McCarron Cup 2026 & Angler of the Year

There was only four points separating Cathal McDonnell and Fran Nugent going into the final competition of the season, the McCarron Cup fished on Lough Owel. Cathal was sitting comfortably ahead on 37 points for angler of the year against Fran’s 33 points. As it turned out on the day Cathal was safe finishing up 3rd to Fran’s 4th, and finishing with 45 points to Fran’s 40, and being crowned, once again, DTAA Angler of the Year.

Conditions couldn’t have been better in fairness, with the rain holding off, cloud cover, and a moderate west/southwesterly wind providing some nice drifts. Some fish moving but not many caught (just 11 fished weighed in for 24 anglers pulling wets for the most part), with the best chances from the reeds above the Graveyard, down to Cornfields, and well out past the Kettle.

Donal Monahan took the top spot and the McCarron Cup for 2026, pictured below:

Paul Delaney was in second place, with Cathal McDonnell in third spot, ahead of Angler of the Year contender Fran. Full results below:

The leaderboard at the end of the season is as follows:

Congratulations to Cathal!

Heaviest fish for the 2026 season was won by Jim Keeshan who picked up that extraordinary brown trout on Owel late in the day for the Ian Rowand competition

It was a great out and thanks to Competitions Secretary Tom Hipwell for another excellent season of angling events. We had two DTAA intermediate members out on the day, and juvenile member Rory McDonnell fishing with his cousin for the early part of the day. It is heartening to see the young people out fishing. Well done all.

With Donal Monahan not able to make the prize giving later in the Greville Arms Hotel, he was awarded his trophy on the shoreline (see above). The remaining party went to the Hotel for dinner and prize giving:

The McCarron Cup was also a culinary delight with Bear Grylls Hipwell on BBQ duty at the Graveyard for lunchbreak. Delicious sausages, burgers and fillet steak cooked over an open fire, better than barbecue, fried onions, Brennan’s bread: top class.

and some additional scenery:

Fran Nugent finishes 2nd in the Inter Pro!

Congratulations to Fran Nugent, top Leinster rod and overall 2nd place at the ITFFA Interprovincial, Lough Sheelin on Saturday 5th September. Fish were hard caught on a tough day for majority of anglers, but Fran’s 3 fish, all caught in a 20min period, secures his place on next year’s international spring team.

Congratulations to Niall Gelston who was the overall winner.

All fish returned in the catch, photo and release event. Well done Fran!

Elvery 2026

Saturday 22nd August saw the rescheduled Elvery Cup take place on Lough Lene. 25 DTAA anglers took part. Conditions were very good in terms of cloud cover and temperature but the soft breeze favoured dries rather than wets, with some anglers trying buzzers during the day.

There were plenty of fish showing, pitching and taking flies (small sedge among them) but they were hard got, with anglers reporting fish coming to their flies for a look but not taking. Gary Coakley observed at lunchtime that one fish had a look at his point (dry) fly, turned away, had a look at the dropper, turned away again! Blobs, cormorants, hoppers, boobies and daddies were the most successful flies.

Seven anglers weighed in fish with the heaviest from Fran Nugent, followed very closely by Brian Conway, and Dave Canning in 3rd place. The special weight was 2lbs and Gary Coakley was closest to that target. Full results below.

Gary takes the special weight prize
Top spot Fran Nugent
Brian Conway pipped into 2nd by Fran
Dave Canning in 3rd

Some pictures of the day courtesy of Cathal

Lunch at the pumphouse

With 5 of 7 competitions for the season complete, the leaderboard top spot is unchanged with Cathal maintaining a comfortable lead. The big change, however, is that Fran has raced into 2nd place.

Ian Rowand Trophy 2026: Jim wins in style!

Sweet Mother of God, this was not a day to miss!

Perfect weather conditions. Outstanding fishing.

Jim Keeshan brought in the winning bag and, by some distance, the heaviest fish of the season so far. Congratulations to Jim for what is a remarkable days fishing and a magnificent brown trout of just over six and a half pounds.
There was not a huge amount of fly life to be seen, and the 18 competitors weighed in just 10 fish.
Tom Hipwell reported that wets seemed to get the better fish with the bung working too.

