Anglers from across Ireland gathered last Saturday for one of the country’s premier match fishing events — The Mick Kearney Open. Sponsored by Ross Engineering and the Kearney & O’Driscoll families, the competition continues to grow in popularity, honouring the memory of Mick and Saoirse Kearney.
Challenging weather led to a last-minute venue adjustment, with Old Bawn replacing Morriscastle. Despite lively seas, spirits were high as anglers competed and raised funds for Heart Children Ireland.
Across three zones, catches included bass, flounder, and dabs. In Zone A, Ryan Blair claimed first place with six fish, narrowly beating Siert Schultz and Chris Scanlon. Zone B saw Ciaran Fogarty edge out Eamon Bermingham and Jim O’Brien with 13 fish.
Zone C delivered top weights, with Killian “Killer” Farrelly taking both the overall match win and the Mick Kearney Memorial Trophy thanks to a superb 14-fish bag. Wayne Hamilton finished second and Barry Murphy third.
Junior angler Aaron Willet retained the Saoirse Memorial Trophy with a 12-fish bag dominated by bass, ahead of Sean Kinsella and Warren Browne.
Zone pool winners included Chris Scanlon, Paul Tyndall, Troy Francis, Kieran Ryan, Eric Gasparro, and Killian Farrelly.
The organisers thanked all participants for travelling and supporting the event, with plans already underway for next year’s competition.
IFSA Munster Provincial Council have announced that the qualifiers for the Munster U16 & U23 Inter Pro team will be held on Saturday, 22nd November at both Curracloe and Morriscastle beaches. Full details in the graphic above.
Shane Redmond has been getting some great tope fishing from his own boat this year. He’s been lucky enough to find plenty of them all through the year. The females came earlier in the year but there’s a good run of the bigger males around now.
October tope
When Shane is out it’s generally a family affair with brother Alan and nephew Mark making up the crew. On a recent trip they had junior member Kyle Leonard onboard. Fishing of the coast of north County Dublin they had some great fish to the boat. Nearly all the tope fell to a pollack rigged flapper style.
The Newbridge & District Pike Angling Club will once again host its annual open pike fishing competition — a great day out for families and anglers of all ages. The event continues to grow each year, with over 50 juniors taking part last year.
Entry fees remain €20 for adults and €5 for juniors, with lake permits included in the price. Maps will be provided on the morning, and competitors may fish anywhere within the marked boundaries. Newbridge members will be stationed throughout to weigh, photograph, and safely return fish to the water.
1st prize is for the heaviest fish, and there are also prizes for heaviest bags. (Only one cash prize per competitor.)
Check-in takes place beside the West Wicklow House pub on Blessington Main Street. This is a two-rod competition, open to all legal methods — bait boats are not permitted.
For more information, contact the club directly via their Facebook Page.
Members of the VDE Baggers were super-keen to get back on the water after the success of the first round of their winter league, and they were hoping for a similar fish-filled event for round two. But the fish had other plans! With 15 out of 18 anglers blanking, it was a tough day on the stretch.
Caolan King landed a lone roach after 3 hours, and just when it looked over, Michael Schopen came alive with 20 minutes left — bagging a roach and two perch for 270g and the win! Michał Truck’s 100g tied him for 2nd with Caolan.
Luckily, the remaining 8 rounds will now be fished on the Erne. With 3 droppers in the league, there’s still plenty to play for.
Killybegs Mariners fished the 6th leg of their Shore League at the weekend…
26 October: League outing number 6 took place yesterday as a daylight event on Streedagh beach famous as a crash site of the Spanish armada in 1588 and the recent September anniversary saw the freshly erected Spanish flags on the memorial being tested to the limit as a stiff north westerly ripped in from Donegal Bay.
There was a roaring white surf crashing in but thankfully it was weed free and wasn’t pulling tackle to a side so fishing was enjoyable when wrapped up and there was a run of flatties from the start. Some good turbots including 33cm and 27cm for Cara, a 30cm for Stefan, a 28cm for Daragh and a 27 and 26cm for Brendan.
