Editor: Paul Bourke, Angling Information Officer
E-mail: paul.bourke@cfb.ie
Website: www.cfb.ie
Phone: 00 353 (0)1 8842600 Fax: 00 353 (0)1 8360060

Sea angling is enjoying a good start to the season with charter boats from the north to the south getting to sea and recording good catches of ling, spurdogs and conger. Shore anglers in the south east and south west continue to enjoy good fishing with bass featuring at a number of venues from Wexford to Kerry. On a more serious note the threatened reopening of the commercial bass fishery is being resisted by many anglers at home and overseas. You can find out more at Jim Hendrick's website.

Coarse angling has yet to recover but pike anglers will be encouraged by the number of big fish being reported from a number of rivers and lakes in the north east and upper Shannon areas.

Salmon fishing has slowed right down but the first fish of the year for Lough Gill was caught on 24 January. The 6 lbs. 6 oz. salmon fell to Sligo Anglers member, Brendan Gordon, while trolling a silver dace lure off Castle Point.

Rathbeggan Lakes is offering a great deal to anglers with low prices on day tickets. Cashel Trout Fishery had some enjoyable fishing but the return of low temperatures is threatening to ice the lake over again.

You can meet all the CFB angling team at Ireland Angling 2010 in National Show Centre, Swords, Co. Dublin on February 13th and 14th. Now in its tenth year, this popular all-Ireland Show will be officially opened by Jack Charlton who is no stranger to fishing on Irish waters and will also feature Matt Hayes, presenter of "Total Fishing" on Sky TV. We look forward to seeing you there. To find out more visit this link www.irelandanglingexpo.ie.

Tight lines.

Myles Kelly

email: myles.kelly@cfb.ie
Ph: +353 (0) 1 8842600
Fax: +353 (0) 1 8360060

New coarse angling regulations for 2010

A 2010 regulation - that will be welcomed by most - is that which prohibits the killing of coarse fish (including eels).

As a summary (with effect from 1st January) -

Coarse fish. It is prohibited to kill coarse fish (however, see regulation on pike, below) in the Foyle and Carlingford areas waters.

Eels. It is prohibited to kill eels in the Foyle and Carlingford areas.

All such coarse fish and eels caught, must be carefully handled and returned alive and unharmed to the water.

Pike. There is a bag limit of 2 pike weighing 4 kg or less, on any one day. Pike of 4kg or more must be returned unharmed to the water. There is an exception for specimen pike with a bag limit of 1 specimen pike in any one day (a specimen pike in a river is 9 kg or more; a specimen pike in a lake is 13.6 kg or more).

Live bait. Live fish cannot be used as bait in fresh waters in the Foyle and Carlingford areas.

LARGEST FISH EVER CAUGHT ON ROD AND LINE IN IRELAND

Coming soon

Tom from Ash Apartments and Trinity Island Lodge, County Cavan (June '09) reports:

We have had very good fishing on our private waters over the past few weeks. Bobby and Andy prebated heavily and got results 125 and 115 lbs. of bream.

John and Dave continued catching this week also with catches over the ton all lovely healthy bream up to 7 lbs.

On the more shallow side of the lake Tim had 40 lbs of skimmers one day and another day he could not lift his net out of the water.

As the weather warmed up through June so catches have improved with many visitors recording personal bests and although no specimens were recorded it was a close thing for several species.

Joe Nicholls and Terry Birks from Kent swapped their pike rods for sea rods for their first visit to the Beara and found enough sport to make a return visit a certainty. Huss to 12 pounds and wrasse to 3 pounds along with mackerel, pollack and (nearly) a good conger gave them a good introduction to sea fishing.

Seb Thomas and Matt Brewer from Somerset found that dusk was the most productive time for them during the hot, bright days when the bay was like a sheet of glass. During their visit they had plenty of pollack, thornback ray, huss, conger, wrasse and several mini species. Highlight of their catch was a 4.5 pound smooth hound, the first to my knowledge caught in this area.

Kings Angling clients and regular visitors Eric Hayles and Richard Williams from the Isle of Wight targeted the wrasse and mullet and took many fish to 4 pounds and three pounds respectively.

Andy Mills and Bob for Poole in Dorset were over for their annual visit and the pick of their catches was one of 50 wrasse in a day to 4.5 pounds, and they only stopped catching because they ran out of bait.

