PiscariFly Christmas Special – 28th December at 8.30pm
Peter Driver won’t be doing his thing on Christmas Eve but he will be back LIVE on Wednesday the 28th of December for the PiscariFly Christmas Special – 28th December at 8.30pm on his Facebook page.
Peter has a great show lined up with a night of fly tying, chat and fun. There are some massive giveaways on offer and of course you can expect some great Special Guests.
It will be happening LIVE on the Piscari Fly Facebook page. Tune in at 8.30 on Wednesday 28th and don’t miss a great night of fly tying & chat
Peter has other Chrismas promotions running on the PiscariFly Facebook page but you have to visit to have a chance of winning the fishmas hampers on offer!
Peter has a great show lined up every Saturday at 8.30pm on the Piscari Fly facebook page. If you can’t watch live on his Facebook page you can always watch back on YouTube.
Catch this season’s previous episodes
As ever you can catch up on past episodes at the PiscariFly YouTube channel where all our episodes can be watched at your leisure.
Winter Live Fly Tying Session Season 3 Episode 8 Nymphing November. Peter Driver ties some cracking Grayling Nymphs and looks forward to the Hanak European Grayling Festival on the River Dee in Wales
For all your fly tying and fly fishing needs. Stocking rods, reels, clothing water etc
Guiding
Want to improve or learn any aspects of your fly fishing? Then why not give us a shout and we will look after you. Fishing available locally on the River Nore at Thomastown and other club water by arrangement. We have also teamed up with Blackwater Trout and Salmon fishery to offer you an amazing fishing experience with over 8km of amazing river to be discovered.
Full & Half Guided days
One to one coaching
Master classes
Groups and Clubs welcome
Nymphing. Dry Fly. Wet Fly. Streamer. Dry Dropper
Instruction
Peter Driver is a qualified casting instructor with APAGI, and advanced qualified fly dresser with APAGI. He specialises in competition nymphs and fishing, Irish lake flies, streamers and lures.
As a qualified casting instructor with APAGI I Peter offers casting clinic’s and lessons, to suit your desires. Being able to cast correctly and have a good understanding of the mechanics of casting is a solid foundation in fly fishing that will pay off in your fishing, be it rivers or lakes.
Ted Hughes talks to the Ireland on the Fly Book Club
Ireland on the Fly Book Club Ep #2: The Catch: Fishing for Ted Hughes & the influence of Ireland on his fishing & writing
As it’s the run-up to Christmas, Daire and Tom have got another instalment of their Ireland on the Fly book club this week on the show and they’re discussing Ted Hughes and the influence of Ireland and Irish fly fishing on his poetry with Mark Wormald, a Cambridge lecturer and fly angler, who has written a superb book called The Catch: Fishing for Ted Hughes.
Using Hughes’s poetry collection River and his fishing diaries as a guide, Mark returns again and again to the rivers and lakes in Britain and Ireland where the poet fished.
They also have a signed copy of Mark’s book to give away and to be in with a chance of winning The Catch, tell them the name of one of Ted Hughes’s poems and email the answer to [email protected].
They’ll contact the winner then over Christmas and have the book posted out to him/her.
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.
After the very mild autumn we have enjoyed here, winter has started with a frozen blast of icy Arctic air. Temperatures plummeted this week, with night-time temperatures as low as -8C in places, and most areas barely getting above freezing during the day. Given the frigid conditions, many waters, particularly smaller lakes have been freezing over at night. Although the cold snap is forecast to end by Sunday, anglers are advised to check before travelling if their chosen water is ice-free. Perhaps most applicable to trout anglers travelling to put-and-take fisheries with a phone number to call!
Cong River on a frosty day
Sea
Given the cold temperatures, it is no surprise that angling news this week is dominated by the sea. The All Ireland Cod Championship competition was held last Saturday, with a cod of 44cm winning Troy Francis the cod title. JP Molloy won the overall competition with some fine fishing in cold conditions. Well done to both!
JP with a fine painted ray
Daragh McGuinness made a winning return to angling on Friday night, taking leg 8 of the Killybegs Mariners winter league. David Norman from West Cork Bass took advantage of calmer weather to get out on the kayak and reported frantic sport, with pollack into double figures smashing lures and flies. This fine pollack is our Catch of the Week.
Mick Flanagan of Midlands Angling and Shooting was out after sub-zero pike with long-time visitor Dominic Rickards from Brighton. Although days on the water are much shorter at this time of year, they managed some fine pike for their day out.
A cold start!
