Lough Foyle Saltwater Fishing Festival

Lough Foyle Saltwater Fishing Festival

The Loughs Agency’s will be holding their annual fishing festival on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th September 2008 in along the Lough Foyle shore at Ballykelly, Co Londonderry.

On Saturday (10am – 4pm) there will be FREE workshops on fly and surf casting, fly tying, rig making dissection and much more. These workshops will be delivered by professionals including members of the Irish Federation of Sea Anglers. The Ulster Casting Club will be on hand to give tuition on casting and with beach casting possibly included as a sport in the 2012 Olympics, this is a great opportunity to hone your beach casting skills or try it out for the first time to see if you are naturally talented.

On Sunday (10am – 4pm) participants can put their new skills into action at the lough shore fishing competition. The entry fee is £10 for adults and £5 for juniors (all juniors to be accompanied by an adult). There will also be a novice distance casting competition which will be run by the Ulster Casting Club.

This event is suitable for adults and juniors making it an ideal day out for the family. There will be lots of top prizes for junior and adults and plenty of opportunity to learn the art of shore fishing.

Anyone interested in attending are advised to pre-register by emailing foylecompetition@loughs-agency.org before 12pm on 26th September or for further information or to register please contact +44 (0) 2871 342100 or log on to http://www.loughs-agency.org.



Dates for your diary
Pike Fishing Festival at Baronscourt, Co Tyrone – 20th & 21st September. FREE workshops on Saturday – Pike Competition on Sunday.
Saltwater Fishing Festival at Ballykelly, Co L’Derry – 27th & 28th September. FREE workshops on Saturday – Competition on Sunday.
Top prizes for adults and juniors at both events. For full programme details see website at http://www.loughs-agency.org.

sounds very intresting, i will be taking a run over to it....

First off. Thanks for the post John and would you mind if I used your text elsewhere ?


By all means call down your more than welcome and helps put more faces to forum members

Fire away with the copy and paste, it was a circulated email...

Received today..

Press Release
29th September 2008

Saltwater Fishing Competition

The weekend weather was superb for the Loughs Agency’s annual Saltwater Fishing Festival at Ballykelly. Participants gathered from 5 different counties across Ireland to learn about the lifecycle of saltwater fish, how to rig up equipment, tie flies, improve their casting skills and then compete in the competition.

There was exactly 100 fish caught between all the participants but it was young Matthew Neill (14) from Newtownabbey who won the junior section. Matthew caught 8 fish on the day with a total length of 208cm and walked away with £250 worth of prizes.

In the senior section Sean Fleming from Bushmills came 3rd with 10 fish measuring 264cm, Bobby Laughlin from Carrickfergus came 2nd with 11 fish measuring 280cm but it was Lynd McKee from Portballintrae who won first prize. Lynd caught 14 fish measuring a total length of 342cms and collected £250 worth of prizes sponsored by Loughs Agency, Belfast Angling Centre, Trap and Tackle, Causeway Bait and Tackle, Dennett Outdoor and the Ulster Casting Club

As well as the fishing competition, the Ulster Casting Club had several participants taking part in the distance casting event. Paul Hawthorne came along from Craigavon for instruction and after tuition from the Ulster Casting Club improved by 100 yards and won first prize closely followed by Mark Rainey from Carrickfergus in 2nd. In the juniors, Alan McKeen (10) from Belfast walked away with 1st prize and will have his name engraved in the perpetual cup. As well as picking up the cup, Alan picked up £150 worth of fantastic prizes.

Lionel Knobbs, Angling Development Manager at the Loughs Agency said ‘this was a great weekend for both juniors and adults to learn about shore fishing and develop their skills in angling. We had a lot of families taking part this year and quite a few dads and lads learning about the sport for the first time. These youngsters are now fully equipped with knowledge and skills to go off on fishing adventures of their own’.

This event was run with the support of the Irish Federation of Sea Angers, Ulster Casting Club and the Professional Angling Guides and Instructors Network.


-Ends-
For further information, please contact:
Gillian Simpson Tel: 02871 342100

Notes for Editors

About the Loughs Agency

· The Loughs Agency is an agency of the Foyle, Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission (FCILC) established under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

· The Loughs Agency aims to provide sustainable social, economic and environmental benefits through the effective conservation, management, promotion and development of the fisheries and marine resources of the Foyle and Carlingford Areas.

· Its functions include the conservation, protection, management and development of the salmon and inland fisheries of the Foyle and Carlingford Areas, the development of marine tourism, and the promotion of development of Lough Foyle and Carlingford Lough for commercial and recreational purposes. Following the enactment of the necessary legislation, the functions will be extended to include the development and licensing of aquaculture in the Foyle and Carlingford Areas.

· The Chief Executive of the Agency is Mr Derick Anderson.

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.