The Limerick County Pike Anglers held their last competition of the year last Sunday. The pike certainly had an appetite on the day, and plenty of fish were landed. Tommy Williams took the top spot with a 51lb+ bag, and Barry O’Donnell came second with a bag of 39lb+. Best fish of the day went to Robert Barrett with a pike of 9lb 4oz.
The final leg of this year’s Munster Shore League is scheduled to be held this weekend at Youghal Beach. But with the weather looking a bit dicey, the organisers are keeping a close eye on developments. They do have a Plan B, a switch of venue to the Slob Bank, and will make a final call on it by Thursday night.
All entries must be confirmed by 12 noon, this Friday.
Prize Giving:
After the match, presentations for the 2025 Munster Shore League will take place in The Walter Raleigh Hotel, Youghal.
Accommodation Offers:
Report below sourced from the Ulster Krakens Facebook Page:
Last weekend, the Ulster Krakens fished their final match of the year, a fixture carrying significant weight with several league positions still to be decided. Raymond and Ally entered the event tied at the top of the league, while the Masters Angler title remained a three-way battle between David, Stephen Kinning and Andy.
The match was fished over the ebb and the rising tide on a beach that, although historically productive, has been heavily reshaped by storms over the past year. Lines hit the water at 5pm, and early catches came quickly along the shoreline, with Conor and David getting off to strong starts.
By around 8pm the fishing slowed dramatically for most competitors, with only Marc and Conor maintaining steady returns. Then Fra cast out and hooked into a superb 43cm bass almost instantly, claiming the biggest fish of the night.
Lines were lifted at 10pm, and anglers returned to the car park to learn the final standings.
Results:
1st: Conor Webster – 18 fish + 2 undersized, 411 points
2nd: Marc Wilson – 17 fish + 2 undersized, 405 points
3rd: Raymond McCann – 18 fish + 4 undersized, 399 points
4th: David Rainey – 14 fish, 313 points
5th: Fra Mahoney – 11 fish, 276 points
Species caught: bass, flounder, dab, pouting, whiting, cod and rockling.
Biggest fish: Fra Mahoney – 43cm bass.
Raymond McCann was congratulated on retaining the overall trophy for the third consecutive year. Ally was praised for pushing him to the very end, missing out by just a single point. Conor received recognition for winning his first club match—an especially impressive achievement in his first year of match fishing. Special credit was also given to Craig, who, despite major health challenges and a partial foot amputation last year, fished every match this season and secured an admirable third place overall.
Season Awards:
Overall Winner: Raymond McCann
Ladies Master Angler: Pamela Stewart
Most Species: Stephen Kinning
Biggest Round Fish: Pamela Stewart
Biggest Flat Fish: David / Gavin Mahaffy
The VDE Baggers were back on the River Erne over the weekend for the 5th round of their Winter League competition. They used some strategic pegging to avoid dead areas and managed to get all their anglers on fish.
Unfortunately, the marina at Bellenaleck didn’t fish quite as well as it had during recent matches, but anglers still managed to post decent weights, none better than Peter Jones, who used his 8m pole to good effect, bagging a fine weight of 8.44kg. Rodney Topping came in second, just 90 ahead of Paul Hutchman in third.
Padraig English, of Lough Pike and Trout, plans to get more pike fishing in this winter and hopes to get more content up on his YouTube channel. Padraig has some nice instructional videos up on the channel already, but now he’s on a mission to get a monster for his subscribers before the pike season is out.
In this episode, Padraig and his partner for the day, Morgan, fish deadbaits into deeper water in the hope that that is where the big pike are holding up. Padraig doesn’t bag the biggest pike he’s ever caught, but he does manage a couple of nice pike on a cool, calm day somewhere in Meath.
If you like Padraig’s videos, don’t forget to like and subscribe to the channel.
You can also check out Padraig’s TikTok to see plenty more pike fishing content and read more about fishing in Meath/Cavan border area here:
T
he past week in Ireland brought a mix of blustery winds, passing showers, and brief calmer spells, giving coarse and pike anglers plenty of changing conditions to work with. Cooler temperatures and shifting pressure made freshwater fishing a bit unpredictable, though pike showed decent activity during short pressure lifts. Sea anglers were also impacted by the unsettled weather, with shore fishing often hindered by strong tides and weedy conditions.
