McCarron Cup 2023

29 DTAA anglers set out in good conditions on Lough Owel last Saturday for the final competition of the season.

Aside from a squally wind at time, conditions were near perfect and 25 anglers return fish. 34 fish were weighed in.

(the following map is from IFI at fishingireland.com)

We set out from Tullaghans with the south easterly wind giving the opportunity for several boats to drift down onto Srudarra. Fish were pitching and coming to the presented flies (predominantly wets) and some anglers caught here in the first hour. One or two boats moved into the bay inside of Srudarra Island while others continued to drift towards Dolan’s where there was a good showing of trout in the first half of the day. In fact, fish were caught all along the western shore down past the graveyard and into the corner at the Cornfields.

DTAA Honorary Secretary Cathal McDonnell won the day with 2 fish for 5.79 lbs, safely ahead of Brian Conway who measured 2 fish for 4.885 lbs who was just ahead of Tony McGrattan. Gary Coakley was in 4th place and Gerry Heaslip in 5th. Full results are in the table below:

The fishing was followed by the results and prize giving in the Greville Arms hotel in Mullingar with those who could attend staying on for the meal afterwards. The running order was different from last year with Ireland taking on South Africa in the Rugby World Cup in Paris from 8pm.

The hotel set us up for dinner in the main dining room where many of us where delighted to be sat in front of a big screen to enjoy Ireland’s nail biting and gruelling victory over the Spring Boks. Thanks to Martin McGorian and Brendan Murray for the use of their boats on Saturday and to Kilbride Angling Clubs for the use of boats throughout the season.

There was no upset in the Angler of the Year leaderboard, with DTAA President Gerry Heaslip successfully defending his advantage and achieving a stunning 14 point lead over closest rival Tom Hipwell.

Ryder Cup 2023

The Ryder cup was held on Bohernabreena Reservoirs on the 27th August. It proved to be a tough day with only a few rainbows weighed in along with some nice brown trout.

Gary Coakley made it 2 in a row with 2 nice brown trout; well done Gary in a tough day.

Dave canning was 2nd and John O’Neill third. Cathal McDonnell won the special weight.

With neither Gerry nor Tom earning any points the position at the top of the leaderboard remains unchanged as we head into the final competition of the season next weekend.

Hipwell has a chance of unseating El Presidente, Heaslip but he will have his work cut out for him. Tom will need a 9 point gain on Gerry. Technically it is possible, and stranger things have happened, but Gerry looks very safe this year and it would be a complete shocker if he was not crowned Angler of the Year 2023. The McCarron Cup will be fished on Owel next Saturday 23rd September from 10am weather permitting.

Great turnout for the Ryder Cup 2023

18 anglers turned out for this years Ryder Cup which was fished at Bohernabreena last weekend. Gary Coakley scored another 10 points having won recent Elvery Cup on Lough Lene.

Dave Canning came in next with John O’Neill in 3rd place. Full results below.

This competition did not upset the leaderboard status with Heaslip looking very comfortable with an 8 point lead over Hipwell. With just the McCarron Cup later in September it will be challenging for Tom to unseat Gerry. It’s technically possible, however, and stranger things have happened.

Elvery Cup 2023

The Elvery Cup was fished at the rescheduled date of Saturday 19th August at Lough Lene, Collinstown.

With storms affecting much of Ireland on Friday 18th there were some concerns that conditions may not suit but this concern was unwarranted. 24 anglers turned out for the day with 10 anglers weighing in their heaviest fish.

Gary Coakley weighed in the heaviest fish (of two that he caught) at 4.22 Lbs. Not quite the heaviest fish overall for the year, which remains with John O’Neill from the Pasker Cup (4.805)

Second place went to Almha O’Donnell with a fish of 3.695 Lbs (Ahem!, her father Cathal returned no fish)

Third place goes again to Jim Keeshan with a fish of 3.605 Lbs.

JP Johnson was the best Juvenile Angler with an excellent fish of 3.615 which would have placed him 3rd in the adult category if he was a few years older!

Special Weight prize went to Dermot Flynn for his fish of 2.62 Lbs.

