The first salmon of the year has been caught in Co Donegal and weighed in at 11lb. Mr Gerry MacNulty of Hawthorn Heights, Letterkenny, Co Donegal, won the race to net the first salmon of the new year in The Pool, in the lower stretches of the Lennon river.
The salmon was caught on Saturday in a private fishery. Mr MacNulty had gone there on New Year's Day but had had no luck until he returned three days later.
He told The Irish Times that the pool belonged to Mr Michael Desmond and said he wanted to thank him for giving him and a couple of other fishermen the few days there.
It was a definite first as the fishing board inspector was in the area at the time and verified it.
The salmon has been sold to the Silver Tassie lounge and restaurant at Ballymaleel, Letterkenny, and the money given to charity. "The Silver Tassie has bought the salmon for €1,000 and I'm donating it to the Donegal Hospice in Letterkenny, which opened only a few months ago," he said,
Mr MacNulty (58), who took a redundancy package from Telecom Éireann, said he had always loved fishing.