1.  Ciaran Reilly (Loughrea)
2. Conor Cunningham (Loughrea)
3. Ryan Binley (Foxford)

Ciran Reilly - 2012 Connacht Flytying Champion

The rest of the qualifiers are as below:

Alan Joyce (Cashel)

Dara Carr (Gort)

Gary Hopkins (Cong)

Oisin Reilly (Glencorrib)

Darren Molloy (Cong)

Connacht Team with Coaches Frank & Robert Reilly and Michael Maher (Mayor of Galway)

Winner with the Mayor of Galway

Each year the youth flytying championship is the first youth event of the angling calender.  During the winter months young anglers are trained in the art of tying flies in club rooms and local community centres by the senior club members.  Flytying is an essential skill for any angler both young and old and so the work put in by the experienced tyers in training the youth pays dividends in future years.

During the competition the competitors were given a number of different types of flies to tie over a four hour period.  There was two sections namely one for u-14s and one for u-18s.  Judges on the day were two former senior international anglers Kevin Healy and Denis Cronin.  Both judges remarked on the very high quality of the flies which made it very difficult to come up with a winner.

Speaking at the presentation of the prizes, Munster Youth Officer Richard Willis who is main driving force behind these young anglers complimented the competitors and their coaches for the work put in during the winter months which yielded a very high standard of tying and he wished them well in the forthcoming All-Ireland competition which will be held in Dublin on March 10th.

Richard then presented the prizes to the winners which were as follows.

Under 18

1. Alastair Early
2. John Buckley
3. Stephen Ryan

U-18 winner Alaister Early (Macroom) receiving his prize from M.R.T.A.C. Youth Officer Richard Willis with M.R.T.A.C. Chairman Maurice Willis (left)

Under 14

1. John Willis
2. Alan Barrow
3. Arran McCann

U-14 winner John Willis receiving his prize from M.R.T.A.C. Youth Officer Richard Willis (right) and M.R.T.A.C. Chairman Maurice Willis (left)

The Munster Regional Trout Angling Council wish to thank the management and staff of Ballyhass Lakes who provided the venue for the event and also provided sponsorship.  We also wish to thank the deli-staff at Twohigs Super-Valu Kanturk who provided hot food to all involved.

Report and photos provided by Tom Ankettell Hon-Sec M.R.T.A.C.

Chairman:  John P. Burke

Secretary:  Jackie Tyrell

Treasurer:  Kevin Mitchell

Youth Officer:  Jackie Coyne

The fish are to be measured from the tip of the nose to the extremities of the tail squeezed together with a size limit of 200mm.   The eligible fish are – Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout, Brook Trout, Marble Trout, Hybrid Trout (marble x brown trout), Lake Trout, Grayling, Danube Salmon, All other species.

The maximum leader length is 18 feet from flyline to point fly and no egg flies are allowed.  The rule modifications are as below.

RM SLOVENIA 2012 – final eng

Congratulations to the anglers who will make this team as it should be a tremendous championship with excellent fishing.

The 2012 European Championships are being hosted by Portugal in the Coimbra Region from the 13th to the 20th May.  It appears to be in the same region as the 2006 World Fly Fishing Championships so it could well be a very tough championship going on the previous one.  The only info coming out from Portugal is that there is 5 river sessions or 4 rivers and 1 lake session if there is more than 15 teams entered.  More info and clarification will be posted once known.

Darren Haggan (centre) the Ulster Banks Champion with Charles Kennedy (left) and Darren Wallace (right)

The Ulster Banks Team that will compete in the Inter Provincial Bank Championship in Leinster for the chance to make the TAFI Ireland Team to compete in next years Four Nations International hosted by Wales is as below:

1. Darren Haggan 8 fish for 6,760 Points
2. Brian Kerr 7 fish for 5,980 Points
3. Campbell Baird 5 fish for 4,720 Points
4. Stephen Allison 5 fish for 4,520 Points
5. Gareth Morris 4 fish for 3,740 Points
6. Gary Crothers 4 fish for 3,620 Points

Reserve:  Harry McAteer (Jnr.) 3 fish for 3,000 Points

2nd Brian Kerr

3rd Campbell Baird

4th Stephen Allison

5th Gareth Morris

6th Gary Crothers

Reserve: Harry McAteer Jnr.

The best of luck to the Ulster Team in the Inter-Provincial Banks Championship who will be looking to retain their title for the third year running.

There are four river sessions and on lake session (from a boat).  The designated for the championship are the Lot (Upper), Lot (Lower), Colagne and Allier while the lake session is on Charpal Lake.  The river beats will be an average of 350 metres in length and following on from the World Youths in Italy this year one of the river sessions (the session on the Upper Lot) is dry fly only with only one dry (floating) fly being allowed.

The eligible species on the river sessions are brown trout and grayling while on the lake session the eligible species are roach, perch and pike.

The Rule modifications for the championships can be viewed here:  RM FRANCE 2012

The best of luck to all the Youths that will make the Irish Team which will be announced in due course.

The pollution – which caused the death of thousands of wild fish including salmon, brown trout, sea trout, eel, stone loach and lamprey – occurred when molasses escaped from a tank and into the River Brackernagh (a tributary of the Ounavarragh) via an on site surface water drain.

