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:

Dublin pipped by half a fish to Mayo

There was only one fish in it at the end of the day, with Lough Conn and Cullin measuring 15 fish over 11” to Dublin’s 14. The Dublin Bowl stayed in Crossmolina after a hard days fishing with the top performers coming from Cloghans, Abbey Shore, Castle Hill bay and Massbrook.

On the Saturday temperatures were a bit lower than forecast but the wind in the earlier part of the day was encouraging. The morning was the most productive as the later afternoon became flat calm with the occasional breeze or shower stirring things up and providing an opportunity to the eager angler. Best of the dubs on day one was Justin Clarke who measured 3 fish. There were some mayfly but not enough and not for long enough for the fish to be on them. Enjoyable fishing and conditions were at times perfect, the action, however, was less than what the local anglers are accustomed to for this time of yea]r, with several saying that the Mayfly was about two weeks late due to the wettest March for a long time.

Day 2 was the individual competition. Conditions were far better (aside from an hour in the late afternoon) than the previous day. Gary Coakley returned two fish over 13” and was honoured with the Pratt Cup in top position. Soon to be twice Ireland capped, and DTAA Bon vivant Paul Delaney took second position. Dublin had the majority of the ten bags that were weighed in. Gary Coakley, with no shortage of well deserved pride, won the coveted Hatchet Cup from our host Padraig  Traynor. This is a long standing grudge competition between Gary and Padraig and provides much entertainment to the anglers that take part in the Crossmolina weekend each year.

There were a number of DTAA members joining this weekend for the first time or who returned after a break. These included Edel and Marcus who each had a fish on either day and the O’Neill father and son team who were in the prizes on day two, and Ray one of very few anglers who returned fish on both days.

International angler, and DTAA’s most photographed angler, Paul ‘Diller’ Delaney won the Ronnie Miley trophy for the best performing Dublin angler across both days.

There were many funny moments and memories: Padraig slagging the Dubs who have 4 internationals this year including Captain Fran Nugent, for not showing up on day one! Another funny one only became evident at the weigh in and in the banter between anglers. On the Sunday, everyone thought that DTAA Captain Willie Scully has a four pound trout in Castlehill Bay. This news made it through to lads fishing over in Cullin (Diller, Colm, Stephen) and apparently the shoulders dropped, with the chance of beating that slim to none. What Willie has in fact caught a pike of over ten pounds, which, having been photographer, was returned. Tom Timoney lost a great fish well over four pounds in Castlehill that came to a Connemara Black… the fish was on for 10 or 15 seconds before the line slackened. Somehow this beast had dislodged the hook. Tom was fit to be tied and went through the five stages of loss: shock disbelief anger regret and acceptance!

Overall an excellent weekend and the highlight of the angling calendar for many anglers. Huge thanks to Padraig and Orla for organising and hosting and for the Mayo anglers who boated many of us around the lakes and were generous with their good company and fishing knowledge. It was great too to see Johnny Warren again, the seasoned angler getting in the prizes on day two with a fish at 5.20pm. Tight lines and looking forward already to Crossmolina 2024.

LM Byrne Results

Saturday 22nd April 2023 was a cold, misearble day with little wind. 27 hardy DTAA anglers set off on Lough Lene full of anticipation and optimism that they would bring in the winning bag for this heaviest fish competition.

Most anglers weighed in fish with PJ O’Driscoll taking top spot for the 2nd time in a row with a fine fish of 4.23 lbs. Richie Duggan was just pipped into 2nd place with a fish of 4.18 lbs while DTAA President Gerry Heaslip was placed 3rd with a fish of three and a half pounds. Jim Guiney won the special weight prize.

The hatches of olives were a sight to behold, especially in Gilsenan’s and down to the swimming area. The swallows were certainly on them but less obviously the fish with wets, buzzers and nymphs being the most successful approaches.

The cold and the rain were fairly consistent all day but the rain seemed to dial up a notch as the boats returned to shore for the weigh in. The numbers dwindled with only about half the competitors staying for the prize giving. This drowned rat only thawed and dried out about 4 hours later.

Results table below

With two competitions completed PJ is well ahead in the 2023 leaderboard and well on way to be DTAA Angler of the Year for 2023…. The season is young, however, and it’s still all to play for.

Despite PJ’s efforts, John O’Neill still holds the record for largest fish:

Pasker Cup 2023 Results

Great weather and a super turnout for the first competition of the season. 28 anglers took part today with several new members made welcome by all.

PJ O’Driscoll had the top position with two cracking fish for 7.715 lbs. This was PJ’s first DTAA competition win, huge congrats PJ. New DTAA member Hubert Smith was in second place with another fine bag of two fish for almost 5 lbs. John O’Neill took third place with the heaviest fish which weighed 4.805 lbs… outstanding, for the first competition of the year, and so early in the year, there were some excellent fish weighed in. In all 11 anglers weighed in 15 fish.

The results table is as follows:

First Place PJ
Hubert Smith, 2nd place
John O’Neill in 3rd place
DTAA President Gerry Heaslip with the special weight prize!