National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland, angling update

From the Central & Regional Fisheries Boards

Editor: Paul Bourke, Angling Information Officer

Phone: 00 353 (0) 1 8379206

Fax:00 353 (0) 1 836006

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Angling Update

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18th. Jan
2008

Greetings everyone and a happy new year to all,

Despite the very wintry conditions since Christmas, there has been a remarkable amount of angling going on around Ireland. High water levels and high winds did not deter angling activity particularly on our inland waters. So far I have heard of only two Salmon recorded this year but the first fish recorded on the River Drowes was a cracker at 13 lbs. There was a Salmon reported on the first day of the season in Co. Kerry on Thursday last at Waterville. In this week’s update, there are plenty of Pike catches reported including fish to 25 lbs. 10 oz. from the River Shannon. I have heard of some bigger fish caught but I am awaiting confirmed catch reports etc. There was some nice shore fishing reported from the East Coast and Warren Doyle secretary of EFSA Ireland kindly gave me a calendar of events to include in the update and some notices also. You will find some nice fish catch photos on our website to accompany the Irish Angling Update. All the new Salmon Regulations and opening dates can now be found on our website at: http://www.cfb.ie/fishing_in_ireland/Angling%20Regulations.htm

Tight lines especially in Ireland in 2008-01-18

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Irish Specimen Fish Committee’s report for 2007	Greetings everyone, I apologize for not been in touch for a while with the Irish Angling Update. A big thank you to all who contributed angling reports to the Irish Angling update in the past year. I have recently being working on a new suite of angling brochures for all our fish species here in Ireland along with my work colleagues here in the CFB and RFB’s etc. These will be published early in the new year by Failte Ireland. On the angling front, There has been a lot of Pike angling here in Ireland over the last four weeks with the rivers Suck, Inny and Barrow producing the best fishing with many Pike over 20 lbs. recorded. You can log into two regional board websites for some good updates on this fishing and some other bits of news at http://www.shrfb.ie and http://www.fishingireland.net I will be back in the new year after a break and hopefully some good fishing here in Ireland over the festive break with the new Irish Angling Update for 2008 including the capture of the first salmon of the year etc. Salmon licences can be purchased online for 2008 at www.cfb.ie I do also however enclose a copy of the new specimen report for 2007 along with a press release and cover. Hard copies of the report will be available from the committee and the Central Fisheries Board in the new year. Merry Christmas and tight lines to all in 2008, Paul
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Press release 21/12/2007 26kb

Angling Update

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28th. Oct
2007

Greetings to everyone
It’s a few weeks since the last the angling update but I hope to circulate an angling to you every two weeks or so for the next few months. The recent fine weather in Ireland has brought some fine fishing for many species in freshwater and at sea. On the inland scene, Pike fishing has taken off with plenty of fish over 20 lbs reported especially on many venues on the Rivers Shannon and Suck. There was some fine Bream fishing reported in the Longford area for several parties of English anglers. On the sea, 110 anglers fished the annual Master shore competition at Mullaghmore in Co. Sligo and enjoyed excellent fishing. There were reports of some excellent Bass reported from Wexford and Courtmacsherry. One bit of news is the retirement of Brian Prendergast, Chairman of the Irish Federation of Sea Anglers for the last 24 years at the IFSA agm and was then elected President of the organisation. Brian has made a huge contribution to Irish Sea angling over the years and has been a great ambassador for the sport. His Successor is Tom Lillis and I wish both men well in their new posts. Finally just a reminder to all anglers, who caught specimen fish in the past year. Please submit specimen claim forms before the end of November for inclusion this year’s annual report – see press release at the end of the angling update,

Paul

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Angling Update

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10th. Oct
2007

Greetings to everyone
The Salmon, Sea Trout and Brown Trout season is now over for another year and there was a great end to the season on many lakes and rivers in the past fortnight. Many thanks to everyone who supplied me with reports on the whole season. Roll on 2008! Some people question whether the coarse fishing in Ireland is as good as it was in the “good old days” of the 70’s and 80’s. Please read some of the catches that many English and Irish anglers recorded in the last few weeks. The angling festivals also produced very good fishing in the Cavan area. Many anglers have turned to Pike fishing already and looking at the catches in this week’s update, it looks like a great few months ahead to catch these great fish in many of our fisheries. Sea anglers are still at it catching numerous specimens everywhere especially as the weather is still very good. You can hear my monthly report on RTE Radio 1 programme “Seascapes” with marine correspondent Tom MacSweeney at 8.30 every Friday night. Check our joint “catch of the month” on our websites http://www.rte.ie/radio1/seascapes/ and www.cfb.ie More angling stories next week