The club became aware of the fish kill following a phone call from a concerned local who saw numerous dead fish in the river.  Club officials and Fishery Board staff were quickly on the scene where they sourced the pollution to a farmyard owned by Nagirra Ltd.  The pollution had resulted in an almost complete fish kill in downstream sections from the tributary to where it meets the main river (Ounavarragh) and down to the sea. There were so many dead juvenile and adult fish that even after the clean up the river smelled for weeks.  Salmon up to 18lb, sea trout to 3lb and brown trout to 2lb were found dead in the river.

Nagirra Ltd. were successfully prosecuted by the Fisheries Board for this incident but denied civil liability for damage caused to the angling club’s polluted fishery.  The claim made by the angling club was expected to go all the way to trial but after a long and ponderous seven years a settlement was finally agreed upon and substantial damages were awarded to the Ounavarragh Angling Association in October 2011.

A message to all angling clubs – never let the polluter off and continue pressing on even in the face of adversity, as eventually you will have your day.  Remember, pollution never pays and the polluter will always pay.

Due to irreconcilable differences relating to trust and philosophies with some members within ACI, TAFI feels the environment inside the Angling Council of Ireland is not suitable to progress the interests of its members at the present time.

The 2^nd International Bank Championship was held at Lough Barfinnihy, Kenmare, Co. Kerry on the 19^th November 2011.  Teams from Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales competed in this Home Countries International.  It was a very successful competition and was organised on behalf of T.A.F.I. by the Munster Regional Trout Angling Council in co-operation with Inland Fisheries Ireland.  A special mention must go to Fishery Inspector Michael Hennessy and his staff for their assistance in helping to organise the competition.

Barfinnihy Lake is a wild mountain lake which is managed by Inland Fisheries Ireland. It is located on the Sneem Road a short distance from the World renowned Molls Gap.  The lake is stocked on a regular basis by the fishery board and daily and annual permits are available from local tackle dealers during the fishing season.

The weather was not too kind during the practice sessions on the two days previous to the competition.  While it improved a little on the day of the competition the fishing was still very tough to say the least.  The leader board both team and individual changed a lot as the day developed, which made for a very exciting finale.  In keeping with tradition the four teas were led to the lakeside in the morning by a lone piper.  There were a total of eleven controllers on duty and the organising committee wishes to express their deepest gratitude to these people who volunteered and gave up their day to act as controllers.

The controllers were as follows – Richard Willis, Liam Sheehan, Graham Landy, Paul France (Mallow), Ronnie Cagney, Seamus Butler (Thurles), Tony Ankettell (Boherbue), Anthony O’Sullivan, Daniel Murphy (Macroom), Padraig Coughlan (Killarney) and Hubert Smith who travelled all the way from Dundalk.

At the end of a very tough and exciting competition Ireland’s Terry Kelly emerged as the top individual rod, with Scotland taking team gold and Ireland taking team silver for the second year in a row.  England took place with Wales finishing up in fourth place.

Terry Kelly - 1st Individual in the 2011 Four Nations Bank International

At the presentation dinner the Chairman of M.R.T.A.C. Maurice Willis welcomed all the teams and congratulated all the winners.  T.A.F.I. Chairman John Buckley also welcomed the teams and said that he hoped that they would return again in the future.  T.A.F.I. Fips-Mouche Representative Denis Cronin said that he hoped the competition would continue to go from strength to strength and he paid tribute to those people who first mooted the idea of a Bank International.  The International Organiser Pat Buckley then announced the official results which were as follows:

Team Results

1^st Scotland – 146 Placing Points

2^nd Ireland – 179 Placing Points

3^rd England – 190 Placing Points

4^th Wales – 203 Placing Points

Individual

Gold – Terry Kelly (Ireland)

Silver – John Morton (Scotland)

Bronze – Peter Thurnall (Wales)

Longest Fish – Lee Tatton (Wales) 50cm’s

Total Fish caught: 45

The medals were presented to the winners and runners-up by Maurice Willis M.R.T.A.C. Chairman and by Tom Ankettell Hon. Sec. M.R.T.A.C. along with Patrick Doyle Vice Chairman M.R.T.A.C. Competitions Committee.  The trophy for the longest fish was presented to Lee Tatton (Wales) by Pat Buckley the International Organiser.  The Captains of the competing nations thanked the Trout Anglers Federation of Ireland for hosting the event and paid tribute to the controllers for their work during a very long and tough day.

Team Scotland - winners of the 2011 Four Nations Bank International

Team Ireland - Silver Medallists

Team England - Bronze Medallists

Team Wales - 4th in the 2011 Four Nations Bank international

John Morton (Scotland) - 2nd Individual

Peter Thurnall (Wales) - 3rd Individual

Lee Tatton (Wales) - caught the longest trout 50cm's

The Piper leads the teams down to the lake

Thanks to the Controllers

The Organising Committee

Team Members:

Kenny Ferguson (Newtownabbey)
Campbell Baird (Carrickfergus)
Neil Cardwell (Banbridge)
Harry McAteer (Belfast)
Clinton Irvine (Newtownabbey)
Reserve: Harvey Hutchison (Carrickfergus)

Manager:  Alan McDade (Newtownabbey)

Click the link for more info:  http://www.flyfishaustralia.com.au/

Enjoy downunder.