Starting with pike fishing, Guided Predator Angling, based in Enniskillen, reported good results over the past few days, with several clients landing quality fish despite challenging conditions. Meanwhile, Bodo Funke of Angling Services Ireland sent an update on the late-autumn pike fishing in the Boyle area, where longtime client Michael from Germany enjoyed an excellent three-day trip, catching several good pike – including a fine Esox lucius measuring 107 cm, which earns our Catch of the Week.
Elsewhere in pike fishing, the Dromod/Rooskey Pike Angling Club will host its Darragh Healy Cup Open Boat Competition this weekend, while IFPAC has announced the return of its Boat Competition next February, building on the success of last year’s event.
Over to coarse angling, where several competitions took place over the past week – often in cold, testing conditions. Munster Coarse Anglers braved biting winds and flooded fields to fish the fourth round of their winter series on the Lower Shannon. Enfield Coarse Anglers also endured a tough day during the fifth and final round of the Royal Enfield Winter League, held last Sunday in freezing conditions along the Royal Canal. Cavan CAC faced similarly challenging weather during their fourth league match of 2025/26 on a Leitrim lake last weekend. So all in all, it was a demanding week for coarse anglers across the board.
In his latest River Whispers piece, Dan O’Neill of Trout Fishing Ireland also touches on coarse angling. With rivers now in flood and visibility low, Dan has turned to canal fishing, focusing on quiet margin tactics, light floats, and natural baits such as worms. This week, however, he guided Russ, an experienced saltwater fly angler from the US, at Southern County Fishing Resort, where they enjoyed excellent rainbow trout sport using sink-tip lines.
It was also a rather quiet week on the sea angling front, and as a result we received only a handful of reports from competitions fished around the coast. Up north, Killybegs Mariners held outing number nine of their popular winter league at Mullaghmore Beach in generally calm conditions. Further along the Antrim Coast, the Ulster Krakens Open Competition took place at Waterfoot, where some decent flatfish were landed despite tricky conditions. On the east coast, the final day of the 2025 Leinster League was fished at Kilcoole. Although the day began in bright, calm weather, the fishing proved slow, affected by strong tides and weed. Finally, Ardmore AC hosted their first-ever John Cronin Memorial Competition on Ballyquinn Beach, Co. Waterford. Despite a quiet start, anglers caught some fine ray, bullhuss, and whiting, making for an enjoyable event overall.
Finally, we would like to draw your attention to a brand-new book on sea trout by retired fishery scientist and angler Dr. Paddy Gargan. At 368 pages, The Connemara Sea-Trout Fisheries offers a comprehensive and engaging history of these iconic fisheries, richly illustrated with atmospheric photographs, detailed maps, and informative diagrams.
Other news
Salmon Regulations 2026
The Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment has opened a public consultation on the Wild Salmon and Sea Trout Tagging Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 2025 and Conservation Measures for 2026. Details of the proposed regulations and information on how to make a submission are available here: Wild Salmon and Sea Trout Regs and Conservation Measures for the 2026 Season announced. The closing date for submissions is 5.30pm on 20 December 2025.
The coming days will be changeable, with a mix of rain, showers, and occasional dry spells. Temperatures will turn milder, ranging from 5–13 °C. Friday night and Saturday will see scattered showers, easing into sunnier spells by Saturday afternoon, though winds will be fresh to strong at times. Rain spreads again Saturday night into Sunday, clearing northeastwards by midday for a drier, sunnier afternoon. Monday starts mostly dry with some sun before cloud and rain move in later. Overall, unsettled conditions with blustery winds and further rain are expected through the week.
Don’t forget to double-check the forecast before heading off, and if you’re going to sea, check the tides.
Safe fishing to all and tight lines, especially here in Ireland.
IFI Staff
Catch, Photo, Release
If you have an angling story to share with the Irish Angling Update, please send it to [email protected].
Every year around this time we share a few Christmas gift ideas – for those looking for a little stocking filler for the angler in their life. Well if the angler in your life enjoys flyfishing for salmon, sea trout or brown trout, they might love this brand new book by retired fishery scientist and angler Dr. Paddy Gargan. ‘The Connemara Sea Trout Fisheries‘ was launched this week at Lough Inagh Lodge, and has been warmly received.
