Bord Iascaigh Réigiúnach an Oirthir
Press Release 23rd February 2009
The annual media fly fishing competition took place on Friday, 20th February at Annamoe Fishery, Annamoe, Co. Wicklow. Organised by Annamoe Fishery and the Eastern Regional Fisheries Board, the event now in its sixth year, is still proving extremely popular in attracting the top angling media from Ireland and the UK.
Winners of Media Competition 2009 – left to right:
Brian Nally, Annamoe Trout Fishery, David Dinsmore, Irish Angler, William Walsh, Assistant Chief Executive Officer Eastern Regional Fisheries Board, Mike Shanks, Irish Angler, Des Chew, ERFB
18 anglers from a variety of broadcast and print media took part in the competition on the scenic fly fishing lake in Annamoe Fishery including Derek Davis from 4FM; Dick Warner from the Irish Examiner; Paddy O’Flaherty from BBC Radio Ulster, Derek Evans from the Irish Times and Julie Gerry from Trout Fisherman to name but a few.
A glorious sunny day boded well for the 18 participants involved, although a hard frost the night before lowered water temperatures making fish hard to tempt. With the fishery split into four zones, the competition was based on nine teams of two anglers fishing an hour in each zone. Catch and release applied, the winning score based on the cumulative length of Trout caught per team. Mark Corps of the Central Fisheries Board was the first to strike gold with a 41 cm Rainbow. In total 12 hard fighting rainbow trout were caught, recorded and released during the competition.
In the last half hour Mike Shanks of the Irish Angler Magazine hit a purple patch, connecting with four fish and landing two, all on a damsel nymph fished deep and slow. This brought Mike’s tally to three fish, and won first prize for the Irish Angler team of David Dinsmore and Mike Shanks. Mike and David were presented with Waterford Crystal trophies sponsored by Failte Ireland and top quality Daiwa fishing rods sponsored by Truetackle.
Second place went to the Irish Anglers Digest team comprising Denis Goulding and Karl O’Toole, with Mark Corps and Paul Bourke of the Central Fisheries Board coming third. William Walsh, Assistant Chief Executive Officer of the Eastern Regional Fisheries Board presented the prizes to the winners and thanked all involved: ‘I would like to congratulate all participants here today and to thank the media for their support and valuable contribution throughout the year in spreading the message from fisheries. I look forward to working with you all in the future’.
Brian Nally of Annamoe Trout Fishery thanked all the sponsors particularly Eastern Regional Fisheries Board, Failte Ireland, Truetackle, Irish Game Fairs Ltd, the Glendalough Hotel and Irish Fly Craft.
After the prizegiving ceremony, Celine Moorken of Truetackle made a very kind donation to the Dublin Angling Initiative of fishing equipment and tackle including rods, reels and landing nets. Des Chew of the Dublin Angling Initiative thanked Celine for her support and said that this would make a real difference in introducing young people to angling.
……Ends…..
Josie Mahon,
Eastern Regional Fisheries Board,
15A Main Street, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin
Email: josie.mahon@erfb.ie
Tel: 01 278 7022/ 087 6538202
Website: www.fishingireland.net
Email: info@erfb.ie
The Eastern Regional Fisheries Board is a statutory authority whose function is to conserve, develop, protect, manage and promote the inland fisheries and sea angling resources within its jurisdiction. The Region extends from the border in Northern Ireland to South of the Wexford coast and includes all catchments which enter the sea between these boundaries.