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.
Crossmolina, May 2024 – As dawn broke over the serene waters of Lough Conn, the gentle hum of nature was accompanied by the eager chatter and unwavering optimism of anglers from across Ireland. The weekend of May 4th and 5th marked the continuation of an angling tradition that has been a highlight in the calendars of fishing enthusiasts for over fifty years: the friendly fishing competition between Dublin Trout Anglers and Lough Conn and Cullin Anglers. Despite the optimism and good conditions on Day 1, it was a couple of days tough fishing on Lough Conn. The best of the fishing was on the first day with a consistent light wind and some fly activity offering the assembled anglers many chances.
The competition kicked off on Saturday 4th with 36 anglers vying for the prestigious Dublin Bowl. Most anglers measured (and released) fish that counted and it was a close run thing but the Dublin team concluded the day with a significant lead, outpacing their Mayo rivals by over 40 cm in total length of fish caught.
Top place went to Noel Shiels fishing for Mayo, followed by our Captain (and Ireland International) Dave Canning, and Cathal McDonnel in 3rd (DTAA Secretary but fishing for the Mayo side on Saturday), Fran Nugent was in 4th place (one of his 3 fish was 46cm and is pictured below), and then Donal Raftery in 5th. Noel and Dave made the long trip to Cullin and it paid off with 9 fish that measured and many over 13″.
Fran’s fish was caught in Cloghan’s on a tiny dry fly and measured 46cm (one of Dave Canning’s fish was also 46cm)
The winners gallery is set out below.
Captain Dave Canning graciously received the Dublin Bowl and expressed his gratitude to the organisers (Orla and Padraig) on behalf of DTAA.
Day 2 Sunday 5th May was for the Pratt Cup:
Sunday was more of a day for admiring the scenery or catching up on much needed sleep. Flat calm like a mirror was how the lake presented as we set off at 11am. It stayed like this for an hour or so and then a soft south westerly breeze caused a promising ripple on the more exposed areas. But the wind would drop and pick up again like it didn’t really know what it was doing. There was very little fly life to be seen, the odd mayfly, occasional olive, some sedges even and some buzzer in Cloghan’s (more on that shortly). After lunch the wind came around more easterly and then north easterly and the temperature dropped. It seemed that more coarse fish were caught than trout! Castlehill Bay was a write off altogether. Only 10 anglers returned fish.
PJ O’Driscoll and Chris Meadows were fishing in Cloghan’s and clearly cracked the code. Chris didn’t boat any fish over 13″ but PJ had 2 and it was the buzzer imitations and method that worked for him. This got PJ into top position followed by Paul Delaney with two fish. PJ is no stranger to such achievements regularly taking 1st place in DTAA competitions (there were two last year as I recall) and some astounding fish (he won the Pasker and LM Byrne cups in 2023, see here to read about it)
Third place went to Joe Ferguson with one fish who fished Cullin with his son Cian who also boated a keeper and deservedly won a special junior competitor prize:
The coveted Ronnie Miley trophy went to Noel Shiels who was the most successful angler from both teams over the two days. Noel was 1st Saturday and 4th place Sunday, earning him 17 points.
DTAA members Niall O Hearcain and Pat Foley were also fishing Conn on the Sunday as part of a fishing tour they’re doing this week. Niall and Pat managed to boat at least three keepers in Bog Bay which all came to a size 12 Wulff. Niall shared this magnificent picture of one of their fish (49cm; an outstanding fish)
In addition to the fishing, the Crossmolina weekend is about friendship and the craic, a chance to reconnect with old pals and make new friends.
Huge thanks to Orla and Padraig for organising the weekend and for hosting us so generously. Big thanks too to our Conn and Cullin friends who boated us for the weekend.
As mentioned earlier Sunday was more for sight seeing. Below is a sample of what was on offer:
Credit to Mark McAllister for sharing the photo of ‘symmetrical’ Lough Conn on Sunday.
Weather conditions are close to perfect, if a little chilly, for this May bank holiday’s annual weekender with the Lough Conn and Cullin Anglers. A score of eager DTAA members have been looking forward with great optimism to what for many of us is the best fishing and craic weekend of the year.
It didn’t go our way last year (you can read it about it here) so the Dublin side has been in training all Winter, tying flies, discussing tactics, renewing gear and day dreaming about Lough Conn.
