SportAngling Notes

James Wellwood (14) is a rising star of Irish coarse angling

The teenager won a recent competition with a catch of more than 400 rudd and will soon be rubbing shoulders with world champions

James Wellwood with his winning catch of rudd at Dungannon Park Lake, Co Tyrone
Derek Evans
Mon Jun 19 2023 - 04:46

James Wellwood (14) is fast becoming one of Ireland’s top coarse junior anglers. His latest achievement is yet another example of his prowess when it comes to competitive angling.

At a recent match in Dungannon Park Lake he saw off fellow senior Baggers AC members with a superb catch of more than 400 rudd for 18.800kg fishing the whip. Aaron Nabc Hutchman tailed with 17kg followed by Gary Cummings on 10.500kg.

Club membership has paid off for this up-and-coming young angler who makes his debut for the National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland (NCFFI) under-20 youth team in August along with current world champion Charlie Richards, and John Browne, Brian Clark and Donagh McSherry.

This elite team invite young anglers to join them at a development day this Saturday at Garvery Lake in Enniskillen and avail of the opportunity to pick-up tips and advice under the watchful eye of NCFFI coaches.

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Register at ncffi.ie/development-day-registration-24-june

The All Ireland Youth Championship takes place at Gaulmoylestown Lake on Saturday, July 1st. Tackle prizes and medals will be on offer for the top three in the under-15 and under-20 categories and free goody bag for those who take part. Book in at ncffi.ie/events/youth-champs-23.

Superb fishing, record weights

World Club champions Lurgan Coarse AC travelled to Leitrim for their annual weekend at a commercial carp fishery. The match was over two days with superb fishing and record weights recorded over both days.

Willy Gracey took overall top position with 740lb 8oz, closely followed by Keven Maguire on 725lb 3oz (440lb 10oz of which was caught on first day for a new lake record). Shaun Keenan followed with 625lb 5oz and Johnny McKinley finished fourth with 490lb 6oz.

The pairs was won by Willy Gracey and Johnny McKinley with a combined weight of 1230lb 13oz.

Interesting reading

The latest issue of SeaHealth-ucd e-bulletin makes for interesting reading for personnel involved in fisheries and consumers. It is called Winds of Change in the Seafood Sector, and one of the topics is iced seafood counters.

Iced seafood counters are closing in the UK, and at least one Irish supermarket chain has closed its counters in favour of prepacked fish in chilled cabinets.

A well-maintained iced seafood counter is a “work of art”, is hugely visual, displays a wide range of fish species/shellfish and allows consumers peruse and inspect what is on offer. This option does not prevail to the same extent for prepacked seafood in chilled cabinets.

Iced counters are also manned and consumers can select the portion they require and discuss intended purchase with an operative and have it packed in an ultra-convenient microwaveable bag.

Increased seafood consumption is highly desirable for health reasons and well maintained iced seafood counters are central to this.

The priority, therefore, is for supermarkets to expand consumer-friendly iced seafood counters rather than abandon them despite being more costly to run than the prepacked seafood/chilled cabinet option.

Contact ronan.gormley@ucd.ie for further information

Last-minute Bahamas

Delphi Club in Abaco, Bahamas, is offering a last-minute special with 30 per cent off for July 5th-9th comprising of four rooms, four rods and two skiffs. Get in touch now via the website or email reservations@delphiclubabaco.com.

If you have an angling story to share, please send to me at angling@irishtimes.com