The IFI Ballinamore Tourism Angling Festival took place from Monday 20th to Friday 24th May 2013. 
The many loughs of Leitrim close to Ballinamore have led the town to previously host the Dutch King of Clubs in recent years. This time the five days angling was based on Haughton’s and Church Shores of Lake Garadice.  An immense natural water covering 389 hectares surrounded by great scenery providing easy access for anglers who can park at their swims.  

Some famous faces appeared, former World Champions and expert match anglers such as Dickie Carr over from the UK along with Bob Nudd MBE, Kevin Ashurst , Bas Smith, Cathal Hughes and Tony Kersley all drawing the same section.  Other participants included anglers from Cavan, Monaghan, Galway and Fermanagh as well as 4 visiting anglers from England. Steve Abraham had a clear lead the first two days but then it became a very close match and the open draw on the final day kept everyone in suspense right to the end, with Cathal Hughes’ best festival weight of 10.240kg coming on the last day.

40-50lb catches were reported by local anglers the week prior to the match but temperatures had dropped and the competitors were faced with icy cold rain and winds only warming up a little towards the end of the week. The catches were fair, with hybrids dominating the match, the numbers of roach caught increased towards the end of the week and there was a welcome appearance of a 4lb bream for Bob Nudd.  Too windy for the pole most catches were on the feeder with the swims at
Haughton’s Shore and D Section at Church (higher peg numbers) producing the higher yields.
The prize fund of €2950 was shared amongst the anglers with payouts by section each day, the best daily catch and the top 5 festival winners. 
€250 sponsorship was provided by local businesses and €500 worth of great tackle sponsored by Inland
Fisheries.  Inland Fisheries also provided superb support with the weigh-in of the anglers daily and in accordance 
with the IFI focus on the spread of invasive species the ‘no dip no draw’ policy was engaged.
John Potters won the weight only festival 2.5kg ahead with 32.790kg and took away fabulous prize money along with a Preston Dutch Master River rod. Other superb tackle prizes accompanied €payouts for 2nd place Cathal Hughes, Galway 30.180kg, third place Francis McGoldrick, Cavan 29.780kg, fourth place Steve Abraham, Fermanagh 28.050kg and in fifth Dickie Carr, England with 27.820kg.

If you would like to attend this relaxed and enjoyable festival in 2014 please call + 44 7711 607200 or mail us at info@irelandtravelplus.co.uk

A fitting tribute as Rod Scott wins his Dad's memorial match. Talented angler Rod finished with a total of 64,650kg ahead of the current World Champion Sean Ashby with 57.890kg. In third place was Rod's brother Mike keeping it in the family with 54,540kg, Bob Nudd in fourth place with 50.390kg and winner of the 2013 Waterways Classic Pete Vasey with 42,360kg. The Mal Scott Memorial Cup was held in and around the lakes and rivers of Enniskillen in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland from the 13th to 17th May 2013.  Quality roach were present but, it was perch in the reliable Killadeas and Boa Island sections that dominated the results.

Anglers can register for this match at The Commercial Hotel, Main Street, Ballinamore at 9am on Monday morning.

Due to wet conditions all fishing will take place on the lovely Lough Garadice 'park behind your peg'.

91 anglers took part in this popular festival sponsored by Mahon's Hotel, Irvinestown, Co.Fermanagh held Monday 6th to Friday 10th May.  Cold, wet and windy conditions faced the anglers fishing various venues in and around Enniskillen.  Big nets of silver fish, Roach and Perch were caught on the waggler and pole in windy conditions, with Boa Island fishing particularly well.    
The top ten were paid out with Rod Scott collecting £2000 for his 65.720kg, 2nd Eddie Bridon 59.650kg and 3rd Lee Harries with 58.900kg. This year a special award was presented by Joe Mahon to the legendary Ron Williams.  Ron has fished the Classic match for all of it's 38years being it's longest serving competitor.  He holds the record for being last every year at the Mahon's Festival but still comes back to fish each time!  Ron is now an honary Mahon's entrant and will no longer have to pay into the pools for this match in the future.

The majority of entrants travelled over  from the UK having fished the Waterways Classic the week before, with great participation from local anglers. This year 5 Germans made the especially long trip and Michael Peter was rewarded by 9th place with 56.500kg.
 
The Festival organisers would like to thank Joe Mahon and Mahon's Hotel for their continued sponsorship, Fermanagh District Council for use of the Forum and the local anglers and landowners for their support of this event.

The 2013 Northern Ireland Coarse National Championship was held between Saturday 20th and 27th April 2013. 28 anglers crossed the Irish Sea to take part in this very enjoyable event with travel partners Ireland Travel Plus. Competitors were accommodated in chalets at the Killyhevlin Hotel as well as spending a few nights at the new Enniskillen Hotel.
This National competition has been based around the town of Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh for around 27 years. In the height of its popularity the fish in the River Erne system used to shoal up outside the town and then ‘run’ through the town to their spawning grounds.   Originally, as the UK had a ‘close’ fishing season a lot of British anglers used to travel to this area and enjoy what was arguably the best fishing in Europe with vast shoals of bream and roach moving through to spawn.  Over the past years the fishing has deteriorated slightly but the welcome and hospitability has stayed the same with the majority of anglers coming back each year.
 
