Very tough conditions at Bohernabreena last Saturday 7th September for the Ryder Cup. It was hard fishing but despite that 3 top rods had five fish between them. 15 anglers turned out for the day with most returning no fish.
Congratulations to Alan Doherty who won the day with 2 fish for 2.805 Lbs, followed Fran Nugent also with 2 fish (for 2.305) and in third was Dave Canning with one fish. This was Alan’s first DTAA competition win (he’s often placed well in previous competitions however so this comes as no surprise!).
The canny Dave Canning in 3rd placeFran came 2ndAlan in first place
With just one competition remaining this season Dave Canning has a very good lead on nearest rival Alan Doherty. There is a route to victory for Alan, and indeed for Eoin Dunne (to tie with Dave on 32 points) but Dave must be the bookies favourite! Current leaderboard is below. Next competition is the McCarron on Owel on Saturday 28th September.
Last Saturday 31st August saw the Leinster Qualifiers taking place on Lough Leane. Conditions were very good with many anglers returning fish. This was a catch, release and record competition and the top anglers carded 5 fish. Half of the 12 DTAA members who entered were through. We will list only those who qualified here to avoid shaming the rest of us!
Fran Nugent (3rd), Gerry Heaslip, Brian Conway, Gary Coakley, Tom Hipwell, and Dave Canning all qualified. Well done folks. The final will be fished next year on Melvin.
Pictured here winner Darragh Duncan, Colin Cahill and Fran Nugent (picture credit to ITFFA FB Page)
The weather was perfect, plenty of fish, boundless enthusiasm and joy ensured that the 15 children and young people (and their grown ups) had a great day out last Sunday. We gathered at the Laois Angling Centre at 11am, fished for a couple of hours, followed by lunch and, most importantly, the prize giving, wrapping up by 3pm.
The competitors ranged in age from twins Sam and Jack who are just 3 years old up to 17 years.
Barbless flies were the preferred method to hook a fish with many of our younger competitors using the bubble and fly with the others preferring a fly rod, and some catching fish this way for the first time!
The competitors were: Sam and Jack, Innes, sisters Caragh and Leah; Evie; siblings Fardeen, Fabiana and Farhad; sisters Kieva and Robyn and, finally, brothers Evan, Rhys, Ross and Caelan
Below is a sample of pictures from the day.
Fran, Nicola and the twins!Jack and Sam examine the catchMyles demonstrating correct fish handlingHow to handle a fishFardeenRhys and RobynInnes and his proud dadLunchtimeLeah and CaraghCaragh and LeahDelightSafely returnedFabiana with her catchFardeen about to return his fishEvieThe boys
IFI’s Myles Kelly was on hand to offer advice, coaching and support to all our anglers, demonstrating correct fish handling, catch and release, while minimising impact on the fish. We are grateful to Myles for being there and to IFI for providing snoods and line snips which went into the goodie bags for each competitor.
Thanks also is due to Dave McBride of Southside Angling who helped us with the prizes. And to Enda and John of Laois Angling Centre who were gracious hosts and have a great facility there in Co. Laois, well stocked and managed, and which helped ensure that everyone connected with fish on the day. Thanks also to Nessa and Evie who helped on the day and put the goody bags and lunches together for the event.
Huge turnout for the annual Elvery Cup which was fished Saturday 27th on Lough Leane. A warm day, moderate wind and very little rain. The fish were not very plentiful with just 13 fish returned. Many fish were showing but were likely to have been feeding on snails below the surface with little or no fly life evident. The occasional Olive, a couple of Sedge, and even the Green Peter late in the day.
Dave Canning was in first place with a very nice fish of 3.19 lbs, taking him into the Angler of the Year top slot, 2 points ahead of Eoin Dunne). DTAA new member, Kevin Connolly was pipped into second place with his fish of 3.17 lbs (on his first outing!) and Gary Coakley in third (3.105 lbs). Special weight was shared jointly by Gerry Heaslip and Eoin Dunne.
The Elvery CupSpecial Weight Prize!3rd Place Gary Coakley2nd Place Kevin Connolly1st: Dave Canning
Full results below:
The leaderboard for Angler of the Year:
Heaviest fish remains with Jim Keeshan from the Ian Rowand Trophy on Owel:
On Saturday, 6th July 2024, 26 avid anglers gathered at Tullaghan’s Shore, Lough Owel, for a friendly fly fishing trout competition: The Ian Rowand Trophy. The day was marked by highly variable weather, truly a case of “four seasons in one day.” Anglers faced heavy, biting rain showers with gusty winds, which later transitioned to calm, balmy, and sunny conditions, adding an extra layer of challenge and excitement to the event.
The competition kicked off at 11:00 AM with a 2 fish bag limit and a minimum size of 14 inches. By 6:00 PM, participants were ready for the weigh-in at Tullaghan’s
Winners:
First Place: Declan McKibben, secured the top spot with two nice fish weighing a total of 6.025 lbs. Declan caught his fish after lunch on the Dolan’s side of Srudarra, and about an hour on the Lady’s side.
Second Place: James Doyle, with a great bag of two fine fish weighing 5.755 lbs.
Third Place: Dave Canning, who landed two fish weighing 5.590 lbs.
Special Weight Prize: Willie Scully (1.8 Lbs)
Heaviest Fish: Jim Keeshan, caught the heaviest fish of the day, weighing 4.685 lbs, caught very late in the day.
Winning Fly! The winning fly was a silver daddy, one of John O’Neill’s unique creations, which proved to be highly effective during the competition.
