Angling Notes: new rules for Galway and Mayo

The Minister with responsibility for Inland Fisheries, Sean Kyne, has signed off three new angling bye-laws which affect the Corrib catchment in Galway and Mayo.

“The bye-laws, which have been requested by local angling clubs, concern the Abbert and Grange Rivers, the Clare River and the Cong River and Canal and reflect the support of the clubs for the conservation imperative and the sustainable management of the local fisheries resource. As minister I am happy to make these bye-laws which will come into immediate effect.”

Details are as follows: Abbert and Grange Rivers (annual close season). The bye-law extends the closed season for all angling on the Abbert and Grange Rivers by two months to cover the period from September 1st to MArch 31st annually.

Western Fisheries Region River Clare (Revocation). This new bye-law permits all legal angling methods on the Clare River from Daly’s Bridge in the townland of Corrandrum to a point 300m upstream of the footbridge at Anbally in the townlands of Anbally and Turloughmartin, Co Galway.

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Upper and Lower Limits of Cong River and Cong Canal. This bye-law defines the upstream boundary between Mask and the Cong Canal and the downstream boundary between the Cong River and Lough Corrib.

Anglers can familiarise themselves with the finer details on fisheriesireland.ie.

One for beginners

Novice anglers are invited to try their hand at fishing at the National Ploughing Championships which takes place in Screggan, Tullamore, from tomorrow until Thursday, with a fun fishing simulator suitable for all the family.

The simulator will be located within the Department of Communications, Climate Action and the Environment’s tent and those interested are invited to “have a go”.

There will also be aquariums with a variety of fish species on display and fisheries officers will be on hand to answer questions and advise on how to take up the sport.

Follow IFI's activity at the event at facebook.com/inlandfisheriesireland or @AnglingUpdate on Twitter.

Return your logbooks

In accordance with the Wild Salmon and Sea Trout Tagging Scheme, anglers are required by law to return their completed logbook and unused tags to the issuing IFI office once they have finished fishing for the season or at the end of September and no later than October 19th.

Anglers can only retain one salmon per day in a fishery with a surplus, provided they have remaining tags in September.

The return of logbooks and tags can be done via the business-return envelope supplied at time of license purchase. The records from this year’s returns will support management decisions in 2019.

As part of the scheme, an angler must attach a gill tag to a salmon (any size) or sea trout (more than 40cm) immediately on landing and record details into their logbook. If the fish is to be released, the catch must also be recorded.

Queries in relation to the scheme can be sent to salmonlogbookreturn@fisheriesireland.ie.

Major incident

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) has investigated a major pollution incident which killed a significant number of fish in the River Clywedog near Wrexham. A stretch of about 9km of river was affected leading to a significant loss of fish within the Clywedog.

Officers collected water samples for analysis and assessed the impact on the environment and wildlife. Investigations are continuing and appropriate enforcement action will follow, if necessary.

Local knowledge

The Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships took place recently on a selection of lakes in Northern Ireland. The three-day catch-and-release event, hosted by Tafi (Ulster), attracted 10 countries (teams) plus six ladies’ teams.

Local knowledge paid off handsomely as the home team emerged clear winners followed by Canada and Scotland. At the prize-giving dinner in Omagh, gratitude was expressed to main sponsors, the Loughs Agency and Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.

Northern Ireland’s team: B Kerr, C Baird, K Ferguson, D Haggan, G McGuire and J Burns. Captain/Coach: A McDaid. Manager: D Wallace. Best lady angler: Allison O’Brien (South Africa).

Scots take the honours

Scotland put in a commanding performance to take the honours at the International Fly Fishing Association (IFFA) autumn match in Llyn Brenig, Wales. Results: 1, Scotland, 79 fish; 2, Wales, 70f; 3, England, 65f; 4, Ireland, 51f. Heaviest fish: 3lb, T Llewelyn (Wales).

Determined effort

Dublin Pike Anglers held the first leg of their winter league on the River Suck earlier this month, and although fishing was ‘patchy’, competitors put in a determined effort.

Results: 1, D Murphy, 39.2lb; 2, A Maughan, 34.2lb; 3, P Burke; 25.1lb. Preliminary date for the second leg is October 7th.

Gold for Team Ireland

The Garda Siochana Coarse Angling Club returned home triumphant with gold from the European Police Championships held on the Noordhollands Canal in the Netherlands, last weekend.

Team Ireland won the gold medal for the second consecutive year with Donncha Maguire winning individual bronze. England finished second followed by Hungary. Ireland will host the championships in 2019.

[ angling@irishtimes.com ]