Are you passionate about fishing and committed to responsible angling practices? Look no further! Club membership for the Romanian C&R Angling Association is now open for the year 2024.
As a member of our association, you’ll have access to a vibrant fishing community, exciting angling events, and educational resources on catch and release practices. Join us in preserving our water resources and promoting sustainable fishing practices.
Whether you’re a seasoned angler or just starting out, our club welcomes members of all skill levels. Connect with fellow fishing enthusiasts, learn from experienced anglers, and create unforgettable fishing memories.
Don’t miss out on this opportunity to be a part of the Romanian Catch & Release Angling Association in 2024. Join us today and embark on a year filled with fishing adventures!
For membership inquiries and more information, contact us on our Facebook Page.
Chris Scally of Fish Tales guiding was looking to get on the water during the Xmas break, but the wind meant that the boat was out of the question, so he took to the bank for a deadbait session instead. The rain and wind saw him bivvy up for the day and he wasn’t expecting a whole lot of action But he kept the deadbaits going in, pumping them full of oil to create a scent trail, and he was rewarded for his perseverance with a fine pike of 107cm. Not a bad return at all!
It didn’t take long for Kit Dunne of Wicklow Boat Charters to get into his 2024 groove, as he has already notched up his first specimen of 2024 before the year is even a week old. Not surprisingly, it’s a spurdog, this one clocking in at 114cm, caught by well-known specimen hunter Derek Greene. There are reports of plenty of spurs off the east coast right now, so we expect a few more specimens in the coming days and weeks. If you want to get your name into that little yellow book, then maybe give Kit a call…
East coast waters are home to some of the best fishing in Ireland, with Wicklow boasting record catches of Tope, Bull-Huss, Ray and Spurdog in recent years. Catch Gurnard, Pollock and Codling on the inshore rough patches or on the offshore banks. Target your Specimen Tope, Spurdog, and Bull-Huss with Kit your local experienced skipper and accomplished Irish International Angler.
Angling Charters are offered on a full-day, half-day and evening trip basis and can be tailored to suit your needs. Two boats are available – Manannan Mac Lir and Castle Maiden. All levels of anglers are catered for. Anglers will benefit from your skipper’s angling experience and local knowledge with advice and guidance on-hand at all times.
Rod and tackle hire available, coaching and Bait supply on request.
SPECIALIST ANGLING CHARTERS
Specialist Angling Charters are offered for those who wish to target specific species, specimen fish or try new angling methods.
ANGLING COACHING
Whether you’re a Club, Individual, School or Junior, you can have an angling coaching session or programme tailored to suit your needs.
Castle Maiden
Offshore 105, 370 Hp Iveco
Skipper: Kit Dunne Licence: P5 Base: Wicklow Harbour Operational area: Wicklow, Arklow, Bray, Dun Laoghaire, and Courtown – 30 miles from ports of departure.
Manannan Mac Lir
Swiftcat 11.4m, 2 x 420hp Iveco
The new vessel, called “Manannan” for short, is an 11.4m, (37.5’), x 4.4m, Swiftcat, a state-of-the-art Charter Boat with great speed, safety, stability & comfort. She has a very spacious flush deck with walk around wheelhouse giving ample flush deck space all-round. With today’s high level of design options, she is well fitted out with all mod cons. She is a twin-engine shaft driven Catamaran, fitted with 2 x 420hp Iveco FPT NEF67 engines, she cruises at 18-20 Knots, with a top speed of 28 knots.
Paul Bourke and Senan Stanley were out pike fishing on Lough Derg between Christmas and New Year’s Eve…
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26 January: Senan Stanley enjoyed a St. Stephen’s day lure fishing special with Daniel Nesbitt! The pair’s top 5 fish today were 110cm,103cm,103cm,102cm and 98cm. They also had plenty of 90cm-80cm fish and some chunky perch. As Senan put it, “Well conditioned pike absolutely whacking our lures on a cold Irish winters day to keep the blood pumping!”.