Paul

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Angling Update

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19th. Sept
2007

Greetings to everyone
It’s been another exciting week in Irish Angling with a new possible Irish Albacore Tuna record of 64.59 lbs. recorded in the past week. The fish is only 14 lbs. short of a world record but it does beat the existing line class record in Europe. Good sea fishing dominates the headlines with many big Blue Shark over 100 lbs. recorded off Cork, Clare and Sligo in the past week. The annual Rosslare small boat’s festival produced a record 41 species over the week’s fishing for the many English anglers who travel over with their small boats. On a sad note, I have just learned that regular English angling journalist Dave Timms from Gosport has passed away after a recent illness. Dave was a regular at Rosslare for many years and wrote many fine articles on Irish Sea Fishing. We send our condolences to his family and to all his angling friends both here in Ireland and in the UK. Ar dheis de go raibh a anam.
There were many other specimen fish recorded including Coalfish and Pollack from Cork and Ballan Wrasse from Clare. The good weather has brought low water levels in many rivers and Salmon fishing is a little quieter than in previous months. The heavy rain in the past couple of days should bring about some good sport again. Trout fishing is rather quiet but it is nice to report that there was some nice Trout fishing in the past week on Lough Owel in Mullingar. Over 100 English visitors enjoyed excellent catches of Roach, Hybrids and Bream at many lake venues in Co. Cavan this week in the Annual King of Clubs competition where 4.5 Tonnes of fish were recorded. There was increased pike fishing activity this week with some nice Pike caught on the fly at Lough Derg and some nice fish up to 23 lbs. reported from the River Shannon at Banagher. Last week I introduced you all to our new Press and Communications Officer, Linda McKenny. I gave you the wrong email address for Linda and this is the correct address at linda.mckenny@cfb.ie and Phone +353 (0) 1 8842639 Please feel free to contact her on any press or communications items relating to fisheries at any time.