Newbridge Pike Anglers wrapped up their 2022 season on Sunday in freezing temperatures. Fears that the lake venue would be prozen proved unfounded, and the 28 anglers found the pike in a feeding mood. 29 pike were landed, including nine doubles and three PBs!
Salmon
Salmon angling news is scarce at this time of year, with anglers looking ahead to the start of the new season shortly. A welcome read at this time of year is the Delphi newsletter, beautifully written and edited by fishery manager David McEvoy as always.
I have had the pleasure of fishing with Scottish angler and fly dresser, Stan Headley, the inventor of the Octopus fly, a number of times. Jackie Mahon’s post this week pays tribute to the Octopus, and shows a couple of variants that Jackie reckons works very well on Irish waters.
Picric Octopus
In Other News….
Inland Fisheries Ireland owns the fishing rights to a wide range of these fisheries in Ireland and these State owned fishing rights are made available for licence to interested angling clubs every year. The tender process for IFI State Fisheries for 2023 is now open, so if your club wants to tender for one or more fisheries please visit our dedicated State Fisheries webpage to apply.
Due to unprecedented demand, our measuring mats ran out of stock in September, and we are delighted to say that they are back in stock. 100cm and 230cm mats can be ordered here.
Smaller 100cm measuring mat
The new salmon season is less than a month away and with a number of prolific fisheries opening on the 1st of January, Salmon Licences are already on sale. Licences can be bought online at https://store.fishinginireland.info/, with prices remaining the same as 2022. Various permits for next season can also be purchased online at https://permits.fishinginireland.info/ .
Inland Fisheries Ireland has launched a funding call of up to €1 million, to support vital conservation projects around the country through the Salmon and Sea Trout Rehabilitation, Conservation and Protection Fund. From now until December 16th, eligible angling clubs, fishery owners and other stakeholders are invited to express their interest in applying for funding to support fisheries conservation through Inland Fisheries Ireland’s ‘Habitats and Conservation’ scheme. For more details check out the Funding Call Guide here. Closing date for expressions of interest is 5.30pm today!
And now the weather
After a week of frost and sub-zero temperatures, a gradual change is on the way. Remaining cold today with temps of 0 to +4C. dry at first but showers moving in from the northwest, some wintry in places. Rain falling on frozen surfaces may create dangerous driving conditions, so take care.
Saturday will be cold again, mostly dry but with showers in southern and western coastal counties. Temperatures of 1-4C inland, but 5-8C in coastal areas in light to moderate SW winds. Rain spreading from the south on Saturday night will bring a rise in temperatures, and by Sunday we could be enjoying a positively balmy 12-13C. Fresh and gusty southerly winds sweep away the cold, with outbreaks of rain and drizzle.
Mild and breezy on Monday with outbreaks of rain in the south and west, extending to all areas in the afternoon. Maximum temperatures of 10 to 13 degrees in fresh southwest winds. Windy again on Tuesday with sunny spells and scattered showers, some of the showers heavy with hail in Atlantic coastal counties. Maximum temperatures of 7 to 10 degrees in strong and gusty southwest winds, with gales at the coast.
Newbridge District Pike Anglers wrapped up a great 2022 last week, with their final competition of the year, the Horgan Cup. As temperatures plummeted in the lead-up to the competition, there was a serious concern that the lake venue would be frozen over, but the 28 anglers who braved the cold were delighted to see the lake was fully fishable when they arrived. It didn’t take long for them to realise that the pike were in biting mood, as no sooner than baits were in the water than the bite alarms started screeching, and anglers were straight into fish. A total of 29 fish were caught under beautiful blue skies on a crisp winter’s day, with the tally including nine doubles and three PBs.
Horgan Cup winner for 2022 season is:
1st Dylan Phelan 18.8 hf (new pb) 33.10 bag 2 fish
2nd Darren Doyle 12.15 hf 32lb 3 fish
3rd Glenn Kiely 16.9 (new pb)
4th Bernard Cloeman 12.6 (new pb) 4th place went to 2nd heaviest fish so again huge well done to Dylan Glenn and Bernard on your new pbs
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That wrapped up a very successful 2022 for the club, which saw a total of 638 pike caught and released and a new club record set for a 30lb fish. Hats off to them for their great turnouts at their competitions and they have certainly kept us entertained by their exploits during the year.
The All Ireland Cod Championships competition was held on Youghal beach last Saturday evening, hosted by the Sea Angling Ireland club. 30 anglers braved the cold weather and were rewarded with some very nice fish.
Sunset on Youghal beach.
