ANGLING NOTES: WATERWAYS Ireland and Fáilte Ireland have come together to establish a higher profile for wild fishing here by establishing the Lakelands Inland Waterways World Pairs Event, which they say will be the world's richest match fishing event.
The world pairs will see the winning duo pocket €35,924 (£30,000) for their efforts, with second netting €11,974 (£10,000), third €5,987 (£5,000), and fourth down to 12th place each getting €1,198 (£1,000), along with a raft of tackle prizes. Total prize money is a staggering €71,847 (£60,000).
Only the best 160 pairs will be competing, ensuring the cream of the angling world, the tightest competition imaginable. The match costs just €108 (£90) per pair to enter and has already attracted interest from the US, Holland, UK and Germany.
An event with a difference, the match is split between venues on both sides of the Border and across rivers and lakes, which will mean all-round skills on float, feeder and pole will be a necessity.
“Each angler will take turns to fish either side of the Border, with the overall places decided on weight, rather than points,” organiser Kevin Locke said.
“This will be the richest match fishing event in the world, with prize money from the four days, plus practice opens before the main event, which amounts to more than £70,000 (€83,730)”.
Martin Dennany, co-chair of Lakelands Inland Waterways, said: “This event is an opportunity to highlight the wonderful fishing available in Ireland and will cover Fermanagh, Monaghan, Cavan and Leitrim. By using both lakes and the Erne and Shannon rivers, we aim to put Irish fishing at the forefront of angling worldwide.”
Two practice opens will run before the main event on Tuesday, September 11th. The official launch will take place after the Waterways Ireland Classic in May. However, tickets are already on sale at +44 (0)7736129627. Closing date for entries is Friday, August 17th. Contact Katrina McGirr at 087-9918412.
- The Orange Grouse is a pattern, tied both winged and spider-style, with a few turns of grouse hackle at the head for the spider pattern – ideal for rivers.
The grouse series is quite large, with grouse and green, grouse and black, grouse and silver and so on. However, these are more traditional patterns and fished mainly on loughs for brown trout on the top or middle dropper.
“This is one of my favourite patterns for lough fishing and a very effective river fly tied in smaller sizes,” fly-tyer Jimmy Tyrrell said. Available at 086-8451257 and irishflycraft@gmail.com.
At Limerick District Court recently, a man was successfully prosecuted by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) for illegally fishing at Ballyclough Weir on the Mulkear River. Judge O’Brien imposed a fine of €858.
The Mulkear River is one of two rivers open and meets its salmon conservation limit in the Shannon River Basin District.
Amanda Mooney, IFI director, Limerick, stated: “Poaching of salmon is unacceptable and these fish are the future, [essential] to the survival of the species.” You can report a pollution or poaching incident to IFI on 1890 FISH 24 or 1890-347424, day or night.
- Ballybunion, in Co Kerry, is holding an angling show from Friday, March 23rd to Sunday, March 25th, with Henry Gilbey, Glenda Powell, Mary Gavin Hughes and Bob Moss in attendance.
Friday is “kids’ day”, with more than 300 children from local schools attending workshops on water safety, whale and dolphin watching, the sea shore and fishing. The Irish Coast Guard search helicopter will greet the kids with a fly-down.
The highlight of the weekend will be a beach fishing competition for the Brian Martin Memorial Cup. Brian was a well-know local angler who was swept from the rocks while fishing. Contact Mark Enright at 087-9689820.