Paul

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Angling Update Adobe Acrobat Required	12th. Sept 2007 29th. Aug 2007	Greetings to everyone It’s been a few weeks since you heard from me due to some leave and some gremlins here on my computer which I am glad to say are cured. I enclose two angling updates with two week reports in each so there are nearly 40 pages of angling update containing the best of Angling Update material for you to peruse. There so many big stories to tell you that I am not going to itemise them here as you can read them on the front page of each update. There is one story which I have not included this week as I am awaiting photos and the full story on a big Albacore Tuna which was caught off Cahersiveen weighing 64.59 lbs. This huge fish nearly doubles the present Irish record and if verified by the Irish Specimen Fish Committee will be the new Irish Record. The fish is only less than 10 lbs. off the World Record!! My colleagues and I enjoyed some fine deep sea fishing at Kilmore Quay last weekend in a calm sea and grateful thanks to all the skippers who looked after us. Next week’s angling update will be with you by Thursday. Please note that Linda McKenny has joined us as the Press and Communications Officer and she can be contacted at +353 (0)1 8842639 or linda.kenny@cfb.ie I wish her well on joining the team here. Finally you can now log on to our website in French at http://www.cfb.ie/peche-en-irlande/index.htm , in German at http://www.cfb.ie/angeln-in-irland/index.htm and in Dutch at http://www.cfb.ie/vissen-in-ierland/index.htm Paul
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Angling Update Adobe Acrobat Required	15th. Aug 2007	Greetings to everyone August is usually a quiet time of the year for Irish angling but this year, there is a lot of fishing going on and many exceptional fish encountered by anglers from home and abroad. The continuing wet weather is still producing better than average Salmon fishing on most of our fisheries. A fine Specimen 20 lbs. 6 oz. Salmon was the best fish which was captured from the Bundrowes River in Co. Donegal by a regular northern irish angler from Bangor . Trout fishing is a little quieter this week although there are some nice Trout being recorded on some of the western lakes. Many good catches of Bream were caught by English visiting anglers from fisheries around Co. Longford. On the sea, there were plenty of Blue Shark tagged and released in West Cork . In the same area, a Specimen Ling of 32 lbs. 7 oz. is our catch of the week along with specimen Pollack landed on the same trip out from Castletown Bearhaven in West Cork . There was two great days of sea fishing from shore and boat for a group of new anglers tutored by the RAI (Recreational Angling Ireland) workshop at Cahersiveen. Another catch was an unusual sunfish catch recorded in Galway and elsewhere out from Clifden, 19 species were recorded in one day for a group of anglers out deep sea fishing. I am away from my desk for a few days in north Donegal next week and all my colleagues in the section will be able to assist you with any enquiries. There will be no update next week but I will be at a stand at the Irish Game and Country Fair in Birr next weekend to deal with any angling enquires and maybe I will see you there Paul
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Angling Update Adobe Acrobat Required	08th. Aug 2007	Greetings to everyone Another great week for Irish fishing. There was so many memorable fish and fish reports this week that I could fill two to three pages with headlines. Despite the recent bad weather and high water levels on inland waters it certainly has been an excellent week for Salmon, Brown Trout, Coarse fishing and shore and deep sea fishing this week. Please read the angling update carefully as the stories are very good with specimen Salmon of 23 lbs, specimen Sea Trout of 6.75 lbs., Specimen Tench 7 lbs., Specimen Coalfish 24.5 lbs., Specimen Trigger Fish 4 lbs. 10 oz. big Blue Shark and a common Skate of 210 lbs. among some of the mouth watering fish recorded this week !!!! Please note that our website is now got a new German version along with our French and English versions. We hope to launch a version in Dutch shortly. Anyway I hope to go out and sample some of this wonderful fishing this weekend, Paul
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Angling Update Adobe Acrobat Required	01st. Aug 2007	Greetings to everyone The recent very wet weather certainly helped Salmon anglers everywhere around Ireland to enjoy better sport on most fisheries. The river Moy yielded 886 Salmon for the week was the best but there were very good catches reported from all around the country. Good hatches of Green Peter brought the Trout on the take on Lough Owel in Mullingar in the past week. High water levels hampered coarse anglers but some fine fishing was reported from the Mullingar area and in Co. Cavan. Catch of the week went to well known specimen hunter, Michael Dennehy with a 37.5 lbs. Cod from Courtmacsherry and it is the 2^nd heaviest ever recorded on rod and line. – see photo on www.cfb.ie There was some shore fishing reported from west Cork and Clare and the Shannon Estuary provided some good deep sea fishing. The famous World Cup Brown Trout competition is on now on Lough Mask and I hope all the competitors enjoy good fishing and I will report on how it fished along with the rest of the best of Irish angling, Paul
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Angling Update Adobe Acrobat Required	25th. July 2007	Greetings to everyone We have high water levels on our inland waters and Salmon anglers are enjoying the best of the fishing at present. There is very good green peter fishing for brown trout on Lough Owel at present and I am hoping to sample some of this tomorrow evening. Very good sea angling from both shore and boat make all the biggest headlines this week including a 180 lbs. Porbeagle Shark recorded at Baltimore in Co. Cork for an English visitor. A fine specimen 5 lbs. 9 oz Ballan Wrasse for local angling guide Bill Ryan taken from the Co. Clare shore line is our catch of the week. Please let me any feed back on any items in the angling update at any time and please send me reports plus photos by E-mail. Every contribution will be acknowledged. Paul
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Angling Update Adobe Acrobat Required	18th. July 2007	Greetings to everyone I am just back from Holidays here in Ireland and despite some inclement weather, flooded rivers and lakes, and windy weather, the fishing remains quiet good. The extra water in many of our Salmon Rivers has contributed to some fine fishing on some of our major fisheries like the Moy which produced 861 Salmon in the past week. A fine 10.5 lbs. Sea Trout was caught and returned on a barbless fly by a Tipperary angler on Lough Currane. There was some very good coarse fishing reported from many venues in Co. Cavan including a best day’s catch of over 200 lbs. of mainly Bream reported from Drumlona Lake in Cootehill. On the Sea angling front, a 29 lbs. Cod from Courtmacsherry is our catch of the week and is the biggest Cod of the year so far. For our French anglers, please see our section en francais on the front page of our website at www.cfb.ie on all aspects of the Irish angling. Finally, I must thank Myles our webmaster for keeping the angling update for the last two weeks on our website. Paul
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Angling Update Adobe Acrobat Required	27th. June 2007	Greetings to everyone Another great week of Irish Angling with excellent Game, Coarse and Sea fishing reported in this week’s angling update. There was great Blue Winged Olive fishing for Brown Trout reported from the River Boyne. A big specimen Trout of 5.25 lbs. was taken on fly on the upper river Suck. The run of summer Salmon or grilse is well under way now with excellent water levels providing great sport from all our Salmon fisheries. Coarse fishing is excellent at present and the broken weather at the moment is contributing to some huge catches of Bream, Tench and Hybrids from many venues nationwide. Sea fishing has improved also with the report of a huge Whiting at Kinsale and excellent fishing in the Shannon Estuary. I am away on annual leave for the next two weeks but Myles Kelly our webmaster will try to keep an up to date angling update on the website. You can contact him at myles.kelly@cfb.ie Paul
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Angling Update Adobe Acrobat Required	20th. June 2007	Greetings to everyone Apologies for the lateness in this angling update. This was due to technical difficulties here in the CFB. Last Week, the increase in water levels in the South West and the west brought an improvement in Salmon Angling due to constant rain. A fine 2 lbs. 9 oz. specimen Rudd won our Catch of the Week from Carrigadrohid Reservoir in Co. Cork. Good catches of Bream and Tench were reported from the Ballinamore Mohill area. Good deep sea and shore fishing was reported from the Beara area in west Cork . Competitors enjoyed some excellent deep sea fishing at Clifden where 25 species were recorded in the Clifden Open Boat Competition. This week’s angling update will be back on track and will be with you by Friday next, Paul
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Angling Update