The leaderboard is shaping up now with 5 of 7 club competitions completed at this point:

DTAA President Gerry Heaslip stretched his lead over Competitions Secretary Tom Hipwell. Technically only Tom and PJ and Jim Keeshan have any chance of knocking Gerry off the top spot at this stage. Either of Jim or PJ would need to win the next two competitions and Gerry would need to place outside of the top 10 in order for this upset to occur. More of a threat to Heaslip, however, comes from Hipwell who has an 8 point gap to bridge over the next two competitions. It’s possible but the bookies favourite has to be Heaslip for 2023.

Some pictures from the day.

Ian Rowand Cup

24 DTAA anglers braved the strong westerly winds last weekend on Owel to enjoy a great day out for the Ian Rowand Cup. It is fair to say that conditions were good, with decent cloud cover contributing to a respectable return of 18 fish for the 24 anglers, and many stories of missed and lost fish.

DTAA President Gerry Heaslip took the Honours with 2 fish for 4.31 lb – Competition secretary, Tom hipwell was in 2nd place with 2 fish for 3.715 lb while seasoned angler Jim Keeshan returned 2 fish for 3.525 lb

JP Johnson had a great fish of 2.6 lbs to win the junior section.

Richie Duggan pipped his boat partner, Paul Dunne, to the special weight prize! 

The results are as follows:

Gallery of pictures for the day.

Leaderboard:

Gerry Heaslip is leaping ahead following a number of excellent performances in recent competitions. Tom is nipping at his heels though so Gerry will need to stay on his toes for the upcoming Elvery Cup on Lene on the 12th

Next competition on Lough Lene 12th August. 

Family Day Out!

The annual juvenile outing was a great success. DTAA and Dodder Anglers hosted the event at the Southern County Fishery in Garryhill. Taking place last Sunday 16th July, more than 30 people were attending with 14 young anglers competing for the prizes. The emphasis was on fun and ‘giving it a go’ rather than competition, however, with only two anglers netting fish. Joseph Swayne took top spot with 4 fish while Fionn Kenny came second with a brown trout.

Smiles all around, several people felt the strike of a fish, others lost fish and we all saw many fish moving to the surface. Liam Butler from Raheny lost a lovely fish on the bank for want of a net!!!

Needless to say, everyone got a prize or a goodie bag and went home satisfied, fed and hopefully with a growing passion for fishing. We hope these young anglers and others will join us for the next day out (date to be agreed).

Thanks to Declan, Gerry (Hogarty), Cathal, Tom, Edel, Clive and Stephanie for volunteering their time, and for Clive for delivering on the BBQ services ensuring that we were all fed.

A big thanks to Dave McBride and Southside Angling for supporting us with prizes and to Shane O’Reilly from IFI for providing prizes and angling information. Thanks also to Southern County Fishery for hosting.

SAVE the Date: 16th July, Sunday; Juvenile Event

Save the date for Sunday 16th July at Southern County Fishery

Details to follow. Attention boys and girls: All friends and family of DTAA, Dodder, Clane are welcome. Everyone gets a prize. Fly fishing and fun activities. Lunch provided.

Please contact us via dublintrout@gmail.com to let us know if you can make it so we have an idea of numbers.

Anna Livia 2023

This year’s Anna Livia, normally fished on the Liffey, was held at Bohernabreena on Sunday 18th June. This was due to ongoing concerns about the fishing performance on our Liffey fisheries, which is currently being investigated by a number of agencies.

The warm, dry Summer continued, with a southerly wind making casting tricky for some of the 14 DTAA members who turned out for the competition. As normal the event started on the lower lake where two fish are required before the competing angler can move to the upper lake (which is a wild brown trout fishery).

Three anglers had two fish each with DTAA Competition Secretary Tom Hipwell taking top spot with a bag of 2.71 lbs to Gerry Heaslip’s 2.07. Fran Nugent came in 3rd place at 1.86 lbs.

A great day. Thanks as usual to Tom for organising. Next up is the Ian Rowan Cup to be fished on Lough Owel 8th July.

Gerry’s 9 points haul in the Anna Livia takes him to joint first place with PJ O’Driscoll in the overall leaderboard for 2023: