by Tyrone Hull
Well, as most of you will know, the coarse fishing that can be had in Northern Ireland is second to none and with all the major competitions such as The Mathons and The Guinness Classic been and gone for another year. All that is left now are the club matches which I am lucky enough to be able to attend.
In the following few paragraphs I will give a round up of all the recent action that has taken place on the match scene in Northern Ireland, including the latest buzz that has hit Fermanagh, whom goes by the name of Willie Wheeler.
With the recent crisis of Foot and Mouth disease that has swept most of the UK and Ireland, it has been hard for most of us to get fishing the venues that we would like. For most of you in England it has been a trip 25 miles up the road to a muddy carp pool which I know some of you would rather not have the pleasure of doing. But for me and fellow anglers in Ireland over the past 2 months it has been next to no fishing. It’s not what you think, the Foot and Mouth hasn’t effected fishing in my area, it’s rather been the huge number of festivals that have taken place more or less on my door step, and the swarms of English men that seem to have over populated the little town of Enniskillen and drank all the pubs dry! Not that were complaining, tourist figures boom whenever this happens and if it were not for this then Enniskillen would not be the town it is right now. Any English or foreign angler that has been there will tell you like wise, that Enniskillen is without a doubt one of the prettiest towns in Northern Ireland.
During the time that these festivals take place, is when the vast shoals of Lough Renee Roach get ready to spawn. Massive bags of roach can be taken just before the Roach spawn and pleasure nets of 120lb (58 kilo ) plus are common place. This is one of the reasons that travelling anglers always come back to Ireland, huge bags of fish during this period are on the cards and if you can get this weight during the festival then your sure to pick up a brown envelope.
This year the fishing was excellent especially when the infamous Trory section was, at last, opened after the Foot and Mouth was given the supposed all clear. Trory is famous for giving huge weights on the right pegs. 90lb bags were common place this year during the Guinness Festival, mainly roach with the odd 4lb bream making an appearance. Most of the pegs were situated around the town area with Broad Meadow and The Round O producing big weights as expected. Bob Nudd, Alan Scotthorne, Mark Downes, Baz Smith all made an appearance during the festival and showed us all how it’s done! It was a lightener to see these kind of professional anglers fishing, as it really told me that there’s so much more to be learned when it comes to competitive match fishing. The techniques that were employed by these guys enabled them to win their section on countless occasions through out the three day festival and the opens that came before and after the Classic. But this year’s festival was not won by any of the big names, instead shockwaves were sent all around the match scene when the young up and coming angler Willie Wheeler won overall on weight. The extraordinarily talented youngster who has now had numerous offers to fish for all the big clubs (and is currently being coached by former Ireland International Bobby Smithers) took the famous three day festival prize of a cool £3,500 and a life times supply of Guinness (only joking!), plus the huge cut glass cup which is his until next year where he will be on the bank again to retain the title. He made the most of the Roach shoal movements by drawing Cornagrade Peg 1, which usually spells disaster with only 15lb of perch taken the day before, but the roach had moved and he caught steady through the whole match short lining at 13m on the pole, totalling nearly 85lb or roach to win the Festival overall on weight. As Willie is only 20, this makes him the youngest EVER person to win the Classic overall on weight, and his name will be etched into history for doing just this.
So, once again, the Classic lived up to its name as being one of the most prolific Festivals in Ireland if not the World, bringing English, Irish, Germans etc to the Northern Irish countryside year after year. Hopefully, anyone reading this will be encouraged to book in for next year’s festival and try their luck. If you want to make contacts in advance (which is advisable as most have already booked in for next year!) for next year’s festival then phone 028 663 23110, the Enniskillen visitors centre. From here, you can be guaranteed a place in next year’s line up. Over 350 anglers fished the Classic this year and an even bigger turn out is expected next year, foot and mouth seemed to restrict numbers this year which would be naturally assumed. So, all in all, this year was a complete success, but some were doubtful. The weather was wonderful and I guess that’s pretty unusual for Ireland! I will finish up now, so anyone interested in finding out more on this popular event Email me on N64Thull@aol.com and we can sort out contacts etc, from there. Lastly, contact me via Email if you want general information about fishing in this area in the next few weeks and I will be happy to help….
Tight Lines all and happy fishing!
Tyrone Hull – 2001