Good flounders of 37cm, 33cm and 32 for Gavin and a 34cm for Darran were the pick of the fish including a few double hauls and even a nice treble of two turbot and a flounder for Stefan (30cm, 22cm and 28cm).
Treble turbot 30cm, 22cm and a flounder 28cm for Stefan Martin
There were 4 species caught on the day by the 14 anglers including turbot, flounder, weever and trout.
We also had a friendly Inland Fisheries Ireland inspector checking for bass and trout along the beach which was good to see the stock being protected.
Longest flattie prize on the day was a 37cm flounder winning €42 for Gavin Dorrian
2nd overall with 218 pts with a good fishing of flounders and turbot winning €42 was Cara Boyle
And in 1st place with 226 pts with 4 species of flounder, turbot, weever and trout winning €85 well done to Daragh McGuinness.
And the lucky peg draw Daragh McGuinness drew his own number out winning another €28 well done.
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
Visiting US angler, Christopher May, was back again in Ireland in search of big pike and perch. Last year, Christopher was on Lough Derg with Damien Culliney of Anglers Paradise Guiding and netted a cracking 114cm pike in May and caught pike to 112cm, trout to 53cm and perch to 33cm in September. Determined to improve his PB perch he was back in Ireland again this month, fishing again with Damian.
A 20cm perch and a 44cm perch in the net
The pair caught perch large and small but the biggest was a very impressive 44cm and so Christopher returned to the US very happy but not before booking his trip with Damian for 2026!
Chris with the 44cm perch
On another trip out for Damian, he was guiding a father/son pair who wanted to up their game as both were novices. To get them started Damian brought them out after perch which were taking well at the time. He set them both up with drop shot rods and they were enjoying themselves getting these eager fish. Unfortunately only a couple of casts in something much bigger than a perch took young Nathan’s lure. The light rod and light line were going to be sorely tested, but also under pressure was the young angler who had to learn on the fly how to adjust drag, keep up with a big fish and play an over sized fish on under sized gear. The little drop shot rod was a very light 5-10g model.
Nathan with his 91cm pike
Luckily Damian was on hand and talked him through the 7 or 8 minutes it took to play the fish to the boat where it was swiftly netted. The pike measured in at 91cm. A new PB for Nathan and a memory both he and his father will have for a long time to come.
Anglers Paradise Ireland is owned and managed by Damien Culliney, a well known angler and chef in the Clare region and a man passionate about the inland waterways and natural history of County Clare. At Angler’s Paradise, we love the thrill of Game fishing and Pike fishing in equal measure and can take our clients to some of Europe’s most unspoilt rivers and lakes in search of trophy predators and the realisation of their angling dreams.
Fishing two-week cycles over the new and full moons these days, grabbing any weather window I can. The last set of tides over the new moon produced some fish but I am noticing it’s not as hectic number wise as previous autumns.
1 of 5
Still, it’s great to see some of the bigger fish inshore. Why does this happen in Autumn? I’m not 100% sure but my theory is that with the likes of herring, garfish, juvenile mullet showing this time of the year inshore the bass move in to feed. The bigger tides also push everything closer to the shore.
We are fast approaching the end of October, and despite the past few days feeling chilly at times, winter hasn’t quite taken hold yet. Temperatures have been mild for the time of year, and the frost has generally been held at bay. There’s been a bit of rain about, but it’s been spread unevenly, with the east of the country seeing its fair share, while the west escaped the worst of it. Things look set to change over the next few days, though, as temperatures are due to dip by a degree or two towards the end of next week.
Competition pike anglers flocked to Lough Derg recently for the European Pike Challenge, which saw 110 anglers on 55 boats fish the lake over two days. Fishing was lively, with 222 pike over 70cm landed — including 30 topping the 100cm mark. Patrick McManus and Joe Crampton narrowly claimed victory with a three-fish total of 309.5cm.
