Articles

Begging for Bream
Targeting Bream on Lough Beg For anglers similar to me that have been badly bitten by the specimen-hunting bug, it makes a great deal of sense to keep a personal angling diary. By noting dates, water and air temperature, catch results, successful baits, and any other useful, additional notes, a great deal of information can be gathered over a period of time. With my own angling diaries over the last ten years, I have been able to build a picture of the yearly cycles of many species found throu...

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Ballykelly Strand
Targeting Flounder on the North Coast   It has been quite some time now, since my beach-casting gear has seen the light of day. When my old angling mate, big Phil gave me a call suggesting a bit of “flattie-bashing” at the week end, I took him up on the idea and we put our heads together on deciding a suitable venue to target.       There are many shallow surf beaches around the north coast that have the ability to produce reasonable Flounder fishing throug...

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The Lough Cork - Winter Carp Angling
In pursuit of a specimen Carp   Whilst recovering from the excesses of Christmas, and only one day into the New Year, I received a phone call from well-known carp nut, Mark McGivern. “Remember that promise I made you all those years ago?” he stated. “When I told you I would help you get that big carp, well now’s the time to do it.”         Looking out of my living room window at the bitter howling wind and lashing rain, I questioned h...

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In Deep-Water Yet Again!
In Deep-Water again! Antrim Coast When I looked at my diary, I was shocked to see that I haven’t been out on my sea boat in almost nine months! This was due to an un-happy combination of poor weather and lack of opportunity on the most part, but I have also been spending a fair bit of time chasing fresh-water species, to the detriment of possible salt-water action.     This weekend’s forecast gave fair weather and light winds. A quick check with the tide tables showed ...

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Targeting Specimen Tench
Targeting Specimen Tench The docile appearance of a Tench, with its stunning olive-green and gold body, small red, "teddy-bear" eyes and down-turned mouth, completely belies the awesome power it is capable of producing once hooked on rod and line and balanced tackle. This is in no small way due to the large paddle-like tail, barrel of a body and sheer dogged determination it possesses that will keep an angler on his toes throughout the battle. It is always a relief to see a ...

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Targeting Specimen Roach
Targeting Specimen Roach With consistent north and easterly winds pounding our shoreline, sea angling ventures have so far this year been somewhat limited for my angling pals and I. The threat of yet further strong winds and potential last minute cancellations prompted me to purchase a few pints of maggots and casters, and think about heading inland for a go at some freshwater species. The boat rods were put away, temporarily I hope, and the coarse angling gear sorted out, checked over, and lo...

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Maynooth Carp and Trout Fishery
Maynooth Carp and Trout Fishery Following an invite through Irish Angler editor, Roger Baker, at the recent Belfast Angling Exhibition held in the King’s Hall, the day soon arrived to head for Dublin, and to sample a taste of carp angling that Maynooth Fishery had to offer. I was instructed to liase with Dan O’Kelly, local bailiff on the water, and first-rate carp angler. He is heading to France soon, and in order to benefit from his local knowledge and advice, my carp trip had to b...

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Lower Bann Bream Bash
Lower Bann Bream Bash It never ceases to amaze me, how a random series of events can lead to a fantastic days angling, a day when all the planning and thought over many evenings seems to slot together like a jigsaw. Whether this rises from knowledge and experience or pure luck is difficult to say, but I strongly suspect that it requires a hefty helping of both in order to gel into that perfect day. I would like to recount such a day, which I had the fortune to experience recently on the Lower ...

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Lough Swilly, Inishowen Peninsula
Lough Swilly, Donegal For many years, Lough Swilly has been a top venue for my own angling club bookings. It is situated on the picturesque coastline of the Inishowen Peninsula, North Donegal, and offers the sea angler a wide variety of species in its shallow, sheltered waters. The lough covers an area of over fifty kilometres in length with an average width of five kilometres containing a wealth of boat and shore marks to explore.     The relatively shallow water and fast tides ...

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Exploris Aquarium, Portaferry, Co.Down
Exploris Aquarium By donating many interesting captures over the last few years to Exploris, a local public sea-life aquarium, I have become well acquainted with some of the staff, and learnt quite a lot about how they quarantine, feed, and generally over-see the well being of all the species they have on display. This, as you can imagine, is of immense interest to me, and no doubt to all sea anglers that visit the premises. It is not that difficult to identify the anglers among the crowds, wit...

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