As usual we are grateful to our generous hosts Padraig and Orla who really push the boat out (excuse the pun) to make us feel most welcome and to the Conn and Cullin anglers who guide us around the lake for the weekend, putting up with our lies and excuses and putting us over fish. We appreciate the effort they put in and we can only hope that our good humour and company can in some way reward their patience! DTAA International angler Dave Canning captains the Dubs this year. C’mon the Dubs!
Fished again this year at Bohernabreena rather than the traditional River Liffey venue, 15 DTAA members took part in the Anna Livia Cup
Plenty of stockies to be had as well as wild browns. Gary Coakley finished in top place with 2 fine fish for 5.24 Lbs, Gerry Heaslip came second and Alan Doherty in third place. Special weight prize went to James Doyle. Variable winds made fishing difficult at times, and there was little fly life till later in the day. Overall the fishing was good with two over 3Lbs.
This win puts Gary into joint 2nd place (with Eoin Dunne) on the overall leaderboard for Angler of the Year with two competitions down and five more to go. DTAA Secretary Cathal McDonnell has a nice 4 point lead at this stage but there are many more opportunities for other competitors to shorten the gap over the remainder of the season :
The Leinster Qualifier, also known as the Corcoran Cup was fished yesterday in bright sunshine and no wind on Lough Owel. DTAA member Brian Conway had an amazing fish in excess of 10 pounds and took top position (10.3 Lbs). Also qualifying were President Fran Nugent, John O’Neill, Willie Scully, Dave Canning and Secretary Cathal McDonnell.
Well done and congratulations to Brian, Fran, John, Willie, Dave and Cathal.
Eagle eyed anglers and DTAA committee members were watching Met Eireann all week to get a sense of what conditions would be like on Saturday 13th April on Owel. With the original slot of 6th April cancelled due to storm Kathleen, hope and expectation were in abundance as we counted down the days to Saturday morning when many of us could finally get out for the first time and for the first DTAA club competition of the season: The Pasker Cup
The large turnout and the enthusiasm from DTAA members added to the excitement despite the blustery conditions with a south-westerly, later coming more westerly, of 30-35km making it challenging at times. It was a case of hugging the Western shore and finding a bit of shelter to make it possible to fish while avoiding frustrating knots, tangles and flies stuck on the hull or in the back of your boat partner’s hat.
27 anglers set out from Tullaghans at 11am with the weigh in at 6pm. Irish international Eoin Dunne was back and took top spot with two fine fish for 5.875 Lbs. Second position went to DTAA Secretary Cathal McDonnell with his bag of two fish coming in at 5.22Lbs and Hubert Smith in third at 4.8Lbs. The special weight went to Sean Killeen.
With the wind the way it was, most anglers stayed close to the western shore from Srudarra, to Dolans, the Crannog, the Graveyard, the Kettle and the Corn fields. Fish were caught everywhere but nothing was really showing and the overall numbers were modest with only 8 of the 27 anglers returning fish, and many of the more experienced DTAA anglers blanking for the day.
Competition secretary Tom
Big thank you to the Competition sub committee: secretary Tom Hipwell, Boat manager Gerry Heaslip, Treasurer Declan McKibben and Trophy manager Clive Mills.
There will be 6 further DTAA competitions over the season. The next of which is the Anna Livia to be fished this year at Bohernabreena at the end of the month.
Interested in joining DTAA? Application form and details are here: https://dtaa.ie/membership/
Full table of results below:
37 of us attended this years AGM last Friday 26th January at the Spa hotel. It was an opportunity to catch up with club mates and friends, to celebrate the angling and winners of the previous season’s competitions and to look forward to the season ahead. This was the highest turnout for an AGM since 2017 which is very encouraging. Pictured below are Sean Goulding and Noel Ross.
Outgoing DTAA President Gerry Heaslip chaired the meeting with DTAA Honorary Secretary Cathal McDonnell taking us through the agenda, previous minutes, motions and nominations for committee members and officers for then coming year. As Gerry has served his term as President, Fran Nugent was selected as incoming President. We thanked Gerry for his commitment to DTAA and his outstanding leadership as President.
Brian Coghlan, (Research Officer with the IFI National Barriers Programme) gave a very informative presentation on the topic of artificial barriers in Irish rivers and their negative impact on the river ecosystems and the fish in particular. This presentation is available here.
DTAA Competitions Secretary Tom Hipwell was unable to attend the meeting and Gary Coakley very ably delivered a short address on behalf of Tom, recognising the value and importance of the DTAA competition calendar to the social life of the association.
