Match anglers are clamouring for a place on the 2009 Monaghan Pairs Festival.

“It is certainly the ‘hot ticket’ on the Irish match scene”, said Anglers World boss Martin Founds. “The five-day competition takes place on Lough Muckno during September and has consistently produced the best match catches going back for more than 20 years.

“This year the bream didn’t appear, yet the average catch was 36lb per-man, per-day, of roach between six and eight ounces!”

Andy Molyneux
Liverpool’s Andy Molyneux (Ted Carter’s Southport) wins his day-section in the Banagher Festival from the Portumna section of the River Shannon with 35lb of bream, roach and hybrids

The company has also launched two brand new sponsored festivals – the first takes place on the River Shannon at Portumna in April and is sponsored by the Shannon Oaks Hotel & Country Club. The four day event is timed to coincide with the mass movement of roach and hybrids from Lough Derg into the river when big catches are most likely.

The other is at Ballinamore – a famous Irish angling holiday centre – where

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