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13th. June
2007

Greetings to everyone

Another busy week for Irish Angling with some great stories in this week’s update. Matthew Murray from Dublin caught a 64 lbs. Tope, just 2 lbs. under the Irish record in Dundalk Bay , which was tagged and released. A more unique story was recorded in Kinsale where a dutch visitor, Jan de Graaf caught the first Blue Shark of the season. Incredibly, Jan also landed the first Blue Shark of the 1997 season, ten years ago!! Salmon fishing was a little quieter this week but I expect this to change after all the rain that fell everywhere this week. Trout fishing is a little quieter also but there was some nice fishing reported particularly on Lough O’Flynn. Coarse fishing is very good at most centres and there were some fine catches of Tench featuring in catches around Shannonbridge. Pike fishing is a little quieter also this week although one nice fish of 26 lbs. was taken near Banagher. On the sea front, there were good shore reports from the Beara Peninsula and good deep sea fishing reported from Shannon Estuary.
Paul

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Angling Update

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6th. June
2007

Greetings to everyone

Another great week for Irish Angling with some superb fishing for most angling species. Despite the sunny conditions now pertaining, there has been some fine Salmon fishing particularly on the River Moy. It has been another marvellous week for Sea Trout fishing on Lough Currane where more big specimens were recorded including our catch of the week on the front page of our website at www.cfb.ie Trout fishing is a little quieter this week but there is still some lovely trout being taken particularly in the west and in the midlands. Coarse fishing is excellent everywhere and there are many great reports in this week’s update. Pike fishing is still very good despite the high water temperatures. Sea angling in the Beara peninsula in West Cork and on the Shannon Estuary has been very good and there will be more sea angling reports in next week update with the present good weather from many more sea angling centres.
Paul

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Angling Update

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1st June
2007

Greetings to everyone

Apologies for the delay in getting last week’s update to you. This was due to many meetings and many angling enquiries last week. This week’s angling update will be with you by Friday next. The mayfly season is well and truly over for this year but Trout fishing is still very good on many of our major Trout lakes. Salmon anglers on the Moy and the Ballisodare River enjoyed some good sport in the past week. Coarse anglers are enjoying some excellent sport with nice catches including Bream on many waters particularly in Cavan. A group of Belgium anglers had a bumper week’s Pike fishing in the Arva Gowna area catching a total of 1,115 Pike all of which were returned. There was no Sea angling reports last week due to high winds all week. Already, many big angling stories are on my desk for inclusion in this week’s angling update and I will have these stories for you by the weekend.
Paul