Having taken on the position during the AGM, DTAA President Fran Nugent awarded the trophies to those DTAA anglers who won the competitions during the year as well as the honours of angler of the year, best juvenile angler and the Ronnie Miley trophy.
Gerry Heaslip was the angler of the year. This is Gerry’s 4th time winning the David Ring Cup and steps into 2nd place in DTAA folklore on his own now. Fran Nugent had an amazing 7 wins with Gary Coakley and Paul Dunne on 3 wins each. This competition has been running since 1985
and the first winner of this coveted trophy was the one and only
Noel Ross.
Full details of competition winners and other laureates can be found in the 2023 Annual Report here.
As we anticipate the opening of the season (March in most cases, but mid February for those brave souls who will head out on Conn), you might be interested in the DTAA fly tying group on Whatsapp which is busily sharing patterns and techniques and inspiring us to get the vice out and get the fly boxes stocked for our planned outings. If you are interested in fly tying be sure to reach out to Tom Smith or Tom Hipwell.
DTAA had our annual Christmas outing in Laois Angling Centre yesterday with 14 anglers catching and releasing 53 fish. The weather wasn’t too bad with only a small drizzle shower during the day. Our winner on the day was Brian Conway with a tremendous 15 fish, while Matt Clarke took the second spot with 11 fish and 3rd place for DTAA President Gerry Heaslip with 7 fish.
A big thank you to all who took part to make it a very enjoyable day. Also a big thank you to John at the angling centre for his prize voucher which was won by Alan Doherty in 4th place.
Looking forward to seeing you all in the new season tight lines for 2024 Gerry
Fran looking very comfortable in this last picture while John works on tempting the fish.
For Biosecurity information and guidance please see this article:
Boating Safety
Always wear a life jacket when boating and ensure that it is working correctly and serviced as per the manufacturers guidelines. (see also https://watersafety.ie/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Personal-Flotation-Device-Leaflet.pdf)
The most important advice we can give is that you should know the lake you are going out on. Do not boat on a lake if you are unfamiliar with the area you are going to. Always take a person with knowledge of the lake with you before you set out.
Secondly, try to avoid emergency situations before they can occur by acting sensibly. Once an emergency occurs on the water it can quickly become very serious and life-threatening. Bad weather is a major contributor to boat accidents, do not go out in bad weather or if bad weather is forecasted.
Always be prepared for engine failure. If you would not be able to control the boat on the oars, then it is not suitable to go out.
The main dangers:
Before you go on the water:
As you go on the water perform the following initial checks:
General boating advice:
When you get back to shore:
Beaufort Scale – Water Conditions
| Wind Force | State | Appearance on the Water (Lake Conditions) | Wind km/hr | Wind Knots |
| 0 | Calm | Water surface smooth and mirror-like | Less than 2 | Less than 1 |
| 1 | Light Air | Scaly ripples, no foam crests | 3-6 | 1-3 |
| 2 | Light Breeze | Small wavelets, crests glassy, no breaking | 7-11 | 4-6 |
| 3 | Gentle Breeze | Large wavelets, crests begin to break, scattered whitecaps | 12-19 | 7-10 |
| 4 | Moderate Breeze | Small waves 25cm. becoming longer, numerous whitecaps | 20-30 | 11-16 |
| 5 | Fresh Breeze | Moderate waves 35-50 cm taking longer form, many whitecaps, some spray | 31-39 | 17-21 |
| 6 | Strong Breeze | Larger waves 50-75cm, whitecaps common, more spray | 40-50 | 22-27 |
| 7 | Near Gale | Water heaps up, waves 1m, white foam streaks off breakers | 51-61 | 28-33 |
| 8 | Gale | Moderately high >1m waves of greater length, edges of crests begin to break into spindrift, foam blown in streaks | 62-74 | 34-40 |
| 9 | Strong Gale | High waves 1.5m, water begins to roll, dense streaks of foam, spray may reduce visibility | 75-87 | 41-47 |
| 10 | Storm | Very high waves (2m) with overhanging crests, sea white with densely blown foam, heavy rolling, lowered visibility | 88-102 | 48-55 |
| 11 | Violent Storm | Exceptionally high (>2m) waves, foam patches cover sea, visibility more reduced | 103-117 | 56-63 |
| 12 | Hurricane | Air filled with foam, waves over 2.5m, water completely white with driving spray, visibility greatly reduced | Greater than 118 | 64+ |
Please see these additional safety resources: