for a club outing with the Irish Outgoing Pikers. Although jacks dominated the catches, the best bag was over 23lbs, but it was the social element of meeting fellow anglers and enjoying a new venue that was the most rewarding part. No doubt the return leg will be just as much fun.
Trout anglers are spending a lot of time at the vice in this weather, although some are enjoying good fishing at the likes of Laois Angling Centre, as reported in the latest Piscari-Fly newsletter. One man who is eagerly awaiting the opening of the new season is guide Tomi Kurman, who whetted our appetite with some photos from last year’s early season ferox hunting.
This week’s Ireland On The Fly podcast speaks with an Irish man abroad, Graham Reynolds who has taken to life in Sweden so well that he is now captaining their trout fishing team at World Championship level. Although Graham is enamoured with the great fishing available in Sweden, his favourite catch still came from Irish waters… we love to hear it!
In other news…
Although a few stragglers may be just bringing their amorous affairs to a climax, most of our wild salmon spawned over the last 6 weeks in rivers up and down the country, hopefully leading to a healthy smolt run in 2/3 years time, and even healthier returns a year or two after that, fingers crossed! We managed to get some nice underwater footage of salmon preparing to spawn, although the “money shot” of the actual spawning itself eluded us. We guess salmon are shy about doing it on camera too! Check it out here or see it full size on Youtube here.
In addition, permits for the Castleconnell Salmon Fishery on the River Shannon will be available shortly.
And now the weather..
The frosty weather is slowly clearing today, although a rain shower at 7am here in the west onto frozen grounds left roads like sheets of glass, so be careful out there! Remaining cold for today with max temps of 3-7C, although it should stay dry with showers in Ulster dying out.
Saturday will be a much milder day with outbreaks of rain and drizzle. Some dry spells will develop in the afternoon but a more persistent spell of rain will spread from the west again tomorrow evening. Noticeably windier with fresh to strong southerly winds and highest temperatures of 7 to 11 degrees.
Sunday looks a day for the fireside, or the high stool, with heavy rain spreading from the southwest and strong to near gale force and gusty southerly winds developing. Gales developing on some coasts also. Highest temperatures of 11 to 13 degrees.
The outlook is for more unsettled weather, blustery winds, rain and hail showers. Lovely!
If you have an angling story to share with the Irish Angling Update please send it to reports@fisheriesireland.ie and don’t forget that all of our fishing reports are available on our dedicated Angling Ireland Facebook page.
James Raymond is back with Episode 2 of his Shannon Estuary cod hunt video series. This one, shot over recent weeks, shows the dedication a sea angler needs sometimes to get out and “enjoy” his sport.
Trying new marks, James endures 4am starts, torrential rain and crab attacks on his bait, but perseveres through it all. As usual, full of good information and tips, James’s latest video is one to watch. Will the elusive cod show up? Watch to find out…
Conditions were very cold for the 3rd round of the CM Lakelands Lough Muckno winter league and this showed in the low weights that were caught; however, as ever on Muckno, there were still plenty of small fish to be caught. A good turnout of twenty two anglers fished the match over three sections.
1st overall was the ever consistent Damien Foltyn, with 50 plus small hybrids and roach for just under 3kg on Black Island
2nd overall was Irish feeder boss Brenton Sweeney, with a 2kg plus weight consisting of mostly small hybrids on upper Black Island
3rd overall was Muckno regular Alan Larkin with another 2kg plus weight of small roach and a big perch on Yellow Island.
Members of O’Casey’s Pike Angling Club converged on a misty Monaghan lough last weekend for their first competition of 2024. The fishing turned out to be pretty good, with 38 fish caught including two good doubles of 13lbs and 14lbs for Brendan O’Reilly and Darion Reynolds respectively.
Overall winner was Daron Reynolds with 29lbs 1oz from nine fish.
The Under 16 and Under 21 Fish-Offs for the Irish World Championships Shore Angling teams were held at the weekend on the spectacular Wexford coastline on the beaches of Curracloe, Kilmuckridge and Ballinesker.
True to form, the Sunny South-East lived up to its county name, with plenty of sunshine greeting the anglers, though the temperatures were on the low side and challenging. These beaches were chosen as they are potential venues for the World Championships to be held later this year in Ireland.
26 youth anglers from the four provinces made their ways to their pegs on Curracloe to be greeted by a flat calm sea and bright sunshine, not usually the best conditions for a match but the anglers began to catch from the start. The previous week of north easterlies had obviously made an impact and there was fish for fish battles happening all along the stretch.
As the tide changed, the species changed, rockling being replaced by flounder being replaced by dab. It was brilliant to watch the young anglers chop and change their tactics quickly is response to the conditions.
Rockling, dabs, flounder and whiting were the predominant species with the odd codling, dog, bass and a solitary spurdog pup landed. Over 400 fish were landed and returned over the course of the 4 hours.
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Zone winners in the Under 16 event were Kaitlyn De Kleer, Ava Marshall and Sally Gilvarry, a great result for our rising female anglers, and in the Under 21’s, Bradley Kirwan and Max Roche.
The night session was held on Morriscastle Strand, Kilmuckridge, again facing a calm sea but the temperature had come up a couple of degrees and conditions were pleasant to fish in.
Once again, fish came from the first cast, a flurry of local flounder, then a break before the rockling started showing. There were more whiting in darkness as expected and as in the first competition, there were peg to peg battles all along the beach.
There were over 500 fish caught and released in this event with Katlyn De Kleer recording a second zone win in the Under 16’s along with Liam Davis and Cormac O ‘Connor. In the Under 21’s, Adam O Neill and Evan Ryan took the honours.
The final session was held a little further north on the Ballinesker beach. The situation on the leader board on zone points was extremely close in both categories and the consensus was that a single fish could prove the difference.
Ballinesker was expected to fish similar to Curracloe and this was evident from the start with a flurry of fish in the first couple of casts. After two busy and intense sessions, it was great to see all the anglers were still raring to go and putting total effort into their angling.
The stewards never had a moments peace and were busy from the start once more as Katlyn De Kleer was not resting on her laurels and had a handful of fish in her first two casts on peg 16. Over the next four hours there was little let up as another 500 plus fish were caught and released.
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The fishing and the skills of the youths was exceptional, speed in turning over casts, unhooking fish and rebating for the next retrieve a lesson in efficiency.
At the end of an exhaustive four hours, the only clear outcome was Kaitlyn De Kleer would definitely be on the team. Kaitlyn won her zone in dramatic style to make it three zone wins, recording the biggest score of the event, landing 34 fish for a massive 820 points, a superb result befitting a World Champion.
All the other positions were too close to call until all the figures were checked and verified. Tie break countbacks would almost certainly play a part in the final outcome.
Zone winners on the day were Under 16, Seán Bannon, Kai Butler and Kaitlyn De Kleer,
Under 21’s Mac Roche and Nathan De Kleer.
It was back to the Hotel Curracloe for some warm food and the wait for the final results.
As expected, some of the positions would be decided on the tie-break, countback rules. This is unfortunate for some of the unlucky anglers who fished their best and did nothing wrong, but as in all sports, there can only be a set number of winners.
The atmosphere throughout the event was fantastic from all concerned, parents, helpers, staff of the Hotel Curracloe and most of all from the young Irish anglers.
It was great to welcome a couple of new anglers in the youth group from around the country and I hope they learned, benefitted, and enjoyed the experience.
The teams for the 2024 World Championships Shore to be held in Wexford in November 2024 are:
Under 16
Kaitlyn De Kleer
Cameron Gilbert
Cormac O’ Connor
Kai Butler
Liam Davis
Seán Bannon
The Irish under-16 team for 2024
Under 21
Max Roche
Nathan De Kleer
Bradley Kirwan
Evan Ryan
Finn Healy
Adam O’ Neill
Well done to all, the Federation is proud of you.
Report and pictures courtesy of Brian Cooke National Youth Liaison Officer.
Additional pictures by Barry Murphy, Alison O’Sullivan and Darren Ryan
Some more great content this week from Norbert Renaud of L’Ile Verte Pike Fishing Lodge. This week on his YouTube channel, Norbert gives us a great insight into pike fishing lures. Norbert has created his own line of pike lures – including gliders, swim baits, surface rodents and more.
Fugly lures – beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Norbert goes into great detail to describe how he designs the lures and how he wants them to behave in the water, what hardware he uses and why he chooses the colours for each.
Norbert plans to produce a batch of each lure style and make them available through the Ile Verte online shop – so keep your eyes out for when each style drops.
Also released this week just in time for the cold snap was the third part of Norbert’s Cold Water Lure series and what better to try and trigger that take than a fishy stink. Norbert is as innovative as ever with his ideas on how to retro fit smells, scents and pheromones into his coldwater lures.
Coming soon – Norbert plans to get back on the vice with his live fly-tying sessions, good news for the fluff chuckers out there, so keep a close eye out for that.
With just 3 weeks to go until the opening of the trout season on Corrib, predator guide Tomi Kurman is looking forward to getting back on the water hunting ferox trout with his clients.
Tomi says “Over the years early season dates have proved to be challenging (weather can be tough) but also extremely rewarding. A lot of our biggest trout were caught at the end of February and into March. If you are brave enough I still have some limited dates available for early season…”
Tomi added a few photos of previous year’s catches to whet our appetite too. So if you fancy catching one of these specimens, and we’re sure landing one will make you forget your numb fingers and toes (!) give Tomi a call, details below.
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Go Fishing
Tomi Guided Fishing
To book a trip with Tomi Kurman, give him a call on 085 7318541 or check out his Facebook page here: Tomi Guidedfishing
For this week’s episode Daire and Tom speak to an Irish fly angler who is now not only living and fishing in Sweden but also represents his adopted country at World Championship level.
Wicklow’s Graham Reynolds tells them about the incredible fishing that’s to be had in Sweden and how, despite his early struggles in the competition scene over there, he kept at it and in a few years it led to him fishing at the Worlds and captaining Sweden in 2024.
Plus he also talks about the incredible landscape and fishing to be had in the country known as the Land of the Thousand Lakes – but his most memorable fish on the fly still came from Irish waters.
Rate, review and follow the show to keep up to date with all the latest Ireland on the Fly episodes on Apple Podcasts or Spotify at: https://pod.fo/e/214803
Senan Stanley has a slow on Derg with just 7 pike between 2 anglers, but they weren’t bad fish…
Our top 5 pike on Sunday were in nice condition and big enough too at 105cm, 103cm, 102cm, 96cm, and 92cm! It was a sweet result but the day was very tough. The fish made us work hard for it with our lures – nothing wanted to cooperate. We had a couple other fish to the boat, but all in all another super Sunday on the water!