Members of the Fountain Pub AC from Hythe in Kent were on their first visit here but group leader Alan Yates along with John Wells were over last year with the Sea Safari group. With such expert help the group could do no wrong and had some memorable days. Highlights of the week included nine thornies to nine pounds in one session, wrasse to 4 pounds, pollack to 6 lbs, huss to 7 lbs and many conger. Top catch of the week went to Simon Wood with a 34lb 4oz conger – and he was only here for the golf.

Clive Allen and son Liam from Wales had their first experience of Irish wrasse fishing and armed with plenty of ragworm took over 90 fish to 4 pounds in their first two sessions. When thye managed to tear themselves away from the wrasse they also managed pollack to 4 pounds and rays and huss to 9 pounds.

A plethora of Marlin Bells!
20th Jan 2010

Unreel with David Bird, Terry Pendry and Phil Revett had 2 Striped marlin and a sail tagged and released and some bottom fish.

21st Jan
Unreel with Paul Janaway caught 1 Striped marlin and a sail, both tagged and released.White Bear fished by Marcel and Annick Prot had 1 Striped marlin on fly.
Seastorm with Simon Rickarby got 2 Striped marlin.

22nd Jan
B's Nest with Gordon and Susan Mason got 2 Striped marlin.

Ol-jogi with Peter Fox had 1 Striped marlin.

Sea Storm with Roger Ireland and John and Val Aveyard; first time anglers, got 1 Stripey each. Marlin bells were rung, congratulations!

Tega with Mark and Connor Mountfield had 2 Striped marlin while Unreel with David Bird and Phil Revett got 1 Striped marlin, also tagged and released.

23rd Jan
White Bear with Richard Baudry and Eddie Bulley had 1 sail on fly.

Ol-jogi fished by Peter Fox had a fantastic day with 6 Striped marlin and 2 sails. Congratulations Peter!

Wwhile Tega with Rose, Anna, Zyg and Zenia Gregorek had 3 Striped marlin and 2 sails.

Instedda with Imraan Moosa and Ali Harazi got 1 Stripy on fly and 1 sail all tagged and released.

24th Jan
Instedda with Imraan Moosa and Ali Al Harazi got 5 Striped marlin and 1 sail.

Ol-jogi fished by John Evans and Joss Leighton had 1 Striped marlin and 2 sails ( John's first marlin - congratulations John!)

Simba with Tina Allen caught 1 Blue marlin 60kgs, 1 Striped marlin and 2 sails.

B's Nest with Gordon Mason got 2 Striped marlins and 4 sails.

White Bear with Richard Baudry and Eddie Bulley had 1 Stripy and 1 sail on fly.

White Dove with Mike Hatter got 1 sail.

Unreel with David Bird, Clive Norman and John Brice had 7 Striped marlin, 2 sails and a Red snapper 24kgs for a superb day out, with John Brice getting his first marlin, a nice estimated at 70Kg Stripey. Congratulations John!

Tega with Joe Drury, Zyg Gregorek, and Andy Butts closed the day with 1 Blue marlin 60kgs and 6 Stripey all tagged and released.

25th Jan
B's Nest with Julian Mills, Robin Minter - Kemp and Jonathan Lowe caught a Black tip Shark 80kgs which they fought for over 2 hours and then tagged and released.

Ol-jogi with Jeremy Block got 2 Stripey and 1 sail all on fly.

Gai Cullen on Simba with Richard Baudry also keen on fly fishing had 1 Striped marlin 30kgsand 2 sails on fly. The Stripey which was tagged by Gai being the first Marlin ever tagged on fly by a lady in East Africa. White Bear with Peter Fox got 1 Stripey.

Seastorm with Joss Leighton and John Evans had 1 Striped marlin 65kgs and 3 sails (this being Joss's first ever marlin caught for another marlin bell).
Other boats out were Pussy Cat skippered by Andy Adams and fished by Bernd Ragotzky who caught 2 Stripeys.

Tega with Zyg and Zenia Gregorek who got 2 Striped and a sail.

Blue Eyes reported 5 Stripeys, 3 sails and 1 short bill spearfish in 3 days fishing.

Peter Danborough on Alleycat got 1 Blue, 8 Stripeys, 4 sails and Callum Looman on Tarka reported 2 Blacks and 20 Stripeys over the week.