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Also out fishing was Paul Bourke with Sean Quinlan. They also made the most of the cold and flat calm day on the lake. Sean pulled out a couple of nice ones to top it off.
29 January: This was Senan’s last lure fishing session of 2023 before heading off on a well earned holiday! Fishing with Brian and James Connaughton the top 5 fish of the day went 109cm,102cm,95cm,92cm and 91cm. There were multiple fish of 90cm and several smaller 80-70cm caught and released. Those are sweet lure fishing results on the last days of December!
Irish Fishing Tours provides customised fishing holidays based in the picturesque harbour village of Garrykennedy on the shores of Lough Derg. Our comprehensive fishing trips include a guiding service, tackle hire and food and accommodation.
Choose from my list of existing fishing holidays or contact me to tailor one to your specific requirements. Airport transfers can be arranged on request.
Irish Fishing Tours is owned by Paul Bourke. Paul has lived and fished here all his life. As a guide, he will show you the best fishing locations, advise you on baits and methods and then allow you the freedom to explore the lake yourself. He fully understands the needs and interests of the experienced enthusiast.
The Killybegs Mariners charity beach competition was held on Saturday past on Rossnowlagh beach. The competition raised funds for the R.N.L.I lifeboat Bundoran and the good and new charity for Donegal to Galway cancer bus…
The weather was against us over the Christmas as it blew a gale and we had to postpone a few days as Rossnowlagh would be the only beach big enough with ample parking and facilities for the amount of anglers coming to take part and Saturday the conditions were great for fishing as the wind fell and all the weed was in the zone we left free for the surfers.
With just under 70 anglers from all over Ireland joining in thankfully all went very well although fish were scarce on the day but raising money and being able to enjoy a few hours fishing was the order of the day.
After the event we assembled in the smugglers creek for the prize giving and there were loads of hampers, fishing tackle and spirits and vouchers in the raffle ensuring those that didn’t catch anything had a chance of great prizes too.
Longest flattie prize winner zone B is Aaron Vambeck with a 35cm flounder
Split into two zones of A and B there were some fine fish got all the same with longest flattie prize of a voucher in zone A of 37cm for John Shields. Longest flattie in zone B a voucher was a 35cm flounder for Aaron Vambeck.
Winning overall Junior Cormac Duddy with a lovely 36cm turbot
In the junior section 3rd overall was won by Ciaran Duddy winning a reel. 2nd overall was Paul O Keeney winning a rod and reel and in 1st place was Cormac Duddy winning a beach reel.
5th in zone A was Terry o Brien (voucher)
5th in Zone B was Michael Holdgate (voucher)
4th in zone A was Cormac Burke (voucher)
4th in zone B was Chris Whyte (voucher)
3rd in zone A was Dessie McGinley (headlight)
3rd in zone B was Colin Reilly (voucher)
2nd in zone A was Lee Mullan (kali kunnan rod)
2nd in zone B was Darren Griffen (slosh reel)
1st in zone A was John Shields (penn battle reel)
1st in Zone B was Dave Cherry (penn surfblaster reel)
And overall winner well done to Nicholas McNeill with a great fishing on the day winning a Penn slammer reel.
Overall winner Nicholas McNeill (left) winning a penn Slammer receiving his prize from Mariners chairman John Cunningham (right)
Best club member winning the Mariners FishComm plaque and a voucher was Dessie McGinley.
So that’s it for another year and huge thanks goes to all the sponsors who donated vouchers, tackle and hampers for prizes on the day and those that donated cash towards the chosen charities. Also its very much appreciated all the angling community that travelled big distances to fish and raise money for those in need. Also to the organising committee of John Cunningham, Noel Kennedy, Brian Smith, Cormac Burke and also Kieran McGowan for pegging, Dolores O’Neill doing the bucket collections and Dessie OKeeney and Mooney boats providing the van for registering.
Hopefully we raised plenty and when the final monies are all taken in we will announce it here later in the week hopefully.
Well done to all
Nice turbot for Cormac Duddy
Go fishing…
Join the club
Mariners sea angling club, Killybegs Co Donegal. The club runs a shore league and boat competitions and angling trips around Ireland doing the sport we love. Get in touch at www.facebook.com/mariner.sac
Ireland on the Fly with Tom & Daire is back for another year, another season and more interviews and conversations in 2024, and to kick things off they’re joined on this week’s episode by Shane Gallagher of the Drowes Fishery where the season traditionally starts on January 1st.
The River Drowse on opening day, Jan 1st 2024
Shane has all the latest from the opening few days, including news of the first salmon of the season from the Leannan River which was a fresh fish off Watts Pool caught by local angler James Kenny on a pink Flying C. The salmon was measured at 69cm and estimated to weigh 8lbs.
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Inland Fisheries Ireland’s National Research Survey Programme has today publised 16 reports. Each report summarises the results of the 2022 fish stock survey carried out on the lake using Inland Fisheries Ireland’s fish in lakes monitoring protocol. The protocol is WFD compliant and provides insight into fish stock status in the lake.
Salmon fishing in Ireland has seen many changes over the last fifty years. Changes in equipment, changes in access to waters, changes in water quality, changes in numbers of returning fish and changes in rules & regulations. One thing that has remained in all this time is how we still what to honour & celebrate that big fish. Whether a large fish is taken on a big river like the Suir or on a wee spate river like the Owenduff, you’ll hear about it. It’s that kind of news, it spreads like wildfire and always did. It gives us the belief that maybe the next day out, it will be possible to have the big one at the end of our line.
This coming season we are launching the FISH-LIVE-LEARN with Glenda Powell Irish Salmon Challenge. This challenge will endeavour to elevate the big salmon of Ireland back to the heights they deserve, while also promoting the conservation of the species. For many years we’ve made the fish itself the trophy, with this challenge we’re allowing anglers to return the fish and still have the catch honoured. The trophy is a specially designed and commissioned traditional Irish Bodhran, crafted in Connemara for us by Malachy Kearns and his team at Roundstone Musical Instruments.
Cadence Fly Fishing, Bertha’s Gin, FishPal, Celtic Fly Craft & the Irish Fly Fair have all kindly donated prizes for the lucky winner and of course their name & catch will be engraved onto the trophy. We’re really looking forward to seeing some really be fish from throughout the country this year. We explain the rules & regulations regarding how to make your entry into the FISH-LIVE-LEARN with Glenda Powell Irish Salmon Challenge in the link below.
For full list of rules & to find out more on the challenge:
The final leg of the 2023 Leinster League was held at Kilcoole last Saturday, and it was run in conjunction with the inaugural Eddie Bermingham Memorial Trophy. Coming into the competition three anglers were in with a shout of the league title, and as luck would have it, all three were drawn in the same zone.
It became obvious from the first cast that there were plenty of hungry dabs and whiting around, and catches were thick and fast from the off. However, many lines were also reeled in with the terminal tackle missing, with spurdogs the possible culprits making off with anglers’ rigs.
The cup competition was a tight call, with Dean Costelloe just edging out Eamon Bermingham to win the match and cup on the day. Then it was time to tot up the points to see who had come out on top of the Leinster League competition. And once the figures were checked and double-checked, it was Ciaran Fogarty from Southshore SAC who just pipped Paul Tyndal into second, with brother Karl Fogarty finishing third.
Spending most of Christmas day indoors assembling different things took its toll on both me and Anthony. Taking a quick look at the weather forecast, Tuesday looked like it was going to be the best chance of a breakout for us. On Christmas Day, Anthony’s grandad told him many fishing tales and stories of enormous fish he had encountered on some of his trips to the river. Growing up just outside Gowran, the River Barrow was quite close and most of my childhood fishing was done there. With his grandads’ stories echoing in his mind (and Anthony’s imagination putting a bit of a gloss on it), guess where we were heading on St. Stephen’s Day!
As Anthony’s grandad’s sole witness to these enormous pike, and perch I was asked plenty of questions and cross examined by Anthony. When I think back to when I was Anthony’s age, my imagination did paint a different picture than “reality.” I remember seeing a salmon jump for the first time, perhaps a fish of 7 or 8 pounds, but to my young eyes, this was a beast; how would I land such a creature if I was lucky enough to hook one?
As St. Stephen’s day arrived, we were up quite early and headed to Gowran to dig some worms as we had decided to try canals for perch, roach and dace. I couldn’t help taking the fly rod with me, as I could at least get some practice in casting over water. We had some layers pellets with us, so we added some water, mashed bread, some soil to darken the mix and a couple of handfuls of chopped worms.
Arriving at the river it was high and slightly coloured; the canal was going to be our best bet today. Packing up and heading to the canal, we had a nice chat on the way, and I again underwent some strong cross-examination on grandad’s stories. Anthony would ask me about different locations that his grandad had nicknamed and, of course, there was a huge fish associated with each spot.
As we arrived at each spot, Anthony asked me to name them. We had gone what we called “Bull way” today due to a bull being in the field many years ago, original! The river showed up some likely-looking spots, and we did see some fish show ahead of us in the flat water, so we had plenty of hope. I mixed the ground bait up and threw in a few golf ball sized pieces to see what kind of reaction I got from the fish. Casting in the float we watched it carefully and were just glad to be out. Surprisingly, it didn’t take too long for the float to sink off slowly to one side, and we hit our first roach of the day. Some roach and dace followed, Anthony spotted a little area just above me that he liked the look of, so he moved there to give it a try. As he was up there, I took the fly rod and began casting about a bit – just practicing really – when I heard a shout and some heavy fast footsteps coming my way. Anthony was running towards me, cradling a small dace with some lacerations from its dorsal to its tail, ‘Dad – a massive pike came up when I was reeling in the dace and tried to grab it and take it; it must be the one grandad lost!!’
I sent Anthony to the tackle bag and told him to grab the pike flies, I set up the rod for pike, and we made our way to the scene of the attack. I had done some casting with Anthony before, so he knew how to handle and cast a sink-tip line. Anthony made a few casts across the area where the pike was, but no interest. We decided to count the fly down and fished at different depths – which paid off. Anthony drew back the fly and the water erupted with small dace and roach jumping for freedom followed by a flash, the pike was on! The fish took Anthony all over the canal and made some good runs – really giving him a feel for a pike on the fly. Watching his face as the pike leapt from the water was just fantastic. I walked slowly for the net to give Anthony some alone time fighting his prize. As the net went under the fish Anthony let a sigh of relief and I knew how he felt.
Anthony’s prize
The pike was a nice fish, with a couple of scars and fantastic colours. What really hit home was how Anthony acted after the fish was caught, it was all about the fish. He wanted a quick picture and to help the fish recover, something I had taught him to do with every fish. As the pike recovered, he said, “Thanks Mr. Pike, see you next time”. A truly great day and a day where I got to see how Anthony is progressing on his angling journey.
Growing up in the countryside of Gowran, Co.Kilkenny, I started my fishing journey on the River Barrow with my dad, which is where I caught my first fish, a lovely brown trout. The Gowran River was also a short walk from my homeplace, and on the days my dad couldn’t fish, I would walk through the fields and fish the Gowran River. My love for fishing grew and took me to Mount Juliet Estate, where I began guiding at 13. I went on to become fisheries manager at Mount Juliet Estate and, to this day, enjoy taking out hundreds of clients every year fishing on the River Nore. I enjoy all types of fishing and guide all over Ireland. I am an Apgai Ireland-qualified casting instructor and have Ambassador roles with Cadence and Yeti. I joined Fulling Mill as an endorsed pro guide and am part of the Patagonia pro team. My angling journey has been an exciting one and hopefully will continue to be.
I take out all levels of anglers, from beginner to experienced. I enjoy what I do and count myself very lucky to be able to meet and guide new people to what might be their first Irish fish.
Castle Maiden
Manannan Mac Lir
Mariners sea angling club, Killybegs Co Donegal. The club runs a shore league and boat competitions and angling trips around Ireland doing the sport we love. Get in touch at 