At 368 pages, this is a work of enormous hard work and meticulous research. A comprehensive and entertaining history of the Connemara sea-trout fisheries, beautifully illustrated with atmospheric photographs, detailed maps and diagrams. In Part One there are instructive introductions to the fisheries where sea-trout can be found to this day and in-depth histories of the loughs, rivers and characters that make up those renowned fisheries. Part Two of the book describes recommended flies for sea-trout in the Connemara fisheries, and insights into which flies fish best on individual waters and in various weather conditions; an introduction to the biology of sea-trout, and the impact of sea-lice from commercial fish farming; and a list of the largest sea-trout caught in Connemara.
I received a signed copy from the author and having had a quick flick through, I can say it is a wonderfully illustrated book, with beautiful photos by Jaques Piraprez (and many others) and wonderful maps by Padraig Costello and Bryan Kennedy, as well as expertly-tied flies by Declan Tuffy and photographed by Peter Gathercole. I cannot wait to get a couple of hours away from the kids and sit down to enjoy it more thoroughly.
The Connemara Sea Trout Fisheries is published by Coch-y-Bonddu Books, and available from their website here, or on Amazon here. The first print run is just 500 copies, so get yours now before they’re gone! I believe there may also be a few copies available from Freeneys tackle shop in Shop Street, Galway. (Freeneys is also one of Galway’s best pubs with a large whiskey selection, and I can’t think of anywhere better to sit and enjoy a read of this great book with a nice dram).
Killybegs Mariners report from their latest winter league outing fished at Mullaghmore…
Mariners league outing number 9 took place under calm conditions on Mullaghmore with a sharp cold breeze to start the night that faded away into more pleasurable weather as the night went on.
Plenty of fish from the off as the rod tip was nodding almost as soon as baits hit the water, but the problem was most were under our 20cm minimum size limit so that anglers use bigger baits and hooks to stop the targeting of small fish and deep hooking. Plenty of small whiting for everyone and dabs, trout and coleys for the lucky few boosting their species count.
The end pegs further over had most of the counting size fish with flounders to 28cm for Chris but the winning longest flattie prize was won by Daragh McGuinness with a 21cm flounder. In 2nd overall with 3 counting flounder, dab, coley and whiting and 179 pts was Pat Cunningham. And in 1st place with 4 counting flounder along with dab, coley and whiting for 197pts well done Chris Whyte who leads the league overall with 3 left to fish. Well done to all the winners and everyone out taking part.
The next Mariners league outing (number 10 of 12) will take place this Saturday December 6th as a daylight outing on Silver Strand
Guided Predator Angling, based in Enniskillen, reported some strong results over the past few days, with several clients landing quality pike despite challenging conditions. On one particularly tough session, there were only three runs—yet all three produced fish. The highlight came in the final 30 minutes, when the best pike of the outing finally took the bait and lifted spirits all around.
The team noted that the wildly changing weather hasn’t made things easy, with a mix of snow, rain, frost, brief warm spells, and more rain and frost cycling through. A bit of settled winter weather would go a long way, but even in these unsettled conditions, the fishing continues to deliver.
Bodo Funke of Angling Services Ireland reports…
Michael from Germany, one of our most frequent and loyal guests, returned for a quick November trip. Despite generally challenging late-autumn conditions, the fishing did not disappoint. His impressive 107 cm pike came late in the day, but it certainly made the session and put a perfect finishing touch on the outing. The fish smashed his Westin Swim lure, which proved to be a solid choice throughout the trip. Over the course of his three days with us, Michael landed several more quality pike, making it another memorable visit.
Pike, Game and Coarse fishing Guide
Notes: Angling Services Ireland are based in Boyle, Co. Roscommon, in the North-West of Ireland, an area with many superb angling opportunities.
The Proprietor Bodo Funke holds the Marine and Countryside Guiding Certificate (achieved with distinction) and his expertise and local knowledge will be to your avail when you go on a guided angling trip or angling holiday with Angling Services Ireland. Pike fishing, Fly-fishing for Pike, Game fishing for wild Brown Trout, Float- tubing, Coarse fishing. Salmon fishing and Sea-angling can be organised.
Address: Angling Services Ireland, 3 Canal View, Deerpark, Boyle, Co. Roscommon
Telephone/Fax::+353 71 9663580 or +353 86 6011878
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.anglingservicesireland.com
