Fishing Holiday Ireland

Huge savings on STENA LINE ferries to Ireland.  Coarse, Pike, Salmon, and Fly fishing breaks to Ireland just got closer!

FREE upgrades on Irish Ferries on selected dates spring, summer and autumn. Ask for details, offer ends 29th February.

Ireland coarse and pike fishing breaks.. 4 days fishing, top fishing locations from just £133pp (6) £141pp (4) and £163pp (2). Lots of dates and accommodations, B&B and Stena Line car ferry included.

OUR HOLIDAYS ARE ABTA BONDED WITH GUARANTEED PRICES.

Ireland offers a great fishing holiday experience. Wild waters, variety of species, scenic locations.

Ireland's waters haven't really changed and there are often still great catches made by those who make an effort to pre-bait and plan the week's fishing.

There is a variety of fantastic coarse fishing from Big bream, tench, roach, rudd, hybrids, perch and pike you will find in abundance; carp are thinly spread and averagely small, while there are no chub or barbel at all.

For the social anglers who enjoy the pub and the craic as much as getting a bag of bream, if you go along expecting to catch between 20 and 40lb of roach and hybrids a day you won't be disappointed. However, fishing at first light or late into the evening greatly increases catches and it is when the bream tend to feed. ... making a coarse fishing in Ireland the perfect dream holiday.

Magical waters vary from tiny ponds with lily pads and reeds, to massive loughs - some covering more than 30,000 acres - with stony shorelines and a far bank that can disappear on a misty morning.

Rivers such as the Inny twist and turn through farmland while the Shannon runs slowly from one end of the county to the other, offering fabulous fishing prospects from the bank or specially built fishing platforms.

Ireland really is an angling paradise and whatever your expectations, we can help you have a brilliant fishing holiday. This summer fished well, particularly for roach and hybrids, with some good bream catches from waters with a bit of colour.

Look out for our special offer on selected properties:

BRIDGEVIEW COTTAGES SCARRIF. Fantastic sport for big bags of roach and bream in April and May.. 1 weeks holiday from only £112 pp (6 in vehicle) or £152pp (4 in vehicle). Includes Stena Car ferry.  Catch More.. Pay Less

Book one week self-catering & get the second weeks accommodation half price! Cummins Cottages off season 2012..

NO DRIVING - Join an escorted chauffer driven trip with Mick Gee ( tel 01246 412838 or 07733172860 ) Mick fishes the best waters, some exclusive access, for bream, hybrids, roach and occasional tench. Great trips, lots of fun and excellent guided fishing. Superb accommodation with breakfast and dinner included. Trips are for a week and travel is April to September. Give Mick a call to book your place.. individuals welcome.

" Ireland, for me, is still a favourite place to fish. Beautiful countryside, friendly people and great mixed fishing in terms of species, season and technique. The hybrid fishing just gets better all the time and fish over 4 pounds are common. Bream are showing again in numbers and it looks like a 13 pounder is about to go into the record books caught in a Country Cavan lake July 2010. My escorted trips are producing average mixed bags of 40 to 50 pounds but on occasions some anglers have passed the "ton" mark, best weight to date is 106 pounds of roach, hybrids and bream. Summer 2010 has been the best for a number of years, but like anywhere.. you need stable weather conditions for fish to feed confidently".. Mick Gee.

2012 Match Dates... Great fishing.. big prizes..

Banagher Festival.. April 21st to 28th.

Fermanagh Classic 28th April to May 5th.

Killashandra Festival.. 3rd to 6th May.

Arva Seniors Mastch.. 2nd to 9th June.

Anglers World Breffni Challenge.. 9th to 16th June.

Inniscarra Festivals.. 25th August to September 1st.

Lough Gowna Festival.. 25th August to September 1st.

Arva Festival.. September 1st to 8th.

Breffni King of Clubs Arva.. September 8th to 15th.

Monaghan Muckno Pairs Castleblaney.. 15th to 22nd SEptember.

Cootehill Festival.. 22nd to 29th September.

Great value inclusive holidays, choice of ferry & accommodation. Variable duration. More to follow... Travel dates are generally Saturday to Saturday, flexible itineraries. Best value offers.

Getting to Ireland

The car ferries sail several times a day from the ports of Pembroke, Fishguard, Holyhead, Liverpool (Birkenhead) and the southern ports of Scotland - they remain the most popular because you can simply load the car with everything and head off.

Flying is certainly for the birds when it comes to fishing. The huge penalties imposed by the so called 'low cost' airlines for extra luggage are unbelievably high and make it impossible to travel with luggage and coarse or sea angling kit.

Stena Line have the widest choice of routes, sailing from Holyhead, Fishguard and Stranraer, with a mix of conventional ferries and large (HSS) fast craft on all the Holyhead to Dun Loaghaire route..

Irish Ferries concentrate on sailings from Holyhead and Pembroke with conventional car ferries and a fast craft from Holyhead to Dublin.

Stena Line now operate between Liverpool (Birkenhead) and Belfast with huge vessels that carry a mix of freight and car passengers. En-suite cabins are included in the cost on night crossings. There is also a day-time ferry. Meals can be purchased on board.

P&O Ferries sail twice daily from Liverpool to Dublin, comfortable overnight sailings with cabins and meals included.

The Best Time of Year

Just like the UK, the better fishing tends to be during the warmer months from mid-June through until mid-October. However some of the biggest catches are taken from early April until early June when the various species congregate at well known venues prior to spawning - Lanesborough on the middle Shannon and Portumna on the lower Shannon are typical examples.

Never Been Before?

Whilst current rules state that passports are NOT required for travel to Ireland, you are advised to travel with photo ID. Norfolk Line and all airlines insist on this. If you have a passport, take it with you. For all other ferry routes ensure you have some form of identification.

Fishing in Ireland is generally free of charge with no licence requirements. There are a couple of exceptions such as on the River Lee and Inniscarra Reservoir in Cork and parts of the middle Shannon, River Inny and Suck, which will be detailed in our new and fact-filled information sheets. Fishing rod licences are needed on all waters in Northern Ireland and are available from tackle shops and most accommodations.

Summer 2011 produced some fantastic fishing. Inniscarra in particular had its best year to date with 200lb plus bags of quality bream and ton up catches of prime roach. Prolific coarse fishing at its best with easy access to this scenic water.

The Irish drive on the same side of the road, their petrol/deisel is the cheapest in Europe and the currency in the Republic of Ireland is the Euro. Northern Ireland is Sterling prices.

Bait & Tackle

The mere fact that you are considering one of our holidays means that you are probably an experienced angler with your favourite baits and methods.

There is one major consideration; in Ireland you are likely to be faced with a large lake that is rarely fished and because of that, you will only achieve exceptional results by pre-baiting with groundbait to attract the fish, or if you concentrate on one swim for two or three days. Otherwise the fishing becomes a total lottery.
Yes, you will catch roach and hybrids on most water and have lots of fun, but on the other hand you will probably not experience a real red letter day.

The best ingredient (particle) for prebaiting is stewed wheat, available from most UK animal feed suppliers or your local grain farmer. All other baits from casters to specialist groundbaits can be ordered from Irish Bait and Tackle for delivery almost anywhere in Ireland. You are of course allowed to take baits with you if you prefer.

Go to their website: www.irishbaitandtackle.com (opens in a new window)

Bring your normal fishing tackle but think about hook sizes ranging from 16-10, medium and large open-ended swimfeeders, slightly heavier reel line than in the UK and pole gear to cope with large bream and tench. For distance feeder fishing use the weighed cage feeders and clip up for accuracy.

Pike Fishing in Ireland

Pike are everywhere in Ireland. There is no close season, no licences required and they provide brilliant sport whether it is a 6lb fish on a fly or a 30lb monster on a deadbait.

Pike specialists can arrive in Ireland confident of enjoying fast, exciting, fishing on those prolific waters holding vast shoals of fodder fish like bream, roach and hybrids. Ireland’s big loughs, such as Derg, Ree and the Shannon’s inner lakes around Strokestown, are this very day producing 30lb pike. A member of our staff fished Lough Derg and shared in a catch of 28 pike over two days, the biggest 20lb 14oz with most of the fish hovering between 12 and 15lb.

IRISH PIKE TRIPS.. With Neville Fickling..

"Where in the world can you go for a week and only see duck shooters.? That's what happened to me in November. I love the lack of competing pike anglers. The challenge is finding and catching big pike - not chasing others to a swim. Ireland is a sparsely populated country with a huge amount of water. There is always somewhere to fish.. undisturbed. I travel over at least 6 times a year, although I do not always do well I know there is a special fish somewhere around the corner. I escort small elect groups but these are limited to anglers who have their own boat."

Neville Fickling.. expert specimen angler is a regular visitor to Ireland and has many big Irish pike to his name.. Good advice and tackle from his tackle shop in Gainsborough... Tel 01427 613002.. www.thetackle-shop.co.uk

For the best accommodation within close proximty to excellent pike fishing look out for our Pike Fishing Symbol.

 

SEA FISHING - NORTHERN IRELAND.. Predator 11 operated by Hamish Currie offers fantastic skippered fishing at great value prices. He has the most record species of any skipper in Ireland. Just awarded Irish, UK and European skate record with a 249 pound skate.

CORK SMALL BOATS SEA FISHING FESTIVAL... now booking, great package prices, September 2012.

Fantastic shore fishing with expert advice at Dromagowlane House on the Beara Peninsula.

For more information on great fishing holidays to Ireland, including a variety of fantastic Coarse, Salmon and fly fishing breaks call us today on 01246 221717 for that perfect venue.