Below we have winner Jim Keeshan with the heaviest fish of the 2026 season so far.

Cathal McDonnell came in second place with Paul Delaney in third. Alan Doherty and Tony McGrattan shared the special weight prize.

Full results:

and the leaderboard for Angler of the Year shows that Cathal McDonnell has increased his lead (+4) on Tom Hipwell and Alan Doherty:

As noted above, the heaviest fish scoreboard has changed with Jim comfortably in top spot

Thanks to Tom and the team for organising the competition as usual, very much appreciated.

Hubert wins LM Byrne Cup 2026

Well it warmed up at last and lovely conditions for fishing greeted 26 DTAA anglers as expectations were high and the banter was flowing.
And Lough Lene didn’t disappoint with some lovely fished weighed in.
Dries and wets both proved the successful methods on the day.
Hubert Smith won with a fine fish of 5.435 Lb, John O’Neill was second with a fish of 4.630 and Donal Monahan was 3rd with a fish 4.390

Thanks again to Tommy Fagan and Lough Lene anglers for the use of this amazing venue.

The next competition is the Ian Rowand Trophy on Lough Owel on the 13th June.

Congratulations to Hubert! John O’Neill slips into the top position of the DTAA leaderboard with 3 of 7 competitions of the season completed.

While Hubert now moves to the top of the heaviest fish leaderboard:

Pasker Cup 2026

The 2026 Pasker was fished on Lough Owel on Saturday 16th May. Conditions were good enough to start with a light West wind that changed to North. It was cold and there was a bit of rain around. Despite that, there was a huge amount of fly was showing.


Fish were hard to come by, but, as usual, a few competitors managed a few fish.

Brian Conway got his maiden DTAA competition win which included a fine fish of 4.085 lb.
Alan Doherty was second and Eoin Dunne came in third place.

Fishing buzzers and pulling seems the successful methods.

Full results here:

Full leaderboard as we stand with two competitions of seven completed:

and Finally, the heaviest fish:

Crossmolina 2026

Crossmolina 2026 didn’t disappoint!

Another fabulous festival of angling took place last weekend at the Annual DTAA versus Loughs Conn and Cullin Anglers. Going on now for more than 50 years this is the highlight for many of the angling calendar.

There were some great fish caught despite the fact that the lake seems to be about 3-4 weeks late this year, in terms of water levels and general weather conditions. This weekend we had a break from the rain (aside from a couple of showers and some thunder claps on Saturday), with a very soft Northerly wind on Saturday picking up strength on Sunday. There were trickles of fly life on both days but no major hatches. In Cloghan’s there were adult buzzers, some Olives and more Mayflies, but only the odd feeding fish to be seen, with more appearing to come to artificial flies rather than the real thing. The Cuckoo’s call could be heard around the lake contributing to atmosphere.

To remind you, Saturday is fished as a team event (Dublin V Mayo). It was not the Dubs’ year this year, however, with Mayo scoring 5,480 to DTAA’s 3,560 points (which is based on the length of fish over 28cm caught and released by each angler). Mayo took the top spot with Michael Ruttledge boating a cracking fish estimated at 3+ lbs at Rinmore point when he had just switched over to wets. Michael caught a second fish too and his boat partner Donal Rafferty had a nice fish too. Second place went to Noel Shiels and third to Martin McGorian (who picked up his 2nd fish at Tolan’s very late in the day). Willie Scully was in 4th, with Tom Hipwell taking 5th place.

Sunday is when the Pratt Cup takes place. This individual competition counts fish over 33cm and the winner this year was Michael Monahan with fish (Castlehill Bay, to dry flies). Second was Joe Ferguson, third was Cathal McDonnell, fourth was Jim Keeshan, fifth was Noel Shiles, sixth was Tom Timoney, seventh was Chris Meadows and a special prize was given to Niall O Hearcain who has a fantastic trout in Tolan’s (to a golden olive bumble) around the middle of the day, which he duly released (see photo below). Michael Monaghan’s acceptance speech acknowledged the work of Padraig, Orla and DTAA folks in the organisation of this weekend and his remarks included an appreciation for some of the new friends he has made through this event and his hopes that long may it continue.

