Competitions

Heat 1 - 29th April, River Inny at Legan
Eighty-two anglers took part catching 155 pike to 15-13.

The top 5 anglers who go through to fish in the Final are:
1st Pat Gorman (Tullamore) 7 pike 23-00
2nd Eugene Dempsey (Dublin) 3 pike 17-01
3rd Pat Behan (Dublin) 2 pike 16-14
4th Vinny Carolan (Drogheda) 1 pike 15-13
5th Sean Markey (Cootehill) 6 pike 15-12.

There was around another 5 to 6 anglers with around 15lbs. The check in and weigh in was in Sloweys Oasis bar just outside Legan. The proprietors laid on huge numbers of excellent sandwiches for the hungry anglers on their arrival back for the weigh in. Very many thanks.

Heat 2 - May 12th - River Barrow, Fisherstown, Co. Kildare
The second qualifying competition of the 2007/08 Kingspan National Pike Championships was held today on the River Barrow at Fisherstown. The event attracted 77 anglers who landed and returned 99 pike to 14lbs 7 ozs.

The top 5 who go through to fish in the Final are:
1st. Pat Brady ( Kells) 2 pike 18-06 (14-07)
2nd. Brendan Reilly (Drogheda)3 pike 13-07
3rd. Ronan Hayden (Kildare) 3 pike 12-08
4th. Michael McKenna (Keady) 7 pike 10-04
5th. Sam Lawlor (Belfast) 1 pike 8-05

Results were calculated in the Fisherstown Inn where proprietor Sean Ward very kindly laid on huge quanties of tasty sandwiches and sausages. Nice one Sean!!. Many thanks also to the Belin angling club for kindly letting us fish their club waters and club secretary John Corcoran who was on hand to make sure everything went smoothly.

Heat 3 - June 10th - Lough Ree
No report

Heat 4 - July 12th - Lough Egish, Co Monaghan
No Report

Heat 5 - August 12th - Killyfoal Lake,Co. Fermanagh
The results from todays Kingspan National Pike Championships Qualifier on Clea lake were as follows;

1st Jim Callaghan (Duleek) 1 pike 12-10
2nd Terry Sheridan (Kilcogy) 2 pike 11-11
3rd Pat Mclaughlin (Kells) 2 pike 9-14
4th Michael McKinney (Ardee) 2 pike 9-08
5th Thomas Sheridan (Loch Gowna)2 pike 7-10

Many thanks to the local Keady club for their help on the day and providing a bottle of whiskey for the raffle. Many thanks also to Caseys bar for providing huge quantities of sausages and sandwiches for the 51 anglers who landed 29 pike

Heat 6 - Sept 2nd - River Suck
The Suck was in great condition yesterday for the 54 anglers who turned up. In all 180 pike to 14-04 were landed. The best being nabbed by Maggie Boyle. The top 5 who go through to fish in the Final are

1. Rory McAllorum (Dublin) 12 pike 32-10
2. Tommy Winders (Newbridge) 7 pike 32-04
3. Pat Dumphy (Durrow) 8 pike 29-07
4. Michael Byrne (Tullamore) 6 pike 28-00
5. Maggie Boyle (Longford) 4 pike 27-08

Heat 7 - Oct 14th- Lough na Baley
52 anglers caught 38 pike at todays qualifier. The 5 who go through to the Final are

1st Godfrey Donohue (Dublin) 5 pike 13-09
2nd Alan Heasley (Duleek) 4 pike 9-12
3rd Francie Rafferty (Slieve Gullion) 1 pike 9-05
4th David Murphy (Athy) 3 pike 9-00
5th Frank Crosbie (Dublin) 3 pike 8-03

Heat 8 - Nov 4th - Royal Canal
It was pretty hard going for the 67 anglers who turned up yesterday for the November qualifying competition of the 2007/08 Kingsoan National Pike Championships on the Royal Canal at Ballinacarrigy. In all 43 small (some tiny) pike to 6lbs 9 ozs were landed. In this case 6 go through as 2 anglers tied for 5th place.