Young James O’Malley struck gold on Lough Corrib last week. The eleven-year-old was casting a custom-designed spoon crafted by his grandfather when his rod suddenly doubled over. After 15 tense minutes, James landed a magnificent 110cm pike — quickly photographed and released. His super catch earns him this week’s Catch of the Week, and we suspect his grandad might be busy in the shed making a few more of those magic lures over the winter!
A super 110cm PB for James wins him this week’s COTW
Also at Oaklands, the Oaklands Lake Winter League kicked off over the weekend — there were some solid bags for the time of year, with Adrian Browne taking top spot in the seniors (93.53kg) and Michael Urbanski winning the juniors (37.08kg).
Michael Urbanski topped the juniors with a fine 37kg haul
Elsewhere, 12 members of the Munster Coarse Anglers turned out on Silvergrove for the first round of their winter league. Unfortunately, fishing was incredibly slow, and the top spot was shared between Leon and Morgan, each weighing in at 2lb 13oz.
We wrap up the coarse angling section with news that the NCFFI are looking for anglers to compete on their international teams to fish for Ireland in 2026. They are looking for both feeder anglers and float anglers, and are seeking expressions of interest from any angler who would like to give it a go — a great opportunity for anyone ready to step up.
Juniors coming good at Oaklands
———————
To sea angling now, and Rinnashark SAC held their annual Martin Halley Memorial Open on Woodstown Beach over the weekend. It’s always a well-supported event, drawing anglers from neighbouring clubs, and this year, 53 anglers lined the beach. Luckily, there were plenty of fish to go around, and they managed a very decent total of 524.
With trout season now closed, we won’t have too many reports coming in over the coming months. But to help us through that period, angling guide and instructor Dan O’Neill makes a welcome return with his regular blog, The River Whispers. In this edition, Dan shares advice on storing your gear for winter and offers plenty of insights on all things fly-fishing.
———————
A quick reminder for all salmon and sea trout anglers — don’t forget to return your 2025 salmon angling logbook and any unused gill tags. These returns are vital for managing and monitoring our wild Atlantic salmon and sea trout stocks. Anglers can submit returns via the business reply envelope provided with their licence, or by posting directly to the IFI office listed on their logbook or licence.
———————
And now the weather…
Friday will bring a mix of showers and scattered sunny spells. Rain should clear overnight, giving way to a dry start on Saturday, though showers will become more frequent as the day progresses. Saturday night will turn chilly, with temperatures dipping to between 1 and 4°C, leading to a cold start on Sunday morning. Rain will spread more widely by the afternoon as northwesterly breezes freshen.
Monday should begin brighter, with sunny spells and just the odd shower, but cloud will build later in the day ahead of another band of rain moving in from the west. Overall, it looks like the unsettled weather pattern is set to continue through the rest of next week.
If you have an angling story to share with the Irish Angling Update please send it to [email protected] and don’t forget that all of our fishing reports are available on our dedicated Angling Ireland Facebook page.
The tuna fishing season continues to produce some great sport for anglers, despite inclement weather. Donegal Bay is full of life at the moment, with baitfish, birds, dolphins, whales and tuna all providing a great spectacle. Killybegs Fishing Trips report more tuna caught earlier this week. On Monday Pauric Gavigan enjoyed a quick start, with the first hookup within 5 minutes, the quickest the boat has ever had! The fish estimated at 280lbs was brought to the boat, tagged and released again. Hopes were high after that but alas, despite fish showing well it was a frustrating rest of the day with no more hookups. Such is fishing!
1 of 3
The following day was much more successful, with a small group of returning clients. Skipper Keith says “We had a slow start but after a couple of hours things got a little busy, with 4 hook ups. We got 3 to the boat, but the first one managed to get away at the side of the boat before the measurements and photographs, the next one spat the hook only meters from the boat but we successfully got the next two fish tagged and released. Still great signs of plenty of fish about”
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 