The structure for this year’s festival was the same as last year, the team and individual titles would be decided over two matches with a ‘trial/knock-up’ match to test sections preceding them. 
 
In the few months just after Christmas and our visit the weather had been bitterly cold. An easterly and north easterly wind had been blowing and some parts of Northern Ireland had been subject to some heavy snow falls. Enniskillen had missed the snow but the cold wind and temperature before April did not look good for the fishing in our week.

In the practice sessions the few days before the matches it was apparent that fish were starting to move through the system to the spawning areas but not really feeding or in vast numbers. Some areas did provide good catches but this was not widespread through the area. 
 
The sections for the trial/knock up match were to be Airport Point, Trory High, Trory Low, Cornograde low and Portora School.  The match fished quite well with all sections being fair. Clive Bailey, Hertfordshire, and Bob Neill, Suffolk, tied in first place from the Airport  Point section both catching 8.250kilo. Third was Pete Hayto, Hampshire with 7.200 kilo from Trory Low.
Following this match the sections for the two day event were decided, A Section-Airport Point B Section-Airport Car Park C Section-Trory High (26 to 19) D Section-Trory Low (19 to 22) E Section-Portora School F Section-Cornograde High (26 to 29) G Section-Dolans Ring (10 to 13)
H Section-Cornograde Low (4 to 7)
 
The first match saw most areas fish fair with an even spread of weights along the section lengths. Dave Rees, Hertfordshire, had the top weight of 16.250 kilo from Airport Car Park. 

The top team of the day was London with a score of 6 pointy but there were 3 teams just behind then with 8 points, so it was very tight for the team championship.

The second day saw another even spread of weights in each section. Unfortunately Trory stopped fishing over night with a change of wind direction moving to the North. Phil Scholes was top weight from Cornograde High peg 27 with 7.650kilo. 

The team competition was very close but London had held on to their lead and won the event with 14 points from Easter Region who had 15 points.

The individual result was also close with Clive Bailey, Hertfordshire, Alan Simmons, Hampshire, and Dave Forster, London, tied on two points. This then goes on weight and Clive had 18.200kilo to Alan’s 12.400 kilo and Dave’s 11.940kilo. Clive Bailey, Hertfordshire, was the individual champion with Alan Simmons, Hampshire, runner up and Dave Forster, London,
third.

Friday 26th was the presentation evening held at the Killy Hevlin hotel. Various friends of this
event attended the evening, Keith Boswell, Bill McNaughton, Kevin Locke and Eddie McGovern along with England International Peter Vassey, who kindly agreed to present the trophies 

The individual and team trophies were presented by Pete to the successful competitors and the Bob Dix Specimen Trophy to Les Cray, London, with a 1.020kg roach.

This brought down the curtain on another enjoyable and successful competition. 

The fishing is not the same as it was 15 years ago but there are more areas being made available to fish which have high stock levels. This event is not just about the great match fishing but enjoying the hospitality and ‘craic’ of Northern Ireland.
 
Next year the dates are Saturday 26th April to Saturday 3rd May 2014.
  
David Rees, Secretary, FSSAA National Angling Section

The 2013 Waterways Ireland Classic Fishing Festival came to a close on Friday 4th May, after a week of extremes. The two hundred and sixteen anglers shivered in the cold on Monday, got sunburn on Tuesday and put the waterproofs on again for Friday.

Second day winner Peter Vasey, from Stoke Newington in London, won the competition with a total weight of 39kgs 510gms, netting him the top prize of £5,000, a Crystal Chalice and a Diawa rod and reel. His final day’s catch of 4kgs 660gms from the changeable Trory section was enough to capture the overall honours. Pete, who fishes with Team Sensas Oakwood Angling, has been coming to Fermanagh to enjoy the fishing and the hospitality for twelve years. 
 
Second overall was Kevin Rowles from Devizes, whose total  catch of 32kgs 250gms earned him £2,000, a Crystal Trophy, and a Diawa tackle prize.  In third place was another
Classic regular, Stephen Priestly from Manchester £1,500 and a Crystal Trophy for his
total catch of 28kgs 280gms.

In addition to the individual prizes, the very popular four-man team event was also held throughout the three days of the Waterways Ireland Classic.  The winning team, Dads & Lads, amassed a total catch of 74kgs 510gms, landing them cash prizes and trophies.

Local anglers fared better than they did last year.  Nick Seddon from Enniskillen was top of
the local league in 5th place overall, with previous Classic winner, John Potters from Lisbellaw in 8th place.  Gareth Williams from Lisbellaw finished in 25th place.
 
In the weeks leading up to the Waterways Ireland Classic, the continuing cold weather gave the organisers something of a headache when considering the selection of sections.  Two sections at Crom on Upper Lough Erne were brought in to play, which produced consistently good weights throughout the week.
 
The Classic is sponsored for the tenth year by Waterways Ireland and is organised by Fermanagh District Council, in conjunction with Inland Fisheries Group, Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure.

Next years' event will take place from the 12th to 16th May 2014.