1st Willie Heasley (Duleek) 6 pike 8-01
2nd Ray Keyes (Tullamore)2 pike 7-07
3rd John Boyle (Longford)4 pike 6-10
4th Paddy Daly (Cootehill) 1 pike 4-08
jt 5th Martin Carroll (Ardee) 2 pike 3-08
jt 5th Anthony Muldoon (Belfast) 2 pike 3-08

Heat 9 - Dec 2nd- Lough Muckno
No report

Heat 10 - Jan 10th - Newry Canal
No report

Heat 11 - Feb 3rd, Stewards Heat, venue to be decided
Very bad driving conditions yesterday morning put off a number of anglers from travelling to the Town Lake in Arva for the last qualifier. Still 50 anglers made it and landed 53 pike to 13lbs. Five doubles were landed with Ballina`s Michael Padden getting the biggest. Conditions were very good. I picked a shallow corner and only had a small jack. Many thanks to the Breffni Arms Hotel who provided us with so many sandwiches and coctail sausages that they couldnt all be eaten. I think thats a first !!. The top 5 anglers were;

1. Larry Mulvaney Virginia 3 pike 26-03
2. Michael Padden Ballina 2 pike 20-10
3. Eddie Keogh Trim 4 pike 15-09
4. Mark Hirtes Kildare 2 pike 14-06
5. Joe O`Donnell Trim 2 pike 13-07

Kingspan Final - Result and Report (as reported by John Chambers)
Derek Mohan from Duleek is the new Kingspan National Pike Champion. A total of 57 anglers from all over Ireland qualified to fish in the Final which was held on Levally Lake neat Pontoon in Mayo.

Conditions were really hard as a gale roared down the lake. Anglers who fished the northern shore were lashed by large waves and could hardly cast against the wind. A road ran along the whole side of the eastern shore which has the deepest water. Anglers on the western shore were finding only a few feet no matter how far out they cast. Mark Hirtes nabbed 3 pike in his first 5 casts and didnt touch another pike for the rest of the day, Marty Lawlor had a pike of 9-14 on his second cast but didnt land any more even though he made contact with more. Terry Sheridan nabbed a pike of 14-08 after 15 minutes. He hooked another few but lost them. Terry has a habit of catching big pike in finals Fred Mooney had 3 and lost another couple which included an estimated double at the net.

I had two for 7-03 when nature called. I put on a small perch and a float and cast out. Within a few minutes the wind and waves had the float in closer to the bank than the spot where I had waded to and fished from earlier. I picked up the rod and jerked the float. There was a big swirl behind the float and then the float disappeared. I struck and was playing a nice fish. I took it easy and soon had the pike close to the shore but saw her shake her head and the bait and hooks were ejected. She slowly swam away. 10 minutes later Derek arrived and soon landed an 11 pounder. I wouldnt be surprised if it was the same fish. I managed to finish in 10th place as I did last year.

Rory McAllorum nabbed 3 pike on a silver spoon and will have eat humble pie regarding comments on the possible venue posted a week ago. Derek Mohan nabbed 3 pike and I am really delighted for him. He is a really top class angler and the only surprise to me is that he didnt win years ago. The full results are that out of the 57 competitors 23 caught 38 pike.

1st Derek Mohan ( Duleek) 3 pike 17-03
2nd Rory McAllorum (Dublin) 3 pike 15-12
jt3rd Terry Sheridan (Kilcogy) 1 pike 14-08
jt3rd Pat Dunphy (Durrow) 1 pike 14-08
5th Fred Mooney (Dreghera) 3 pike 12-15
6th Marty Lawlor (Belfast) 1 pike 9-14
7th Willie Heasley (Duleek) 2 pike 9-01
8th Mark Hirtes (Newbridge) 3 pike 8-07
9th Anthony Muldoon (Belfast) 1 pike 7-06
10th John Chambers (Dublin) 2 pike 7-03

We stayed in the Park Hotel in Kiltimagh. We also stayed there last year. It is a really first class hotel and they looked after us reall well. The food was top notch. Many thanks to our kind sponsors Kingspan, our stewards and the hundreds of anglers who took part.

NOTE:

The IFPAC runs The "Kingspan" National Pike Championship each year, the All-Ireland inter-club championship, the "Maver Ireland" National Junior pike championship and the All-Ireland junior inter-club championship.

Anglers are reminded of the following competition rules:
An angler must be a member of a fully paid up affiliated club.
An angler may be refused entry to the competition without reason being given.
Anglers who act as stewards at heats will be eligible to enter a special heat for stewards provided that the person has been a steward at 4 heats and has weighed a minimum of 4 fish.
Fish can NOT be weighed by the gills. It is the responsibility of the angler to ensure this does not happen.
A maximum of two fish in a keep sack.
Objections must be made within an hour unless otherwise stated at the check-in.