The Irish Federation of Sea Anglers held the Shore Master Angler competition over the weekend. The prestigious Master Angler title is keenly contested, with the top anglers from clubs up and down the country vying for the title, and the chance to captain Ireland at a World Championships. Places in the men’s “fish-offs” – the qualifier to make the Irish team are also up for grabs. The top 5 in the ladies event would qualify by right.
A busy scene on the beach
This year the event was based in Northern Ireland, with sessions fished at Benone and Whiterocks beaches. The weather proved challenging at times, with a big swell and tides making for tricky fishing.
Tracey Whelan with a double shot
Some anglers were doing very well after one or two sessions only to see everything come crashing down with one bad result. Consistency was definitely the key to success.
Watching the rod tip and waiting for a bite is Joe Chambers from Corrane SAC
Great job Glengormley!
Northern club Glengormley & District SAC were definitely winners on the weekend, taking both main titles home.
Lisa Gormley was the Ladies Master Angler for 2021, with a first, second and third placing in the 3 sessions giving her a comfortable win on 27 points. Tracey Whelan (Tramore/Waterford SAC) was second on 23 points, with Rosaleene Murphy (Tralee Bay SAC) third, also on 23 points. Also qualifying for the Irish team were Linda Manton (Lisdoonvarna/Fanore SAC) and Linda Snoddy (Glengormley).
Master Angler Lisa Gormley with a nice flounder
Also representing Glengormley brilliantly was Raymond McCann, Mr. Consistency with three second-place finishes to top the table on 72 points. Jordan Muir from the BASS club was second on 70 points. David Farrelly from South Shore SAC finished third on 67 points. Well done to all!
Glengormley & District SAC winners. Master Anglers Raymond McCann and Lisa Gormley with their trophies. Also receiving prizes were Tommy Carnegie and Linda Snoddy who both finished 5th, with Linda making the Irish team that Lisa will captain.
All photos courtesy of Neil Coulter who kindly made them available to us. You can check out his photography here.
Alison OSullivan with one of her fish on BenoneWading out for another cast
Coarse angler JP Molloy, fresh from his win in the Munster Closed, trying to convince the stewards of the merits of coarse fishing.
Get Involved
The IFSA has clubs up and down the country, all of whom welcome new members. Most clubs will have introductory sessions for new anglers. While competition fishing is the lifeblood of many clubs, it is not all about competition – there is plenty of enjoyable fishing and good craic to be had with new friends. Find your local sea angling club on www.ifsa.ie
David Norman of West Cork Bass reports that wrasse fishing can extended well into November and even December, when the conditions allow…
At this time of year, if the conditions remain calm, we often get really nice deep water Wrasse here in beautiful West Cork as you can see from today’s photo.
Wrasse will often take a lure out of aggression
They’ll attack lures intended for much bigger prey out of pure aggression in this case the Pirate Lures Teaser 15 and give a really good account of themselves in the process!
If you consider there’s a strong chance of encountering them along with Codling, Coalfish and pretty much a guarantee of Pollock, all of which can be caught on fly as well as lure, that’s got to be a good target list for the saltwater angler in late November and into December…
When you see photos of anglers fishing on charter boats in their t-shirts in mid-November, it’s a sure sign that we are experiencing a prolonged mild spell this autumn, and mean air temperatures over the past week have been up to 3.5 degrees above average. The rain has been holding off too, with most places recording a drier than average week, particularly along the east coast. The dry weather is set to continue over the next week, but colder weather will take hold over the weekend, so today would be a great day to be out chasing a few pike, as they are well known to become active ahead of a cold front coming in…
And pike anglers were pretty active over the past week as angling clubs have been continuing their competitions, and guides have been getting some nice fish for themselves and their clients. Last weekend, Keady & District Angling Club took a trip to Lough Muckno with anglers travelling from far afield to fish in their Fergal Donnelly Memorial Cup. Fishing was patchy during the day, but there were some decent fish caught, including one of 18lb 10oz for Dominic McClosky, which won the day for him.
