ENNELL CUP: We had a lovely day out on Lough Ennell last Sunday as we fished the Lough Ennell Perpetual Cup. This fly-fishing competition always draws a good turnout of anglers and this year was no different. Conditions were mixed, with bright sunshine and a little cloud cover at times. I personally saw little or no fly life but did manage to move a few fish, unfortunately not hooking up with any. Still, at the 7pm weight-in eight fish were presented at Whitebridge Bay and Noel Farrar of Tallagh Co. Dublin had a cracker of 3.340lbs to take top rod. Loughnavally angler Mark Kenny finished 2nd with another fine trout of 2.790lbs, John Dooner rattled the scales at 2.708lbs to take 3rd spot and Kenny Kiernan was 4th with 1.708lbs. Con Hope and his family members were on hand to present the Lough Ennell Perpetual Cup and prizes. Con presented this beautiful prize some years back to L.E.T.P.A, John Tyrrell and L.E.T.P.A. competition captain thanked all that fished the competition and especially the Hope family, the main sponsors of this event. Ennell anglers are back in action on Sunday September 18th and on that day we fish the O’Malley Cup. Once again its 11am-7pm from Whitebridge Bay. For more on this, drop into O’Malleys in 33 Dominick Street.
SHARK ATTACK: Speaking of the O’Malley family, I dropped into David O’Malley last weekend and exchanged a prize I won recently fishing the Dan Mullally Shield on Owel. I picked up a Leeda digital scales which will weigh up to 55lbs and a new Silstar landing net to land my prized catch. All I need now is some fish to test these products. Anyway, when I was in with David he told me that recently he ventured over to Portugal for a well-deserved break. Naturally, with fishing running through his veins, he just had to check out the angling scene in Portugal and ventured out on the high seas. As you can see from one of this weeks fishy pics, David had some lovely blue sharks.
FISH FARM CLOSURE DEFERRED: Anglers across the country were delighted with the breaking news that I.F.I. have deferred the closure of the fish farms in Ireland. We received a press release from I.F.I. on this matter and so as there is no confusion I have decided to publish what I.F.I. had to say: “The Board of Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) met recently with a joint delegation from the National Anglers Representative Association and Trout Anglers Federation of Ireland to discuss IFI’s proposal to exit the production of trout for the re-stocking of angling lakes. As a result of these discussions the Board of IFI has agreed to defer its proposal indefinitely. However, in the discussions the parties recognized that there are significant economic, environmental and biological issues surrounding the current production facilities, which IFI needs to resolve. Inland Fisheries Ireland is committed to developing and seeking funding for a comprehensive strategy to meet current and future trout production needs, contingent on obtaining the significant investment required. The parties to the discussions agreed to continue to work closely together to deliver this strategy. The Board of IFI wishes to acknowledge and thank all those who have made submissions to the public consultation on IFI’s exiting from freshwater trout production. This consultation process is now closed.”
OWEL ANGLERS: This coming Sunday Lough Owel Trout Preservation Association will host their last club trout competition for the 2016 season, where have the months gone you may ask? On the day, The Clonhugh Cup will be fished from 11am-7pm, along with this the Tommy McCormack Cup is also up for grabs for the top Owel competition angler of the season. It’s not the end of the world just yet for the trout scene on Owel as the Leinster National Qualifier will be fished on Saturday October 1st and on the last day of the season October 12th we have the end of season fly fishing competition, with all proceeds going towards stocking Lough Owel.
DAINGEAN C.A.C: Recently Daingean coarse anglers hosted the Ned O’Farrell Memorial Festival. It proved a great success with some lovely skimmers and roach being banked. The winner Julian Kendrick also had a small tench to add to his winning catch of 14.5kg. In second place was Alan Larkin and was 3rd Brian Kane.
