IRISH FEDERATION OF SEA ANGLERS Welcome to the home of The Irish Federation Of Sea Anglers . The IFSA was founded in 1953, and this growing online resource provides information regarding the organisation, its members and activities. To browse the different areas of interest use the menus located below, or alternatively, the latest updates are located below.

03.08.2008
Carlingford Saltwater Fishing Festival

9th and 10th August

With the stunning backdrop of the Mourne and Cooley mountains, the Loughs Agency’s will be holding its annual Saltwater Festival on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th August 2008.

Saturday (10am – 4pm) there will be FREE workshops taking place at Greenore Point with professionals delivering tuition on beach casting, fly casting and fly tying as well as the life cycle of Bass. On Sunday (10am – 3.30pm) participants can put their skills into action at the shore fishing competition at Ballagan Point.

These events are suitable for adults and juniors making ideal for a family day out. There will be lots of top prizes and plenty of opportunity to learn the art of shore fishing.

In previous years the festival welcomed anglers from England and Scotland. However, last year the winner was a local junior angler Gary Murphy who was presented with the perpetual cup and £100’s worth of angling equipment.

Saltwater fly tying expert Terry Jenner, from London, will also be visiting the festival to share his assistance and advice with the novice right through to the expert.

Anyone interested in attending is advised to pre-register by emailing basscompetition@loughs-agency.org or for further information or to register please contact +44 (0) 2871 342100 or open the attached poster for full details.

Also, during the same weekend, the Greenore Greencastle Community Association is running deep sea, open boat and beach fishing competitions. For further information or to register for any of these events, please contact 042-9373822 or 042-9373201. Early booking would be advisable.

Gillian Simpson Loughs Agency / Ghníomhaireacht na Lochanna /Factrie fur Loughs 22 Victoria Road Prehen BT47 2AB

Tel +44 (0)28 71342100 Fax +44 (0)28 71342720 *************************************************************************************************************************

22.07.2008
Lifejacket Alert

Recall of Seago lifejackets
The following notice has been issued by the manufacturer:Lifejacket

IMPORTANT SAFETY WARNING Seago 150 and 175 Newton Lifejackets including Junior Lifejackets

We have become aware that some Seago 150 and 175 Newton Lifejackets including Junior Lifejackets may have a defect which could result in serious injury.

The lifejackets are marked with a manufacture date in roman numerals, for instance the last quarter of 2005 is shown IV/05. The quarters concerned are: IV/05
I/06
II/06
III/06
IV/06
I/07

If you own a Seago 150 or 175 Newton Lifejackets including Junior Lifejackets then please check the manufacture date. The lifejackets in question were sold in chandlery shops, marine retail outlets & marine web sites throughout the United Kingdom.

If you have an affected lifejacket then PLEASE STOP USING IT IMMEDIATELY. Please remove the gas cylinder manually from the inflation system and return the lifejacket only to Seago Yachting Ltd, Mullany Business Park, Golden Cross, Hailsham, East Sussex, BN27 3RP for testing. Any faulty jackets will be replaced. Jackets which are tested and found not to be faulty will be returned

If you have any queries then please do not hesitate to contact Seago Yachting Ltd on 01825 873632 *************************************************************************************************************************

22.07.2008
Seniors Home Nations 2008 Managers Report

HOME NATIONS SHORE 2008
SAMPHIRE HOE - JUNE 3rd - 6th
MANAGERS REPORT

TEAM MEMBERS:
ALAN MULCAHY - MUNSTER TEAM CAPTAIN
J.P. MOLLOY - CONNAUGHT
MARTIN HOWLIN - LEINSTER
LIAM O'CONNOR - ULSTER
ROBERT POWER - MUNSTER

MANAGER - PAUL DIVITO

We travelled as in the last few years with the Youth and Junior teams. This year we went by 17 seater Mini - Bus and a Van for the gear. We left Dublin -Port on Tues 1st July and arrived in Holyhead at approx 10-30am. Arriving in Folkestone at around 7-30pm , a long drive ! With the high cost of fuel the total used was around £650-00 .

Before I go into the results there are a few people I would like to mention , especially 4 of my team - JP Molloy, Martin Howlin, Robert Power and Alan Mulcahy who travelled ' at their own expense' on Sunday 30th June. They arrived in Folkestone that night and then sussed out the venue for the extra few days. This proved invaluable to our team. They are certainly a very dedicated bunch of lads.

Also thanks to the driver of the Mini Bus , Jim Snoddy , his help was appreciated. To the Loughs Agency for sponsoring Team Fleeces. To Irish Tourist Board for the Shamrock Pins, they always go down well. Thanks to Ulster Chairman Grahame Foote for the Minutures.

The 1st Day we had a Zone win by Martin who had total of 33 fish for a total of 1032 pts, JP was 3rd in his zone with 637 pts, Alan was 2nd in his zone with 596 pts, Robert 4th with 432 pts and Liam 4th with 372 pts. Points were calculated on 4 for a win , 3 for 2nd 2 for 3rd and 4 for 4th. Our position after the 1st day was 3rd with 11 points. England 1st 16 points , Scotland 3rd 15 points & Wales 8 points.

Day 2 we finished with the exact same points with a win a 2nd ,a 3rd and 2 ,4ths. Fishing was not as productive as the 1st day but Robert ended the day with 17 fish to win his zone , his nearest rival was the English angler with just 8 fish. JP had another creditable 2nd place with Liam finishing 3rd , Martin and Alan picked up 2 fourth places. Our total points on Saturday were as Friday's 11 points.

