It may not be quite up to the standard of the recently-announced Irish Open golf tournament, but a two-day angling visit to the world-renowned K Club in Co Kildare was an occasion to be cherished.
As part of their angling project, transition year (TY) students from CBS James’s Street in Dublin were invited to a spectacular fishing extravaganza on a selection of lakes in the vast 550-acre expanse of the K Club grounds.
This is the fifth year of the project in which pupils are introduced to many elements of fishing, including coarse, pike, sea and game. This year’s students have already visited Loughs Ramor and Muckno, and the skills acquired can form part of their submissions for the Gaisce awards.
The K Club fisheries manager, Kieran Ward, was joined by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) officers Josie Mahon, Des Chew and Karl Owens, and ably assisted by Brian McDonagh, Tony Daly and Michael Maher.
Olive Crowe, TY co-ordinator at CBS James’s Street, said: “We started TY in 2016 and Kieran Ward, as a former student, made contact with the school asking did we want help on any programmes. We thought with Kieran as a keen fisherman we might give it a go and combine the TY with the fishing.
“It started off as a one-year venture with Thursday afternoon classes in school over 13 weeks and four trips. It was so successful it ran for four years! We had a break because of Covid, but it has come back this year even stronger,” said Ms Crowe.
On my visit last Tuesday I was whisked around a selection of lakes in a golf buggy to witness the students busy spinning for pike on two lakes and fly fishing for rainbow trout on a third lake.
While the pike decided to take a day off, the rainbows were in full swing and each of the students were thrilled to land some hard-fighting fish. Back at the fishing lodge the entire group was treated to an open-air, five-star lunch which was warmly received with gratitude.
Sincere thanks to the K Club for this wonderful day which, I have no doubt, will be remembered by the students for a very long time. Also to Kieran Ward for his management skills and many talents in organising the two days.
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Natural Resources Wales (NRW) has initiated a new venture entitled Project Siarc which offers communities the opportunity to be part of a “green recovery” in Wales.
Working with Zoological Society London, NRW is enlisting the help of fishers, schoolchildren, researchers and citizen scientists to better understand some of the more unusual coastal species.
Project co-ordinator Jake Davies said: “Siarc grew from people’s enthusiasm for Angel Shark Project-Wales. Communities started sharing information about all sorts of sharks, skates and rays, which provided new insights on the ecology of these little-known species.”
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Portumna regular Dave Brooks took the honours on the last day of the spring festival, with 55lb of roach caught on the pole. Anglers enjoyed some great fishing on the Shannon, with match sections Rodgers and Town producing top catches.
It came down to the last day which saw Brooks win by four points to nudge out local angler Stuart Greene by one point. Third placing went to Arthur Judge. The festival is sponsored by Curley’s bar and Finn’s service station.
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Inniscarra lake in Co Cork continued to produce for the feeder anglers as the second of the spring festivals came to a close. The prolific reservoir, home of the Coachford Greenway, is host to a number of open matches and competitions throughout the year.
Results: Cavan angler Neil Mazuerk finished the third-day Dave Bacon memorial competition with 64.160kg, 9kg ahead of Alan Larkin. Visiting regulars Dale Malpas 54.300kg and Stu Blunsom 49.430kg finished third and fourth respectively.
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Last weekend 25 anglers took to the bank of the Grand Canal near Sallins for the All-Ireland Canal Championships. It was a tough but enjoyable day, fishing was poor and several anglers blanked. The long stretch of canal was coloured with fish moving and hard to target.
Sensas Ireland angler Codin Jurj managed to land over 11lbs of large roach to win the five-hour match, followed by John Connolly and Paul Kelly in third position. Section prizes were awarded to Hugh McKernan, Pat Bartley, Gary Rogers and Peter Turner.
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Erne Anglers’ AC completed its winter season on Sunday last with the league match final. The top 18 performers qualify to fish the forthcoming match sponsored by the club and Irish Bait and Tackle Ltd.
This year’s winner is Co Cavan angler Wayne Fuller with (8.700kg) from the Cleenish Bridge section of the river Erne, followed by Ewan Weed (7.900kg) and third Gregor Bojczewski (3.940kg).
In total 40 club members attended the winter league over 10 matches with the best eight to count. The league saw a tie at the top for three anglers on 44 points, with the final decided on weight.
Next up is the Bobby Smithers’ Erne Open. The match in memory of Ireland’s only gold medal winner in coarse angling is usually attended by up to 200 anglers. For booking information, visit https://bit.ly/ErneAC.
*If you have an angling story to share please send to me at angling@irishtimes.com