Niall’s lovely fish from Tolan’s

The Ronnie Miley Trophy is awarded to the best Dublin angler across both days. This year it was presented to Noel Shiels by DTAA President Fran Nugent.

It cannot be overstated how much we look forward to this weekend. We are very grateful for the help from the DTAA Committee and of course Orla Walsh and Padraig for their organisational prowess and to the Mayo men who boated us over the two days and gave us every chance one could expect to land a fish!

We are looking forward to next year already.

Here are some pictures of smiling and optimistic anglers setting out on day 1, capturing the joy of this weekend and the chance to spend time fishing with friends.

Extraordinary Anna Livia 2026

Anna Livia Trophy 2026 – A Brilliant Start to the Season

The 2026 trout fishing season got off to a flying start on Saturday, April 25th, at Bohernabreena Reservoir, where ten keen anglers gathered for the first competition of the year (it would have been the Pasker Cup that was first in the season but the weather had other plans, with the rescheduled Pasker 2026 taking place on Saturday 16th May). Back to Bohernabreena – with near-perfect weather conditions throughout the day, expectations were high (but not high enough!) and the fishing more than delivered.

All anglers bagged up on the lower lake, (something not seen in recent memory we’ve been told). The top lake fished exceptionally well with record sizes and numbers of fish. In first place was Cathal McDonald. In what can only be described as a remarkable catch, Cathal landed a stunning 3 lb brown trout—widely regarded as the largest fish ever taken from the top lake during a competition in living memory. An incredible achievement, and a strong statement as he begins the defence of his title. Congratulations, Cathal! Fran Nugent caught the heaviest fish for the day at 3.315 lbs, well done to Fran!

The competition for the top spots was tight, with Gary Coakley securing second place thanks to a fine bag of fish, followed closely by John O’Neil in third, also putting in an impressive performance.

All in all, it was a fantastic opening event, marked by great conditions, strong catches, and a brilliant atmosphere among the anglers.

Attention now turns to the next outing, which takes place on Lough Owel on May 16th. If this first competition is anything to go by, we’re in for an exciting season ahead.

Tight lines until next time!

Gallery:

Full results:

and the Leaderboard after the first competition of the season:

DTAA AGM 2026

DTAA AGM 2026 took place on Friday 30th January at the Spa Hotel. DTAA President Fran Nugent led the proceedings with support from Honorary Secretary Cathal McDonnell and Honorary Treasurer Declan McKibben

Declan gave an overview of the new DTAA booking system for our boats which hopefully make it easier for some folks to browse boat availability and to submit a booking requst online. The new system is available on the DTAA website: https://dtaa.ie/boat-calendar/

Competition Secretary Tom Hipwell announced the winners of the various competitions throughout the year, and indeed the Angler of the Year, Cathal McDonnell, while Fran presented the trophies and awards. Gerry Heaslip was awarded a special presentation of a framed photograph by Fran, showing Gerry catching the first fish in the new DTAA boat, in recognition of his outstanding performance across the 2025 angling season. Gerry was unable to attend the AGM this year and so his award was received by Alan Doherty who ensured us that he will deliver it to Gerry over the weekend.

Winners 2026:

Screenshot

Dave Ring Cup: awarded to the member scoring the most aggregate points in Association fly-fishing competitions. This year with 46 Points; Angler of the year: Cathal McDonnell

Pasker Cup: PJ O’Driscoll

Anna Livia Trophy: Cathal McDonnell

LM Byrne Cup: Donal Rafftery

Ian Rowand trophy: Donal Monahan

Elvery Cup: Hubert Smith

Ryder Cup: Cathal McDonnell

McCarron Cup: Dermot Flynn

Below we have a gallery of the award recipients: