June Kingspan Qualifier

The June qualifier of the 2011/12 Kingspan National Pike Championships was held today. Todays weather forecast was for high winds and continuous rain. They got it right and the 77 anglers who competed got soaked. If that wasnt bad enough fishing was very poor with 34 anglers blanking and lots more only catching one. This was a really poor result.

One bright point was the capture ... Read more »

May Kingspan Qualifier

65 anglers turned at Athy today to fish the second qualifier. We fished a 6 mile stretch of water and some reasonable pike were caught. Qualifying weights were better than expected. Results were calculated in the Smugglers Bar where owner Tom Burgess kindly laid on lots of sandwiches. There was a pretty good spread of qualifiers from around the country.
1st Laurence Marshall - ... Read more »

April Kingspan Qualifier

Local angler Ronan Murray caught 12 pike for 44 lbs 4 ozs.
Was Ronan happy ? Well yes and no !
It was a great bag yes, but no, it didnt get him into the top 5 today.
65 anglers attended todays Kingspan Qualifier and caught a huge haul of 381 pike to 19 lbs 13 ozs !
Pike were feeding freely all day. In most areas the average size of pike caught was 4 or 5 lbs. ... Read more »