After the two day's the final result was 1st England 32 points, 2nd Scotland 28 points , 3rd Ireland 22 points and 4th Wales 18 points.

Fishing was hard and testing to any angler with gear loss high in a very snaggy venue . Nearly all of the 1200 fish caught were down the side of the wall , mainly pouting and wrasse . It looked like very light rods were the order of the day , some of our guy's were using quiver tips .

I have nothing but praise for my team , a great bunch of lads and certainly a credit to their Province, the IFSA and to Ireland. I hope in the future I have the privilidge of managing some or all of them again. Best of the Irish - Martin Howlin , J.P.Molloy , Robert Power, Alan Mulcahy , Liam O'Connor:

I thank the Federation for selecting me as Team Manager. One final thing I think may be valuable is that we have a full squad meeting on arrival with the 3 teams , Junior , Youth and Seniors all involved. This could be benificial to all , something to think about.

Paul Divito
Team Manager
Ireland Seniors

*************************************************************************************************************************

22.07.2008
Juniors & Youths Home Nations 2008 Managers Report

Juniors and Youths Manager’s Report
Home Nations Shore Championships 2008
Samphire Hoe

Team members Under 21’s.
Sean Doherty, Paul Whelan, Stephen O’Sullivan, Chris O’Sullivan, Stephen Peacocke.
Under 16’s.
Gavin Fogarty, Neil Wemyss, Stephen Mason, Ian Flood, Andrew Snoddy.
Coaches.
Philip O’Sullivan, Eamon Fogarty.
Manager.
Peter Flahive.

As stated in the senior manager’s report we travelled on Tuesday by mini-bus and van to Folkestone. Arriving at 7.30pm. On Wednesday we had a practise day on the match venue. Thursday we went to the reserve venue Walmar Beach.

Day 1. Both teams got of to a bad start. We found it hard to catch fish in the first hour and fell behind the other countries. Eventually we began to claw back the lead but it was too late to close the gap.

Results on day 1.
Youths, 1st. England 17 pts. 2nd.Wales 16 pts. 3rd.Scotland 10 pts. 4th.Ireland 7 pts.
Juniors, 1st. Wales 16 pts. 2nd. England 15 pts. 3rd. Scotland 14 pts. 4th. Ireland 5 pts.

Day 2. This time we got of to a flying start. After an hour in the youths we were winning 4 zones and in the Juniors 2 wins and a second. As the match went on the other teams started to close the gap. The Youths had the same points as England but lost out on a count back of fish.

Results on day 2. Youths, 1st.Wales 14 pts. 2nd.England, 13 pts. 3rd. Ireland 13 pts. 4th. Scotland 10pts.
Juniors 1st.England 17 pts. 2nd.Wales 14 pts. 3rd.Ireland 11 pts. 4th. Scotland 7 pts.

Over all results. (after 2 tie breaks).
Youths. 1st. Wales 30pts. 2nd.England 30pts. 3rd. Ireland 20 pts. 4th, Scotland 20 pts.
Juniors 1st. England 32 pts. 2nd. Wales 30pts. 3rd.Scotland 21 pts. 4th. Ireland 16 pts.

I would like to thank the following people for all the help they gave in the planning and when we were in Folkestone. Paul Divito who organised the mini-bus and van and looked after the accommodation. Jim Snoddy for all the driving he did. Philip O’Sullivan and Eamon Fogarty for all the help they gave to the teams and me. The parents of the team members for making sure the lads had every thing they needed. A special word of thanks to Stephen Peacocke who stepped in as a sub at short notice.

Peter Flahive
Team Manager

*************************************************************************************************************************

22.06.2008
Congratulations to Dave Roe

Congratulations to Dave Roe from South Shore SAC for his victory in the Penn Sea League Final. Dave recently won the prestigious Penn Sea league final in the UK, fishing against the UKs top match anglers and a field of internationals and world champions. There is a feature with Dave in this months Sea Angler magazine. Dave has won several major IFSA opens over the past couple of seasons and has risen to the top of the shore match scene here.

Any club can have their matches logged for Penn Points by contacting Sea Angler magazine or Alankyates@aol.com at least two months in advance of the fixture. Looking at the April table, I can see at least 8 IFSA members in the rankings.

Results such as these from Dave and last years victory in the Daiwa Pairs event by Eoghan Duff and Patrick Forester of Raheny SAC prove that we have top quality match anglers in the ranks of the federation.

**************************************************************************************************************************

22.06.2008
IFSA Coaching Update

I talked to Dave Roe recently concerning the state of match angling in Ireland. He is adamant that we need to get more young people involved in the match circuit here. This view is shared by the majority of IFSA members I speak to.

There are plans within the IFSA to introduce some defined coaching schedules in the near future. Federation members Tom Lillis, Eamon Fogarty, Peter Flahive and Brian Cooke are in the process of qualifying as Angling Tutors under the auspices of the Sports Council of Ireland. A full syllabus (to be recognized as the official angling coaching scheme in Ireland ) to train angling coaches is being drawn up and will be available later in the year.

**************************************************************************************************************************

22.06.2008
Dun Laoghaire Angling Ban

The bye-laws being proposed by Dun Loaghaire County Council for a blanket ban on angling throughout the area have been withdrawn and re-drafted. Following lobbying by several bodies (including IFSA) and interested anglers, the council has agreed to meet with IFSA officers and discuss the proposals.

**************************************************************************************************************************