Dominic’s winning fish of 18lb 10oz
Kevin Lyons of Melview Lodge welcomed some regulars back to Longford during the week. Initially, they were faced with higher than expected water levels, meaning some of their usual spots were unfishable. But Eddy and Ivan stuck at it, and over the last three days of their trip the water levels started to drop, the pike came on the feed, and they bagged some quality fish up to 105cm. They are already looking forward to their next trip in April 2022. Bodo Funke of Angling Services Ireland took a break between guiding sessions last week, and decided to target some pike on the fly. Paying attention to the fish finder allowed him to zone in on the likely spots, and it paid off as he landed a pike of 105cm, a cracking fish on a fly rod.
Great pike on the fly for Bodo Funke
Simon Gibson from Guided predator Angling held a raffle recently with the prize of a day’s guided angling for the winners. Benny McGuinness won the raffle and brought his brother Gary along for the day. It seems their luck didn’t stop at winning the raffle as the guys made the most of their day out, managing to land three pike for three meters along with plenty of smaller ones. The epic day was captured on video and wins this weeks Catch of the Week.
Many coarse angling clubs are busy holding winter leagues at the moment, and the C/M Lakelands Feeder Club were up on L. Muckno last week. It seems the mild weather had the fish in a hungry mood, and there were some hefty bags with the top spot going to Robert Ziltas with a super bag of 10.77kg. Up on the River Erne, the Erne Anglers continued their winter league as 34 anglers turned out to fish a fast and clear running river. The top spot on the day went to Paul Smith, who won the match for the second week in a row, using a 6-meter whip to land 9.9kg.
Nice bag, including a late-season tench from the Erne
Sea angling clubs can also be busy at this time of year, with plenty of shore angling competitions being held on our beaches. Cobh SAC has announced the dates for the Munster Light Lines League 2021/22, and those that are interested better get their names in early as places are limited. One of the most prestigious competitions on the Irish circuit is the Munster Closed Shore competition which was held over three sessions at venues around Youghal last week. Fishing was tough, and anglers had to work hard and adapt to score well, but after three challenging and varied sessions, JP Molloy came out on top and landed the trophy.
It’s getting close to Christmas now, and we’ll all be wracking our brains to come up with presents for friends and family. For those with an angler in the family, fishing based gifts are always welcome but not always easy to choose. So it helps when David Dennis, a top Irish angler, brings out a book telling the story of his angling life, packed full of tips, tricks and tales of a life spent fishing in Ireland and abroad.
For all those that have an interest in forming communities to help develop our waterways, the Communities Caring for Water Conference 2021 is taking place virtually this weekend, with guest speakers talking of their experiences in becoming involved in projects to enhance our waterways.
Friday will be largely dry with a mixture of cloud and sunny spells and a few patches of drizzle in southern and western areas. It will remain predominantly dry overnight, but a band of rain will develop in the northwest, which will move across the country tomorrow, and this will be followed by clearer, colder conditions. Sunday will be cold, blustery and showery, and the outlook for the week is for temperatures to continue cool with some frost expected, but remaining mostly dry.
Now that the tuna season has come to a close, charter boats along the northwest coast have been concentrating on pollack, cod and mixed species fishing again. When weather conditions allowed to go out and as water temperatures are still quite high for the time of year results were pretty good. Customers of Killybegs Fishing Trips and Ewings Sea Angling & Boat Charters fishing out of Rosses Point enjoyed their outings catching some nice cod and good sized pollack.
Good sized pollack
Go fishing…
Fiona Tee
33′ Interceptor. 300HP Caterpillar Skipper: Michael McGettigan Licence: 961 Base: Mullaghmore Operational area: Donegal Bay. Within 30 miles of land.
Notes: With over 40 years experience in Sea Angling in Donegal Bay, we bring you to the best locations and guarantee the best that angling in Donegal Bay has to offer. The MV Fiona Tee is equipped with all the latest technology ensuring all our fishing charters are monitored and offer real time tracking. We are also fully equipped with the latest in onboard safety equipment.
Aquastar 33, 6 cyclinder 225hp turbo perkins Skipper: Daryl Ewing Licence: 829 Base: Rosses Point, Sligo (10 mins from Sligo town on local
bus route) Operational area: P5 12 passenger, Sligo and Donegal
Bay, 40 miles offshore
Authorised blue fin tuna boat
Notes: Angling available on board our recently acquired
newest boat, the M.V. Sarah Marie includes general deep sea, reef, sand angling (all inshore or offshore) and specialist game angling trips for tope, blue shark and skate whilst in season. Suitable for groups from families to professionals, we give free lessons to all those who need them. Top of the line rods and tackle are available for hire on board and the skipper can arrange accommodation if contacted in time. Gift vouchers are also available. Sightseeing, seal watch and eco-tourism tours for
non-anglers.
