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.