Lough Ree International Pike Angling Festival 2011

[FishingMagic]

This is a dedicated thread for discussing article: Lough Ree International Pike Angling Festival 2011

 

[eamon cunningham]

Lough Ree International Pike Festival 13th - 15th april 2011

Just heard at a meeting of the organising committee that entries for this years competition are already well ahead of where they were this time last year including 5 confirmed boats from France, 4 from the UK and 4 from Germany with more enquiries from these countries waiting to be dealt with, not to mention plenty of entries from around the island of Ireland. Looks like it will be a truly international event this year so get your entries in soon if you are planning on fishing it details at Lough Ree International Festival Pike festival ? Pike Fishing Ireland -

 

[eamon cunningham]

It has been decided to restrict this years competition to about three quarters of the lake as detailed below

"Angling is confined by the following boundaries – Lough Ree north of the Athlone By-Pass Bridge and south of an imaginary line to the north of Inchcleraun (Quaker) Island and south of Clawinch Island from Rinany on the Roscommon Shoreline to a point on the Longford Shoreline. This line will be indicated on the map which will be given to all anglers."

The enclosed map shows the northern most line

 

[eamon cunningham]

In order to make things a bit more exciting a World Cup event has been added to the festival which itself will not change and the angler with the biggest pike is guaranteed €3,000 and all of the entry fees will be returned in prize money with daily and overall prizes.
The “World Cup” goes to the boat with the longest total length of pike over all three days by counting one fish each day. There will be a trophy for each angler in the boat and they will win back their entry fees too.

There are still plenty of spaces left if anyone is considering entering and if you are considering staying over then there is a great deal in the Prince of wales Hotel which is available through Dave Houghton at Active Irish Angling 071 9642743 or at Pike Fishing Ireland -

 

[eamon cunningham]

Prize Fund Lough Ree International Pike Festival

The closing date for this competition is Thursday April 7th and the current estimate is that there will be approximately seventy five anglers taking part, if this turns out to be the case then the following prize fund will apply so get your entry in now if you want a share of this.

Lough Ree International Pike Festival Prize list (estimated)
Our prize list based on an estimated entry of 75 anglers.
The total monies consist of €3,000 sponsorship from Failte Ireland, 75 entry fees of €125 a grand total of €12,375
Festival Prizes Overall (1) €3,000 (2) €1,000 (3) €500
Please note that the overall winner cannot win the daily prize for his winning fish
There will be at least seven cash prizes every day and presented as follows
(1) €600 (2) €500 (3) €400 (4) €300 (5) €250 (6) €200 (7) €150
Two complimentary prize draws (€75 and €50) will be made each evening for competing anglers who are present at the evening event and who have not won anything on that day, plus a bonus €50 on the final night - you must be at the presentation to win!
Pike Angling World Cup winners (two anglers) €125 each
The daily prize fund of €2400 over three days gives a total of €7200, plus the overall top three prizes of €4,500, plus €250 for the
World Cup and €425 for the daily draw. This is a100% return of entry fees and sponsorship

 

[eamon cunningham]

As of yesterday morning 72 anglers had registered and paid the full 3 day entry fee. As there is still a week to go before the closing date the expectation is that the final figure will be well over eighty anglers, and of course the more anglers the bigger the prize fund as all entry fees are returned in prizes.

 

[eamon cunningham]

Great news is that on Wednesday morning the festival kicks off at Coosan Point, Athlone, with 120 anglers taking part in 60 boats and trying to catch the biggest pike worth €3,000.

The entry figures are brilliant having more than doubled since last year’s launch and it means the prize money will be €18,000 across the three days. The three biggest pike (all fish caught are measured and photographed then returned immediately to the lake) will be worth €3,000, €2,000 and €1,000. There are also eight daily prizes ranging from €800 down to €200.

Interestingly, almost every competitor from the inaugural competition are back to try their luck again and afloat on the lake will be veterans, the keenest pike angling matchmen, one lady, juniors and a 10 year old school girl from Roscommon.

The “Pike Angling World Cup” takes place for the first time and there are anglers from 11 countries lining up at Lough Ree – America, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Northern Ireland, Poland, Russia and Slovakia.

I will post the results each morning on this thread