Recently, members of Killybegs Mariners SAC enjoyed some good fishing from the local shore marks as water temperatures are still quite high for the time of year. Species caught included thornback ray, dab, poor cod, dogfish and some nice flounders.
Thornback ray from the harbour for Mariners member StefanFlounder making 34cm
Elsewhere, an hour over high water on the local harbour marks produced a few nice fish on the lures. Creature lures and shads just fished in close under the white water found plenty of wrasse mostly small with a few hard fighting fish over the 40cm to 44cm mark giving a right scrap on the lure rod.
Nice wrasse
All images courtesy of Killybegs Mariners SAC.
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
Between guiding sessions, Bodo Funke of Angling Services Ireland found some time to have a few casts himself. He decided to grab his flyrod…arguably the best way to catch a pike ;-). However, it took Bodo a while to find some predators as bait fish are still well spread out at the moment. So it was really worth to pay close attention on the sonar. The result was a cracking wild Irish pike of 105cm!
Great pike on fly for Bodo Funke
Go fishing
Bodo Funke, Angling Services, Ireland
Pike, Game and Coarse fishing Guide
Notes: Angling Services Ireland provides the very best in angling and angling tourism. We 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.
Communities Caring for Water Conference 2021 is a joint initiative between The Rivers Trust and the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO).
This year’s virtual conference will discuss forming new groups and actions we can take to make rivers projects successful. It is an opportunity for communities engaged with their local water environment to share their stories and learn from others.
Last week’s show, the 6th in the current series, was all about Euro-nymphs and Peter ties 4 of his best. During the show you’ll leave the tying bench and go downstairs to the shop where he’ll bring you through the tackle, gear, set-ups and systems and process he uses to catch using this highly effective method…
Episode 1: Top patterns from 2021 Looking back on the season past and showing you some of our top patterns from the 2021 fishing season
Episode 2: Lough style fishing and, patterns and top tips Looking at lough style fly fishing with some great patterns to show you, also we have one of Irelands best lake anglers – Darren Maguire – giving us lots of top tips on fly fishing loughs… …this is a show not to be missed
Episode 3: Spiders and top tips Tying up some real fish catchers for the rivers. Spiders are a must have for any river angler in their fly box. We will also be on the river to speak to a top river angler to find out just how to fish them effectively
We will be tying some great patters with Zonkers. Lots of chat and fly tying, top tips and special Guests
Episode 5: Ladies Night All about grayling flies for those who like to travel abroad to scratch the fly fishing itch during the winter. the flies also double as great trout tempters too!
Tie a fly…
Peter’s fly shop is at www.piscari-fly.com for all your fly tying and fly fishing needs.
Cobh SAC are delighted to announce the dates for the Munster Light Lines League 2021/2022.
This year Cobh SAC are adding a nominated pool prize for the longest whiting, Dab, Plaice, dogfish and ray – €100 each species.
The dates are as follows:
November – 28th
December – 12th
December – 28th fundraiser Irish under 21 team- not part of league
January – 16th
February – 20th
March – 19th
Places are limited so get your names in as entry is on a first come first served basis.
Cobh SAC also announced that Southside Angling, Shamrock Tackle and the Halfway Angling have come on board to sponsor what is sure to be a another exciting and competitive league.
Reminder: For the pool-fish, the biggest of each nominated species (whiting, dab, plaice, dogfish and ray) will secure €100
Fly Fishing and fly Tying event being held at Clonanav Fly Fishing in Co Waterford on the 20 & 21 of November.
Come see fly fishing and fly tying demonstrations from World renowned anglers including Paul Procter (Semperfli & Partridge), Phil Varney (Veniard), Darryl Mooney (Partridge) Jim Curry (Guideline), Steve Peterson (Simms & Scott) with many more to be announced.
This is an event not to be missed!
• Fly Tying Demonstrations
• Casting Demonstrations
• Top Brands on Display
• Great Atmosphere all weekend!
Some of the amazing ranges of fly tying available on the weekend –
Fly Fishing and fly Tying event being held at Clonanav Fly Fishing in Co Waterford on the 20 & 21 of November.
