the NCFFI report on the All Ireland Method Feeder Championship fished at Oaklands…
The 2025 All Ireland Method Feeder Championship took place on Sunday at Oaklands lake. It was a wet start for the finalists, who had qualified through two competitive heats, and unsurprisingly not everyone made the trip.
Despite the conditions, the action began quickly – with Donatas on peg 1 netting a fish on his first cast, and within minutes four anglers were playing fish at the same time. Fortunately, the skies cleared and the day stayed dry for the weigh-in.
Overall Results:
Matija Ivkov – Champion
Damian Foltyn – Runner-up
Piotr Poprawski – Third Place
Section Winners:
A: Enda Hickey
B: Matija Ivkov
C: Brenton Sweeny
D: Piotr Poprawski
E: Mark Caffrey
F: John Browne
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Congratulations to all the winners, and a big thank you to everyone who took part in the qualifiers and contributed to the prize fund. Special thanks also to Adrian and Dave for facilitating the event. We’re hoping to introduce an additional venue for 2026!
Sea trout are migratory fish that are highly prized by many anglers. Once common around our coasts, they have suffered a sharp decline over the past 50 years.
Because anglers have fished for sea trout throughout that period, they are a very valuable source of knowledge about the species, and IFI is hoping to tap into some of that knowledge to help us better understand the changes in fish stocks and their supporting ecosystems over time.
If you have fished for sea trout at all, we would value your contribution to the knowledge base, and we have developed a short survey to help us capture that information by asking you a few questions about your fishing patterns over the years.
Please click this link if you are interested in participating.
The past week saw a continuation of the unsettled weather of late with breezy and wet conditions dominating. Heavy downpours and prolonged spells of rain resulted in localised flooding with water levels on the rise throughout the country.
High water levels impacted on salmon angling on a number of fisheries such as the River Erriff where anglers still managed to land a few sea trout and salmon considering the conditions. Elevated water levels were also reported from the River Laune in Co. Kerry, while a succession of floods combined with low angling effort impacted negatively on salmon angling on the Moy in the northwest. On the lakes the situation wasn’t much different with no salmon reported from Lough Currane and Carrowmore Lake mostly due to the windy and blustery conditions.
Over to trout fishing, where Peter Driver reports excellent angling from the Nore on both nymphs and dry flies in his latest Piscari-Fly newsletter.
Beautiful Nore brown
On the lakes, several competitions were held over the past weeks. Starting up in the northwest on Lough Melvin, Jack Wade, aged 16, of Loughrea in Galway won the 2025 World Youth Lough Open fly fishing championship, while 17-year-old Lisa O’Sullivan, from Bantry in Co. Cork scooped the Ladies’ Cup.
Going clockwise around the country, Bohernabreena Reservoir in the foothills of the Dublin Mountains was the venue for the Dublin Trout Anglers who fished their annual Ryder Cup competition catching some nice wild brownies. Down south some young Killarney anglers enjoyed a super day on Barfinnihy Lake during a juvenile competition organised by Killarney Salmon and Trout Angling Club.
Naoise keeping a watchful eye on Grandad Donal as the cast is prepared on Barfinnihy Lake
In the Midlands on Lough O’Flynn, the Baggots Cup was keenly contested with the boat team of Anthony Doyle & David Galvin coming up trumps, while further west the Mike Tiernan Memorial Cup, a collaborative effort between Foxford Angling Club and Tiernan Brothers angling shop, was held on Lough Conn. The competition’s most novel and progressive feature was its core principle of catch and release which demonstrated that competitive spirit and environmental stewardship can go hand-in-hand.
The 6th International Womens Fly Fishing Day (IWFFD) is happening this Saturday 13th September. It is a day for women from all over the world who fly fish to celebrate being a part of this special community by sharing photos, videos and stories on the International Womens Fly Fishing Day FB page found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/573597536965118.
Flyfishing in Iceland
Women are encouraged to post at 11am in their respective time zones which allows the celebration to unfold globally, as one time zone’s morning is another’s afternoon. The day was co-founded by Maddy Kelly, an international angler from Northern Ireland, and Pamela Caldwell Dunlap, a fly fishing enthusiast from West Virginia. They connected online through a women’s fly-fishing group and discovered a shared mission to get more women involved in the sport. Check out the full story here.
In advance of the upcoming festival in Portumna, the local coarse angling club held a club match at the ‘Town & Stic ups’ stretches last Sunday. The fishing was pretty impressive all round with the top bag caught by Morgan Lewis weighing in at 63lbs plus!
Impressive bags were also caught at Inniscarra Reservoir in Co. Cork during two recently held events: at the Granvilles Cup the top six anglers all weighed in over 40kg each with a winning bag of 46.660kg for John Fletcher, while the previously fished Centra 3 Day Match also saw some fantastic weights surpassing 50kg with Rory Jones finishing tops with an overall wight of 59.810kg!
Impressive bags such as this one were reported from Inniscarra
Surprisingly, we didn’t receive many pike reports this week. However, Paul Bourke and Senan Stanley of Irish Fishing Tours were in touch and reported some good predator action from Lough Derg including a number of nice pike and chunky perch.
Great Derg pike
Finally, over to sea angling where Kit Dunne of Wicklow Boat Charters has had a busy week species hunting but also facilitating scientist from University College Cork in their efforts tagging tope to monitor their movements in Irish waters. A total of ten tope were caught and tagged with satellite tags and conventional dart tags, and hopefully we can glean a lot of interesting data about this key angling species.
Further up the coast on the Dingle Peninsula, the latest Munster Shore League match took place at Ventry. The event saw a great turnout of 43 anglers with Barry Murphy winning the competition.
Concluding our angling update this week we are heading up to Donegal Bay where tuna boats struggled with the unfavourable conditions but despite the inclement weather a few bluefin were caught, tagged and released.
Donegal Bay was also the place where this week’s Catch of the Week was caught: a red bandfish! Not a rare species as such but a rare species to be caught by anglers as these fish live most of the time in burrows on the seabed. So a truly remarkable catch for small boat angler Anthony Kierans who initially went out fishing for squid but read the full story here.
Anglers and angling associations are some of the organisation’s key stakeholders and this document will guide IFI’s role in any future involvement with recreational angling and the angling sector.
The public consultation will be open for submissions until Friday, October 17th, 2025.
Extract from the IFI Statement of Strategy
Blackwater fish kill
Inland Fisheries Ireland continues to investigate the large fish kill on the River Blackwater and is further deploying a range of operational activities to try to find a cause. Amongst other meausure, IFI has sent 28 brown trout specimens for extensive laboratory testing, from an affected stretch of the river, to identify any contaminants in their bodies. A detailed press release regarding IFI’s ongoing operations on the River Blackwater is available on www.fisheriesireland.ie.
And now the weather…
Early tonight, rain will clear eastwards and it will become dry for a time with clear spells. The weekend, however, will bring a mix of sunny spells and scattered showers, some heavy. They will gradually die out through Sunday afternoon and evening. Highest temperatures of 13 to 16°C with moderate to fresh and occasionally gusty southwest winds, decreasing light to moderate later. The outlook for next week is for more unsettled and changeable weather with spells of persistent or heavy rain and a possibility of strong winds towards midweek.
Don’t forget to double-check the forecast before heading off, and if you’re going to sea, check the tides.
The 6th International Womens Fly Fishing Day (IWFFD) is happening this Saturday 13th September. It is a day for women from all over the world who fly fish to celebrate being a part of this special community by sharing photos, videos and stories on the International Womens Fly Fishing Day FB page found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/573597536965118.
Women are encouraged to post at 11am in their respective time zones which allows the celebration to unfold globally, as one time zone’s morning is another’s afternoon.
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Fly tying in New Zeland
Flyfishing in Iceland
Flyfishing in Mexico
The day was co-founded by Maddy Kelly, an international angler from Northern Ireland, and Pamela Caldwell Dunlap, a fly fishing enthusiast from West Virginia. They connected online through a women’s fly-fishing group and discovered a shared mission to get more women involved in the sport.
Maddy Kelly said
“Thanks to the internet, and, social media in particular, this global initiative to celebrate and encourage women in the sport of fly fishing has grown and as of last years event over 2,500 participants from 25 countries have already taken part.
The aim is to continue to connect and inspire women fly fishers worldwide and the 11am time is to acknowledge that women from all over the world fly fish.
To paraphrase a famous quote ‘it’s always 11am somewhere in the world’. Hopefully a day like this will encourage more women to start fly fishing by showing them that there is a supportive community and role models available”
The inaugural IWFFD took place in 2020 and it is now a recognised annual event to celebrate and encourage women’s participation in fly fishing across the world. The day focuses on creating a sense of community, supporting new female anglers, and increasing the visibility of women in the sport.
So far, this year’s bluefin tuna season has been a tricky one in Donegal Bay…not because of a shortage of fish – reports suggest that there a plenty tuna around – but the weather has upset many plans for a successful tuna hunt this year. However, some operators such as tuna.ie and Killybegs Fishing Trips made the most of the recent short weather windows and managed to get some nice fish to their boats.
In a bluefin on Donegal BayBig Donegal Bay tuna
Let’s hope for more favourable conditions for the remainder of the season…big game anglers have two more months left to catch a fish of a lifetime.
Killybegs Mariners are back with their popular winter league. The first outing took place last week. Read their report below…
And we’re off for the 1st of 12 Mariners league outings from now until December when our beaches are fishing the best over the autumn months.
21 anglers faced into the Atlantic swell and fishing was very good as 6 species and 94 fish over our minimum size of 20cm were caught. Species caught were coleys, flounders, turbot, seatrout, whiting and dogs.
Well done to new junior member MJ Rooney getting plenty of fish on his first comp with the club.
Junior member MJ Rooney finds the fish
Longest flattie prize was won with a fine 39cm flounder for John Higgins.
2nd overall with 259pts winning was Robert Mallin.
And 1st overall with 349pts winning with 11 counting fish was Pat Cunningham.
Well done to all taking part. Outing number two will take place today Friday 12 September in Mullaghderg.
Anglers and angling associations are some of the organisation’s key stakeholders and this document will guide IFI’s role in any future involvement with recreational angling and the angling sector.
Predator fishing on Lough Derg is going really well at the moment. The cooler days of September are much better suited to chasing big pike than the hot summer we enjoyed. Lough Derg guides, Paul Bourke and Senan Stanley have been getting a lot of fishing done with guests and the results speak for themselves.
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Gary nailed this really heavy meter pike just before the storm landed
More good pike action
The third in the trinity - trout
Happiness is going fishing
A good thick set pike from Derg
What's not to love about perch
Another Derg pike
Looks like a a good place to talk over the day's adventures
When Senan and Paul are not fishing with guests, they are exploring new waters, preparing for competitions and recording content for new videos. In the last week alone Senan has uploaded 6 new videos to his Youtube channel. Every one is worth watching (and liking, subscribing and sharing but for now here’s two to enjoy. Smash that button!)
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.
Guided fishing for pike, trout and perch on Lough Derg. Fishing from a custom fitted Sheelin boat with all modern electronics including live scope, gps electric trolling motor etc
For enquiries and bookings get in touch via Facebook or Instagram.
David Edwards, skipper of the Silver Dawn at West Cork Charters, reports on the charter boat fishing at Courtmacsherry…
06 September: The guys from Holland had to work hard for fish this week. Hearing that other boats had blanked on Sharks, we headed a little further South than usual, yesterday.
Again, there were plenty of smaller species on the bottom but Sharks were still fairly slow.
We managed two small Porbeagles and two Blues but without doubt the highlight for me was a massive Leatherback Turtle popping up, right next to Silver Dawn.
An amazing sight that we didn’t get to record on camera, but a memory that will always stay with me
09 September: The weather continues to play havoc with our fishing year. Plans to head offshore look like being scrapped yet again for the next week or two.
A late departure today allowed last nights big seas to at least drop enough to fish inshore marks. The 2-3 metre swells softened enough late afternoon and the lads have been busy catching and mainly releasing lots of different species.
Shark and Tuna are not to be, anytime soon but at least we’re out fishing
41′ Rodman 1250. Twin 430 HP Engines Skipper: David Edwards Licence: P5 Licence Base: Courtmacsherry Operational Area:60 miles to sea from ports from Kinsale to Portmagee
Authorised blue fin tuna boat 2025
Notes:The range of fishing found within close range of Courtmacsherry is superb, with trips producing anything between 6 and 15 different species as a norm and in excess of 20 is possible if anglers are prepared to change methods and use different baits and lures throughout their trip. As a rule mackerel, pollock, cod and ling are usually encountered but several species of wrasse along with whiting, pouting, coalfish, bull huss, conger and many more are often added to the catch.
If you do choose to head offshore to sample the superb shark fishing available within 10 miles of Courtmacsherry, there is a very strong chance of encountering blue sharks and an increasing chance of bringing a porbeagle shark to the boat.
Silver Dawn