Overall not a bad fishing day: Out of the 26 anglers, 15 successfully caught fish, which was considered a good result for the day, reflecting the excellent conditions and skill level of the participants.
Gary Coakley officiated with the prize giving.
Dave in 3rdWillie got the special weightWise men use suncreamDeclan takes top spotJames in 2nd
Full results below:
Eoin Dunne’s 2 fish and 4 points now takes him into first place on the overall Angler of the Year leaderboard with 22 points. With just 3 competitions remaining this season, it’s still all to play for with Cathal on 19 and Gerry on 18 points:
Thanks as usual to Gerry Heaslip for arranging the boats and to Declan and Tom for organising. Tom was not able to join us for this competition but we look forward to seeing him at the next one on 27th July.
It was chilly enough for June and while the rain held off, there was little or no wind for the first few hours of the LM Byrne Cup on Lough Lene last Saturday. 33 DTAA members set out at 11am with 12 weighing in fish. As usual it was a heaviest fish competition and of the many who blanked, a good number never even had a chance. Dries were most successful with Wulffs, dabblers, sedges and daddies mentioned by several of the anglers who met fish.
Jonathan O’Keefe took home the gold with a nice fish of 3.7 lbs with Gerry Heaslip nipping at his heels weighing in his fish at 3.59 lbs. 3rd place went to Jonathan’s boat partner and Irish International, Eoin Dunne with a fish of 3.37 lbs. Paul Dunne took home the special weight prize. Rudolph Britz had several fish to a black and yellow Wulff, (possibly a MAYFLY CORRIB WULFF… hopefully Rudolph can confirm). Mark McAllister got a rise to a dry chocolate drop and a hook up to a size 14 Klinkhammer. His boat partner got 2 hook ups to a dry Olive/Mayfly and a small Royal Wulff.
Jonathan O’Keefe, 1st place, receiving his trophy from DTAA President Fran NugentGerry Heaslip, 2nd placeEoin Dunne, 3rd placePaul Dunne, Special weight prizeGilsenan’s produced fish early onThe chat and the craic beforehand
Results table below:
The leaderboard for the season to date makes for interesting reading! Three are tied in top position with 18 points each after three competitions: (Gerry, Eoin and Cathal… with Hubert just behind with 15 points!)
Following the National Final in Killarney this weekend we are delighted that DTAA’s Gary Coakley and John O’Neill are through to represent Ireland in 2025 with Cathal McDonnell on the reserve list. Congratulations to Gary, John and Cathal
I was fortunate to have been able to take part in the annual Whit Weekender on Lough Conn this June bank holiday.
Of the 80+ anglers and boatmen taking part, DTAA was very well represented by myself (Declan), Gerry Heaslip, Willie Scully, Donal Rafferty, Chris Meadows, Cathal McDonnell, Terry O’Keeffe, Anthony Mc Grattan and Hubert Smith.
Conditions were good in terms of wind if a little too much sun on the Saturday. Sunday had much better cloud cover but the fish were hard got.
I fished with Conn & Cullin angler and Irish international Joe Ferguson on day 1 and had a nice keeper in the middle of Mayo. There were fish on both sides but I had my keeper on the Gallagher’s Bay side to a dry claret hopper on a size 12 hook. We also met fish earlier in the day at Rinmore, and fished later in Castlehill Bay and Woodford where I rose a nice fish in the last half hour. I finished in 3 place with my one fish (the second heaviest!). The heat was won by Denis Goulding with two fish and Stephen Brown with one coming in second position.
On Sunday I was out with local angler Brian Gallagher (we know Brian and Joe of course from the annual Crossmolina weekend). Starting off at Woodford (in a gentle south easterly breeze) we saw a nice hatch of may flies and some small fish moving to them but not a lot of action besides a couple of follows. We then headed over towards Castlehill Bay. There were about 6 boats in there. Even though it’s getting late for that Bay, there are still good fish in it and always a chance of a keeper and getting into the prizes. I rose a fish and caught a perch, and much weed before we headed across to the middle of Mayo. With the wind coming from the West, we drifted perpendicular to the Western side, and went up and down a few times, meeting fish to both wets and dries, but nothing stuck.
We left there at around 4.30 and headed across to Tolan’s where, it turned out, a lot of the other competitors were set up. We saw free rising fish but did not manage to get any fish in the boat. I’d say that half the boats were in Tolan’s, lined up to drift across it from the West.
13 fish measured on Saturday with the better conditions of Sunday returning 16 fish over 13″. Stephen Brown came first place and took home a lovely Sheelin boat, Peter Roche was 2nd, Denis Goulding in 3rd and Colm McAndrew in 4th and heaviest fish went to Ian Wise. I finished up in 8th place with my fish from the day before, haunted by the thought that the fish I lost in Gallagher’s could have made all the difference; such is fishing. We’ll be back again next year. Thanks to Orla and Padraig and all the organisers for an excellent and fun weekend of fishing.
Wishing DTAA’s John O’Neill and the rest of the Senior Lake Team as they fish the Four Nations Home International 2024 on Lough Ennell this Friday. Tight lines John.
John
The banner image is from last year when John had a big fish from Owel… Hopefully he’ll pull a couple of those out of Ennell this year!
Best of Luck to DTAA members Almha McDonnell and Edel Beresford and all the Irish ladies team at the International in Lynn Brenig, Wales on Thursday 23rd May 2024. (Photo taken yesterday at international hotel).
Banner photo credit to the Ladies International Team facebook page.