The cod champion of 2022 was Troy Francis, from Tralee Bay SAC, with a nice codling of 44cm. At least some cod were caught this year!
Troy Francis with his cod and a thornback ray
The competition was also fished as a regular match, with that man again, JP Molloy taking the overall win. JP caught 10 fish for 462 points, and also took prizes for the longest ray and longest round fish (not cod).
JP with a fine painted rayAnd a thornieJohn Diamond presents JP with his prize(s!)
Zone prizes were won by Stephen O’Donovan, Darren Ryan and Derek Kenrick. The longest flatfish prize was shared by Mike Francis and James Murphy O’Connor.
Unlike bigger sports such as athletics, rowing, etc, angling teams representing Ireland have to dig deep into their own pockets to fish for their country in international competitions abroad. This usually means travelling in advance, spending considerable time practising at unfamiliar venues, and spending considerable money on travel and accommodation too. The dedication of these anglers is unquestioned, and has produced superb results on the world stage in the past, including team and individual gold medals.
While senior anglers in full-time employment can save and afford these trips, junior anglers have little means to do so. Even a home championships means travel and accommodation locally. Hence the Irish under-21 team are holding a fundraiser on December 28th to raise money for the 2023 World Championships.
Fishing out of Cobh, the competition is open to all, with lots of great prizes on offer, including heaviest edible fish, longest fish of several species, most species, ladies and junior prizes.
See the poster below for details and contacts to book your place.
South Shore SAC’s Christmas competition and last leg of the Master angler competition took place in Brittas Bay last weekend. Some fifty seven seniors and eight junior anglers participated in the Master Angler series and it was Thomas Keogh who headed the senior field, winning the Master angler title for the umpteenth time.
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Congratulations to Arunas winning the shield title and claiming a stop in next year’s Master angler. Last but not least a huge well done to Evan Mason who won the junior Master Angler in his first full year of match angling!
Competitors were treated to a visit from Santa Claus and one of his elves for the prizegiving, topping off a great day out for all involved!
The Ireland on the Fly podcast talks to well-known Saltwater Flyfishing Guide Richie Ryan about flyfishing for Pollack
if you’re into saltwater fly fishing, by all accounts, 2022 seems to have been the year of the pollack with large numbers and large sizes of the fish being caught right throughout the season.
Are we seeing more pollack being caught because more anglers are targeting them on the fly? And, what’s happened to the bass?
To find out more, for this week’s Ireland on the Fly podcast, Tom and Daire are joined by Richie Ryan, the Cork guide specialising in catching pollack on the fly.
Richie told the lads of incredible days with 30-40 pollack being caught, how and when to target them and why, for him, bass is now playing second fiddle to pollack when it comes to his saltwater fly fishing.
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.
Kit Dunne reports some spurdog and other mixed species at the recent Wicklow Bay SAC Competition. A few anglers managed to fill the Spurdog quota in the species comp; other species landed on the day included dogfish, pouting, poorcod, whiting, coalie and pollock.
Jack Byrne topped the field, he took a fine Penn Reel and the Credit Union perpetual Cup.
Unfortunately there were no specimen spurs on the day, but a good show of young pups bodes well for the future.
Cold at sea
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Go Fishing
Angling Charters are offered on a full-day, half-day and evening trip basis and can be tailored to suit your needs. Two boats available – Lisin 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.
SPECIALIST ANGLING CHARTERS
Specialist Angling Charters are offered for those who wish to target specific species, specimen fish or try new methods of angling.
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.
Mick Flanagan of Midlands Angling and Shooting has been on the trail of sub zero pike in recent days with old pal Dominic Rickards from Brighton. Dominic takes advantage of his work trips to Ireland to get out on the water after some midland pike, but hadn’t been able to get over since pre-lockdowns.
Sub zero piking
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A cold start!
Thankfully, the pike were obliging on the day and the pair managed to get some nice fish before the sun set into the gloom. Not a bad day on the water.
Make a booking
Midlands Angling provide a top class Guiding service covering many of the top coarse and game waters across the Midlands. Visiting fly anglers have landed some fine trout while out with Midland Angling Guides, pike anglers also recorded some net bursting catches including many pike over 20lbs. Top waters include Lough Ree, Ennell, Owel, Lene, Mount Dalton, and Glore Lake just to mention a few. Michael Flanagan Midland Angling
Pike and Trout angling guide. Telephone: +353 (0)44 9348969 or +353 (0)87 2797270 Fax: +353 (0)44 9342781 Email:[email protected]Web:www.midlandangling.com