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Angling Update Adobe Acrobat Required	23rd May 2007	Greetings everyone, Another good week for Irish angling to report albeit a bit windier through out the week, which hampered sea angling in particular. There were more big specimen Sea Trout to report from Lough Currane up to 9.5 lbs for a English visitor and it has been a great season to date. It is nice to report that some of the specimens (i.e. over 6 lbs.) were released after capture. Another great catch and release this week was a fine 7 lbs. 10 lbs. Brown Trout caught on the Mayfly by English regular visitor, Bill Holmes. Bill wins our catch of the week award and this magnificent fish along with captor can be seen on the front page of our website at www.cfb.ie Coarse fishing was excellent this week with some big Tench to 6 lbs featuring in catches particularly in the upper Shannon. Pike fishing has gone generally quiet but I am hoping to help a team of anglers from Beet magazine from Holland to catch a few big ones on the River Suck in the next few days. Hopefully I will be writing about their escapades next week, Paul
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Angling Update Adobe Acrobat Required	16th May 2007	Greetings everyone, The Mayfly is hatching pretty well on most of our major Trout lakes and many anglers are enjoying the fun. Trout to 14.5 lbs. have been reported in the past week and it is nice to report that many anglers are returning a lot of Trout on our lakes. Salmon fishing has livened up on the Moy and other fisheries in the north west . There is a nice Photo of Angling officer Markus Muller with the North Western Regional Board with a nice 11.5 lbs fish he returned to the water in this week’s update. Coarse fishing is excellent everywhere and some superb catches of Bream, Tench, Hybrids and Roach have been reported taken on many fisheries nationwide. Pike fishing is also excellent and Banagher on the River Shannon was the top spot this past week. There was some nice sea angling reported from Galway and the Shannon Estuary. Remember if you are afloat fishing in Ireland , you are required by law to wear a lifejacket. Tight lines especially in Ireland , Paul
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Angling Update Adobe Acrobat Required	09th May 2007	Greetings everyone, Due to some technical difficulties in the last number of weeks, it was impossible to circulate the Irish angling update to you all. I am sending the current week’s update and I will send you the last couple of week’s reports early next week. It has been a hectic couple of weeks with some terrific angling reports covering all species of fish particularly on the inland side. The Mayfly madness is here and anglers are having some lovely Trout fishing on loughs although there has been some excellent river trout fishing also. The recent hot weather saw many of our rivers and lakes go very low but currently things have changed now with reasonable rainfall and changeable weather occurring. Pike fishing over the last number of weeks has been phenomenal culminating with a fantastic 35 lbs. 4 oz Pike from Lough Ennell a fortnight ago. See catch of the week on our website for two weeks ago of a great Photo of a real giant. Coarse angling is excellent with terrific catches reported from many areas with some big Tench and plenty of Bream showing up in catches. There were terrific coarse catches reported from the Portumna and Banagher festivals. Top story this week has to be young 12 year old Alban Rostan from France who caught and released a 20 lbs. Pike from a Cavan lake. Sea angling is still relatively quiet yet but there are reports of plenty of mackerel off our shores already. The Update will be circulated on a weekly basis from now on, so if you are fishing out there I would love to hear from you in the coming weeks Tight lines especially in Ireland , Paul
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Angling Update Adobe Acrobat Required	14th March 2007	Greetings everyone, The angling season in Ireland has really taken off now with anglers enjoying good Salmon, Brown Trout, Coarse fishing , Pike fishing and fantastic sea fishing in the past few weeks. I have been away at angling fairs in Ireland and France and I am off to the UK today to participate in the big NEC show in Birmingham. I hope to meet many english anglers and tell them that Irish Coarse, Pike and Sea fishing is as good as ever. This weeks angling update is a compilation of the returns for the last few weeks and there are some fantastic fishing reports from all around Ireland. I even managed to catch a few decent Pike and on Pike even without hooks!! See story in the update. Irish angling is on the up and I hope to be bringing you all the best angling stories over the course of the season, Tight lines especially in Ireland , Paul
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Angling Update

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31st Jan
2007

Greetings everyone,
It is still early in the season but already, there was some fantastic big fish reported both in freshwater and at sea. There is a huge amount of Pike angling going on and there are reports of some very big fish reported from several parts of the Shannon region and also from Co. Cavan. Most of the Salmon waters that are open to fishing could do with a bit of water to help sport although there were a few nice fish reported from the River Drowes in the past week. Anglers deep sea fishing out from Courtmacsherry had a great weekend with plenty of big fish captured including specimen Coalfish and specimen Pollack including our catch of the week winner with a cracking big Pollack. I include a press release on our Something Fishy school’s competition which we are involved in with our regional fisheries colleagues. I am away in France next weekend at the Salon Sportive show in Paris . The following weekend will see the fisheries service host a big stand at the National Angling Show in Cloghran Swords on the 17^th and 18^th of February. I hope I might meet up with some of you,

Tight lines especially in Ireland ,
Paul

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Angling Update

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24th Jan
2007

Greetings everyone,
The recent wet and windy weather has curtailed Irish fishing somewhat but I have many good fish catches reported already this year. There have been a few Salmon reported from Donegal and Kerry so far. Pike fishing has been quiet good with some fine fish reported in this week’s angling update. It is nice to report that a party of English visitors enjoyed some fine shore fishing in Wexford last week. It is nice to report good fishing from Dublin here as well with nice catches of Rainbow Trout and Carp reported from the Corkagh Park fishery in Clondalkin. Finally on a rather bad note however is the problem of some anglers leaving litter on some of our fine fisheries. Anglers should bring their litter home always and respect farmers property when fishing on their lands. We owe them for the great support they are for our national inland fishing industry.

Tight lines especially in Ireland ,
Paul

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